Evening star., 1937-12-05
BY WILLIAM E. SHEA.

ny WILLIAM Z. SHEA.
TINE most shocking fact about
the crisis that has come up
between the Republics of Santo
Domingo and Haiti is the stark
fear that has settled like a pail on
all Haiti. This fear is felt alike by
officialdom, including President Stenio
Vincent in his white palace at Port au
Prince; by the thin upper strata of
educated and fairly well-to-do Hal
tians; by the peasants crowded 275
per- square mile in the mountainous
interior; by the thousands of itin-
Grant laborers who have crossed the
borders into Santo Domingo to work
on American-owned sugar estates, and
even by Haiti's Legation in far-off
Washington. AT the Legation Min
ister Lescot replies laconically, Moth
ing to say to every query. The fear
seems to be focused not so much on
the Santo Dominicans as a people as
it is on one man, the President and
dictator of Santo Domingo, Gen.
Rafael l.. Trujillo. 1t is SO universal
and so palpable as to suggest the
paraphrasing of Louis Napoleon's re-
mark of a century ago, Haiti, pays
de barbares" to Haiti, land of terror"
The crisis between the two ill
assorted peoples occupying the his
torical Island of Hispaniola, second
largest in the Caribbean, began on
October 4. From the outset a strict
censorship has been in force and
almost no news has been permitted
to go out through customary channels.
The only flrst-hand accounts of the
happenings in the two countries pub
lished in American newspapers have
been in press cables from Havana
quoting statements by persons re-
Gently arriving in Cuban ports from
Santo Domingo or Haiti. From these
statements it appears indisputable that
Haitians in considerable numbers
estimates run as high as 7,000-have
been killed in the rich Dominican
agricultural district stretching from
Monte Cristi on the north coast south
to Dajabon.
Responsibility Is Argued.
That the killings have occurred is
not disputed by anybody, though
statements issued by officials of the
Santo Dominican state department
and diplomatic service minimize their
numbers. President Trujillo himself
is reported to have termed them,
euphemistically. a ''pequena disputa"-
an Insignificant disagreement. But
there is differences of opinion over
the question of responsibility for the
killings-whether it was Santo Domin-
ican laborers and farmers or the
troops Of the very large and we'll
trained and efficient army of which
President Trujillo is the head
The explanation advanced by Santo
Dominican official spokesmen pictures
the happenings as merely another of
the clashes between workmen and
farmer nationals of the two countries
of the kind that have been occurring
for century. Such clashes are in
evitable, it is pointed out, along the
borders between countries having diff
ferent racial stocks and languages.
(The border between Texas and Mex
leo has seen many such outbreaks of
violence) In the spresent case the
animosities growing out of race and
language differences between the
French-speaking Negroes of Haiti on
the one hand, and the population of
whites and Negroes in SpaniSh-speak-
ing Santo Domingo on the other are
iYlfpn ncif1od hu irritotiore Of M ooo
nomic nature. The white Santo Do
minican field worker resents the in
f1ux into his country of Haitians who
compete with him for jobs and who
because of their willingness to work
for low wages make it difficult, if not
impossible, for him to gain a decent
livelihood. This competition for jobs
has been increased this year by a
policy recently adopted by the neigh
boring Republic of Cuba. AS a meas
ure for benefiting Cubas native labor,
the Cuban government has been each
year deporting large numbers of Hal
tians who for some time past have
been employed in the planting, culti-
waiting and cutting of sugar cane in
Cuba. Last year something like 30,-
600 were loaded onto ships and sent
back to Port au Prince and Cape
Haitien.
Combination Is Explosive.
Naturally the addition of these re-
patriated Haitians, many of them hav-
ing been away from Haiti so long
they are practically strangers in their
own homeland, to the already large
population of Haiti's homeless and
jobless has given. new surge to the
stream of itinerant workers crossing
the border in search of work in the
cane fields of Santo Domingo. A
combination of circumstances more
certain to foment labor violence could
hardly be imagined.
Another explanation Of the killings
cites the anger o. Santo Dominican
farmers and cattle raisers living along
the northern Haitian boundary
against bands of Haitian marauders
which with growing frequency during
the past few years have been crossing
the line and butchering and eating
cattle and farm animals. Haiti's teem-
ing population literally cannot sub