File No. 838.51/458.
The National Bank of the Republic
of Haiti to the Secretary of
State.
[Translation.]
Washington,
December 28, 1915.
Mr. Secretary of State: We have the honor to
inclose to you herewith a copy of correspondence exchanged between the
Minister of Finance of the Republic of Haiti and our establishment at
Port
[Page 535]
au Prince. In taking
cognizance of these two documents, your excellency will kindly observe
that the Haitian Minister complains that the Bank has been in the habit
of paying expenses, provided to be paid in American gold in the budget
of the Republic, by means of American banknotes. Your excellency will
find the answer which our establishment addressed to the Haitian
Minister on a question which was the subject of instructions on the part
of Admiral Caperton. Although this answer was given with the consent of
Mr. Conrad and Captain Beach, we deem it our duty to communicate this
correspondence to you for all proper purposes.
We beg [etc.]
National Bank of the Republic of Haiti,
Casenave, President.
[Inclosure 1.—Translation.]
The Secretary of Finance and
Commerce to the Director General of
the National Bank of the Republic of
Haiti.
No. 484.]
Port au Prince,
December 11, 1915.
Mr. Director: I have been informed by the
paymasters of the Departments of Finance and Interior, on the
occasion of the payment of the remunerations of the President of the
Republic and of the heads of the executive departments, that the
Bank had been in the habit for some time of paying the expenses,
provided to be paid in American gold in the budget of the Republic,
by means of American banknotes.
I cannot allow this practice to continue without making the most
energetic protest against it on the part of the Department of
Finance. As a matter of fact it is not difficult to anticipate that
when, at an early date, the countervalue in gold of this
unauthorized issue has disappeared from the market, it will be
impossible to go to the United States to obtain the means of
discharging obligations contracted in gold. An exchange in favor of
the metal will be established, which will burden the receipts of the
Treasury which you will have taken the liberty to collect in
American paper in violation of the financial laws. Your own
establishment will probably not be the last to infer the
consequences of this lack of foresight, for which it will not be
likely to bear the penalty.
Being obliged by virtue of my office to prevent the disturbances
which the novel fact to which I draw your attention is calculated to
add to those which already affect the economic life of the country,
I wish to remind you of the provisions of Art. 2 of the law for the
enforcement of the budget of ways and means, which provides for the
collection in American gold of the tax authorized by a special law
in a money different from the national gourde.
I hold the Bank entirely responsible for the analogy which it has
allowed to be introduced, in the public receipts and expenditures,
between gold coin and American paper.
I likewise call your attention to the circumstance that the amount of
the expenditures made with the proceeds of the sales of gold made in
exchange for gourdes is transmitted to the paymasters of the
Government departments in nickel coin which does not belong to the
Treasury and which causes delays in the service and frequent losses
owing to erroneous counting on the part of the Bank.
Please accept [etc.]
[Inclosure 2.—Translation.]
The National Bank of the
Republic of Haiti to the Secretary
of Finance and Commerce.
No. 30]
Port au Prince,
December 13, 1915.
Mr. Secretary: We have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 484 of the 11th
instant.
[Page 536]
In regard to the American banknotes which our establishment is said
to use as American gold, we will state that these notes come almost
entirely from collections made by order and on account of Rear
Admiral W. B. Caperton, U. S. N., Commander of the American forces
in Haiti and in Haitian waters. We will add that, in the beginning
of September, there was at times a slight premium in our market on
gold coin. This caused Paymaster Chs. Conard, U. S. N., collector of
customs acting by order of Admiral Caperton, to give us formal
instructions to accept, on the latter’s account, gold or American
banknotes indifferently.
The payments effected on this account, such as the remunerations of
the President of the Republic and of the heads of executive
departments, as referred to in your aforementioned letter, could
therefore only be made in the money actually collected by this
account, that is, in gold or American banknotes indifferently.
However, it does not follow that our Bank windows ever refused to
exchange banknotes for gold coin whenever so asked; this was notably
done in the case of the remunerations of the President of the
Republic and of the heads of the executive departments.
As regards the payments to the paymasters of the Government
departments, the Paymaster of the War Department complained of
finding differences (excesses or deficiencies) in the packages of
gourdes coming from the Bank, Since then we have wished to require
the paymasters to check at our Bank windows the sums paid to them,
as is right; all refused to do so, saying they never found any
deficiencies in the money paid them by the Bank, which assertion it
will be easy for you to verify.
In our offices the nickel is counted, placed in sacks according to
denominations, then weighed by way of verification, so that the
differences can only be very slight, where there is any difference
at all. We do not believe that, out of the payments made with funds
arising from sales of dollars, we have given a larger amount of
nickel than that of the deteriorated bills arising from these same
sales and being in a condition which did not permit of their being
placed in circulation. In this connection permit us to remind you
that it was at your request that we exchanged, for Messrs. Roberts,
Dutton and Co. and Simmonds Brothers, large quantities of
deteriorated bills for nickel, which proves that the public prefers
nickel to deteriorated bills.
Please accept [etc.]
National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.
L. B. Reine.
