Evening star., 1926-03-28

ence of Haiti. The revolt reached the
peak of savagery and every white in
the island was either massacred or
managed to flee the island
The insensate fury of the blacks de
stroyed all symbols Of their former
slavery. Plantation building and mill
fell before the torch. Irrigation
bitches and roads were wiped out and
the fierce Haitian jungle completed
the ruin of the empire that French
genius had built for Napoleon. Then
came insurrection and civil war
Noodooism, transplanteds from the
Congo jungle, reared it's vicious head.
Haiti became a byword among decent
nations, and reproach to the West
Indies.
The savagery of President Nilbrune
Guillaume proved the elimination of
the evil days that had fallen on fertile
Haiti. Threatened by the advance of
a revolutionary army, he filled the
Penitencier Rationale at Port au
Prince. the capital. with political pris-
oners, representative of the finest
families in Haiti. With the rebels at
his gates he ordered their massacre
and more than 125 were killed in their
cells by the bullets and bayonets of
his guards
The capital rose in revolt and Gull
laume sought sanctuary in the French
legation. The infuriated mob drag
ged him out, dismembered him. pa
raded the grues)me fragments through
the streets, and then threw them TO
| the sharks in the harbor
1t was then that We INTERVIEWED, In
the judgment Of Mr. Lansing. then
| secretary OF state, IF the United
states had not assumed the response.
| plllty some other power would"
! HaltlS credit was then exhausted
and she was on the brink of financia
disaster. Her coasts were lighted bv
! four feeble lights that a profane Dutch
/ skipper once described as the kind
| you could buy in any five-and-ten cent
store Wretched trails wandered
| through a wasted land. Sanitation
was practically unknown and pesti-
| ience closed it's ports with appalling
frequency. There was not a planta
tion of all the 1000 that flourished in
the French days. A ragged army com
manded by 30S generals held the peas,
ants under brutal exploitation
ever, that American Jerticipation m in
Haiti was placed on a sound. co-ordi-
mated basis. In the meantime insur.
rection and banditry had been ended,
roads We're being built, peace and
| order prevailed, and Haitis financial
and economic progress had begun. AT
! TINS time President Harding appointed
the first high commissioner, Brig.
Gen. John Fl. Russell of the. Marine
Corps, with the rank and power of an
Ambassador, and Haiti's progress fol.
lowed with amazing forward strides
RlIGGnI Il
an Annapolis graduate. had already
served as brigade commander, and was
not only conversant with Haiti's con
ditions and needs but sympathetic to
high degree with Haitian aspira-
tions, and held an unbounded faith in
its destiny Possessed to a marked
degree Of that rare quality, patience.
tactful. incorruptible. and bull" of
Haiti's future, it proved an admirable
choice. With all their background of
intriguing and grating officials. the
Haitians have wakened fully to the
realization that Gen. Russell is work
ing for Haitfs interests alone.
y X x X
TT is customary for the critics of our
continued participation in Haiti to
picture the high commissioner as a
military autocrat, with President
Borno as a mere puppet in his hands
Contrary to popular belief, our par
ticipation in Haitian affairs is and
has been of vitally restricted nature
when compared to the part it has
played, or is playing. in the Philip
pines, Cuba, Porto Rico or Santo
Domingo. That should be borne in
mind when the inevitable question is
asked: What have we contributed
to Haiti In the IL years since we
landed American bluejackets' and ma
rines on Haitian soil?"
Under the treaty of 1915 our parti-
cipation was limited to financial con-
troll alone. We were given advisory
or cooperative supervision in the ad-
ministration of the Gendarmerie d
Haiti to preserve peace and order,
and in sanitation and public works.
We had no part whatever in the edu-
cational field save in the building of
schools, none in the judiciary system
or in agriculture, and purely advisory
relations with the legislative system.
Two years ago we assumed super
vision in agriculture. The departments
administering the gendarmerie, public
works, the sanitation service and