Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, The American Republics, Volume V

838.51/3236

The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Haiti (Gordon)

No. 438

Washington, December 16, 1936.

Sir: The Department has received your despatch No. 350, of November 28, 1936, together with its enclosures, and desires to express its sincere appreciation of the thoughtful and penetrating analysis which you have made of the Haitian counter project.

Your suggestions have been examined with great attention, and the Department finds itself in general agreement with them. Upon some consideration, and after several protracted consultations with the Fiscal Representative, the Department has drafted a reply to the note of November 26, from the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs, with its enclosure, a Haitian counter project to the draft note forming part of the proposed protocol.

The Department’s reply, enclosed with this despatch, consists of a note with one enclosure and is accompanied by five aide-mémoires. It is hoped that with certain exceptions noted in this instruction, all outstanding points of disagreement have been covered adequately, but the Department would be glad to consider any further suggestions, either as to substance or procedure, that you may care to advance.

More specifically, the Haitian contentions with respect to Articles 8 and 10 of the Department’s draft note are dealt with in the note of reply. As respects the three projects of law, you are authorized in your discretion to amplify orally to the Minister of Foreign Affairs when presenting the reply, the Department’s fundamental objections to the proposed Haitian legislation. It is suggested that you may care to touch upon the proposed “Service of Control of Receipts and Expenditures of the Republic”, pointing out that many of the duties to be performed by this proposed service would appear to be already carried out at present by the technical branches of the Ministry for Finance. It is the Department’s understanding that according to present practice, orders for payment originating in the various Ministries are approved there by the competent authorities, and then passed through, with certain exceptions, the Ministry for Finance, from which Ministry they are in turn referred to the Fiscal Representative’s Office for further pre-audit and accounting. Consequently, the introduction of such a new service as appears contemplated would seem to constitute, with the service which the Haitian Government admits will be necessarily instituted in the Government side of the Bank, and which is in effect the same service as that at present performed by the Office of the Fiscal Representative, a triplication rather than a duplication of accounting in many instances. You may also care to develop at some length the total inadequacy of the personnel and the salaries to be paid such personnel, which the Haitian Government had in mind as sufficient for the Government side of the Bank, pointing out that even according to their own ideas, such a personnel could scarcely cope with the duties and responsibilities to which this organization must respond. The Department fully concurs in your view that this organization must be allocated the global sum resulting from the 2 per cent levy, to be disbursed as directed by the appropriate responsible officers of the Bank.

The Department hopes that the Haitian Government will, upon further consideration, agree with this Government’s view of what constitutes a satisfactory plan for the organization of the Government side of the Bank, as set forth in the enclosure to its reply, and that as a consequence the greater part of the objectionable features incorporated in the first draft legislation will thus automatically disappear.

Likewise, you are authorized, should you deem it useful, to state orally to the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the American Government has examined Article 11 of the draft decree-law No. 1, and believes that in view of the insecurity of prompt communication within the Republic of Haiti and the amount of bookkeeping involved, it is of doubtful utility to insert a proviso that the Minister for Finance within the first fifteen days of each month should be required to submit a statement of the condition of the Treasury with regard to expenditures as respects the twelve equal monthly budgetary allotments (douzièmes) and extraordinary credits. You may also mention in this connection that not long ago the Fiscal Representative upon the request of the then Minister for Finance agreed to the inauguration of a somewhat similar scheme, but that after a trial of several months this scheme was dropped by mutual consent as being impracticable.

With respect to aide-mémoire No. 1A enclosed with this instruction, the Department with the entire concurrence of the Fiscal Representative has agreed to the fixing of a maximum for the Bank’s commission for its Treasury and other services at 1,000,000 gourdes. The Haitian proposed minimum of 600,000 gourdes is, of course, unacceptable to this Government since it is inadequate. It may be remarked in passing that the minimum has been fixed at 800,000 gourdes or $160,000, based upon 2 per cent of a 40,000,000 gourde budget with a practical division of $110,000 for the running of the Government side of the Bank and $50,000 for the purely Treasury services of the Bank as actually rendered by the institution at present.

Although the Department has given consideration to your remarks as to the possible effects upon the future smooth functioning of the Bank by the Haitian inclusion of the Bank’s two per cent commission in the budget as provided in Article 8 (page 3) of the Haitian draft decree law No. 1, it does not feel that it could properly oppose any objection to the Haitian desire on this point since a similar provision was contained in Article XVI of the Accord of August 7, 1933.

It is believed that the other aide-mémoires as drafted by the Department require little or no explanation. Mr. de la Rue has been consulted with respect to a possible reduction in the period necessary after the signature of the protocol before the date upon which it is to go into effect, and the aide-mémoire on this subject, which is based upon his ideas, has been approved by him.

