838.51/4060: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Haiti ( Sparks )
160. Your 165, October 3, 7 p.m. The Department has given unremitting attention to the fiscal and financial situation of Haiti and to the numerous appeals for aid of different kinds which have been advanced by the Haitian Government. It has come to the inescapable conclusion that the fiscal situation should first be regularized and that thereafter attention should be given to the other ways in which this Government may be of assistance. You should therefore seek an interview with President Vincent and hand him a note as follows:
“Excellency:
“I have the honor, pursuant to the instructions of my Government, to invite Your Excellency’s recollection of a conversation which took place on (date) between Your Excellency, the Fiscal Representative and me during which suggestions were put forward as to the ways and means in which my Government believed that it could assist the difficult fiscal situation of Your Excellency’s Government and suggestions were made as to ways and means whereby the Haitian Government could itself make contributions toward the solution of the difficult problems faced by the Republic of Haiti.
“The suggestions as to the assistance which my Government was prepared to render have been accepted by Your Excellency’s Government; no action has been taken by Your Excellency’s Government with respect to two of the suggestions then advanced by which the Haitian Government itself might assist in ameliorating the situation. These were (1) the fiscalization of the communal revenues and (2) the reduction of the pay of new enlistments in the Garde d’Haiti so as more nearly to conform with the rates of pay for semi-skilled labor existing in that country.
“My Government has read with interest and with sympathy the various arguments which have been advanced in opposition to these suggestions, but it remains unalterably convinced that, if put into effect, they would not only relieve materially the present fiscal situation for the time being but benefit the economy of the Republic.
“Your Excellency will recall that, with respect to the communal revenues, the suggestion of my Government was that their fiscalization be for a temporary period only, and that no objection would be interposed by my Government should Your Excellency’s Government desire to return to the present system when the financial condition of the country shall have improved.
[Page 910]“I am instructed by my Government once more to request Your Excellency’s Government to give urgent and careful consideration to these suggestions in the hope that once the fiscal situation has been regularized, attention may be given to the further assistance that may be rendered by this Government in solving the economic problems with which Your Excellency’s Government is faced.
“My Government, I may add, notes with approval the contribution to the fiscal situation which Your Excellency’s Government has made by reducing Government salaries by 5 to 10 percent. It has also been apprised of Your Excellency’s willingness, in lieu of the adoption of the suggestions discussed above, to increase these reductions to the neighborhood of 25 percent. While the spirit which prompts Your Excellency to consider this project is appreciated, my Government cannot, of course, say whether such drastic reductions are desirable at present. It confidently believes, however, that the fiscalization of the communal revenues and a reduction in the pay of new enlistments in the Garde, carried out with the Haitian Government’s sympathetic approval and cooperation, are measures that will benefit notably the present fiscal situation, and make possible the further examination of the economic problems which face the Government of the Republic.
“Accept, Excellency, etc.”
As you will observe from the foregoing, the Department is not prepared to suggest at this time more than a 10 percent cut in Haitian Government salaries and does not believe that the Fiscal Representative’s Office should accept at this time a greater reduction than 10 percent which is understood to be now in effect. The question of a similar reduction in the salaries of the J. G. White personnel is being taken up with the Company and you will be informed in due course of the result.