Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/564

 550 IIAYTI with inadequate implements. In earlier times, when the soil was cultivated by slaves, some of the staples were more abundantly produced. The articles most largely exported are coffee, cotton, cacao, wax, logwood, fustic, and other dyes, mahogany, and tortoise shell. Cotton, though always cultivated extensively here, has been subject to numerous fluctuations ; before the revolution 7,200,000 Ibs. were annually sent to France alone ; in 1858 the total quantity exported was only 463,608 Ibs. On the out- break of the American civil war cultivators were stimulated by the rise in price from 4d. to 2*. Gd. per pound, and the exports increased to 5,000,000 Ibs. ; and notwithstanding a heavy fall in prices in 1865, the crop in 1866 reached 7,000,000 Ibs. The civil war of 1868 again checked the trade, reducing the exports to 2,000,000 Ibs. ; but an interval of peace brought the exports for 1871-'2 to 4,130,315 Ibs. The yield of the most favorable year above re- corded is, however, greatly inferior to the ca- pabilities of the country ; and this restricted production is due to the disorganized state of society, the system of peasant culture, and the lack of field hands. The coffee yield has been less intermittent than that of cotton ; during the last 15 years of the 18th century it averaged 70,000,000 Ibs. ; from 1850 to 1860 the annual average was 45,000,000 Ibs., and in the follow- ing decade 60,000,000. All the Haytian coffee is in common designated Santo Domingo ; it is of excellent quality, and comparatively cheap ; but there is a general prejudice against it, as it is often sent away imperfectly hulled, and even with an addition of sand and gravel to increase the weight. It is mostly sent to France, where large quantities are bought for the army. The coffee exports to Hamburg were 19,303,858 Ibs. in 1872, and 9,401,666 Ibs. in 1873. The home consumption is estimated at 1,644,000 Ibs. an- nually. Of cacao, which of late years has been much neglected, the produce might with care be augmented indefinitely. The quantiti es of the principal articles exported in the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, were as follows : cof- fee, 64,774,861 Ibs. ; cacao, 3,003,488 ; cotton, 4,140,315; logwood, 183,600,000; wax, 139,- 740 ; mahogany, 608,941 ; honey, 88,060 gal- lons; hides, fustic, and other articles unenu- merated. Their total value was $7,504,633. The largest share of the exports in 1871 went to England, $1,400,000 ; but it is probable that much of this was for merchandise in transitu, the Liverpool packets taking through freight for Havre and other continental ports. The imports from England embrace small quanti- ties of 'almost every article manufactured in that country, which owes this advantage to its direct steam communication with Hayti. Large quantities of English hardware are taken, and galvanized iron has of late been extensive- ly imported for roofing houses, a~precaution rendered necessary by the frequency of dis- astrous fires. Only the high class of provis- ions are brought from England, this branch being monopolized by the United States. Cer- tain kinds of American cotton fabrics now find a good market in Hayti ; for, though some- what dearer than the British, they are found to be more durable. The total value of the imports for the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, was $6,860,408. The imports from England in 1870, $3,900,000-, were more than one half the total imports into the country ; and although they fell to $2,500,000 in the following year, the same proportion was preserved. The Uni- ted States sent 40,399 gallons of petroleum to Hayti in 1871, 69,377 in 1872, and 87,421 in 1873. The port movements in 1871-'2 were: 904 vessels entered, tonnage 165,903, and 850 cleared, tonnage 186,985. There being little cargo in Hayti for the United States, it is advan- tageous to ship coffee and cotton for England via New York, there to be transhipped. Ves- sels under 50 tons burden, not being subject to tonnage dues, do not appear on official re- turns. Two steamers from New York make about 18 trips annually to the island. The internal carrying trade is almost exclusively carried on by horses and mules. Owing to protracted civil wars, the finances are in extreme disorder, and it is impossible to ob- tain accurate statements thereof. The rev- enue in 1870 was estimated at 40,000 000 of gourdes, or $2,500,000, and the expenditure at double that amount. There is a large float- ing debt, arising from the accumulation of the paper money successively emitted by several governments, especially from 1853 to 1855, when the annual emission was about 4,500,- 000; and this currency, amounting in 1872 to some 800,000,000, has at times been subject to great depreciation ; in the year just mentioned it fluctuated from 165 to 350 per cent., while during the late civil war it was almost value- less. A measure initiated by the government in 1873 to redeem the paper money proved abortive, the rate of exchange having ben fixed at 300 per cent., while the commercial value was 250 paper dollars to one of silver. Another scheme for the same purpose, namely, increasing temporarily, first by 10 and after- ward by 25 per cent., the import and export duties, already very high, had an evil effect upon commerce. Smuggling became an organ- ized system ; only one half of the duties was paid to the government, and the other divided between the merchants and the custom-house officials. Heavy payments lately made to France on account of the public debt, and of the indemnity for losses sustained by French subjects during the revolution, have consider- ably embarrassed the finances. In 1873 a like compensation of 9,073 was paid to England. The remaining debt to France in 1872 was $3,863,242, to be paid in 11 annual instal- ments. The government is based on the con- stitution proclaimed on June 14, 1867, by the terms of which the legislative power rests in a national assembly composed of two chambers, the senate and the chamber of deputies, tho