File No. 838.00/1269.
The Acting Secretary of the
Navy to the Secretary of
State.
Navy Department,
Washington,
August 24, 1915.
Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith, for
your information, a copy of a report, dated August 13, 1915, received
from the Commander of the Cruiser Squadron, Atlantic Fleet, relative to
conditions in Haitian waters from August 7 to 12, inclusive.
Very sincerely yours,
[Inclosure—Extract.]
Admiral Caperton
to the Secretary of the
Navy.
Port au Prince,
August 9, 1915.
43. Last January the Treasury service, by an arbitrary act, was taken
from the National Bank of Haiti, the National Treasury, and given to
private banking firms, the principal one of which is Simmond Frères.
Simmond Frères is under no control that will safeguard public
interests. They merely make collections of the revenues, receive a
certain percentage as their fee, and turn the rest over to
whomsoever may exercise sufficient force or persuasion in the name
of a government or revolution to obtain it. The result is that
considerable money is being thus forced from Simmond Frères by the
so-called revolutionary committees in various towns, and this money
is being used to actively support revolutionary activity. On account
of military necessity, therefore, I this day informed the committee
in Port au Prince, Simmond Frères, and the National Bank of Haiti,
that the Treasury service would be resumed by the National Bank of
Haiti. This bank is under legal and exacting contract for the
handling of the Treasury service for the country.
August 10, 1915.
54. I made arrangements this day with the National Bank of Haiti for
the payment of ten gourdes to each soldier and one hundred gourdes
to each chief disarmed and dismissed in the North.
55. I informed the commanding officer of the Connecticut that the National Bank of Haiti had resumed
the Treasury service and had issued instructions [Page 520] to its representatives at Cape Haitien
to pay the soldiers disarmed at that place. I directed the Connecticut to get in touch with the
representatives of the Bank at Cape Haitien, make necessary
arrangements for paying these troops, and supervise the payment
himself.
