HAITI NEEDS 'BOLD NEW PROGRAM'
ALEXANDER, ROBERT J.
Haiti Needs 'Bold New Program' By Robert I, Alexander New Leader Roving Correspondent HAITI IS the Western Hemisphere's one all-Negro republic. The second American country to assert its...
...Indeed, there are probably more dally papers per inhabitant in Port-au-Prince thtn in any other city in the world, though they all have rather limited circulation...
...A canny Iflan wlwd, as lithe as a We don't want to banter, but down...
...Any manufacturing enterprise in Haiti will have to be fairly small, because of the small population and even smaller market...
...A Parti Comuniste, which was organized in 194G, was ; rather roughly handled by the government and it finally dissolved itself—as it said—"in the national interest...
...Of course it's not easy 4o know him...
...They include the Parti Socialiste Populaire, which was organized soon after the 194G Revolution and in subsequent elections seated the only Opposition members of parliament, one deputy and one senator...
...The . international sympathies of the Haitian P.S.P...
...took over the leading position in the new government...
...in establishing banana cultivation <rin certain valleys which had been swamp land...
...Opposition political parties were allowed to organize...
...j You'll have to peak under his sheet...
...DURING RECENT YEARS, some interesting steps have been taken towards developing the natural and human resources of the republic...
...First, some means must be found' for employing the present "surplus" population...
...They are almost all of pure African descent and for the most part speak a patois which contains elements of both French and -African languages...
...For instance, it has cooperated with the Standard Fruit Co...
...The ruling class has been made up principally of the government bureaucracy...
...In the political field the regime since 1946 has tried to apply the principles of democratic procedure to a greater degree than most of its predecessors had done...
...This prbject, it is predicted, will add 62,500 acres of cultivable land to Haiti's resources...
...It is patterned after the ParticJo Socialistica Popular of Cuba, which is that country's Communist fcarty...
...This mission recommended the adoption of a $35,000,000 development program, with the financial and technical aid of the UN...
...and the Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan...
...Headed by Dr...
...llsard, ' • in Atlanta Ai quick, let us say, as a wink...
...Other parties include the Parti Social Chretien which, as its name implies, is a Christian Socialist Party patterned after similar groups in Europe...
...The latter is perhaps the most interesting of all...
...6 A TRADE UNION MOVEMENT has been allowed to establish itself for the first time...
...Escaped on his way to the clink...
...To at least a certain degree, this ruling cla^s has tended to have more white blood in its veins that has the mass of the Haitian citizenry...
...Government officials have estimated that the country needs at least 100,000 new jobs in in-s dustry and agriculture to take care of its "excess" population...
...In large part, the history of Haiti can be told in terms of the sporadic struggle between this intelligentsia - bureaucracy - ruling class and the darker-skinned, less privileged elements of the community...
...The government hasn't done much about the P.S.P...
...THE GOVERNMENT has been interested, too, in the establishment of small manufacturing plants...
...Opposition papers have been allowed to publish with relative freedom...
...Flees Parole Chief Taking Him to Atlanta.— Newspaper headline...
...With great pride he showed this writer a map indicating the schools which had been established since he came into'ofuce...
...1946, the rather corrupt and dictatorial regime of President Elie Lescot was overthrown and the country was launched into an interesting period of experimentation...
...The second American country to assert its Independence, the Haitian nation was set up in 1804 following a slave revolt in what was then the French colony of Saint Domingue...
...and probably of the U.S.A...
...The mass of the population is made up of independent peasant proprietors, cultivating almost infinitely small parcels of land, growing principally coffee...
...Richard Armour...
...The President since 1946 has been Dr...
...Haiti is faced with serious economic problems...
...Only in recent years has there been some semblance of stability, and only since 194(1 has Haiti seriously tried to erperiment with political democracy...
...Economic and Social Council sent a twelve-man Technical Assistance Mission to Haiti to study the possibilities for agricultural and industrial development...
...The subdivision of the land has gone to the point that the average peasant's parcel is only large enough to support him and his family on a very low standard of living...
...It has had a virtual monopoly on education...
...Dumarsais Estimce...
...It would be a fine and perhaps symbolic thing if the first step in President Truman's announced but as yet unclarified program for developing backward areas were to be, taken in the Republic of Haiti...
...Upon the request of the Haitian government, the U.N...
...At the same time the Export-Import Bank of the U.S...
...It bears some resemblance to the Peruvian Aprista Party and similar organizations throughout Latin America...
...And the population continues to grow...
...It has spoken French and has had a much more cosmopolitan outlook than is characteristic of the Haitian peasant...
...He is an exschool teacher and a former Minister of Education, and has been particularly interested in expanding the school system...
...It is generally felt that there is a field for the establishment of additional textile plants as well as in other industries, such as fishing,' shoemaking, canning, food processing, glass and ceramics, and perhaps even newsprint...
...In the economic field, the Estlmee regime has been interested in' a program of development...
...arc not hidden...
...There is litUe available capital in the country, and few foreign firms are interested in establishing small enterprises with a capital of from $50,000 to $100,000, about the maximum which would be adapted to the Haitian situation...
...Daniel Fignple, a school teacher and former Minister of Education, it is carrying out an adult education program of its own, while at the same time keeping busy organizing trade unions, peasants unions and units of the political party itself...
...In January...
...If the eeononiic-and social level of the average Haitian is to be increased to any noticeable degree, some drastic changes must be brought about...
...This arises I'ro'n the fact that it was the mulattoes Who first took the lead in the struggle against the French and, in doing so...
...This group has lived mainly in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and in a few provincial towns...
...in January, 1949, granted Haiti a $4,000,000 loan for the establishment of a system of flood control, irrigation and drainage of the Artibonite Valley...
...So far, a small textile plant has been established...
...As yet, these, parties are very weak...
...Since the establishment of the independent Haitian nation, the country has been plagued by an almost unceasing series of political upsets, revolts and civil wars...
...If suddenly youand he meet...
...Second, Haitian agriculture itself must be improved and made more efficient...
...Hat anyone seen an ex-wixard...
...After more than a decade of warfare, during which the Negro ex-slaves defeated the best trmies that Napoleon could send against them, the independence of Haiti was finally achieved...
...HAITI IS FEELING the wave of unrest which has hit virtually every "backward" nation on earth...
...And although democracy is certainly a relative term when applied to Haiti, most observers would probably agree that the country has experienced during the last three years one of the most democratic periods in its whole history...
...The ix slaves, a majority of whom at the time of the declaration of independence were actually American-born, were led by a remarkable group of military arid political figures including Toussaint L'Ouverture, Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe, and Pet ion...
...THE COUNTRY'S social structure if i.p interesting one...
...GATHERING OF THE KLAN . ii i Ex-Klan Wizard Escapes...
...This is one of the country's drawbacks...
Vol. 32 • April 1949 • No. 15
