342 



HAYTI. 



from Germany, $258,000 from England, and $53,- 

 000 from other countries. The products exported 

 are coffee, cacao, cotton, honey, logwood, mahogany, 

 hides, goatskins, and guaiacum. Plantains, rum, 

 and some rice and corn are produced and consumed 

 in the country. The imports are flour, rice, salt 

 pork and beef, salt codfish, herring, and mackerel, 

 hams, butter, cheese, lard, olive oil, sugar, soap, 

 tobacco, kerosene oil, hardware, tools, lumber, cotton 

 cloth, apparel, canned goods, and medicines. The 

 import duties are about 43 per cent. The prices 

 vary greatly with the rates of exchange. There were 

 entered during 1893 at Port au Prince, the chief 

 commercial harbor, 188 steamers, of 274,761 tons, 

 and 79 sailing vessels, of 22,225 tons. In July, 1896, 

 a company was organized in New York with a 

 capital of $1,800,000 to lay a cable from New York 

 to Hayti. 



Finances. The receipts for the year ending 

 Sept. 30, 1894, were $6,650,000. The expenditures 

 from Oct. 1, 1894, to Sept. 30, 1895, were $8,042,70."). 



The public debt on April 3, 1896, amounted to 

 $22,608,650, of which $4,255,369 represented foreign 

 loans, $4,262,100 internal loans, $300,000 a forced 

 loan, $250,000 a loan constructed on March 31, 

 1896, $5,449,950 obligations to be paid off under 

 the law of Sept. 28, 1895, $4,050.436 various other 

 liabilities, and $4,040,795 paper money. 



Armed Forces. There is an army, raised part 1 y 

 by conscription and partly by voluntary enlistment 

 for seven years, comprising a Government guard of 

 650 men of all arms, an artillery corps of 1,000 men, 

 6 regiments of infantry, numbering 3,200. and 1,978 

 gendarmes ; total, 6,828 men. The fleet is made up 

 of 5 iron steamboats, carrying 32 guns, and 1 steel 

 gunboat, built in 1886. 



Currency. The silver gourde, or dollar, is nom- 

 inally equivalent to the French 5-franc piece. In 

 addition to old worn pieces a new silver currency 

 was emitted between 1880 and 1890. but the silver 

 pieces, coined in France, are only 0'835 fine. The 

 Government has for 'a long time aimed to replace 

 the national currency, silver and paper, with a new 

 one having a metallic standard on a parity with 

 that of the United States. The national currency 

 was actually withdrawn from circulation about 

 twenty years ago, and American gold and silver 

 were the only circulating medium, but since then 

 Haytian paper and silver currency have been issued 

 as an incident to political revolutions, until there 

 are over $8,750,000 in circulation, each successful 

 party having acknowledged the emission of its prede- 

 cessors in power. United States gold is, however, 

 the actual standard for all commercial transactions, 

 though the national currency circulates from hand 

 to hand among the people, and is held at a premium 

 fluctuating greatly, according to the political state 

 of the country and the conditions of the export 

 trade in coffee and other produce and the import 

 trade in provisions. In the spring of 1896 this pre- 

 mium rose to 60 per cent., owing to a financial crisis : 

 in the summer it fell to 40 per cent. : and at the be- 

 ginning of the year, if shipments of coffee are large, 

 it may decline to 20 per cent. The Government has 

 recently made fresh efforts to bring the gourde and 

 centime currency up to a par with United States 

 gold. There were in circulation in the middle of 

 1896 $4,117.197 of paper gourdes. x4.452.000 of 

 silver gourdes and fractional silver. X225.000 

 of copper, and probably xj.000.000 of Ameri- 

 can gold; total, $12,794,197, estimated at 10.66 

 per capita. The silver and paper gourde is de- 

 clared by law to be equivalent to a United States 

 gold dollar, and its redemption in gold is guaran- 

 teed by the Government, half the export duty on 

 coffee of 50 cents per 100 pounds being reserved 

 for that purpose. This pledge has not been kept, 



the reserved revenue, amounting to $300,000 per 

 annum or more, being invariably used for some 

 other purpose of the Government. All export 

 duties are to be paid in United States gold, while 

 import duties are payable in Haytian currency. 

 The paper, silver, and copper currency is issued by 

 the Government through the medium of the Na- 

 tional Bank, which has the coins manufactured in 

 France. It requires a special law each time a new 

 issue is made. The final effort of the Government 

 to reform the finances of the country and at the 

 same time to reduce the national currency and es- 

 tablish a lasting parity with United States money 

 is embodied in the act 'of the Legislature of Sept. 

 27, 1895, authorizing the Government to contract a 

 loan of 40,000,000 francs, at a rate not exceeding 9 

 per cent, per annum for interest and sinking fund, 

 for the purpose of converting the outstanding local 

 public debt, which pays 18 per cent, per annum, 

 and for the withdrawal of the current paper money. 

 Under this law $500,000 of paper gourdes were re- 

 deemed at par with American gold during the first 

 half of 1896. 



Change of Government. The political state of 

 the country was restless and the discontented ele- 

 ments renewed their activity on the eve of the elec- 

 tions of Jan. 10, 1896. Minister of Public Works 

 Prophete resigned from President Hippolyte's Cab- 

 inet. The elections passed off without disturb- 

 ance because extraordinary military precautions 

 were taken to prevent an outbreak. The Govern- 

 ment candidates were elected to the Assembly from 

 all places except Aux ('ayes. Early in March a 

 quantity of hidden arms was discovered in Port an 

 Prince, indicating an intended rising of the ad- 

 herents of the exiled Gen. Francois Manigat. Three 

 weeks later the hoary-headed President who has 

 ruled Ilayti with a rod of iron since his advent to 

 power at the head of the revolution that over- 

 turned President Legitime in 1889 died suddenly 

 of apoplexy. Since his execution of the leaders of 

 the rebellion of 1891 who fell into his hands his 

 ail ministration had been one of sleepless vigilance 

 and mistrust toward the enemies that he created by 

 that severe act of retaliation. But the ability that 

 he then displayed in forestalling the plans of his 

 enemies and his quickness in nipping in the bud 

 every subsequent conspiracy and guarding against 

 invasion inspired the banished leaders with such 

 awe that they have not made a second serious at- 

 tempt to overthrow the man who threatened to 

 smite with a heavier blow whoever lifted a hand 

 against him. Although Hippolyte won his victory 

 over Legitime with the aid he received in money 

 and arms from the United States, he has always 

 resist e 1 every outside influence and has discouraged 

 American and other immigration, believing that 

 foreigners on the island, in order to make money. 

 si irred up revolutions and smuggled arms and were 

 always ready to overthrow the existing Government, 

 no matter how well it conducted affairs. 



President Hippolyte's death was kept secret from 

 the people until measures for preserving the peace 

 could be perfected. Gen. Tiresias Augustin Simon 

 Sam. Secretary of War, was elected President by 

 the National Assembly over Gen. Fouchard. Secre- 

 tary of Finance. The latter retained his portfolio, 

 and P. Faine that of Foreign Affairs and Justice. 

 While M. Buteau became Secretary of the Interior, 

 M. Chan/y Secretary of Public Instruction, and M. 

 Arteau Secretary of Public Works. The new Pre.-i- 

 dent. promised many reforms. Some of the partisans 

 of Manigat attempted at Jacmel to start a revolu- 

 tion on the night of Gen. Hippolyte's funeral, but 

 they were overpowered by the troops after a combat 

 in which several men were killed and many wounded. 

 Gen. Manigat, the champion of the negro element, 



