Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1902-06-06
JOHN W. THURST0N,
SOLE AGENT.
THEIR TRADE DOOMED
West Indies Commerce Ruined
by the Eruption.
EXODUS FROM ISLANDS CERTAIN.


who Escaped From Martinique.
Condition Of the Sugar Industry.
Guiana Likely to Prosper by the
Calamity-Its Resources.
In the rush Of events following the
first eruption Of Mont Pelee the effect
the disaster win have on commerce has
not been clearly explained, says the
New York Commercial Advertiser. OF
this Baron de FOntenilliat, the French
nobeman who 30 miraculously es-
capped from the Fort de France horror,
told at the Hotel Manhattan, in New
York, the other day:
This eruption" said the baron. will
be the last straw that breaks the back
Of a large part Of the West Indian
trade. For many years now the sugar
industry not only in Martinique, but in
dangerous Guadeloupe, in Antigua, st.
Croix, st. Lucia, st. Thomas, the Bar
bados-in fact, great part Of the Dan
ish, British and French West indies
has been very languid. The beet sugar
success in France and the United
States has far outrun it. 1t seemed to
many that it was dying a natural
death. OF course the moral effect Of
this disaster will be but to keep people
away from these islands (Guadeloupe.
for instance, has volcano always
smoking). Planters will not go there.
st. Thomas, as you know, has planted
no crops this year. Not daring to COM
pete with France and the United
States, the planters have held back
their sugar, waiting for the purchase
to take effect, when all their goods will
be admitted free. An exodus from these
islands has already started, and l doubt
very much If the blow to commerce is
not a deathblow. The negroes, too, are
ludicrously superstitious and timid, and
they will fee At any rate, the soil Of
these islands, unlike that of fortunate
Cuba and Porto Rico, will not pro-
dnce everything. Sugar was almost
dead. Wood might be produced, but
that will take six years, and not very
many will have the heart to start it..
So there you are.
French Guiana, which is very near
the islands, will be the haven Of many
refugees. For many years now many
OF the negroes of Martinique have gone
there for four months out Of the year,
have got enough by what you may
call scarecrow prospecting to keep
them for the rest of the year and have
then returned to the island metropolis
to eat and drink it up. So this will be
tue point they will make for. French
Guiana has an immense penal settle
ment. The prison is right on the water,
and it is rather CHASTITY to see the
schools of sharks lowering around for
the chance carcass Of prisoner who
may be thrown them. At the sound of
the death bell they come swimming
in just as dogs do when they are called
by whistle. With the increase in popu-
lation enterprise and industry may
spring up in Guiana. don't know.
hope so, for you see I am interested.
The government knows it's wealth, but
there is no capital. 1t is curious
place, a great tangle land much of it.
On the shore is strip of land on which
yuu can raise a luxuriant first crop, but
after that never one. The soil is only
a few inches deep and is really alb.
sorbed. Back Of the plain are the i'm
penetrable mountains, with rivers cut
tiag in them. Up these rivers the
negroes paddle for days and then pros.
ptct, for back Of the hills is very rich
land in mineral. There is gold in the
sand and gold underground. Richer
than the Transvaal-it really is-for
the gold ore brings $12O ton, whereas
in South Africa $25 or $50 is a fail
price.
Altogether I think you will see 9
great change in the lower part Of the
West Indies, and commercially they
VIII drop out of the world"