838.51/2963: Telegram

The Chargé in Haiti (Chapin) to the Secretary of State

67. According to a communiqué seemingly official in last night’s newspapers which were not distributed until this morning, preliminary details on proposed contract are as follows.

1.
The foreign contractor proposes to finance a public works program in 5 years at a cost of 500,000,000 francs using Haitian engineers and 100 per cent Haitian labor.
2.
First installment will be 235,000,000 francs and succeeding ones will be 66,250,000 francs each.
3.
The whole is to bear 6 per cent per annum payable semiannually and to be amortized in 40 years, yield of capital is stated to be 93% to Haitian Government and in general newspaper articles state plan has several advantages over 1922 loan.
4.
Security for loan is not mentioned and it seems apparent that entrepreneur does not yet have actual capital in hand to pay over first installment.

Neither de la Rue46 nor myself were given any advance indication of this proposed contract which was very secretly guarded.

I have requested an interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs47 and hope to secure confirmation and other news to report later.

Chapin
  1. Sidney de la Rue, Fiscal Representative of the Haitian Government.
  2. Yrech Chatelain.