FOREWORD

At the Annual Meeting of the Committee on Co-operation
in Latin America, January 13, 1919, the Executive Secretary-
was authorized to make a survey of religious, social and
educational conditions in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The report presented herewith is a brief digest of the in¬
formation gathered on this trip, presented partly in the form
of a brief account of the trip itself, together with recommenda¬
tions for the development of an educational, social and
spiritual program that will be a real help to these two needy
countries.

Much material gleaned from the few available recent
authoritative sources on Haiti and Santo Domingo, of which
Schoenrich's "Santo Domingo, A Country with a Future," is
easily first, is included in the following chapters. Some of
the best of this quoted matter is now out of print. The
writer can scarcely assume authority or claim credit for all
of this information, though careful effort has been made to
insure its reasonable accuracy. There is need for a real hand¬
book on the Island, and it is the meeting, in part at least, of
this demand, rather than the production of a work that should
conform to all the canons of literary usage that has been the
raison d'etre of this booklet. For other defects, no further
apology is offered than the necessary haste of preparation.

A visit to Santo Domingo and Haiti probably carries with
it more surprises for the average American than a trip to any
other neighboring countries. After only five days on a slow
boat from New York one finds himself in the midst of con¬
ditions which continually remind him, on one hand, of the
heart of Africa, and on the other of the neglect and arrested
development arising from Spain's abuse of the oldest of her
American colonies. The problem that the United States is
facing in practically taking over the island is an enormous
one. Its seriousness is probably recognized by very few indeed.

S. G. I.