1944-01: (Jeanne Infers a Crisis of Resources — Although Jeanne Did Not Know the Exact Cause for These Losses or the Most Recent Report of “a New Born Baby G…

1944-01: (Jeanne Infers a Crisis of Resources — Although Jeanne Did Not Know the Exact Cause for These Losses or the Most Recent Report of “a New Born Baby Girl Found Near the Shore in Cité-Vincent” She Inferred That It Was a Crisis of Resources, Explaining That President Lescot Lowered Prices on Food Necessities but That Taxes on Goods Like Oil Soap and Paper Products from the United States Increased All While the Minimum Wage Remained $1.50 Gourdes — Her Conclusion Being That Women’s Basic Needs Were Not Being Met): Although Jeanne did not know the exact cause for these losses or the most recent report of a newborn baby girl found near the shore in Cité-Vincent, she inferred that it was a crisis of resources. She explained to her sisters that President Élie Lescot lowered prices on food necessities but that the taxes levied on goods like oil, soap, and paper products from the United States increased, all while the minimum wage remained $1.50 gourdes. Her conclusion was that women’s basic needs were not being met — where the newspaper asked whether infanticide was madness or misery, Jeanne Sylvain answered with arithmetic: the wages, the taxes, the prices, the impossible mathematics of survival on a gourde and a half.