The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1923-04-14
AMERICANS AID
HAITI PROGRESS
Navy Officers Report on Work
Accomplished in 1922 as
Showing Success.

and the hard work of certain officers
of the American navy, all are being
. expended In the interests of the island
of Haiti and its people. And the year
1922 was one of peace and progress
Much was accomplished, and the work
is still going on under American. lead
ership. The Americans are teaching
the Haitians to help themselves; they
are endeavoring to train the Haitian
personnel so that they may eventually
displace all foreigners in island admin
>istratfon. Cooperation between the
two elements, to this end, undoubtedly
Is making Roadway.
Early this year the American heads
Of departments made reports on the
results Of their labors in 1922 to John
81. Russell, the American high com
missioner for Haiti, covering activities
in the sanitary service, in fire protec
ton, in police work, in public works
such as irrigation, road building, and
communications. in the better lighting
Of the coasts ofSHaiti, and in increased
shipping.
Epidemies Checked.
The so-called prison disease, which
in the old regime claimed 1900 out
Of an average of 1000 prisoners, has
been reduced to the vanishing point
In 1922 the percentage of deaths in the
prisons was OF. The death rate: OF
! the gendarmes, numbering 2,414 Hal
tians, fell to the rate Of ,5.1T pei
thousand.
The completion of the intensive
campaign against smallpox assures
: the prevention of it's spread for sew
eral years, and the recent severe cpl
.demic of cholerine, a form of bacills
dysentery, has been largely wiped out
That the Haitians are responding
in greatly increased number to the
free opportunities of American sur
gical and medical treatment Is evinced
by the fact that in the year 23,31e
applied for treatment, as compared to
1906 for the preceding year. Five free
dispensaries were opened in~interiol
sections where medical facilities were
miles.
The gendarmes have been encour
! aged in field and track sports, basket
ball, baseball, soccer and boxing, to
their physical improvemen
Rifle Practice Taught.
+ All gendarmes, in addition to theii
military training, are receiving a. free
grammar school course that has en-
couraged enlistment and caused favor
able comment among the Haitians. Fol
the first time in it's history every mar
in the gendarmerie has been thor
oughly instructed in rifle practice, and
the contests held have developed
craftsmanship Of surprisingly high
quality. The regulation Of all vehicle
traffic and the registration OF foreign
efS were assumed by the gendar
merle In the closing months Of thu
year. ..~ ..-.c
Port-au-Prince =. 10 now protected
against disastrous fires through tn.
recent completion of salt water high
pressure system. The equipment OF
the capitals fire fighting forces now
comprises two modern chemical end
equipment motor trucks and recently
acquired American horse-drawn engine
in which the fremen, respondent in
crimson shirts and shining, brass hel
NETS, race to the fires.
The department of public works ha,
operated irrigation service in three OF
the leading plains where agriculture II
almost wholly dependent upon irriga
ton, made preliminary investigations
of other needed irrigation projects, ant
determined that fully 100000 acres OF
at present unproductive land in the
great plain of the Artibonite are capa
BILE of irrigation.
Road Construction Spreads.
Work has begun on a 15-mile stretch
of road that, when completed, will
cut the present time Of travel by auto
mobile between the capitals Of Hiatt
and. Ssnto Domingo from three days
to one. The new road will run from
Las Cahobas to Commentator on thu
Santo Domingo border.
There are today $50 kilometers Of
road IN operation throughout the re
public. Forty bridges will be erected
at inland points where traffic has beer
impossible in the rainy seasons.
two-year program for new road con
struction has been approved. i
Port-ausPrince now has q new au
tomato telephone system which will
be extended to care for 800 subscrib
ers. Pole lines FOR, distance Of 1,5Oe
kilometers were maintained In 1922
for Haitian telegraph service.
The figures for last year show tina,
telegraph traffic Increased 28. per cent
and the telephone traffic doubled. Thu
lowered cost Of operation and main
tenance was II per cent.
Four new automatic flashing acety
lene type of lighthouses, with q visi
bility Of 10 miles, have been placed u
commission In the past year. These
additions to the lighting Of Haitii
thousand-mile coastline, formerly re
garded by seafaring men as the most
dangerous stretch Of coast in the West
Indies, have given Haiti eight excel
lent lights.
Sixty Raw Eggs One Meal.
4 So a -