The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-02

| Look at this paper" he continued,
! picking up a recent copy OF the
! Standard, a local newspaper OF An
tigua, b. w. l. See what it says
about the matter:
The number of those who have
I left for and those who contemplate
going. to the United States, of the
pick of the st. Kits and Antigua
young people of both sexes-some of
them in the government service, too
is suggestive Of rats leaving a sink
ing ship to escape peril.
Really, the situation is becoming
serious If the emigration were con-
fined to our never-dO-wells, 1t might
be thought a mercy that they should
leave their country for their countrys
good, but unfortunately the majority
of this class remain, and, as conse-
quence, the difficulty in procuring the
services of competent, trustworthy
young men to fill such places as clerks
in the various lines of trade and of
workmen in the several crafts, is be-
coming acute. The dregs remain,
from which little or no good can by
any process of squeezing be extracted.
owe are made to understand that
the bookings for frst-class passengers
. for America by the KOrona and Font
abelle on their return voyages from
this colony are enough to shut out
more, only biding time, opportunity
and the realizing of a few dollars, ere
| they. too, shake off tropical dust from
their feet.
There is no help for ii, unfortu-
nately. The States can find room for
| all, we opine. and it may be that by
and by the West Indian element over
| there will be so strong, and so salts
fed with republican rule as to infiu-
nd no he
solved the problem of annexation
The newspapers of the other islands
say practically the same.
"The Garth CannibaIs."
A small circle of West Indians in
New York have formed a society
which they call 1.-THE Carib Canni-
balls" They meet at one another's
houses talk over old times and COM
mon friends down south, and arrange
| to give a helping hand to other West
| Indians who have not yet made
good"
One evening they were talking about
their own eXperiences-why they came
here, how they came, and what hap
| pened to them.
II was a government clerk down in
Jamaica, earning $500 a year" said the
president of the club. IF had wait
ed another five years I would have got
| an increase of $50 a year. AS for pro-
| motion, there was no chance of 1t un-
less one of the old fogies at the top of
the tree was obliging enough to die.
"Well, I logged along contentedly
until l fell in love with planter S
pretty daughter. We became engaged,
but when ! asked the planter for the
parental blessing he told me not to
be a fool, and asked me what l pro
posed keeping a wife on. OF course
/ looked like an ass, but l told him
meant to have her all the same.
" Well, then, my lad he said, look
ing at me rather more kindly, you
shall have your chance. When l was
your age, was in the same boat. But
didn't stick in the mud here on star
walton pay. / went to the states,
made money. came back and bought
this plantation, and married Mary's
mother. You go and do the same.
But 1 have no money to go there
| with / ventured.
And vet you propose to marry a
wife, he retorted, adding: We'll, here
are $50 Take them as loan. Your
passage will cost you SAL and you'll
have about IS to land with, provided
you don't drink too many cocktails on
the steamer. If you can't make po-
sition for yourself and come back for
Mary within a couple of years, you
| need never expect to get her.
81 took the money, and came here
| It was rough sledging at first, and
many a time was tempted to go back
to the easy. if improbable, life in ia
maica. But the thought of Mary kept
me steadfast, and in less than two
years | was able to go back, pretty
we'll fixed, and demand her from the
old man. And what do you think his
wedding present to me was? The
same $50 note which had repaid him
out of my first earnings.
" When you sent that, my boy he
said, L knew you were safe to come
back for Mary, so I had 1t framed
and kept 1t waiting for YOU
A Risky Venture.
"When I came here" said another
member of the club, turning to thu
president, 1T had an even greater in
centive than you. 1 was an overseel
on a st. kits plantation, working
for my board and S. week, l didn'
wait. as you did. 1 married her, anC
we managed to get here by pawninl
the few bits of jewelry we possessed
We bluffed the immigration inspector
| it was only two years ago-anC
landed with just over So in our pos
session.
That same afternoon walked int,
| the first newspaper ONCE L saw ant
got a job as reporter at Sc a week
though I knew nothing of the work
1t was pretty tough work living OF
that small wage, but in few week
l was getting $40 on a better paper
and now I'm making a livabl
salary"
"I know a West Indian" spoke III
a third member of the club who il
now head of the American organiza
ton of a big English bank He cam
. to Philadelphia for a holiday, sool
after leaving school, liked the place
took a position as a Junior clerk, ant
rose very quickly TO the top of tn,
tree"
Creole Girls and American Million
aires.
"Do you know" remarked an OLE
Jamaican, that a great many Yves
Indian women come here and MARI,
rich Americans? They are the daugh
ters of the aristocratie old plantin,
families who have lost their none,
through the ruin of the West IndiaI
sugar industry They come here b,
shoals to earn a living. I suppos,
ther must be hundreds of them II
Boston. to say nothing of PHILADELPHIA
and New York. Some of them becom,
stenographers, but most OF them d,
the best kind of fancy needlework
The West Indian woman of the higher
classes is an adept at that kind O.
work. as you know.
Sooner or later they meet thef
millionaire and marry him. Ameri
cans seem to find them irresistible