The plan of organization which is transmitted as an enclosure to the reply has been drafted by Mr. de la Rue personally in the Department upon the documents received from Mr. Pixley. The Department has carefully studied this draft plan, and while it, of course, cannot pretend to pass with knowledge upon the more technical details of the proposed organization, it believes that on the whole the plan should provide adequate security for the service of the 1922 loan. The Department has accordingly approved this plan in principle.

With respect to the statement on page 1, line 3, of the list of salaries of personnel attached to the memorandum enclosed with our draft note, that the “Government rendered a decision that the Fiscal Representative and the Deputy Fiscal Representative, et cetera,” Mr. de la Rue has assured the Department that this statement is substantiated by a letter from Mr. Châtelain, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Mr. de la Rue to the effect that de la Rue, Pixley, Williams and Waterschoodt should continue to receive their present appointments and allowances and in addition should receive their fees as directors of the Bank. Mr. de la Rue affirms that this statement did not carry any limitations to the effect that these salaries may be reduced upon the termination of the United States financial control in Haiti, and that it was undertaken to carry into effect the provisions of Article V of the Bank Contract. It may be explained in passing that until this letter was written it was obviously impossible to pay any of the directors’ fees as foreseen in Article V. Mr. de la Rue informed the Department further that he has requested Mr. Pixley to obtain this letter and to communicate it to you. In the improbable event that it should not in fact substantiate the statement contained in the Department’s memorandum mentioned at the outset of this paragraph, you are requested to cable the Department with such recommendations as you may see fit to make as respects a revision of the list of salaries attached to the memorandum.

Finally, you may care to develop the thought expressed in the last paragraph of the Department’s draft reply, pointing out the many instances in recent years where the United States Government has been only too glad to attempt to meet Haitian aspirations, by relinquishing its control of certain Haitian administrative and other services in advance of the date set for the expiration of this control. You may desire to add that in the case of this protocol and attached note, the United States Government regrets that its responsibilities towards American citizens who have invested in Haitian bonds precludes this Government from agreeing to the termination of the present system of financial control in Haiti unless the rights of these bondholders are adequately safeguarded.

Very truly yours,

R. Walton Moore

[Enclosure 1]

Draft of Note To Be Submitted to the Haitian Minister for Foreign Affairs

Excellency: I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that the Government of the United States of America has examined with great care Your Excellency’s note of November 26, together with its enclosure, and three draft decree laws, all bearing on the subject of the proposed protocol and accompanying note abrogating the protocol of 1919, the accord of August 7, 1933, and terminating United States financial control in Haiti.

The United States Government is happy to take note of the fact that the Haitian Government accepts the text of the proposed draft protocol as delivered by me to Your Excellency on November 18, 1936. It is also happy that Your Excellency’s note of November 26 would appear to indicate that the two Governments are in substantial agreement as to the main points to be covered in the proposed note attached to and forming part of the aforementioned protocol. The few points at issue are believed to be minor ones not involving serious difficulties in reaching a final mutual agreement. My Government recalls in this connection that when the question first arose in 1934 as to the purchase by the Haitian Government of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti and the proposed termination of United States financial control in Haiti through the conclusion of an agreement abrogating the Treaty of 1915, the Protocol of 1919, and the accord of August 7, 1933, it was the clear intention, whether directly expressed in words or indirectly understood between the responsible officials of the two Governments, to transfer to the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti under its new management the essential services of the office of the Fiscal Representative as then organized, under suitable agreements which would protect the rights of the holders of bonds of the 1922 Haitian loans, in the spirit of the pledges and assurances given in the past to these bondholders by both the Haitian and the United States Governments.

Although there have been changes on both sides among those who participated in the negotiations in 1934, this clear intention has remained unaltered. Consequently, when several weeks ago the Haitian Government formally expressed its desire to proceed with the conclusion of an agreement to terminate United States financial control in Haiti, my Government was only too happy to comply with this request. However, with the original intention referred to above in mind, my Government, in drawing up on the basis of the original negotiations the text of the note attached to the draft protocol submitted to Your Excellency by this Legation on November 18, felt that it was necessary to reduce to writing certain of the understandings whose existence was no less real because of their being oral. The aim of the United States Government, which it feels sure the Haitian Government shares, has been to provide an adequate and workable agreement which would as far as possible obviate any unfortunate controversies as to the exact nature of these understandings, which might arise later to obscure the happy relations that now obtain between the two countries.

