The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-04
AMERICAN ! AVAIL OFFICERS LAB | R TO HELP HA|T|ANS
Splendid Progress Shown by People of Islands Under Leadership of Uncle
 Sam'S Men

PORT-AU-PRIN Haiti, March 3. The technical skill. the energy, the intelligence and the hard work of certain officers of the American navy, all are being expended in the interests of the island of Haiti and it's 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 teach Ing the Haitians to help themselves; they are endeavoring to train the Haitian personnel so that they may eventually displace all foreigners in island administration. Cooperation between the two elements, to this end, undoubtedly is making headway.
 Early this year the American heads of departments made reports on the results of their labors in 1922 to John H. Russell, the American high ! missioner for Haiti, covering ac- tivities in the sanitary service, in ire protection, in police work, in public works such as irrigation, road building and communications; in the better lighting of the coasts of Haiti, and in increased shipping.
 The so-called prison disease, which in the old regime claimed 1,300 out of an average of 2,0O0 prisoners, has been reduced to the vanishing point. In 1922 the percentage of deaths in the prisons was .017. The death rate of the gendarmes, mum bering 2,414 Haitans, fell to the rate of 5l1 per thousand.
 O O O
 Fight Disease.
 ,Iati af ha int si a campaign against small pox assures the prevention of it's spread for sev- eral years, and the recent severe epidemic of cholefine, form of bacilla 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 22,316 applied for treatment, as compared to 7,305 for the preceding year. Five free dispensaries were opened in interior sections where medical facilities were non-existent for a radius of several miles.
 The gendarmes have been : en- couraged in field and track ports, basketball, baseball. soccer and box ing, to their physical improvement There has been material decrease in crime in the island, and outside of Vagabondage and petty theft the in- factions of the law were inconsdera- ble, Only two automobiles were stolen throughout the year, both be- ing recovered within a short time. There has been no semblance of an uprising or banditry
 O O O
 Receive Schooling.
 All gendarmes, in addition to their military training, are receiving free grammar school course that has en- couraged enlistment and caused fav- orable comment among the Haitlans. For the first time in it's history every man in the gendarmerie has been thoroughly .instructed in rifle prac- tice and the contests held have de- veloped craftsmanship of surpris- ngly high quality. The regulation of all vehicle traffic and the egis- tration of foreigners were assumed by the gendarmerie in the closing months of the year.
 Port Au-Prlnce is now protected against distastrous fires through the recent completion of salt water high pressure system The equip ment of the capitals fire fighting forces now comprises two modern chemical and equipment motor trucks and a recently acquired American horse drawn engine in which the firemen, resplendent in crimson shirts and shining brass helmets, race to the fires.
 The department of public works has operated irrigation service in three of the leading plains where az riculture is almost wholly dependent upon irrigation, made preliminary in vestigations of other needed irriga- tion projects. and determined that fully 100000 acres of at present un- productive land in the great plain of the dam. at the Mathieux river is also serving several thousand acres of land without tax for the water keep Road Open.
 The river control service, through out the severe tropical storms of the year, kept the main road of the island open to traffic at all times In addition it's labors saved the city of Grande Saline at the mouth of the Artibonite from destruction by flood.
 Work has been begun on 15-mle stretch of road that, when completed will cut tbe present time <of travel by automobile between the capitals of Haiti and Santo Domingo from three days to one. The new road will run from Las Cahobas to Com mendador on the Santo Domingo bor- der.
 There are today 960 kilometers of road in operation throughout the re- public. Forty bridges will he erected at inland points where traffic has ls.en impossible in the rainy seasons. A two-year program for new road construction has been improved. Port .Au Prince now has a new automatic telephone system which