1914, February–March: (Penniless from the Start: The Banque’s Ultimatum, Unpaid Cacos, and Bryan’s Customs Gambit): Any price would have been too much — the …

1914, February–March: (Penniless from the Start: The Banque’s Ultimatum, Unpaid Cacos, and Bryan’s Customs Gambit): Any price would have been too much — the new regime, penniless to begin with, was on starvation rations. When Oreste Zamor sent for John Allen and asked for a loan of £750,000, Allen replied there could be no loan without proper control of customs by the United States. Lured south by the promise of ten gourdes a day, the Cacos had not received a centime. The day Zamor was elected, when no pay was forthcoming, robbery and looting began — within a week, hungry Cacos were fighting town police, and when they seized and looted the police stations, the police force entirely disappeared. Port-au-Prince was in a great state of alarm, with excited crowds running aimlessly in every direction while rifles were being fired off at random, and the palace and precincts were the scene of the wildest confusion, every available space in the entrance-yard not already obstructed by quick-firing guns occupied by a vociferating crowd, everyone talking and no one listening. That the Banque’s unyielding stand reflected a hardening of Washington’s position on customs control was demonstrated on February 26 when Minister Smith was instructed to tell Zamor he would be recognized by the United States after the State Department learned more about his disposition to accept American aid in customs administration and lighthouse service — important because of the new Panama Canal — and Washington received renewed assurance that no other power would be granted concessions at the Môle. Léger turned the discussion around by saying there could be no discourse on any matter until U.S. recognition opened proper channels; Bryan took the bait and extended recognition on March 1, 1914, whereupon Léger ignored further American overtures and gave no reassurances whatever as to the Môle. In mid-March, Bryan again tried vainly to tighten the screws, while Oreste Zamor personally turned out a mob in front of the Banque, and Paris and Berlin told Washington they expected to share in any customs control and would resist any unilateral move by the United States. On the usual ruinous terms, the German merchants obliged the Zamors with 2.3 million gourdes, which quieted the Cacos but also demonstrated the truth of a U.S. Naval Intelligence report: in Haiti, the revolutionists fight for the promise of money, while the government must pay in order to get men to fight for it.