The telegram above referred to was not received from the Naval Radio
Station until an advanced hour in the morning of July 4th. and could not
be decoded until that afternoon. The elimination of the very numerous
garbles and the necessity for preparing with some care and after
consultation with Dr. Stuart of the detailed project for the sanitation
control in Port-au-Prince and Cape Haitien, made it impossible to take
the matter up with the Minister for Foreign Affairs until July 7th. I
therefore called on Mr. Léger yesterday afternoon and handed the
memorandum to him.
Although the memorandum embodied almost exactly the plan proposed by Mr.
Léger himself so far as the majority of the Treaty Services were
concerned and although it represented a very great concession to the
wishes of the Haitian Government, Mr. Léger received it with marked
evidences of dissatisfaction. When I pressed him for a statement as to
his principal objections, he said that the Chamber of Deputies, which
had already declared the Treaty of 1915 null and void, would receive in
a very hostile spirit a plan which constantly referred to “the date of
the expiration of the Treaty” and indicated
[Page 493]
throughout that the United States still considered
the Treaty to be in effect. He then proceeded for the first time since I
have been dealing with him to speak very bitterly of the procedure
followed in renewing the Treaty for an additional period of ten years in
1917. I replied that we must, of course, confront the fact that the
Treaty was still in existence and that any plan of Haitianization would
have to start from that point, but that I should always be willing to
consider any changes in form or wording which would make the project
more satisfactory to the Haitian Government without altering it in
substance. Mr. Léger, however, appeared to think that the substance was
as objectionable as the form.
We did not discuss the plan in detail as it was necessary for the
Minister to leave for a Cabinet meeting.
[Enclosure]
The American Minister (Munro) to the Haitian Minister for Foreign Affairs
(Léger)
Project of Agreement Regarding
Haitianization of the Treaty Services
the public works service and the
service technique
1. All American officials will be withdrawn from the Public Works
Service and the Service Technique on October 1, 1931, leaving these
Services entirely in the hands of Haitian personnel under the direct
control of the Haitian Government.
2. To compensate the officials who will thus be dismissed without an
adequate opportunity to obtain new employment, the Haitian
Government agrees that each American civilian official or employee
thus withdrawn shall be paid an indemnity equivalent to his salary
for a period of nine months as well as the expenses of the journey
back to the United States in cases where the employee would have
been entitled to such expenses at the termination of his service
under the original terms of his employment.
3. Mr. Carl Colvin will be paid as an indemnity the difference
between $7,500.00 and $10,000.00 per annum for the period from July
1, 1930, to October 1, 1931, and in addition an amount equivalent to
three months salary at the rate of $10,000.00 per annum, in addition
to the expenses of his journey back to the United States and salary
at the rate of $10,000.00 for accrued leave to which he may be
entitled. The Haitian Government expresses high appreciation of the
technical services rendered by Mr. Colvin in the Service Technique
and intends to give him an appropriate letter indicating this
appreciation.
[Page 494]
the garde d’haiti
4. The Government of the United States is prepared to effect with the
Government of Haiti the further replacement of American by Haitian
Officers in the Garde d’Haiti in such a manner that the Garde may be
commanded entirely by Haitian Officers not later than the date of
the expiration of the Treaty of September 16, 1915. The following
promotions of Haitian Officers will be made in the Garde d’Haiti
during 1931, and each of the three years thereafter, the figures in
each case indicating promotions to the ranks indicated:
Between January 1st. and December 31, 1931, one Major, two Captains,
fifteen First Lieutenants, seventeen Second Lieutenants, and
twenty-nine Aspirant Officers, in the Line and Quartermaster
Department; two First Lieutenants and four Second Lieutenants in the
Medical Service.
In 1932, one Colonel, one Major, three Captains, seven First
Lieutenants, ten Second Lieutenants, and seven Aspirant Officers, in
the Line and Quartermaster Department; one Major, one Captain, one
First Lieutenant, one Second Lieutenant in the Medical Service.
In 1933, one Major, two Captains, four First Lieutenants, seven
Second Lieutenants, and thirty Aspirant Officers, in the Line and
Quartermaster Department; six Second Lieutenants in the Medical
Service.
In 1934, one Major, one Captain, four First Lieutenants, six Second
Lieutenants, and five Aspirant Officers, in the Line and
Quartermaster Department; one Captain, three First Lieutenants, one
Second Lieutenant in the Medical Service.
5. The preceding paragraph indicates the minimum number of Haitian
officers to be promoted, but every effort will be made to increase
the number promoted during each year to the end that the Garde may
be placed under the command of Haitian Officers at the earliest
practicable date. The American Officers remaining in the Garde on
January 1, 1935, will be replaced by Haitian Officers as rapidly as
practicable thereafter, in order to make possible the withdrawal of
all American Officers not later than the date of the expiration of
the Treaty.
