Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1917-08-03
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
A Brief Sketch Of Our New Posses
sions, ST. Thomas, st. Croix and
st. John. !
No. 5


Things are not as they We're. In
the old days territory was acquired
after war. We have reversed the
procedure by acquiring territory one
day and declaring war the next.
To be exact we took peaceful pos
session of the virgin islands on
March 31st, 1917. On April 9th Con-
gress declared a state of war existed
between the United States and Ger
many. Therefore the flag of Denmark
came down only to be replaced by
the flag of the United States which
waved over the islands for a short
week in peace, only to be hidden by
the clouds of war. A glance at the
history of these islands shows that
they are accustomed to changes OF
flag. First discovered by Columbus
in 1893 it was not until the seven
teenth century that colonization be-
gan. when the Dutch settled in St.
Thomas in 1867 while at the same
time the French were settling in st.
Croix. The three islands while pollt-
ically OF one division are not geog-
raphically connected, ST. Thomas and
st. John lying together at the north
of the Virgin passage while st. CrolX
is to the south of the passage forty
miles away.
ST. Thomas and st. John
ST. Thomas and St. John can be
considered collectively, as they lie
only few miles apart. These
islands are at the east end Of a
range of mountains having their base
on the bottom Of the sea and their
tips more or less above the water.
This is the range that supports the
great Antilles and enclOses the
Caribbean Sea on the north. At the
eastern end of this submerged range
We find ST. Thomas and st. John.
The range then turns south and COM
pletes the enclosure of the Caribbean.
international PaWns
The Virgin Islands have been used
as paWns many times in the great
international chess game St. Thorn
as and st. John were originally set
tied by the Dutch in the seventeenth
century. In 1867 they came into the
hands of the British and were held
until 1871 when they passed into the
hands of the Danish West India
Company. This company was sue
ceeded in 1856 by the so-called
Brandenburg Company, the share
holders of the latter 6eing mainly
Dutch. In 1854 the King Of Den
mark took over the islands. During
this period the two islands were de-
clared free ports and Denmark's neu-
trality during the European wars of
the early 18th century gave the
islands, a commercial impetus which
Tasted we'll into the middle of the
century. In 1901 the islands were
held by the British and again in
1907 to 1916, during which it was
the great rendezvous of British mer-
Passing back to Denmark the islands
became a burden to the mother
country and in 1867 a treaty was
concluded by which the United
States were to buy them for seven
and a half million dollars This
fell through when the United States
Senate failed to ratify the treaty,
showing that our present Senate is
not without precedent in the mat
ter of treaty failures.
In 1902 another deal was almost
concluded This time the price was
to be five millions, but the Danish
parliament baked at the last mo-
ment. Thereafter while the CONNER
cial value of the islands was at
low ebb the price steadily advanced
and we finally bought them for TWEEN
ty-five million dollars and took for
NAL possession on March 81, of this
year.
ST. Croix
The island of st. Croix or Santa
Cruz, as some call it is the largest
of the group. This island is cata-
logued as one of Columbus discov-
cries, but seems to have been owned
in turn by Dutch, British and Span
ish. Then in 1861 it was taken by
France and two years later was Civ
en- to the knights of Malta by Louis
the XIV, sharing with the other
islands the distinction of being pri-
vately owned at times. In 1878 st.
Croix was purchased by Denmark.
A Splendid Naval Base
The Virgin Islands were purchased
by the United states for the sole
purpose of possessing the harbor of
ST. Thomas. No matter what else
we purchased, we have purchased a
naval base worth while, and its value
tod xvifh