More specifically, with respect to the first point raised in Your Excellency’s note of November 26, the United States Government notes that the Haitian Government, although apparently desiring a change in draft Article 8 of the proposed note, states

“the formal engagement that it (the Haitian Government) takes not to open supplementary or extraordinary credits unless available funds exist is sufficiently clear and explicit, and the control of the Bank for the safeguarding of the rights of the bondholders is amply guaranteed by the fact that it could refuse to issue checks against these credits in case there were no available funds”.

My Government is pleased that the Haitian Government should recognize the necessity of safeguarding the rights of the bondholders in this connection, but feels that the suggested text of Article 8 as submitted in its draft of November 18, is much to be preferred as being more in harmony with accepted rules of fiscal practice. If funds do not exist for supplementary or extraordinary credits, the Haitian Government of course will desire to know this before embarrassing itself by opening such credits.

My Government is happy to note that the Haitian Government, in its suggested counter project, retains the essential phrase of Article 10, which appears to be supported by Article 4 of the draft decree law on the “Special Service of Inspection of the Bank”, namely,

“It (the Bank) shall also have the duty of indicating to the Secretary of State for Finance any error which may occur in an order addressed to it for payment, or in the vouchers which accompany that order”.

Your Excellency will agree, I am sure, that such a proviso in itself requires the installation in the Bank of a service of “pre-audit of Government payments” and a service of “public accounting”, as well as a service of “issuance of checks”, which is precisely what the first sentence of Article 10 of the proposed note as submitted by my Government provides for. Therefore, although my Government is desirous of acceding to every reasonable request of the Haitian Government, it feels that it cannot defer to the desires of the Haitian Government with respect to the first sentence of Article 10.

With respect to the enactment of the draft laws which are to implement the proposed protocol and attached note, the Government of the United States regrets that it cannot recede from its original contention that in order to fulfill the purposes of this protocol, such draft laws should be enacted by the Haitian legislature either in regular or extraordinary session.

The United States Government has examined with interest the three copies of draft Haitian projects of law which Your Excellency was good enough to submit to the Legation for its information. It cannot disguise its surprise that these draft decree-laws appear to be based upon certain concepts which are completely at variance with those which, as set forth in the second paragraph of this note, my Government has felt sure were mutually entertained by both Governments when the 1934 conversations were inaugurated, and upon which my Government has consistently predicated its willingness to terminate United States financial control in Haiti.

It will consequently be evident to Your Excellency that since the basic structure of these draft decree-laws is so out of keeping with my Government’s views it would be useless to attempt any analysis in detail of this draft legislation, although elsewhere my Government has felt it necessary to refer to certain of the more salient provisions and omissions which have been picked out as illustrative of the unsatisfactory nature of the draft legislation as a whole.

In an endeavor to advance the negotiations to an early conclusion, my Government has taken the opportunity to prepare a memorandum setting forth in general the nature and scope of the organization of the Government side of the Bank, together with a list of personnel by official functions, and the salaries to be paid to such personnel, which I enclose herewith for the information of Your Excellency. This general plan of organization would appear to my Government to safeguard satisfactorily the interests of the bondholders of the 1922 loan. It must be emphasized, however, that this list of personnel does not pretend to be conclusive, and occasion may arise even before the plan may be put into effect when it may be necessary substantially to modify this list.

My Government feels confident that the Haitian Government will find that this draft plan forms a suitable basis for the legislation to be enacted which is necessary in order to proceed with the proposed protocol and accompanying note. It will be happy to receive at an early date such further proposals and draft legislation as the Haitian Government may care to submit, and will devote to them its sympathetic and careful consideration.

Finally, my Government wishes to advance the earnest belief that it has already gone a long way in its desire to meet the aspirations of Haiti in obtaining the termination of United States financial control, and that any important relaxation of the terms of the proposed protocol and attached note would probably render the proposed plan unworkable in practice and insecure as respects the rights of the bondholders of the 1922 loan.

Accept, Excellency, etc.

[Enclosure 2]

Draft of Memorandum To Be Enclosed With Note to the Haitian Minister for Foreign Affairs

The plan of organization of the Bank as decided upon at the meeting held for that purpose at the time the Bank was purchased July 8th, 1935, establishes and divides the administrative organization, under the general control of the Board of Directors, as follows:

1. A President and General Manager has general supervision over both the Commercial and Government divisions of the Bank, and he is the administrative head of the Bank.

a. The Commercial division of the Bank is under the direction of:

(x) A Vice President and Manager

(y) A Vice President and Assistant Manager.

Note: Both of these officers are members of the Board of Directors and are assisted by the Chiefs of the Legal and other sections of the Bank.

b. The Government division of the Bank is administered by:

(x) A Vice President and Manager (who is likewise a member of the Board of Directors).

