Evening star., 1902-01-11

The feeling. as I have stated, in 1859 in
favor of annexation was so strong as to
De pract1cally unanimous In the islands.
Iooay the community is not unanimous on
the subject, although the opposition Is
small, numerically. For one thing, the Of
ncials are opposed to annexation This
may or may not grow out of the fact that
their salaries are at issue Then there are
number Of monopolies granted by the
present government The holders of these
monopolles are also opposed to annexation
.I unere may also be financial feeling at
the basis of this. Then there are some
citizens who honestly believe that It ts
better to remain under the Danish flag.
TINS class is influenced greatly by the re-
@ Ror.s mat nave come to the islands from
Porto Rico, being mostly quotations from
ths san Juan News, telling soul-stirrfng
tales or the terrible suffering of the natives
OF Porto Rico under American rule, and of
tne proposed American taxation by which
the natives are to be ground into powder.
Mr Van Horne, the United States consul
| at this place, told me that the opposition
| $1,000 on these grounds and the additional
| one that they had once offered themselves
| to the United States and had been refused
| one gentleman told me, taking the sama
( ground MT. Van Horne had expressed. that
th their territory had been rejected once by
! the United states and that there was no
certainty that it would not be rejected
| again II offered Then besides, he said
| see by the San Juan paper that 700
naslves 1hv IS nave died from starvation, many of
them In the streets Of San Juan ITSELF;
What can you do when an America,
| paper prints that sort of stuff and It is
circulated throughout the West Indies Is.
tailta tamus: II is questionable whether the in
| tsiligent people here believe the trashy lies
! that come to them from San Juan hut
Whether they believe them or not. those
| opposed TO annexation use them as an argu-
! ment " a. u
Question in Council.
The people here are right in the midst of
| tempest in teapot over q side issuo to
the annexation question. One of the pron,-
| nent and influential citizens here is DR.
| Charles E. Taylor, who has a large store
and whose residence on a terrace overlook
Ing the harbor Is one Of the show places Of
| ine town. Taylor Is an Englishman bv
oirth VI ana is one OF the elective members
| Oh the colonial council. Some little time
! ago he wrote letter to the New Yorlr
Herald which was published, In which he
| sald that all the Intelligent people of the
islahas Favored annexation, and this letter
ne signed, adding to his signature the
| title, member colonial council" The on
| position in the council took this I'D and at
| tempted to call Taylor before the bar for a
! ssat p,eacn oI outy IN so signing such COM
( munieatton. A motion was made, but the
president of the council refused to entertain
! II. The council was equally divided on the
question; and since then for a couple of
| weeks there has been a deadlock in the
| governing body, with no business transact
| ed A special meeting had been called for
| the afternoon while we were at St. Thomas
| py the governor, but the Taylor adherents.
| or those In favor of annexation. claimed
| that the governor had no right to call the
meeting and they refused to attend. So.
| as usual, one-half of the council met and
adjourned without accomplishing ANYTHING
| a dissolution Of the council and the cleo
| !lon Or new one was one Of the things
| looked Tor, and there were hints of pro
| posed attempts by one or the other side to
arrest and bring in the other side to the
meeting. The inclination all along the line.
however, seemed to be not to take any dras-
| TIC measures until 1t was seen whether the
islands were going to be annexed or not.
Favor Annexation.
I hunted ur DR.. Taylor in his store and
had talk with him on the subject of an.
neXation. "A large majority on this island
Is In favor of annexation" said Dr. Taylor;
1T is realized here that the future of the
island depends on it's Joining Its fortunes
with the United States. What is needed
here Is capital and development. Splendid
lands are only waiting for enterprise and
| money to make them profitable The for
| tune, almost the existence of this town de-
pends on Its commerce with passing ships
| Now, everybody here knows that one United
states tugboat spends more money in q
week than large ship of any other nation
/ in month. This is one of the strong rea.
sons we favor having the stars and stripes
go up here. Then we realize that with this
harbor turned into a coaling and naval
station the future prosperity and growth
OF st. Thomas and the other two islands
| will be assured wrote to the Her
aid SAYING that we all were In favor OF
signed myself as member Of the council
Those hera who ara 0nposed IN npnayatyo,,