

II AYTI. 



that the treaty of 18S8 with the United S 

 whieh is wholly nonreciprooal, could be extended 

 l4> llnwnii without its mil* 

 Hawaii proposed t> arbitrate the Immigration 



question BS, nlil .laj-uii. aflrr 



flr*t tlecln the end of .lulv accepted ar- 



bitration in prim iple and expressed a willingness 

 M-iiv* tin- ln>is tin- Mibje, t-matter. and the 

 procedure .f the arbitration. Tin- Chin-e con-nl 

 ratMHl objection* jn In-half of his countrymen. 

 against wh--ii tli.- ll.iw.. :M be- 



us|,,n a-t in force in the 

 | ' . Hawaiian minister a>-mvd 

 him s,. residing in Hawaii would IK? free 



it ihnr : 'try ami return. In the 



autumn the immigration of free labOTSft fltMB Ja 

 I ;in wa* nwumrd. The Japanese authorities t""k 

 to ioe that . \. r\ "tie of the immigrants com- 

 plied with the immigration regulations, and the 

 Haw > hich had given the assur- 



ance when the depute first arose that there would 

 be no interference with bonatitlr immigrants, was 



xs to stop this further immigration. 

 Hawaii accepted Japan'- pr|H>sal that ouch ; 

 to the coi -iioulil prepare a statement of 



u-ts on which it rests its case. Japan admitted 

 tin- right of both narties to present testimony re- 

 garding facts on which they were not agreed. 



II \^ I I. Mil. lie ill the West III. lies occupy- 



ing the western part of the island of Hayti. The 

 legislative body is the Nat i>nal Assembly, consist- 

 ing of a Senate of 3U members and a 'House of 

 nons of 9o members, the latter elected for 

 years bv universal male suffrage, while the 

 Benators are elected by them from a list supplied 



in part by the 1're.sident and in part by the eleet- 

 Thc two houses in joint session elect the 

 President, whose term of office is seven 

 Gen. I.. M. F. Eiippoljta, like most of his prede- 

 cessors, became IV-ident as the result of a revolu- 

 tion. Hist. TIM would have expired in Mav, 1W7, 

 but he died in 1HM. ami in his place (i. n. tiresias 

 Augii>t in Simon Sam was elected for the term end- 

 ing in M The Cabinet was composed in 



pinning of !*!? of the following men, 

 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Ji. 



f \Var and .Marine. M. Mont- 

 paint; Secretary of t he Interior, M. liutcau : ^ 

 tary of Public "instruction. M. Clmn/y: 

 of Public Works. M. ArteM : Secretaiy of Fin. 

 .rd. 



\rea and Population. The republic has an 

 area of alx.ut 11.070 square miles, cmnprisinjr the 

 most fertile part of the island. Tin- population in 

 18M was l.-Jlo.r,-.r ( . nine tenths of whom are of 

 pore negro blood. 



Finance*. The budget for 1897 makes the total 

 disbursements of the treasury 8,984,539 pesos of 

 the nominal value of 5 francs, of which 1 :.- 

 pesos are for foreign affairs, 828,818 pesos for 

 finance and commerce, 1,870,745 pesos for war and 

 marine, 1.503.394 pesos for the interi. 

 pesos for public works, 297.222 pesos for a^rieul- 

 :. 190 pesos for public instruction. 519.008 

 pesos for justice. 96.945 pesos for worship. 'J66.000 

 pesos for the national bank, and 1,423,685 pesos for 

 the Public debt. 



The foreign debt amounted on April :{>. !*!:. to 



;.li: pesrw in gr.hl. consisting ,,f ,, .Vj M . r -c.-nt. 



loan of 4,1 7C. 113 peses issued in 1*7:, and one of 



9,300,000 pesos raised in 1896 and paying 6 per 



per B st. The total debts amounted to 



:.218 pesos in gold and 10,812,574 pesos in 



curr. 