Obviously the Government side of the Bank (paragraph 1–b above) could not take over its intended duties until the proposed agreement terminating United States financial control had been consummated and the details thereof communicated to the Bank.

The plan now suggested for the organization and functioning of the Government side of the Bank is as follows:

The following sections of the Fiscal Representative’s office will be transferred to the Bank where they will operate under their present section chiefs and under the general direction of the President and General Manager and under the immediate direction of the Vice President and Manager of the Government Division.

I. Section of Legal Advice, Economic Reports and Statistics.

II. Credit and Disbursing Section.

III. Section of Bordereaux Control.

The functions of these last named sections will be as follows:

I. Section of Legal Advice, Economic Reports and Statistics

a. Legal Advice.

This part of the section will give advice to the whole organization of the Bank on matters of law. It will be called on principally to interpret tax laws, especially customs and internal revenue laws, both for the guidance of officers and employees working with such legislation and with individual cases which may arise. It will likewise be concerned with the interpretation of contracts whereunder individuals have acquired certain rights and privileges from the State or have incurred certain obligations to the State. It will pass upon the legality of disbursements and will give its opinion regarding the validity of claims against the Government so that the competent authorities of the State may be appropriately advised.

It is foreseen that the Legal Section may also be requested to give its advice on other subjects directly or indirectly connected with the finances of the Government.

b. Preparation of Financial Notes for the Monthly Bulletin.

This part of the section will be charged also with the duty of preparing financial notes for publication in the monthly Bulletin of the Bank and reviewing for inclusion therein such material as may be submitted by the Departments of the Government.

c. Preparation of Annual Report.

This part of the section will be charged further with the preparation, under direction of the higher officers of the Bank, of the annual economic and financial report to be issued by the Bank. For this purpose it will obtain statistical data and will consider the suggestions of other sections and divisions of the organization.

d. Statistical Analysis.

This part of the section will handle matters requiring the compilation, study and analysis of statistical data. Inquiries for such data, whether from civil or government sources, will be answered by this subsection. Data to be included in official reports to the League of Nations, for example, will be prepared here. In general, it will concern itself with all matters relating to the study, interpretation and analysis of commercial and financial statistics, as well as statistical data relating to Government finance.

e. Economic Reports.

This part of the section will study and, when called upon, will prepare reports concerning such subjects as financial legislation, the application of the tariff and other tax laws, the budget, the public debt, foreign trade, domestic commerce and industry, and it will examine and analyze the probable effect of proposed legislation or administrative decrees or regulations affecting the budget and the financial structure of the State.

f. Archives.

This part of the section will be charged with the responsibility of maintaining the archives of the Government division of the Bank.

The employees necessary for this section are listed in the annexed table.

II. Credit and Disbursing Section

a. Audit.

This part of the section will examine all Government vouchers with a view to determining whether proposed payments are legally authorized and whether they are supported by the necessary justifying documents. It will determine whether proposed items are properly chargeable to a given appropriation and whether a sufficient balance remains in that appropriation to cover the payment involved. Vouchers passing this Audit subsection successfully will be sent to the Accounting and Disbursing subsections; those not approved, as for example those not found to be in harmony with existing legislation and appropriations, or which call for excessive payments, are to be returned to the originating office, together with a statement setting forth the reasons therefor.

b. Accounting.

The duties of this part of the section may be described under the four following headings:

1. The preparation and maintenance of records covering budgetary, extraordinary and nonfiscal accounts. Amounts available for expenditure under all appropriations will be here set up and this subsection will debit against such appropriations vouchers by the Audit subsection and will credit all reimbursements thereto in order that records of available balances may be currently available.

2. This subsection will also classify all expenditures in accordance with the functional nature of such expenditures in order that a counter check on the Audit subsection may be obtained as to the total amount of all disbursements.

3. It will maintain current records of all Government Bank balances and will classify receipts. With this in view it will receive daily statements from the Bank’s branches covering both Gourde and Dollar accounts of the Government. Checks attached to support debits against these accounts will be examined to determine whether they have been properly signed by disbursing officers and payees. This subsection will likewise inquire as to the legality of powers of attorney and will examine powers with a view to preventing fraud. Customs, internal revenue, miscallaneous, and reimbursement bordereaux attached to bank statements in support of credit will be verified to determine whether the proper amounts have been credited. Records will be kept of all receipts by ports, sources, and categories. This procedure will reconcile daily bank statements and will serve to record funds on deposit for the Government elsewhere than in the Bank itself.

