Show In the tbt Black R Pen Picture of President ht Sam The Lion What a Woman WomanS Saw S w on the Island Presidents Ridiculous Army Copyright COP Tight 1 T by y Frances Drake Ever since the United States became a areal areal areal real factor in the West Indies certain elements of the the population in the negro republic of Hayti Ha ti have been looking to this his country as a possible solution of theIr greatest eat troubles Certainly there must be sortie some radical change in government if there is to be much true progress there thereAt thereAt thereAt At the present time its lade inde pend nce is greatest stumbling block bionic But annexation would impose impo a terrible task upon the American AmerIc ai au for all alt Hayti Is in a n state of disorganization social moral and gov governmental go such as can hardly be imag imagined mag ned med by any anyone one who has hag not studied carefully existing there It Itie Itis ie is Li hardly an exaggeration to o say that from the president ident Simon Sam down the people are in a positively hopeless state There are exceptions but they may almost be counted on the fingers of one hand band The Tile President and the Army President Sam loves to call himself The Lion and his people imitate him some in all seriousness but the major majority majority majority ity in scorn Anything unlike a lion than his excellency I can ot imagine His courage coura e is of such poor quality that he never n v goes go s anywhere either in inthe inthe inthe I the city or in the country except e under the escort of the entire ar army I my mv Soon after my arrival in Port au Prince I had my m first 1 st interview int with his excellency I was wason son on hand at the ap appointed appointed appointed pointed time 9 a m in and was at once I shown to the grand salon on the second floor of af the palace pal ce The president greet greeted ed me cordially He expressed express d pleas pleasure plEasure ure at receiving an American girl girland and I returned the compliment by inti intimating intimating intimating mating that the world at large Ia was im irs impatient impatient patient to hear from him This delight delighted ed him Then he vouchsafed the th information information information mation that Hayti was as the most fertile island in the West Indies and an the most beautiful and exceedingly rich in min mm eras erale era All it needed he said was capi capital capital capital tal to get the riches out U But he went on the people lack courage a fact that is due probably r to the little financial crisis which 1 me ne coun that the army was never In better shape shane The Th army is made citi citizens citizens zens who are run in as a hard work working working ork ing market woman me when I ask asked asked ed ad her why her man do d the work She said she let him carry her load to town because she ehe didat want to lose lOEe him to the army It is the fun funniest funniest niest nI t thing I ever saw this army artay arm The Fourth of July ul les of any western village would be a well organ organized organized organized corps by comparison There are areno areno re reno no barracks About members of the soldiers lodge in a building in the pal palace palace palace ace grounds that used to oe ce a sort of prison The remainder sleep on the sidewalks and porches or suspend their hammocks along the street from frum tree to tree The Ha ien soldier boils boBs the plantain Jl that forms the chief feature e of his ra i c u i I 1 Ci Ih 7 Vit di I II I i a Iea fl l t I Ir r S t I tj 1 I I President Sam The Lion of Hayti try has undergone purely as a result of extravagance His excellency said this hi because in Hayti Hartl they th y never ne er forgive any ny one who Vho wh takes a step in advance and ais as Js rede cessor built a 3 little railroad eight or nine miles mUes long installed two electric light i plants and laid out onto a few ew miles road I agreed whit wilh his excellency however that hat the money spent ent for these thesa improvements s had been thrown away Then seeing s em how lov lovingly 10 he clung to the great gol gold J chair of state tate In which lie he sat I asked how bow he liked being president and what chances there were ere of af f another revolution tion Hon He hastened to assure lEs re me that the utmost content ani an quiet reigned although for or lave Jays nothing but revolution thin tion was talked af at 5 out Oil ill in u the th open and In a tin can over a few embers in inthe inthe inthe the middle of the street or on n 11 Tour our doorstep His dessert is a His pay is 50 cents a e when he gets it which often When he escorts the sacred person of the th r prEsident resi resident dent the soldiers uniform is s of dark ark green cloth with much gold trimming trimmin and many buttons His everyday rai raiment raiment ment meat is practically a fig leaf The Presidents Family y yI I had the pleasure of seeing President Sams Sama wife at Her amia amiability amiability which he values particularly parti la Is justified by her as an a her pen penchant penchant penchant chant for pink and light blue piques is justified by her complexion His excel excellency excellency lency lenc has six grown sons eons His is fully deserving of the n nand and he manages tp live rather comfort comfortably comfortablY comfortably ably even eyen if he does realize that revo revolution revolution lution grows over night in Hayti Hatt Pres President I idem ident Sam is disliked by every class He little and cares less les about the duties of a chief magistrate He is isa isa a at heart and a clandestine participant in occasional festivities of that cult Municipal government like national government is a farce in Hayti There is not a well defined street in Port au Prince PrIn e the capital city and sewers are unknown There are areno no health or san sanitary sanitary sanItary departments A hen or a horse may die in the street and in the street it remains I a dead pig which a alot alot alot lot of children hildren were hauling up and down the roadway with a string in I play pIa I I L 41 If Pi I p ia as ii t Lt t 5 4 l s 5 I r 7 I Th Street