710. Consultation (2)/221½
I am taking the liberty of calling your attention to the several points
which are the subject of this correspondence. I should be very grateful
if you would grant me an interview during the next few days, so that I
may give you complete information and certain explanations which will
enable you to understand fully the meaning of the step which I am
requested to make.
[Enclosure—Translation]
The President of Haiti (Vincent) to the Haitian Minister (Lescot)
[Port-au-Prince,] June 26,
1940.
My Dear Lescot: The news of the coming
meeting in Habana of the Conference of Foreign Ministers17 has brought to us, as to all the
[Page 890]
other American States, and
particularly to the small countries, no longer merely hopes, but the
conviction that something beneficial and substantial will come out
of it for us.
On the basis of certain declarations made by Mr. Welles to the
Inter-American Financial Committee of Washington, Dennis has already
made some suggestions as to what we could ask for and obtain as a
result of our participation in this Conference. He particularly
envisaged a reduction from 6 to 3% in the rate of interest on the
debt, a new trade agreement with the United States which, by
facilitating the entry on the American market of certain Haitian
products besides coffee and bananas, could re-establish to our
benefit the import and export trade of the two countries and,
finally, a revision, economically more favorable, of our customs
tariff which, until now, has been established on a purely fiscal
basis and has always been a cause of discouragement for our
agricultural and industrial production. It is, if you remember, the
same plan which I outlined in my last talk over the radio. We are
therefore of the opinion that, in addition to whatever may be done
to alleviate, if only partially, our unemployment situation, such as
the projects connected with continental defense which were discussed
with the last mission, we shall derive from all this some benefits
to the national economy itself. And it is particularly such benefits
that would fulfill the true needs of the country.
It is reported that De la Rue will arrive in the near future and that
he has a brilliant plan whereby a budget can be drawn up, that is by
the elimination of the communes, which are constitutional and
traditional institutions, so that their meager resources may be
added to the funds of the State. For great financiers, nothing could
be simpler. When Government revenue goes down, you either reduce the
wages of public employees or take over communal taxes such as those
applying to the issuance of identity cards or to vehicular traffic
and, if the receipts continue to diminish, then you just appropriate
the communal revenue. Should this prove to be insufficient, then you
eliminate half or three-fourths of the public officials,
particularly the higher ones, such as the Ministers abroad—the
Legation in Washington being probably the only one to be
retained—and even some Ministers in Haiti, as the only useful post,
which can take care of everything, is that of the Fiscal
Representative.
News of this plan has not yet been made public; should it become
known, it would cause considerable outcry, and Mr. Welles should be
told at once that in the present circumstances the results would be
most regrettable. Moreover, in my opinion it would be impossible to
carry out such a plan, as it would require a revision of the
Constitution, and I cannot imagine any Chamber or Senate willing to
assume
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the responsibility
for the suppression of the communal system in Haiti.*
I should remind you here of the request for a financial expert—who
would be entirely independent of the Fiscal Representative and who
would be attached to the President of the Republic—to collaborate in
certain financial measures which might be studied to advantage, in
agreement with the Government, and which would deliver us from these
petty financial schemes which have contributed no little to bring
about our present situation.
I am leaving tomorrow for the Artibonite, the North and Northwest; I
shall try to write while I am gone.
Sincerely yours,