4. This part of the section will correlate and consolidate records covering all bookkeeping operations of the Bank and will compile financial statistics to serve as a basis for the preparation by the Statistical subsection of the monthly bulletin and the annual report. It will also prepare the financial forecast as well as the monthly financial statement of the Government. This latter shows treasury assets and liabilities, the distribution of cash investments, the position of the public debt, classified receipts, expenditures classified by services, departments, and function, the unexpended balance of appropriations, and the position of nonfiscal accounts.

This part of the section will also maintain records covering the investment of the treasury funds and loans to Communes and will report the payments due the treasury on these accounts as they fall due. Records of accruements to the pension fund and of cash advances to paymasters will be kept in this section.

c. Disbursing Subsection.

This subsection will maintain a card record of payments to each Government employee, pensioner and owner of property rented to the State. Checks, payrolls and expense vouchers covering payments of salaries, pensions and rents will be prepared and sent to the Audit and Bookkeeping sections. These vouchers, as well as the vouchers prepared by other governmental offices, will pass through the Audit and Bookkeeping sections, and the checks in payment thereof will be protectographed and given a final comparison with the vouchers, after which the facsimile of the Treasury seal will be placed thereon. The checks, thus sealed, will be given to the Delegate of the Secretary of State for Finance, who will sign them. Copies of essential data from all Government checks will be filed in this subsection. As and when the originals are paid or canceled, the corresponding copies will be withdrawn from this file and those remaining will constitute the record of outstanding checks.

d. Preparation of budget estimates.

At the end of each calendar year or at any other agreed date, the Audit and Disbursing Section as a whole will prepare estimates of revenues and furnish other information to the Board of Directors of the Bank in connection with the preparation of the estimates to be approved by that body, upon which the budget of Ways and Means for the next fiscal year is to be based. It will prepare any other studies or estimates in connection with the budget of Expenditures which may be desired.

e. Distribution of funds.

The Audit and Disbursing Section will prepare and recommend to the responsible officers studies with reference to the distribution of funds between the time and sight accounts and between New York and Haiti funds.

f. Public debt.

The Audit and Disbursing Section as a whole is responsible for recommendations with reference to the timely payment to the fiscal agent of all amounts due under the loan contracts. It will maintain records showing the distribution of payments between interest and amortization; it will examine the expense accounts of the fiscal agent of the two 1922 loans and will prepare statements as necessary from time to time, showing the position of the public debt.

g. Files.

The Audit and Disbursing Section will maintain files containing all accounting documents, including payment vouchers and paid checks.

h. Inspection.

The Audit and Disbursing Section will be called upon from time to time to make inspections of customs houses and disbursing offices outside of Port-au-Prince. Inspections by the officers from the Government service side of the Bank may be made from time to time as may be thought necessary.

i. Preparation of checks and audit of vouchers outside of Port-au-Prince.

Directors of Customs at the various outlying ports of the Republic have been charged with the duty of preparing certain checks and of auditing certain payment vouchers submitted by various services of the Government. This has been up to now audited and controlled by the Comptroller’s office of the service of the Fiscal Representative. It is planned that this work will hereafter be continued by the Directors of Customs under the supervision of the manager of the branches of the Bank, and that such reaudit and supervisory control as may appear necessary will be exercised by the Audit and Disbursing Section.

The personnel necessary for the work of this section are listed in the statement attached hereto.

III. Section of “Bordereaux” Control

a. Examination and audit of customs “bordereaux”

This part of the section will verify the correctness of the paragraph of the tariff as applied at the various customs houses to each article imported into the country. It will also calculate the duties payable on all imports and all exports. Any discrepancy found in any bordereau will be reported to the Vice President and Manager of the Government division of the Bank for necessary communication to the Director General of Customs and to the Minister for Finance, in order that a supplementary bordereau may be issued or restitution made, as may appear necessary and proper in the circumstances. Requests for restitution of alleged overpayments will be referred to this section and a reexamination of the documents will be made. Reports on such demands for restitution will be made to the duly constituted authorities for their information and guidance.

b. The preparation of commercial statistics.

These statistics will cover the export and import values and quantities of merchandise exported and imported. They will be prepared in accordance with precedents heretofore established by the Government of Haiti.

c. Mimeographing of the monthly bulletin.

The monthly bulletin which will take the place of that now being issued by the Bureau of the Fiscal Representative will be mimeographed by this section.

d. Preparation of commercial notes for the bulletin.

This section will be charged with the preparation of the commercial notes which will be submitted to the Section of Legal Advice, Economic Reports and Statistics for its use in editing the monthly bulletin of the Bank.

e. Correspondence and files.

