Toussaint Louverture, a negro of marked military ability, was appointed commander-in-chief by the directory, and by 1801 he succeeded in restoring order. Unfortunately, the measures that he endeavored to put into effect aroused the suspicions of Napoleon, who sent out an army to subdue him and to restore slavery. This expedition met with such determined resistance that the commander, General Leclerc, opened negotiations and Toussaint was induced by solemn promises to lay down his arms. He was treacherously seized and taken to France, where he died in 1803. The blacks immediately renewed hostilities under Jean Jacques Dessalines, and in November, 1803, the French withdrew completely. In the following year the independence of the island was declared and its ancient name of Haiti was restored. Dessalines was first made governor for life and in October, 1804, he proclaimed himself emperor. He was assassinated in 1806. From that time to the present the country has been in a state of turmoil and the end is not yet. In 1844 the people of the eastern end of the island seceded and formed the republic of Santo Domingo. Ever since then there have been two distinct governments in the island, with the strongest political antipathy existing between them.
But little sugar cane is raised in Haiti, and the most of this small quantity is either consumed as cane or made into a beverage called tafia.
The sugar plantations of Santo Domingo are found on the southern coast, in the level stretches of Arua and Romana, in the valleys near the city of Santo Domingo and in the region near San Pedro de Macoris. No sugar is grown in the interior. While most of the factories are land owners and cultivate cane, they do not grow all that they grind. A good deal is raised by colonos under the following conditions: The factories assign parcels of land to the colonos rent-free and in addition allow them the use of draft cattle and farming implements. When necessary a certain amount of actual cash is advanced. The colonos plant and till the land, furnish their own labor and deliver the cane at the point where it is loaded on the railway cars. The field hands are either natives or negroes brought from nearby islands, and their pay ranges from 50 to 75 cents gold per day.
The ground is tilled in an indifferent fashion and no fertilizing whatever is done. When virgin soil is planted, the seed is put in at seven-foot intervals, sometimes greater, without any holes or furrows having been made; the cuttings are simply stuck in the ground and partly covered with earth. The cane ripens in fourteen months or more. Ratooning follows until the yield gets so small that replanting is necessary. When this time comes, the old roots are ploughed up and furrows from four to six inches in depth are made about five or six feet apart. The seed cane is planted in these furrows at four- or five-foot intervals. The yield from virgin soil is very heavy and has been known to reach ninety tons to the acre, but the sugar content of such crops is low, whereas the subsequent ratoons with a decreased tonnage of cane per acre give juice of a better quality. A fair average production on a plantation having 4000 acres in cane would be about twenty-four tons to the acre. Naturally this estimate would be affected by the relative proportions of plant cane and ratoons, as well as by the character of the soil. Planting is generally done in June and October, while the harvesting begins in December and continues until April.
Manufacturing methods in Santo Domingo admit of much improvement. Single crushing is the method employed for the most part, so that the loss in extraction is considerable. The juices are treated and the suspended impurities allowed to settle at the bottom of the tanks. Filter presses are the exception rather than the rule, and for want of them the sugar in the resultant mud is lost. The clear juices are then concentrated and boiled to grain in vacuum pans. First sugars generally polarize between 95 degrees and 97 degrees, seconds about 86 degrees. The molasses is either made into rum or permitted to run to waste. Notwithstanding the crude character of the factories and machinery, the recovery of sugar is generally good, the average being between 9 per cent and 11 per cent of the weight of the cane, with single crushing.
Almost all of the factories are managed by Americans, but, as has been said, the equipment they have to work with is by no means modern, and under the extremely uncertain political conditions that prevail there is scant encouragement for outside capital to come in and improve matters. Just when a change for the better will come is impossible to say.
Messrs. Willett & Gray give the yearly figures since 1903 in long tons, as follows:
| 1903-04 | 47,000 |
| 1904-05 | 47,000 |
| 1905-06 | 55,000 |
| 1906-07 | 60,000 |
| 1907-08 | 62,235 |
| 1908-09 | 69,483 |
| 1909-10 | 93,003 |
| 1910-11 | 89,979 |
| 1911-12 | 96,046 |
| 1912-13 | 84,661 |
| 1913-14 | 105,778 |
| 1914-15 | 108,267 |
| 1915-16 | 120,000 |