HAITI AND ITS REGENERATION BY THE UNITED STATES 



509 



To the gendarmerie came also another 

 important function. Shortly after its 

 formation its members were made the 

 official paymasters to all Haitian country 

 officials. In this manner graft which had 

 thrived for a century was eliminated. 



According to the old Haitian custom, 

 funds for the payment of country offi- 

 cials were delivered to the native head 

 of each district. These native heads 

 would subtract from the total whatever 

 percentage they considered their proper 

 share and then pass on the remainder to 

 the subheads. The subchiefs then in turn 

 would deduct their levy, passing on any- 

 thing which might remain. 



By the time the office-holders and pub- 

 lic servants in the country districts were 

 reached little or nothing would remain 

 of the sum appropriated for their pay- 

 ment. As a consequence, since these offi- 

 cials received little or no pay, they ren- 

 dered practically no service in return. 



Under the gendarmerie all this was 

 changed. The gendarmerie officers, who 

 were marines, would deliver to each offi- 

 cial his proper pay and allow none to 

 take more. As a consequence, the petty 

 officials who do the actual work of gov- 

 ernment are now better satisfied than at 

 any other time during the history of Haiti 

 and are trying to render good service. 



the: notorious Charlemagne's 

 rebellion 



Since the original campaign, in which 

 the revolutionists were put down and the 

 caco bands broken up, order has been 

 the rule in Haiti, although there have 

 been several occasions when the fires of 

 cacoism have flared up and considerable 

 local disturbance has resulted. 



Much difficulty arose when the United 

 States entered the war against Germany, 

 and Haiti also declared war upon the 

 Central Powers. By that action all Ger- 

 mans were interned and prohibited from 

 conducting their usual activities. As a 

 result the Germans, who had previously 

 possessed great influence in Haiti, were 

 much incensed and endeavored by every 

 means in their power to create disorder. 

 The cacos were stirred up and arms and 

 ammunition supplied them, and every 

 effort was made to employ the German 

 propaganda machine in the United States 



to create a situation embarrassing the 

 American forces on the island. 



One of the incidents arising from this 

 trouble was the attempted rebellion 

 headed by the notorious Charlemagne, 

 who escaped from prison and assembled 

 a large band in the hills of north Haiti. 



A man of considerable and unscrupu- 

 lous cunning, Charlemagne exhibited 

 much intelligence in securing supplies 

 and ammunition from Germans and 

 others interested in promoting disturb- 

 ances. Due to his military skill and the 

 modern equipment with which his bands 

 were provided, a strenuous campaign 

 was necessary to overcome him. 



It was during this campaign that two 

 Marine Corps aviators, Lieut. Edwin G. 

 McFayden and Private Clarence E. Mor- 

 ris, were forced to land near Maissade 

 (November 3, 19.19). Lieut. McFayden 

 told Private Moms to stay with the air- 

 plane while' he ■ We,nt for succor. The 

 landing had been made in the center of 

 a clearing, and he thought that with the 

 airplane's machine gun Private Morris 

 could hold his own until relief came. 

 But Morris got a Haitian to carry the 

 machine gun for him, and was starting 

 back to camp afoot, when the insurgents 

 swooped down upon him, killed him, dis- 

 embowelled him, and wound his viscera 

 around the machinery of the aircraft. 

 His body was then burned, only the skele- 

 ton remaining when another airplane 

 came to succor the disabled one. 



Charlemagne and his successor, Benoit, 

 were finally killed and their bands dis- 

 persed. 



Since that time there has been no dis- 

 turbance in Haiti. As an evidence of the 

 confidence of the Haitians in conditions, 

 the President recently made a journey 

 from one end of the island to the other 

 in an automobile with only half a dozen 

 companions. 



The novelty of this action will be ap- 

 preciated when it is understood that in 

 the days before the marine occupation 

 no president of Haiti ever left his presi- 

 dential palace without a guard armed to 

 the teeth and no president went a day's 

 journey into the country without his en- 

 tire guard, which consisted of 2.000 in- 

 fantry and several hundred cavalry. 



In the five years which have elapsed 



