Omaha daily bee., 1917-03-19
Uncle Sam in the Caribbean
|. What We Bought

|
Charlotte Amalie D. w. l., March l0.-The
American flag is shortly to be raised over this
group of islands, the United States having agreed
by treaty to pay the Danish government $25,0O0,-
900 for all OF the holdings OF the latter country
in the West Indies.
On the map the West Indies are seen as
string of islands, beginning with the large ones
of Cuba and Santo Domingo, thinning out in
mid-ocean to few almost invisible dots, and
then emerging to the south again in the larger
French and English islands. What have
bought from Denmark are about fifty of these
little pin head islands. Only three of them are
large enough. to have names on the map and the
largest contains but eighty-four square miles In
significant as they appear geographically, how
ever, these islands are most interesting, and may
become important
ST. Thomas and St. John belong to the Virgin
group Of islands, which was discovered by Column
bus, as was also St. Croix. st. Thomas was set
tied by the Dutch, who left it for New York.
Then the Danes took it, and the English took it
away from the Danes several times, but always
gave it back because they did not want it. The
Dutch and the English also squabbled in small
way over St. Croix; then the Spaniards got hold
Of it only to be driven out by the French, who
gave it to the Knights of Malta. They, being un-
able to make living there, burned up their hold
ings and departed Denmark thereupon got St.
Croix for the same reason that she got St.
,
She has been losing money on the islands almost
ever since; that $25000000 will be the first profit
that Denmark, as nation, has made out OF her
West Indian colonies IN a long time.
The history of our own relation to the islands
has been much repeated of late. In 1865 Secre-
tary Of State Seward offered S,5000OO for them,
vote was taken here, and the people were almost
unanimous for the transfer. The bill then died
in the senate committee on foreign relations: In
1902 we wasted an opportunity to buy the Islands
| for $s000000. In 1916 we jumped at the chance
| to buy them for $2S0O0000, and now it remains
only to pay over the money and raise the flag.
The price to nearly $500 an acre, as against
cents an acre which we paid for Alaska, u cents
| fof the Philippines and about $35 for the canal
zone. Thus it is seen that colonies, like every
| thing else, going up in price.
| This crude summary Of the history OF the Dam
ish West Indies gives no idea of their real story,
| whichhs filled with romance OF the Spanish main;
with pirates and priyateers and doubloons and
creole beauties. The islands are Uttered with old
cannon ruined forts, and all the other stage
props Of swashbuckling romance.
| Geologcally these islands are the tips OF
| badly swamped mountain range, ST. Thomas Juts
suddenly out of the water like swimmers head
| From its highest point you can see Porto RICO
to the west, and an amazing amount OF ocean all
| around There is practically no cultivation, be-
cause all the people make living out OF the har..
| Dor. Fire and hurricane have swept the island
almost clear of forest; but there is low dense
| growth of brush, which affords shelter for wild
goats and deer, while few cattle Craze on the
! open. wind-swept mountain tops. The island IS
| beautiful with vivid, unexpected beauty-an
| ideal place to explore with pony and camera
| And the bulk of it is now serving no other pur-
| pose than to delight an occasional wanderer with
| an eye for the picturesque.
St. Croix, on the other hand is rich island
| II contains eighty-four square miles OF territory
large part of which is planted in sugar cane. One
| side Of the island is fat while miniature noun
! tain range borders the other, rising steeply out
| Of the bright, tender green of the sugar helds
| which reach clear down to the palm groves along
| the white beaches. This island has fine roads
bordered with rows of royal palms, and 1t boasts
| no less than twenty automobiles. Long ago It
| was favorite winter resort for Americans, and
the islanders believe that it is going to become
| popular with tourists again. Land has already
| been bought for the erection of large modern
| hotel
st John contains about twenty square miles
| II claims 900 inhabitants, but they are hard to
find owing to the density of the Jungle, the lack
of roads, and the fact that there is no town on the
| island.
The other forty-seven islands which are in
cluded in our purchase vary from such bits as
Sail Rock which is bare spire of granite that
looks like a sail and affords home for few sea
birds, to Buck island which is several square
miles in area, covered with dense growth, and full
of wild pigeons, parrots and wild goats. Most
OF these small islands, or keys, are uninhabited,
and many OF them practically never visited
by men.
Our purchase includes three principal cities,
| and few smaller villages. The most important
of the cities is Charlotte Amalie on this island OF
ST. Thomas. In the islands, the town is called St.
| Thomas, its Danish name almost never beng
heard. 1t has about 1900 inhabitants, most OF
whom have negro blood, but it is not negro
town in the sense that Port Au Prince is. The
typical St, Thoman of the better class is a West
Indian creole, and of distinctive type He has
lust enough negro blood to make his skin dark
and his hair slightly kinky. He is indolent and
pleasure loving but intelligent and pretty well
educated Many Of the leading merchants OF St.
Thomas are creoles, including the only million
are in the islands. These well-to-do creoles have
their children educated in Europe, and minge
with the Danish officials as social equals. Many
of the young Danes have taken creole brides back
to Denmark.
In St. Crox are Christiansted, the capital and
Fredrikstad each having population of between
1000 and 5000. Fredrkstad is fiat, white dusty
town. swept by the wind from its open roadstead
and is neither picturesque nor interesting. Chris.
tiansted, on the other hand is beautiful tropical
city, full of flowers and palms and picturesque old
houses. 1t has pretty little harbor choked with
sand and mud. The bulk of the people in St
Croix are black negroes while the dominant class
are mostly Irishmen and Danes.
From these facts, it will be seen that we have
not bought valuable piece OF real estate. The
purchase was justified, for reasons which will be
made clear in the next letter. But whatever the
value of the islands to us, our potential value to
them is enormous. The people of the Danish
West Indies are looking to us with faith and hope
| E. a.: .,d ,phn (arihb world