184  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

United  States  $6,500,000
France  800,000
United  Kingdom  ..  630,000
Germany  530,000
Others  240,000
Her  requirements  are  for  flour,  rice,  foodstuffs, ­
  candles,  oil,  cotton  goods,  shoes,  hats,
and  tools.
The  country  is  retrograding  and  there  is  no
inducement  to  capital  to  revive  its  exhausted
financial  condition.
The  monetary  system  is  in  a  hopeless  tangle,
and  is  on  an  inconvertible  paper  basis,  a
gourde  the  unit  of  value,  fluctuating  from  20
to  24  cents,  U.  S.  Gold.  There  has  been  some
talk  of  placing  its  finances  on  a  gold  basis,
but  this  is  visionary.  There  is  one  bank—
Banque  Nationale  de  la  Republique  d’Haiti,
financed  by  American  money,  but  it  has  been
closed  by  the  government.  No  one  can  authoritatively ­
  state  with  certainty  as  to  the  outcome ­
  in  consequence  of  this  condition  of  affairs. ­
  Credits  should  be  closely  watched.
Owing  to  the  heavy  national  debt  and  the  in ­