The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-02

deal through, is confident of ultimate
success. The fate of the purchase will
rest largely upon the question Of price,
but if Denmark does not raise her
offer of Sc, 00O, 000 made some years ago
the sale will probably be ehecOed. There
are some who claim that the national
treasury is not robust enough at the
present time to stand the strain Of a
West India connection, but these are in
a minority.
In view of the probable acquisition,
it is interesting to take a peep at the
islands, and see what kind of a coun-
try the sons and daughters of Uncle
Sam are going to own ALI of the is
lands are redolent with history, and
some of it not of very pleasant char
acter. The pirates of a hundred years
and more ago had fine time on these
islands registering after successful
raid on some rich merchantmen.
Nearly every tale Of piratical times
has something about Santa Cruz rum
in it, and if these stories are true, the
bold buccaneers got drunk on nothing
else Of course, Santa Cruz rum is a
product of the island of that name. 1t
seems that the pirates put into Santa
Cruz for the express purpose of tax
ing aboard big supply of the rum. If
they drank much of it, anyone who is
familiar with its powerful qualities can
easily understand why the pirates
should have been so ferocious.
A WONDERFUL HARBOR.
But it is not to get first mortgage
on Santa Cruz rum that this country
thinks of buying the island. In fact,
if ST Thomas can be purchased with
out the other two, only that one will be
bought The magnet which attracts
attention to st. Thomas is its harbor.
And this harbor has played an impor-
tant part in the history Of the worlds
maritime commerce, At enc time more
shipping passed in and out of it than
the great harbor of New York could
boast Of
No pilots are needed to bring heav-
lily laden steamer from the ocean up to
the very wllarveS of Charlotte Amalia,
the little city at the head of the har-
Dor, so straight and deep is the shell
tered waterway. And the land is so
situated that the harbor at The en-
trance could be admirably protected
at small expense. A few modern guns
of heavy calibre placed on either side
could sweep the OCEAN for half dozen
miles.
This is why it is attractive just now
when the possibility of war has shown
itself In the olden time there was no
need of islands anywhere, no matter
what the emergency might be. If the
country were engaged in war then its
vessels could fight just as well with
out the aid of islands out in the ocean.
But in those days the war vessels were
propelled by sails. Now it is a different
matter. There are some fighting ships
in Uncle Sans navy, but if they did
not have coal enough to work their
engines they would be about as effec-
tive as nothing at all.
NEED OF THE ISLAND.
War conditions on the water have
changed since this country has had any
actual experience in a struggle with
a foreign naval power. Steaming ra-
dius is of the greatest advantage, ac-
cording to naval experts. If our ships
had to sail a thousand miles every six
or seven days for fresh coal supply
their offensive fighting capacity would
be reduced to a minimum.
England has foreseen this contingent
cy for many years She owns and con-