This section will be charged with the safe custody of files appertaining to customs matters and all correspondence with regard to this subject will here be handled. The originals of all declarations and receipted customs bills covering imports and exports as well as originals or duplicates of other customs and shipping documents will be filed in this section.

f. Personnel.

The service records of employees of the Government service side of the Bank will be kept in this section.

g. Examination of internal revenue “bordereaux”

This section will check the computations of amounts shown on bordereaux and will determine, as far as possible from the data shown thereon, that they have been drawn in accordance with existing legislation.

The personnel necessary for this work are listed in the statement attached hereto.

List of Salaries and Allowances of Personnel Whose Salaries and Allowances Will Be Paid by the Banque Nationale de la République d’Haiti Upon Transfer of the Essential Services of the Bureau of the Representant Fiscal to the Banque, as Contemplated in the Foregoing Memorandum

At the time of the purchase by the Haitian Government of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti, the Government rendered a decision that the Fiscal Representative and the Deputy Fiscal Representative as well as the two National City Bank officials, who were to remain on the commercial side of the Bank, when elected to the Board of Directors of the Bank, should retain the regular salaries which they were then receiving, in the one case for their duties in connection with the Government finance and debt services, and in the other for their duties in the commercial side of the Bank, without reduction, increase or other change in such salaries.

	Gourdes
President and General Manager of the Bank, not including salary as director, monthly salary	6,250.00
Secretary, monthly salary	875.00
	7,125.00
Vice President and Manager in charge of the Government service side of the Bank, not including salary as director, monthly salary	3,125.00
Secretary, monthly salary	650.00
	3,775.00

section of legal advice, economic reports and statistics

	Gourdes
1 Chief Assistant, monthly salary	1,875.00
1 Legal Adviser, monthly salary	975.00
1 Stenographer-translator, monthly salary	650.00
1 Stenographer-translator, monthly salary	375.00
1 File Clerk, monthly salary	275.00
1 Stenographer, monthly salary	275.00
1 Typist, monthly salary	250.00
1 Stenographer, monthly salary	125. 00
1 Messenger, monthly salary	100.00
1 Office Boy, monthly salary	50.00
	4,950.00

Audit and Disbursing Section

1 Comptroller, monthly salary	2,250.00
1 Assistant Comptroller, monthly salary	1,750.00
1 Disbursing Officer, Fiscal Representative’s Office, Chief of Bureau of Supplies, monthly salary	1,800.00
1 Delegate of Minister for Finance, check signer, monthly salary	1,000.00
1 Bookkeeper, monthly salary	800.00
2 Bookkeepers, each Gdes. 425.00, monthly salary	850.00
1 Audit Clerk, payment vouchers, monthly salary	400.00
1 Bookkeeper, monthly salary	350.00
2 Bookkeepers, each Gdes. 325.00, monthly salary.	650.00
1 Clerk, pay section, monthly salary	300.00
1 Addressograph Operator, monthly salary	275.00
1 Bookkeeper-audit clerk, payment vouchers, monthly salary	275.00
1 Clerk, principal duty filing payment vouchers, monthly salary	250.00
1 Audit clerk, bank statements, monthly salary	250.00
1 Bookkeeper, monthly salary	225.00
1 Bookkeeper-check register clerk, monthly salary	225.00
1 Protectograph Operator, monthly salary	225.00
1 Audit Clerk, Bank statements, monthly salary	200.00
1 Typist, pay section, monthly salary	200.00
1 Bookkeeper, monthly salary	175.00
1 Audit Clerk, pay section, monthly salary	175.00
1 Audit Clerk, bank statements, monthly salary	175.00
1 Clerk, bank statement section, monthly salary	175.00
1 File Clerk, monthly salary	175.00
2 Typists, each Gdes. 150.00, monthly salary	300.00
1 File Clerk, filing paid checks, monthly salary	150.00
1 Messenger, monthly salary	100.00
1 Office Boy, monthly salary	75.00
	13,775.00

