292 



HAYTI. 



HENDERSON, DAVID BREMNER. 



electoral college, and a House of Representatives, 

 95 in number, elected for three years by the votes 

 of all adult male citizens who have regular means 

 of livelihood. The President is elected for seven 

 years by the people. Gen. Tiresias Augustin Sam 

 was elected on April 1, 1890, to fill the unexpired 

 term of President Hippolyte, ending in .May, 1902. 

 The Cabinet at the beginning of 1900 was com- 

 posed as follows: Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 

 Brutus San Victor ; Secretary of Finance and Com- 

 merce, Herard Roy; Secretary of the Interior and 

 Police, Tancr&de Auguste; Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture and Public Works, C. Leconte; Secretary of 

 Justice and Worship, L. Cauvin; Secretary of War 

 and Marine, V. Guillaume; Secretary of Public 

 Instruction, M. Chanzy. 



Area and Population. The area of the repub- 

 lic is estimated at 10,204 square miles. An eccle- 

 siastical census taken in 1894 made the population 

 1,210,02;"). Nine tenths of the people are negroes 

 and the rest of mixed blood. The state religion is 

 the I toman Catholic, but all creeds are tolerated. 

 The people speak the French language, corrupted 

 in the country districts into a patois known as 

 Creole French. Elementary education is free, and 

 nearly $1,000,000 are spent to support 400 public 

 schools and 5 lyceuins; yet the mass of the people, 

 especially in the country, lack the rudiments of 

 education and are extremely ignorant and super- 

 stitious, relapsing at times into the savage rites 

 of African witchcraft. 



Finances. Nearly the whole of the public reve- 

 nue is derived from customs duties, levied in 

 I'nited States gold coin on exports and on imports 

 in gourdes or national dollars, which are 15 per 

 cent, or more below the par of the American dollar. 

 The export duties collected in 1897 amounted to 

 $2,993,338 in gold, the import duties to $3,957,857 

 in currency; the export duties in 1898 to $3,212,239 

 in gold, the import duties to $2,640,574 in cur- 

 rency. For the year ending Sept. 30, 1899, the 

 revenue was estimated at $5,626,260 in currency 

 and $2,337,205 in gold ; the expenditure at $5,633,- 

 068 in currency and $2,325,284 in gold. 



The public debt on Dec. 31, 1898, consisted of 

 5 and 6 per cent, foreign gold loans amounting 

 to $13,141,751, $4,407,055 of internal debt payable 

 in gold and secured by the export duty on coffee, 

 and $9,227,713 payable in currency. There were 

 $3,749,000 of paper money and $3,500,000 of silver 

 gourdes having the same contents as the French 

 5-franc piece in circulation in 1899, with $225,000 

 in copper. The amount of American gold in the 

 country \vas about $1,200,000. A loan of $3,500,- 

 000 in United States gold was authorized in Feb- 

 ruary, 1898, for the purpose of retiring the paper 

 money. The money could not be borrowed, and 

 subsequently a law was passed imposing a sup- 

 plementary duty on imports, equal to 25 per cent, 

 of the former duties, which was to be applied to 

 the redemption of the paper currency until a 

 loan could be ruined. 



The Army and Navy. A Government guard 

 of (>.')( men with 10 generals among its officers is 

 kept to protect the President. An army of 6,828 

 men, mostly infantry, has been authorized since 

 1878. A fleet of small cruisers and gunboats has 

 been acquired at different times. 



Commerce and Production. The staple prod- 

 uct of Hayti is coffee, for which the country is 

 admirably adapted. An export duty of $3.87 a 

 hundredweight is a serious impediment to the ex- 

 tension of the industry, and much of the coffee 

 is gathered from old, neglected plantations. Cacao 

 has been planted in recent times. Cotton also is 

 now planted, and the export is becoming impor- 

 tant. Tobacco cultivation has been undertaken 



by a company organized lately. The sugar cane 

 is grown mainly for rum, which is distilled and 

 consumed in the country. Copper, iron, and 

 nickel exist, but there is no mining. The chief 

 forest product is logwood. The export of coffee 

 in the year ending Sept. 30, 1898, was 67,437,593 

 pounds; of cacao, 4,037,129 pounds; of cotton, 

 1,276,946 pounds; of logwood, 66,603,168 pounds. 

 Minor exports are hides and skins, honey, and 

 mahogany. 



There were 196 vessels, of 268,196 tons, entered 

 and cleared at Port-au-Prince in 1898; 192, of 

 286,577 tons, at Cape Haytien; 134, of 164,644 

 tons, at Les Cayes; and 177, of 426,552 tons, at 

 Jacmel. 



HENDERSON, DAVID BBEMNEB, Speak- 

 er of the United States House of Representatives, 

 was born in Old Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 

 March 14, 1840. He is a son of Thomas and Bar- 

 bara Henderson and a grandson of Walter Hen- 

 derson on his father's side. He was taken to the 

 United States by his parents, who settled on a 



DAVID BREMNER HENDERSON. 



farm in Winnebago County, Illinois, in 1846. In 

 1849 they removed to Fayette County, Iowa, where 

 the son was educated, attending district schools 

 and Upper Iowa University at Fayette. He en- 

 listed in the National army, Sept. 15, 1861, and 

 was mustered into service Nov. 5 as first lieu- 

 tenant of Company C, Twelfth Iowa Infantry. 

 He participated in the battles of Fort Henry, 

 Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth, was severely 

 wounded at Fort Donelson, and lost a leg at. 

 Corinth. Oct. 4, 1862. He re-entered the army, 

 June 10, 1864, as colonel of the Forty-sixth Iowa 

 Infantry, and served until the close of the war. 

 He was admitted to the bar at Dubuque in 1865, 

 Mini was appointed collector of internal revenue 

 at the close of the war, serving until June, ISti'.K 

 when he resigned to ln-comc n member of the law 

 firm of Shiras, Van Duzee & Henderson. He was 



