The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-28
THE DANISH WEST INDIES.
RESOURCES OF UNCLE SAMJS NEW-
 EST POSSESSIONS.

Island society-The Haunt of Piratical
 Gcntry-some Yarns That are Worth
 Saving.
 | Special Correspondence of the Jaurnal
 and Courier,)
 Charlotte Amalia, St Thomas Island | Feb. 4, 1902 This historic port, whose name was
 bestowed by the French during their brief occupancy of the island, wears q | self-conscious air of having seen better days. Time was when Charlotte Anna lia was the entrepot for the products of I the northern coast of South America, as well as of Porto Rico, Hayti Santo Dc- mlngo and all the Windward Islands. In later years the merchants of those parts discovered the advantage of going | direct to Europe, or to the United l States, for their goods and the trade of this port suddenly declined. After the abolition of slavery Gin 134S), St. Thom- as, which had hitherto been covered i with cane-fi fiedrs, produced no more su- gar, the emancipated negroes absolute ly refusing to do any work on the plantations and foeking into the towns to become burden and menace to the comparatively small proportion of whites in the population. The soil is so fertile that it is a favorite saying, Stick fence-post into the ground and tomorrow you have tree;' yet in q tbo ;-1o 1oo nf l. vation became almost a sterile waste. In the eyes Of the freed blacks planta- tion labor carried with it the stigma of slavery, perhaps naturally enough; and to this day the same opinion prevails among them. St. Thomas fortunes re- wives little with our civil war but arl- other crushing blow followed with the removal of the Royal Mall Steamship company's headquarters to Barbadoes.
 Truly, there is no loss without some body's gain. This long continued busi- ness depression leaves plenty of "open- ings' for energetic Americans, and those who get here ahead of the coming rush need not fear to embark in any sort of trade or manufacture. At present there is almost no competition, and soon there will be abundant de- mand, not only in this, but in adjacent islands. To be sure, the bulk of the West Indian population is not exactly what the average American would choose for congenial society-being mainly negroes. mulattoes and creoles; but the new conner should bring his so- ciety along, in the way of wife and children and wait for the good time that is surely at hand when his own race will predominate. There is now a sprinkling of English, French, German and Danish residents. Strange to say, the Danes, so long owners of the is land are the fewest, and theirs is about the only language not heard here The present Danish governor has his mansion on one of the pleasant hill- slopes overlooking Charlotte Amalia, and there are many handsome, solidly- built private houses-which, by the way, rent for about one-quarter the prices that prevail in New York and Washington, genial climate thrown in" One company of Danish soldiers are quartered on St. Thomas and Danish warship is usually in the har-
 
 English and Danish are taught-but in these the coming Americans will find much room for improvement. Consid- ering that the island has belonged to Denmark almost since it's first discove- ny, with only short intervals of French and English occupancy, it is curious that the English language should pre- vail in commerce and society and be taught exclusively in the schools.
 The town of Charlotte Amalia is as neat and clean as a new pin; buildings solid, spacious, strong; streets we'll and sidewalks in excel lent order. Stone gutters are laid along all the streets, while big stone "guts," as they are called, have been built to carry mountain streams down to the harbor There are number of 'stores,' some of them showing con- siderable stocks of dry-goods, provi- sons, drugs, etc, and all appear to be Their principal customers, however, are from the numerous ships l that come here to coal, passengers gen. | erally going ashore to pick up souve- | 1irs and crews replenishing their lard 1 ITS. Remembering that upwards of ] )ne hundred thousand tons of coal are | .aken from this island every year by | he men-of-war of all nations, to say | nothing of mail steamers and trading | you will realize that the streets | md shops are always thronged.
 Main street, which runs along the sea | he whole length of the town, is the ,nly level bit of ground in Charlotte Amalia, all the rest being on sharp | ;lant, the cross streets seeking speedy | hiding places in nearby ravines and oot- hills. Life here is always divert pg Groups of men in the streets con- 'erse with such vehemence and gestic- Hate so madly that you momentarily xpect to see a knife plunged into some- ,ody's bosom; but it is only the local vay of discussing the affairs of the lay, and presently the grinning dispu- ants saunter along, to renew the fra I as with the next acquaintance they meet. Though everybody makes con- inual noise and chatter nobody is in urry about anything-not even the hopkeepers in their driving of bar aims, who always ask foreign visitors f least double the price which native