Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-04-05

The Danish West Indies, which Den
mark has been notified must not be sold
to any other power but the United States,
are three little islands lying Immediately
east of Porto Rico at the gateway Of the
Caribbean Sea. Santa Cruz Is the larg-
est of the three, and contains seventy
four square miles of territory, more than
hve-slxths of which is under cultivation.
Its total population is 10000, most of
which is of negro descent. st. Thomas Is
the second in size, and is the first in i'm
portance because of its situation and fine
harbor. st. Thomas also contains the
commercial metropolis, of the islands, the
town Of Charlotte Amelia, which is bet
ter known as st. Thomas. Charlotte
Amelia is a town of 1900 inhabitants,
and the total population of the island is
only few hundreds larger. St. Thomas
contains but thirty-three square miles Of
territory, most of it too rocky for culti-
vation. The third island in the bunch
for which the United States now proposes
to pay $3,24O,O 10000, is St. John, little
rocky islet on which less than a thousand
would add but "a, 900 people and less than
ed States.
made an attempt to buy these islands for
$7,5OO,O0O. The Danish government
agreed to make the sale. provided the
people of the islands were agreeable to it.
The Rev. DR.. Hawley, pastor of the
church which the Secretary attended at
Auburn, N. Y, was sent to st. Thomas
to supervise an election held to give the
people chance to express their views.
On all three islands but twenty-five votes
were cast against the proposed union
with the United States, several thousand
being recorded in its favor. The senti-
ment of the people was almost unani-
nous. But the plan had many opponents
in Congress. Chief among these was
Senator Sumner. then the head of the
committee on foreign relations. He
pigeonholed the treaty and prevented its
consideration for long time.
A good many years later another at
tempt was made to buy out Denmark's
possessions in the Caribbean. This time
the price was fixed at less than $5,OOO,-
GOO, but, in spite of the reduction, it
came to nothing. Meanwhile King Chris
tian and the Danish government have
been growing increasingly anxious to
sell. Denmark is not and Is not likely to
become great naval power, and the
chief value of the islands lies in the fact
that st. Thomas has a good harbor and
commands the gateway to the Caribbean
Sea. Besides, the islands are not self
supporting.
Whatever the islands may lack in any
other direction they are strong in his
toric and romantic interest. They were
discovered by Columbus on his second
voyage to America, in 1893. But Colum-
bus was not looking for few little scat
tered islands, and when he found how
small they were he hoisted sail and went
away after naming them the Virgin ISL
ands. Then for more than $50 years
they lay unvisited by white men. In 1857
some adventurous Dutchmen sailed into
| the. splendid harbor of st. Thomas and
started a little settlement there. That
lasted for ten years. Then the Dutch
gave up the attempt, and few years
later the Danes took their place. Since
then the English, French and Spanish
have alternated In the control of one or
more of the islands, which finally passed
under the permanent control Of Denmark
in 1915.
But the chief romantic interest which
| attaches to st. Thomas lies In the fact
that it was for years one of the headuuar-
ters of the famous pirates and bucca-