New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1916-10-13

| Washington, D. c., Oct 13.-One Of
the most interesting experiments in
! government to be found anywhere in
the world today is being conducted by
ll1e Ohlted States. 1t is being tried
| out Oh the Island of Haiti, upon which
| are located the Black Republic of
Haiti and the Mulatto Republic If
| oahto Domingo. The nature of the
experiment and the causes which led
| up 10 this unique government VEN
| ture are set forth in a bulletin issued
by the National Geographic society.
After century to maintain itself
as a separate, Independent, SOVEREIGN
natlon, Santo Domingo in 1905 found
ltselr ABOUT to fall a victim to it's own
eHcesses, says the bulletin. 'RevoIu-
tlon mad followed revolution almost
with clocklike regularity. There were
assasslnatlons, there were betrayals,
there were conspiracies, there were
wars within and wars without-war
with Haiti over boundary questions
and civil war over the control of the
government Debts were piled up with
out thought Of the day of payment or
even provisions for meeting the in
terest charges.
80 long and so steady was the
orgy OF revolution, speculation, debt
MAKING and 1nterest-dodging that the
NAHUM credlt grew worse than that
OF It's individual citizens Finally. the
day OF reckoning came. Foreign war;
SHIPS approached the ports whose har.
oors mad given refuge to the great dis
coVerer Columbus and whose capital
city still contains what undoubtedlv
are his ashes, and demanded that the
claims of their subjects be satisfied
claims for money advanced, claims for
interest accumulated, claims for prop
erty Wantonly destroyed-and they
demanded 1T at the point of big naval
guns.
IN pred1cament from which they
were poWerless to extricate themselves
the DOnlnlcans were ready enough to
negotiate treaty turning over the
control OF the cOuntrys customs to the
united States if, in return therefor. the
United States would protect them from
angry European creditors and rejuve-
nate their treasury
And so 1t was that in 1905 the
United States undertook to serve as
treasurer Of Santo Domingo and to
vouch for her debts The tariff was
quickly revised, the American author
tiles urging that duties be laid on lux
uries rather than upon necessities,
upon the things Of the rich rather than
upon those Of the poor. The tariff as
a whole was cut down, the general
reduction being fifty per cent on ex-
port taxes and fourteen per cent on
import duties
''Ad yet in spite Of this great reduce
ton, in spite Of payments of $780,
600 a year on the debt, there was still
1oft q
OF the government than it had ever had
before.
For a long time it was thought
that, deprived Of the opportunity Of
securing customs house revenues
through the seizure of ports, revolu-
tons could not support themselves. But
after six or seven years of peace
trouble broke out again, and during
1914 ana 1915 it became SO serious
that the United States was forced to
intervene in behalf of peace and to
demand, with marines on shore and
naval guns trained and pointed on the
ports, that the country return to
state Of quiet And SO today the Dom
inicans, realizing that the Monroe
doctrine is determined to afford them
protection from their own excuses,
their own bitter passions and blind
purposes, have accepted when they
could not attain that end themselves.
1t is a reluctant acquiescence they
yield, but a wholesome one, none the
less.
ut has not been without effort or
without expense, nor yet without the
actual sacrifice Of blood and life that
our country has stepped in to play
the role Of Good Samaritan to the peo-
pies Of Santo Domingo, Haiti and Mic
aragua, who had lost the blessings of
peace and were unable to regain them.
In Haiti alone we lost
one officer and six marines and had a
number wounded. But out Of this al
which a nation that covets no terri
tory, that seeks only it's own security
and the welfare of its unfortunate
neighbors, may we'll be proud.
'In Porto Rico we have reduced the
death rate from As per thousand to 10
per thousand, and a beginning along
the same line is being made In these
new fields of American endeavOr In
Porto Rico wages have Increased from
16 cents to IS cents, and stable condi-
lions show encouraging results in the
same direction in our new ward lands.
In Porto Rico the school attendance
Jumped from 20 per cent. to more than
IS. and these new wards are trying to
follow in Porto RicO's path.
''Wherever America has gone,
whether to Panama, whether to Santo
Domingo, Porto Rico, Nicaragua, the
Philippines, or Haiti, the welfare Of
the people has been her first concern;
and while all colonial history shows
that the tares of evil are never absent
from the wheat of good, our nations
record Of help given where most
needed IS one that we'll may challenge
our admiration and quicken our
r atriotism.
THE success IN Santo DOMINICAN
customs administra ton led to another