section of “bordereaux” control

	Gourdes
1 Chief of Section, monthly salary	1,875.00
1 Assistant Chief of Section, monthly salary	500.00
1 Stenographer-translator, monthly salary	500.00
1 Stenographer-translator, monthly salary	425.00
1 Statistical clerk, monthly salary	400.00
1 Audit clerk, monthly salary	375.00
1 File clerk, monthly salary	375.00
1 Statistical clerk, monthly salary	350.00
1 Audit clerk, monthly salary	300.00
2 Audit clerks, each Gdes. 275.00, monthly salary	550.00
1 File clerk, monthly salary	275.00
1 Audit clerk, monthly salary	250.00
1 Typist-statistical clerk, monthly salary	250.00
1 Audit clerk, monthly salary	225.00
1 Statistical clerk, monthly salary	225.00
1 Statistical clerk, monthly salary	200.00
2 Audit clerks, each Gdes. 200.00, monthly salary.	400.00
5 Audit clerks, each Gdes. 175.00, monthly salary	875.00
5 Statistical clerks, each Gdes. 175.00, monthly salary	875.00
2 Typists, each Gdes. 175.00, monthly salary	350.00
1 Audit clerk, monthly salary	150.00
1 Statistical clerk, monthly salary	150.00
1 Audit clerk, monthly salary	125.00
1 Coffee sample checker, monthly salary	125.00
1 Mimeograph operator, monthly salary-	100.00
1 Messenger, monthly salary	100.00
	10,325.00

summary

President’s office, monthly salaries	7,125.00
Vice President’s office, monthly salaries	3,775.00
Section of Legal Advice, Economic Reports and Statistics, monthly salaries	4,950.00
Audit and Disbursing Section, monthly salaries	13,775.00
Section of Bordereaux Control, monthly salaries	10,325.00
Total	39,950.00

The foregoing salaries do not include the cost of maintaining two automobiles and their chauffeurs for the President and Vice President in charge of the Government division of the Bank. Similarly not included are such necessary expenses as those for supplies, equipment of the offices, postage, paper, checks and similar furnishings and also expenditures for such items as telegrams, travel, inspections, vacations and also services allowable to foreign employees both under the Bank regulations and under the present regulations of the Government. The average expenditures for travel, inspection, supplies and material for these services which are to be transferred to the Bank has been approximately $24,000 annually, which when added to the estimated total $95,880 for salaries of personnel of the Government side of the Bank, gives a grand total of $119,880. Accordingly, it is not believed that the total expenditures of the Government side of the Bank can be reduced below $110,000 if the work is to be carried on in an efficient manner set forth in the foregoing memorandum.

It is also considered that the salaries that are indicated for the various employees do not represent necessarily fixed amounts, but as vacancies occur by resignation or dismissal responsible officers of the Government division of the Bank will be expected to exercise the same discretion in regard thereto as the responsible officers of the Commercial division of the Bank and that they will make such distribution and allocation, having regard for promotions and changes and within a lump sum appropriation of not less than $110,000.00 annually as they may deem to be in the best interest of the organization. It is understood in any case that this last named lump sum includes the amount necessary for the purchase of supplies and the payment of other necessary expenses as may be required for the proper functioning of the Government division of the Bank.

It must also be considered that any large increase in the commercial business of the Republic will require an expansion of the clerical force auditing the various documents and that necessarily some flexibility must be allowed as to increasing or decreasing the number of persons employed. As stated above it would appear that the minimum annual budget for these purposes should be placed at 550,000 Gourdes ($110,000.00).

[Enclosure 3]

Draft Aide-Mémoire No. 1A

The Minister of the United States presents his compliments to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to refer to the latter’s aide-mémoire accompanying his note of November 26, 1936, transmitting a draft counter project of a note forming part of a draft protocol terminating United States financial control in Haiti.

The Government of the United States regrets that it cannot accept the Haitian proposal that the commission to the Bank for Treasury services of two percent be fixed at a guaranteed minimum of 600,000 gourdes. In this connection, the Government of the United States desires to point out that the essential services now performed by the Office of the Fiscal Representative, which it is understood are to be transferred to the Government side of the Bank, have required an average annual expenditure in the last five years of approximately 550,000 gourdes. As the Haitian Government has stated, under the Contract of Concession of September 5, 1910, the Bank was to receive one percent of total Government deposits or a minimum commission of 300,000 gourdes per annum. This would indicate that the services to be performed by the Bank upon the basis of similar services performed in the past by the Bank and the Fiscal Representative’s Office would require a minimum expenditure of approximately 850,000 gourdes.

The Government of the United States, in its original draft note as submitted by its Minister on November 18, 1936, had in mind a guaranteed minimum for the two percent Treasury services of the Bank of 800,000 gourdes, this being the lowest figure upon which the Bank may efficiently operate.

Accordingly, the Government of the United States proposes that if the Haitian Government should so desire, the last paragraph of point two of the draft note forming part of the protocol should read as follows: “For the service of the Treasury and for all the administrative service that it may render with a view to assuring a complete protection of the interests of the holders of the loan, the Bank shall levy two percentum of all the gross receipts of the Government in each year, provided, however, that if necessary to constitute a minimum amount of 800,000 gourdes, such percentage shall be correspondingly increased, and provided further that such percentage shall not exceed a total amount of 1,000,000 gourdes.”

