Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1920-10-23
SLAVERY IN HAITI.
The Wilson Administered ion, While
Preaching "IdcaliSm" and "Dc-
mocinCy," practiccd Muir
dcrouS Imperialism in
IN "Occupicd"
Island.

1t is impossible to dctach the at
ton of the country from the record
of the Wilson Administration as the
supreme issue in this campaign.
The moment that sincere believers
in any other suggested issue begins
TO fancy that they might possibly
pay it some little attention there is
morally certain to explode right i'll
the face of the public another sen
Sational reminder that the para
mount duty of the American people
on this occasion is TO pillory and
condemn beyond the reach of forget
fulncSs, if not forgiveness. the seven
lean years of incilicicncy, of per-
verse ward partisanship, of sheer
bullhcad laundering, which the Will
son regime has inflicted on this ma
ton. With the language of the mil
lcnnum on their lips, the Wilson en-
tourage have dragged us through
the mire OF incompetent mudtlling,
of calculated exploitation of public
services for party advantage and, it
is now revealed, Of the crueliSt and
most dcspotic Imperialistic aggres-
sion.
The report of Brigadier General
George Barnett on the bloody de-
tails of our benevolent" govern
mcnt Of the helpless inhabitants OF
Haiti will shock this humane and
MISUNDERSTANDING American people
to its hearts center. While we were
making the world safe for democ-
racy" in France-even before that
while our President was still loftily
lccturing the Old World on it's un-
pardonable wickcdness in going to
war at alive were ruthlcssly
practicing machinc-gun Imperial
ism, decorated with official murder,
in Haiti. How finely our high pro-
fcssions must have read to the rela-
tivcs and friends of the $3.50 ma
tivcs of that Island, killed by our
uniformed and scientifically armed
representatives. or by the native gen
darmeric we had organized and
equipped! This employment of ma
tives to kill natives is the most char
acteristic and diabolically clever
achievement of the predatory Impc-
rialism we profess to abhor.
Every detail of the SQualid and
Illuminating affair which we are per-
mitted as yet to know fills us with
the most profound humiliation and
disgust. For instance, we are told
by General Barnett: From what
have heard, l think the original
trouble in Haiti was accustomed by
the manner in which the corvce sys-
tenn was enforced. The system it.
self is i'll accordance with Haitian
law and was not objected to, but the
trouble was, have heard, that ma
ives were on certain occasions re-
CURED to work under the corvce sys-
tenn outside their own districts
which was contrary to law"
Now, what is the. "corvee sys
temp 1t S human slavery, neithe,
more nor less.
It's is Il system by which the Gov,
eminent can seize IL man, drag hin,
away from his home and work, nc
matter how necessary that may be
TO himself or his family, and com
pei him to labor at tasks in which
1T is Interested When the British
went into Egypt they found the
'corvec system" in full operation
AS General Barnett naively re-
marks, lit was in accordance with
tEgyptian) law" So, on the logic
which even this American investiga-
tor quotes approvingly, the British
would have been justified in keen
ing it in force.
But they abolished it, root and
branch. They called it by its right
name, Slavery" and set the Egyp-
tian iellaheen free. We have heard
good deal of criticism of British
rule in Egypt by men not very far
from our professionally "idealistic"
administration; and yet this very
Administration employed the armed
forces OF the American nation to
preserve and enforce this system Of
native slavery in an Island almost
under the shadow of our own Re-
public. Had there been any Hal
tlans who still remembered our
civil War, they must have rubbed