Show kofl i he 1 tic eel I 1 iw ia ix p r biow 4 HE most moat curious thing about haiti Is that it has managed to T TUB escape american attention rill nil this time everybody knows cuba or knows all about cubi nex next it door on oa the west and porto rico across the mona alone passage east ward hut ut it if you happen to mention the he fact that you have been spending the winter in haiti most people will vill remain a little vague in belr minds writes george mariln Marv ln in I 1 harpers arper I 1 0 weekly quito quite naturally ia In inverse ratio to the lack of knowledge about abou t haiti prevails the misinformation about thi black republic if one were to believe elleve halt the stories heard in id west indian ports or on the steamers that ply between them one could only approach the haitian coast alth mingled embt emotions lons of ft a missionary and a suicide I 1 cut but geographically halt haiti to Is not a remote place the steamers stop there regularly german french english american and the bufty little spanish boats from cuba A french cable very useful in the spanish american war connects new york with the tha cape but capital which has developed jamaica cuba trinidad barbados and other caribbean lands less fertile has nover never sought bought investment in haiti the united fruit company whose fleets from costa rica and jamaica ate steam am by through the windward passage never cells calls at the ports of the island which la Is said to be the most fertile ot of the greater antilles the Can canadian adlan banors which have within the past decade spread throughout the west we t indies Is gradually overcoming spanish li ameri can n opposition by their more liberal terms and sounder finance have passed over haiti yet this Is an insular government which whatever its ita other shortcomings has never defaulted in its direct obligations and has moreover recently undertake under taked ti a railroad enterprise the completion of which contemplates the expenditure of ten millions of borrowed dollars collars new policy doped this reluctance hitherto ot of ex plot tive capital cannot be altogether attributable to unstable go government vern ment for right next door san domingo has indulged herself in 60 00 general eions while temperate haiti has confined herself to ten venezuela colombia and the lack of gov gor ern menta ments lave have been more constitutionally dissipated than the clack black republic and yet every one of 0 these span ish american territories has bait been exploited by foreign capital race haco prejudice la is the other obvious answer a race prejudice operative in two ways war in the probable antagonism of the native blacks to white intrusion and in the unwillingness ot of white colonists to place themselves on an equality with the black owners ot of tho the soil boil or subject themselves to negro authority now the particularly interesting thing thine about haiti at the present moment la is that these two deterrents deter renta are being reduced to a minimum 1 e a new government ern ment almost universally admitted to be the most enlightened and competent in haitian history has ha adopted and put into motion a progressive polley policy in the he working out of 0 which the matter of race prejudice to Is already being thoroughly tested the new government of Cincinnat oe fe leconti Lecon conte tc which superseded that or of an fohne simon by the revolution of surie june 1911 has adopted an aa ambitious liro gram eram and started Us its regime on a high plane by far the most moat important measure to which the government la is committed la Is tho the american ralL railroad road now la in course of construction this la is ong one of the most moat important projects ever undertaken der taken in the west indies and ranks with sir william van hornes II ornet railway tn in cuba when completed the line will be 50 miles in length joining all the more important cluka of the country anil and bringing the most fertile agricultural districts of the interior into direct connection connect lork with the chief seaports in addition to this comprehensive railway doi development elopement elop ment project act the new government has either cither inherited from the simon regime or undertaken on its own account nu an irrigation ac scheme I 1 to reclaim ilan the rich plain of the cul tie de I 1 sac around port au prince and tho the tiry dry lands near aux cayes and has ha let a municipal contract for the paving or of sorts in the capital doth both of these concessions are held beld by americans and both are now new operative to carry out these then and other improvements Improve menta uch such as aa electric light and power plants plant and a the currency i tho the government must borrow money abroad against which it has nothing tangible to hypothecate but tho the custom toma and internal revenues already well pledged to pay for previous for agn eign loans joans the dissipation ot of revolution and the annual budget graft deep seated A nother another of these difficulties Is the deep sealed institution of graft in haitian politics it la is hardly necessary to observe that this development of popular government la Is not confined to haiti but there its prevalence has been more an essential than an incident of office bolding this condition of affairs has naturally been attractive to foreign exploiters who by a mutually satisfactory agreement divide the margin on nearly every article purchased abroad from electric light bulbs to grand stands and junk men of war the few detractors of the present government gay bay it la is impossible or at least incredible that it should continue long on its present plane plan they say that it cannot hold bold its chief subordinates such for or example as the semi independent Del egues a cabal of five men each in charge ot of one of the five geographical departments without at tho the least connivance at extra official al emoluments that no foreign capital or enterprise can hops hope to make mak d an entry without clearing the way beforehand by liberal gratifications and finally that even it a successful attempt to la made to administrate the country on a anon non graft basis the disgusted officeholders office holders bolders would soon boon combine with oance domce seekers to oust so BO ama te urlah and non practical a regime whatever V economic and political interest haiti may have it Is quite subordinate in the mind of tho the traveler to the delight which he be finds in tho the beauty ol of the haitian landscape the of its people in tb the e first place it la Is a never ending surprise to find in tropic latitudes so BO many different kinds of count country y try to imagine a very verr mountainous a island isla nd to varying in altitude and rain rainfall fali an and in the resulting climate and vegetation that as you ride across it from cardean caribbean to atlantic you pass through bermuda alizona At izona zona the toot foot bills of the Ro ckles end first claus conventional vent ional tropics resembling the most luxuriant parts of the neighboring antilles cuba and porto rico haiti to lo an aa surprisingly varied as that the sky lines are long and high and noble not at all lagged jagged and volcanic one day for companions one may have pines and cedars and the next still riding north by some borne latitudinal magic whisked a thousand miles south to follow atrall through cocoa and royal palms ducking low hanging clusters of bananas among the tales they told us ua in the ports and on the steamers about haiti only one did not prove an exaggeration or a myth it would be impossible to exaggerate the character of haitian streets and highways in the whole of haiti there are only two streets and they are llad by the capital except in port au prince you rarely see any one or anything being transported in a wheeled vehicle the mortality statistics or of them the country must stand as aa a formidable menace to the theory of germ spread contagion a most careful research has demonstrated that revolution Is by far the most prevalent epidemic I 1 found no tram trace of 0 the an anemia anoints eints which affects spanish american and types in the tropics and during five weeks of tr travel yet in the seaports and through tha tn interior intel lor observed only three cases of what might have been leprosy As forth for tha j women of haiti they do de gervea separate essay a panegyric in what passes in haiti haili tor for a census they outnumber the men by about three to one but it you made your own eat estimate after inspecting of markets and dusty highways leading into market towns you would say bay that there were in haiti at least one hundred women for every roan man hy by contrast with them the haitian gentry teem seem rank anna ama tours they fritter away avay their time with lack ock fighting and revolutions the women of halt haiti concern themselves an all tho the time with the serious business of ufa life every mountain trail la is allva alive at daybreak with their hurrying feet and the dust rises alsea up la in the th lowlands low lanila over their process professions processions pro caslon ions on mule or burro back but mostly on toot foot each haying having her burden on her head as she ahe basters astena Ii to market and tu in thi evenings the ebb tide vows back even moro more esquell than the flood came through a panoply of dust hat through at and I 1 d made golden now by unset gunsel |