Although Article 3 of the Haitian counter project of the draft note forming part of the protocol states that “The Government will give to the Bank the irrevocable instructions specifying that payments for the service of the loan and for the Treasury service of the Bank shall enjoy priority over any other payments to be effected from the funds of the Government”, the Government of the United States notes that such “irrevocable instructions” are set forth by implication rather than by direct statement in Article 8 of chapter 2 of the proposed draft law No. 1 on “service of control of receipts and expenditures of the Republic”. The Government of the United States would prefer, in view of certain guarantees to the bondholders contained in their bonds, to see a definite provision for this priority set forth in the appropriate draft legislation which may be enacted.

The Government of the United States perceives no objection, should the Haitian Government prefer to raise from two to three percent the percentage of the customs receipts which is to be devoted to the maintenance of the customs service, and from twelve to thirteen percent the percentage of internal revenue receipts which is to be devoted to the maintenance of the internal revenue service with suitable guarantees in each case of a minimum. However, the Government of the United States wishes to call attention to the fact that the Haitian counter project to the draft note forming part of the protocol does not appear to contain any proviso that the sums allotted for the customs and internal revenue services shall constitute first charges on receipts of the Government ranking with payments for the 1922 bonds and the Treasury service of the Bank, to be paid before any expenditures for other purposes of the Haitian Government. The Government of the United States feels that it is most necessary that such a proviso be retained as set forth in paragraph No. 2 of its own draft note since it is upon these services that in the last analysis lies the security of the guarantees to the bondholders of the 1922 loans.

[Enclosure 4]

Draft Aide-Mémoire No. 2A

The Minister of the United States presents his compliments to the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs and has the honor to refer to the aide-mémoire which accompanied the Haitian Minister’s note of November 26, 1936, transmitting a Haitian counter project of a draft note forming part of the proposed protocol terminating United States financial control in Haiti.

The Government of the United States has noted with pleasure the statement contained in the aide-mémoire that:

“The Secretary of State for Foreign Relations desires to inform the American Minister that the Haitian Government consents willingly to accord to the American employees who may be dismissed upon the closure of the office of the Fiscal Representative the same treatment accorded to American employees dismissed upon the termination of the other American services in Haiti, with the reservation that the Haitian Government does not believe that there is any occasion to grant any indemnity to those American employees whose services may be retained in whatever capacity in the new organization of control to be created in the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.”

[Enclosure 5]

Draft Aide-Mémoire No. 3A

The Minister of the United States presents his compliments to the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs and has the honor to refer to the aide-mémoire which accompanied the Haitian Minister’s note of November 26, 1936, transmitting a Haitian counter project of a draft note forming part of the proposed protocol terminating United States financial control in Haiti.

With respect to the desire of the Haitian Government that the date for the entry into effect of the proposed protocol be fixed on the first day of a fiscal month not later than thirty days after the signature of the protocol, the Government of the United States regrets that it cannot share the Haitian point of view that such a short period of time would be ample to permit the transfer of certain services from the office of the Fiscal Representative to the newly organized Government side of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti. The Government of the United States, however, believes that a period of between thirty and sixty days will be sufficient in order to effect this transfer and that the actual time necessary depends to some extent upon whether it will be necessary for the new services of the bank to be removed physically from the premises of the Palace of Finance to some other building which might be provided by the Government. In this connection the United States Government suggests that the Acting Fiscal Representative might well be consulted in order to reach an agreement as to the exact time which might be necessary before the date for the entry into effect of the protocol may properly be fixed.

[Enclosure 6]

Draft Aide-Mémoire No. 4A

The Minister of the United States presents his compliments to the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs and has the honor to refer to the aide-mémoire which accompanied the Haitian Minister’s note of November 26, 1936, transmitting a Haitian counter project of a draft note forming part of the proposed protocol terminating United States financial control in Haiti.

The Government of the United States has been pleased with the willingness of the Haitian Government to cooperate by submitting to the United States Legation, before they are voted, the draft laws which must be enacted as an accompaniment to any arrangement putting an end to the present United States financial control.

[Enclosure 7]

Draft Aide-Mémoire No. 5A

The Minister of the United States, presents his compliments to the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs and has the honor to refer to the aide-mémoire which accompanied the Haitian Minister’s note of November 26, 1936, transmitting a Haitian counter project of a draft note forming part of the proposed protocol terminating United States financial control in Haiti.

The Government of the United States has noted with satisfaction the statement contained in an aide-mémoire by which Your Excellency was good enough to inform me that the Haitian Government will proceed without delay to the publication in the Moniteur of the contract of July 18, 1935, relative to the purchase by the Haitian Government of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.