Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-05
DIR. BRUMBAUGH
FAVORS PURCHASE
Says Danish West Indies Have
Great Value to the Amer
lean Nation Now

! Governor Martin G. Brumbaugh is
strongly in favor of the acquisition
of the Danish West Indies. He has
visited them and has studied their his
tory, their conditions and their loca-
ton, and he highly commends the
purchase.
In statement of his views the Gov
ernor SAYS:
In. 1901, when Commissioner of
| Education in Porto Rico, l was asked
! by President Mckinley to visit the
Danish Islands, Saint Thomas, Saint
John and Saint CroiX. 4 government
vessel was placed at my disposal and
we sailed from San Juan. Porto Rico,
and, stopping at each island. made a
study of the educational, social and
economic conditions. My report was.
of use, I learned at Washington. Presi-
dent Roosevelt said once to me that
this report had prevented him from
making a mistake in case we pur-
chased these islands. He had in mind,
so he said, to name Jacob Rile as
Governor because Rile could speak
Danish and was a native of Denmark.
| The report showed that. aside from
the speech of the Danish soldiers in
| the barracks, the language of school,
| OF home, of commerce, is English.
This is a tremendous gain in any pur-
chase plan as the natives would not
/ need to be trained to new language
"a task of no small moment in the
Americanization of a people.
The Harbor of Charlotte Amelia at
St. Thomas is the finest in the West
Indies. The entire American navy could
easily find secure anchorage in a per-
fectly protected land-locked harbor
! This harbor is easily fortified and
would be practically impregnable.
The great approaches to the Canal
are the Virgin Pass between st. Thom-
.
| between Porto Rico and Hayti; and the
! Windward between Hayti and Cuba.
| BY purchasing the Danish Islands we
! gain control of Virgin pass. We al
ready control Mona Pass from Porto
Rico, and our coaling station on the
Island of Cuba gives us control of the
| Windward Pass. The most important
of these Passes" from a defensive
point of view is the Virgin Pass It's
control rests with the nation that can
use st. Thomas as a base. Our naval
station at Culebra east of Porto Rico
is not a success and is costly to de-
velop and to maintain. 1t could be
abandoned If we get possession of the
Danish Islands.
The three islands are very product
i've and enough sugar would grow up
on them to make them profitable to
our domestic market. If the Repub-
licans win and we have a proper tariff
for sugar this new source of supply
within our own possession would be
most valuable.
THE schools of the Island of ST.
| Thomas are well conducted and the
education of the people has been fair
ly we'll attended to. The colored pop
ulation is given schooling and are
coming to Porto Rico in large num-
bers because their ability to speak
English makes them especially useful
to the American population of Porto
Rico.
THE stores of Charlotte Amelia are
we'll conducted and handle a valuable
inter-insular trade. due to the fact
that the British West India mail
steamers call and coal at this city.
vessel to the sea wall and placing
gang planks from vessel to shore. Ma
tive women carry the coal in baskets
on their heads to the vessel.
abundant reservoirs of fresh water
are available to all vessels calling at
the port
"Moravian missionaries from the
United States-from Pennsylvania in
fact-have done great Transforming
work in st. Thomas and their piety
and intelligence have given much of
the best to her people.
Should we secure these islands
petty smuggling from st. Thomas to
Porto Rico would of course be at an
end. 1t was, and perhaps still is a
source of trouble and of expense to
prevent smuggling of Bay Rum, Ii
quors, wines, ETC., by way of Vieques
an island of ours east of Porto Rico,
in Virgin Pass.
81 strongly advise this purchase and
predict that eventually we may and
will erect in the Caribbean Sea new
colony and later state-made up of
Porto Rico, st. Thomas, st. John and
ST. Croix, with San Juan as it capital.
This insular state would be from the
outset populous, productive and eco
nomically independent"