Scene Port au an Prince Facing the cathedral where his ex cx excellency e attends divine worship and thanks the Lord for all his blessings is isa isa Isa a square intended as a public park but now a loathsome pesthole from front which insects swarm in dense clouds cloud After 6 or 7 in the evening the streets are in total darkness s lamps lames I erected around the th city by some former well meaning administration are minus I II their tanks The electric lights sur surrounding surrounding surrounding rounding the palace are lighted only on Thursday evening concert night until 10 Instead of foreign capital being en encouraged encouraged as the president predent intimated he should like it to be everything Is done to discourage it The rhe look with suspicion upon query very whit white person who lands lan s No Caucasian Cauca fan ron in own real roal property unless he marries a ane ast The few ew French ench German Gerni l and th merchants ts and d bankers who represent re the e real and commercial wealth of ot the colony manage to hold some property by buying through reputable H citizens After Alter a purchase has ims been ef of effected footed a heavy mortgage is taken as se so security Under Und r this system some same ideal homes have been built by foreigners Their Thuir houses are located as far from front the town as possible and as remote from the road as the extent of the prop property property proPerty erty will allow The seclusion is in increased increased increased creased by b gardens of dense foliage ana anU an thick hedges Filthy Streets Clean Houses Though great heaps of 01 filth and garb garbage garbage garbage age of every description are to be found in the streets most of the houses are clean inside Everything in the line Une of ot refuse is shoveled over the threshold into the street streeL When it rains the re refuse refuse fuse Is washed into a ditch at the side or Into a hole In the center of the thor thoroughfare thoroughfare thoroughfare Every two or three years perhaps there is a bonfire end the re refuse refuse refuse fuse is Ja partially In the mean meantime meantime meantime time it smells to heaven Mar Marriage MarrIage Marriage Is practically unknown among amod amo g the tha lower classes but children are reared in profusion Despite their laziness and filth and general worthlessness the maintain some excellent educational in institutions institutions The with a splendid faculty from France the Brothers School the college under the direction of the friars of St Louis and the sem sent seminary seminary inary mary of St Joseph de Cluny for young ladies ladles are the principal schools scholls I at attended attended attended tended the commencement exercises of the ast last named The exhibition of em era embroidery sewing drawing and arid painting was most 1St remarkable All the institutions institutions institutions mentioned above are for the wealthy and well to do but the poor are by b no means neglected Free day schools for those unable to pay abound Notwithstanding their general education education tion the women are not ex cx extensive cC readers Periodicals Peri seldom find their way into their homes Books are few and of an undesirable character and there are none of those enchanting picture books for the youngsters which gladden the hearts heart of the American children The main reason undoubtedly for forthe forthe forthe the shiftlessness of the native Hayten is to be found in the generosity of na nature nature ture tune which supplies mangoes in endless endle quantity They grow everywhere with without without Without out cultivation cult and are the main sustenance sustenance sustenance nance of the population The negroes negro prefer them to bread and meat The cultivated area of the island is very limited and the southern part is practically practically cally eally a wilderness Coffee takes tak toe the be lead among mong the products There are no oxen mules capable of everything and subsisting on no nothing thing nd a few native ponies tender eyed eed docile little crea eros creatures creatures tures tunes being the only beasts of draught or burden The local conveyance for merchandise merchandise dise disc a pair of wheels with an adjust adjustment meat ment m nt of two bamboo poles poleu fiber ropes and arid palm leaves is a remarkable eon con contrivance With loads only equaled by those piled on to the diminutive don donkeys donkeys donkeys keys of the country it rounds sharp cor corners corners corners ners mounts huge boulders boul ers slides down downa a hill on a bunch of garbage or sinks into a cesspool with no apparent strain or threat of dismemberment di The Dance The Th chief dissipation di of the native fe Is fethe the dante dance and in this high and low indulge with equal zest No Knight of the Garter or grande dame in ermine and jewels ever glided through the stately minuet with a keener joy than tie the native feels in the ca cation tion of this barbaric ceremony whose series of horrors are appalling to the stranger and may not be described The dancers craze themselves elves with rum and andas andas andas as a climax drink steaming blood drawn from an animal sacrifice s This mad maddens maddens maddens dens even more than the alcohol nd the scenes that th t follow are degrading and repulsive in the extreme All are fatalists and when the great prophet suggests the possibility possibility of an event they th y go about caus cans causing causing ing it to happen particularly if it is something they desire If the pap loi predicts a general or national calamity they proceed to burn the town if the z S c Eli I J rk it itS S d Formen Now a Devout Catholic n C 10 a horrible old witch says a anew anew anew new political savior is at hand a new president is born they stir up a revolution revolution revolution tion The ruler who springs out of this revolution thereupon boasts that tha thaL his high place is ie not of human choice alone but the result o of od some favor with which he is en endowed endowed endowed dowed Altogether they are a most remark remarkable remarkable rk able lot PRANCES FRANCES DRAKE |