HAYTL 



469 



right to equal treatment with natives of Hayti in all 

 suits at law. Our contention was denied by the Hay- 

 tian Government, which, however, while still profess- 

 ing to maintain the ground taken against Mr. Van 

 Bokkelen's right, terminated the controversy by set- 

 ting him at liberty without explanation. 



Army. The strength of the regular army 

 does not exceed 7,000 officers and men in times 

 of peace, nor the navy one man-of-war. 



Finances* The public indebtedness consists 

 of a foreign debt of $7,507,884, of which 

 $307,884 is a balance due from the French 

 debt of 1825, and $7,200,000, the so-called 

 Domingue loan, and of a home debt of $5,000,- 



!000. In July, a committee of French holders 



| of Haytian bonds of 1875, of the Domingue 

 loan, was appointed at a general meeting held 

 at Paris. The loan consists of 166,906 bonds, 

 the interest on which is 40 francs per annum, 

 and of these the " Credit General Francais " 

 only placed 72,929 bonds at 430 francs. The 

 first coupon falling due on Jan. 1, 1876, was 



1 paid ; but the next coupon was not paid, the 

 Government stating that a revolution had oust- 

 ed President Domingue from power. By de- 

 cree of July 9, 1877, the Government declared 

 that it only recognized the 72,929 bonds above 

 alluded to, and simultaneously reduced the 500 

 francs nominal value of each bond to 300 

 francs, and the interest from 40 francs to 18. 



i The period during which the debt was to be 

 redeemed through the operations of a sinking 

 fund was reduced from forty years to fourteen. 

 By a subsequent decree, April 12, 1880, the 

 nominal value of the bonds was restored from 



t 300 francs to 500 francs, and the interest from 

 18 to 25. Unpaid coupons during the three 

 years from 1876 to 1878 have been funded, and 

 pay 5 per cent, interest. On Aug. 1, 1885, the 

 Haytian Government resumed payment of the 

 coupons, paying the French minister at Port- 

 au-Prince 242,267 francs on account. This 

 payment represented the third quarter of 1883, 

 due Sept. 30 of that year, with promise that 

 all other coupons will be attended to as well. 



The expenditures of the Government depart- 

 ments during the fiscal year 1882-'83 were : 



Finance and commerce $494,625 



Foreign Affairs 352.080 



"War and Navy 1,221,197 



The Interior and Police 1,159,314 



Justice 828,622 



Public Instruction 744,350 



Public Worship 62,375 



Agriculture 309 800 



Other outlays 1,383,947 



Total $6,006,810 



The chief revenue during the same year was, 



from duties on imports, $1,459,539, and on ex- 

 ports, $1,862,566. 



Commerce. During the fiscal year 1883-'84, 

 there were imported goods to the amount of 

 $4,240,168, and exported, $7,400,242. The 

 principal export articles were : coffee, log- 

 wood, cocoa, cotton, hides, sugar, honey, and 

 drugs. The American trade with Hayti has 

 been as follows : 



Coffee, Haytian coffee sells lower than any 

 other kind in Europe and America, on account 

 of its being so badly prepared, and being, more- 

 over, mixed with black berries and small pieces 

 of stone. Two private coffee-cleaning estab- 

 lishments have lately been started, one at Petit- 

 Goave, and the other near Port-au-Prince. 

 They buy the coffee in the shell at the planta- 

 tions and then prepare it by machinery. After 

 a while, it is hoped, such establishments will 

 multiply, and Haytian coffee eventually attain 

 that rank abroad which it is entitled to if its 

 otherwise good flavor as a beverage be consid- 

 ered. In Europe, where labor is cheap, Hay- 

 tian coffee is picked over and, being freed of 

 stones and shriveled berries, it commands from 

 10 to 20 per cent, more than in the origi- 

 nal state. This is also true of Haytian cocoa, 

 so miserably manipulated on the plantations 

 that it ranks lowest on the list, while with a 

 little care it would bring as much money abroad 

 as Bahia, Para, Trinidad, and Guayaquil cocoa. 



Sugar. Sugar-planting is also in a very back- 

 ward state, although at the time when Hayti 

 was still a French colony, a hundred years ago, 

 it was the greatest sugar-producing country, 

 and the quality of it was then unsurpassed. Yet 

 there is some inducement to cultivate the cane, 

 ship the sugar abroad, get it refined, and re- 

 import it in the refined state, for, if identity 

 can be proved, it then enters duty free. The 

 duty on refined sugar is five and a half cents 

 a pound in Hayti, and in the cities none but 

 refined sugar is consumed. Consular reports 

 are unanimous in saying that there is a general 

 lack of capital, and of a good rural police force. 

 The cultivation of both tobacco and the ramie 

 textile plant has been abandoned. 



Commeree. The Haytian trade during the cal- 

 endar year 1884 was as follows: 