The Army and Nary. The army, nrniited 

 part' nption for M-V-TI year* and partly by 



voluntary enlistment for four years, is composed of 



overnment guard >f lOOartillr- nfan- 

 try. I.'iO sharp-' 1 batteries 



f'artillery numbrrin^ UMHI men. C regiments of in- 

 fantry of" tin- line immbermi; :!. '.MM! mni. and 



1 "'J-s men. 



yinj; 

 82 gnns. and a si, .el ^nnl.o.-it armed with "> -uns. 



( omincrce. Th.- total value .-f the impi>rts in 

 IS;H; was ii.o.vi.888 pesos, and of the exports lur,:;.. 

 903 pesos. <f the m.| -Md pent 



he I'niteil states. i.:uo.(NNi|Nvx,.s from I : 

 804,000 pesos from Ji.rmany. JM;.IHKI JM-N.S from 



and. and 70,000 pesos from t her count i 

 Tin niiiiil-er of vessels onti-ivi at I'oit an 1'nine 



luring lSim was'J(M>. of :{.VJ.I I.' tons, of \vhirh MM. 

 of 83'J..Vj; ton 



A ere sailing vessels. 



Internal Affairs. President Sam. lacking the 

 j.resti L ',- and \i-nn.us authority of his p- 

 had to OOQtenO with difficult e< onomii- ei.ndit ions 

 as well as the usual political instability of the 

 country. The low price (.f coffee and the high 

 rates of exchange produced a stale of depn 

 and distress that roused the anger of the populace 

 again>t the (iovernnient and nN,, against the for- 

 eiu'ii merchants who were sii|.|>osed to l.enelil by 

 the sufferings of the people. Constant disagree- 

 ments arose between the President and his minis- 

 .-lutio nary plots were hatched at .laciiid 



and other places. Merchants refused to lend n 



to the (lovernmeiit. and as the treasury was empty. 

 the soldiers were unpaid and insullicient ly fed. 

 The premium on gold rose to !M> per cent. ( Mi 

 <M. 1 President Sam proposed a bill partially to 

 retire the paper and silver currencies and establish 

 the gold stan. lard. To insure the regularity and 

 stability of i ran-a>-; i.>n- and cause, as far as pos- 

 sible, the perturbations "f the e\< -I cease, 

 so as to give the best eiicon rau'eiiien t to the national 



commerce, he believed that the paper money should 



eventually be wholly retired and the sj|\ r r and 

 copper money partially withdrawn from circula- 

 tion. The bank notes in circulation are i-~n.,l by 

 t he ( iovernnient under the control of the National 

 Hank. As the r }->. has hitln-rt. 



changed with t'nited States dollars at an a 

 pivmiuni on the latter of 17 per cent., the high 

 rates prevailing in 1897 created a critical commer- 

 cial situation. There were 2,900.000 gourdes in 

 silver and 75,000 gourdes in copper ivm-d during 

 the ten years ending in 1HJK). In ls;i." silver 

 copper coin was issued to the amount of l.ttOO.OOO 

 gotir ; than 4,000,000 paper gourde 



in circulation in 1896. The President's project of 

 law was adopted by the National Assembly. The 

 leading provisj,,,, "j s for a loan of $2,800,000 of 

 I'nited States gold at par. the interest not to 



1 \'2 per cent, per annum, the ppx.enN of 

 which are to be applied to the withdrawal of tin- 

 paper money from circulation at tie 



cent, a year. The bill establishes a surtax of 2~t 

 per cent. n<l rnl;n-iii on all importations, ]' 

 cent, payable in I'nited States gold, the remaining 

 10 per cent, in silver, which shall be witlxi 

 from circulation and demoneti/.cd as soon as jt is 

 taken in. From the beginning -f the withdrawal 

 of the paper notes American gold coins shall I 

 tender in the republic, and the 'u^om- 



the proportion payable in -ilver. and all 

 other state revenues shall be collected in that money 

 or in bills at two thirds of their face value. 



,ew Cabinet was appointed by President Sam. 

 with which he worked more harmoniously than 

 with his previous ministers. It wa <1 of 



the following meml tary of Foreign Af- 



fairs, Finance, and Commerce. Solon M>'; 

 tary of War and Marine, S. Marius ; Secretary of 