6. Pending the completion of this program, the status of the Garde
d’Haiti will be governed by the provisions of the Treaty of
September 16, 1915, and the Garde Agreement, and the Haitian
Government will give full effect to these contractual provisions and
will promptly appoint American Officers nominated by the President
of the United States and will promptly commission Haitian Officers
who may qualify and be recommended for promotion by the Commandant
of the Garde in accordance with the provisions of Article X of the
Treaty of September 16, 1915.
[Page 495]
the public health service
7. A Haitian Director General will assume charge of the Public Health
Service on October 1, 1931, with full responsibility and full
control under the Minister of the Interior of all work now performed
by that Service except the control of sanitation and quarantine in
the cities of Port-au-Prince and Cape Haitien and their immediate
environs, including Petionville. All American personnel will be
withdrawn from the activities under his direction, including the
Haitian General Hospital at Port-au-Prince, the Justinian Hospital
at Cape Haitien, and the Health Center and the Public Health
Laboratory at Port-au-Prince, and all work of the Public Health
Service outside of the two cities mentioned and their environs.
8. The control of sanitation and quarantine in Port-au-Prince and
Cape Haitien and their environs including Petionville will be placed
in the hands of a separate and independent organization under the
control of medical officers appointed by the President of Haiti upon
nomination by the President of the United States under the
provisions of Article XIII of the Treaty of September 16, 1915. This
new organization will take over the control of the Public Health
Offices at Port-au-Prince and Cape Haitien and the Public Health
garages in those cities, but the facilities of the Public Health
garages will be made available to the National Public Health Service
under arrangements concluded between the heads of the two
organizations and all motor equipment which the present Director
General of the Public Health Service does not consider strictly
necessary for the use of the Sanitary Service in Port-au-Prince and
Cape Haitien and their environs, will be turned over to the Public
Health Service as reorganized under a Haitian Director General. The
Haitian Government will provide suitable quarters for the work of
the American Sanitary Service.
9. The Haitian Government will extend all proper aid and assistance
through its courts and other authorities to the sanitary officials
in Port-au-Prince and Cape Haitien and will invest them with
authority to inspect private properties and otherwise to enforce
existing sanitary ordinances in the cities of Port-au-Prince, Cape
Haitien, and their environs, and to put into effect, with the prior
approval of the President of Haiti, such new sanitary ordinances as
may prove necessary.
10. Unless the two Governments should determine by agreement that a
larger or smaller sum is required, the Government of Haiti agrees
that the sum of $180,000.00 shall be appropriated in each year’s
budget to provide for the expenses of the American Sanitary Service
in Port-au-Prince and Cape Haitien. This amount shall be expended by
the head of the Service in accordance with a budget which he shall
prepare annually and shall submit to the Haitian Government for its
[Page 496]
information. The head
of the Service shall render a full account of all expenditures to
both Governments.
11. The American Sanitary Officials shall have authority to supervise
and if necessary to assume control of the chlorination of water
supplied to Port-au-Prince and Petionville.
12. If there should be an epidemic or other grave emergency
threatening the maintenance of proper health conditions in the
cities of Port-au-Prince and Cape Haitien and their environs, and if
the situation should become sufficiently serious in the opinion of
the Government of the United States to require such action, the head
of the American Sanitary Service shall assume control temporarily of
all public health work in such sections of the country as he may
deem necessary and the Haitian Government will place at his disposal
for the purpose of combating the epidemic or emergency all
facilities of the National Public Health Service in those districts,
together with such funds as may be available from current
appropriations for the National Public Health Service and such other
funds as may in the opinion of the two Governments be required. Any
extraordinary control which the head of the American Sanitary
Service may have assumed outside of the cities of Port-au-Prince and
Cape Haitien and their environs shall terminate when he shall report
to both Governments that the emergency is passed.
13. The head of the American Sanitary Service shall be authorized to
employ such assistants as he may consider necessary within the
limits of the annual appropriation of $180,000.00 above referred to.
The Government of the United States states that it is its intention
that three Navy Medical Officers and six Hospital Corpsmen of the
United States Navy shall be assigned to this Service at the
beginning, with such Haitian assistants as may appear necessary.
office of the financial
adviser-general receiver
14. The two contracting parties agree that they will proceed
immediately with the negotiation of a new agreement regarding the
financial services, based on Article 8 of the Protocol of October 3,
1919, and that they will consider in this connection to what extent
the present powers and functions of these services may be modified
without impairing the security afforded by the Treaty of September
16, 1915, the Protocol of October 3, 1919, and the loan contracts to
the holders of Haiti’s bonds.
15. In the meantime, it is agreed that the land title registry office
(Bureau d’Enregistrement) shall be reorganized under a Haitian chief
responsible directly to the Minister of Finance and shall be
entirely separated from the office of the Financial Adviser-General
Receiver.
