Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-05-04

st. Croix, on the other hand, is a
rich island. 1t contains "a square
miles of territory, a large part of
which is planted in sugar cane. One
side of the island is fiat, while a minia-
ture mountain range borders the 9TH
er, rising steeply out of the bright,
tender green of the sugar fields, which
reach clear down to the palm groves
along the white beaches. This island
has fine roads bordered with rows of
royal palms, and it boasts no less
than 20 automobiles. Long ago it was
favorite winter resort for Ameri-
cans, and the islanders believe that it
is going to become popular with tour
lists again. Land has already been
bought for the erection of large mod
ern hotel.
St. John Claims 900 Inhabitants.
st. John contains about twenty
square miles. 1t claims 900 inhabit-
ants, 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.
cluded in our purchase vary from
such bits as Sail rock, which is bare
spire of granite that looks like sail
and affords q home for a 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 uninhab-
tied and many of them are practically
never visited by men.
Our purchase includes three princi-
pal cities and q 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 being heard. 1t has about
1900 inhabitants, most Of whom have
negro blood, but 1t is not a negro town
in the sense that Port au Prince is.
The typical st. Thomian of the bet
ter class is a West Indian creole, and
of a distinctive type. He has just
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
millionaire in the islands. These we'll
to-do creoles have their children edu-
Gated in Europe, and mingle with the
Danish officials as social equals. Many
of the young Danes have taken creole
brides back to Denmark.
Capital City Rated Beautiful.
In st. Croix are Christiansted, the
capital, and Fredrikstad, each having
population of between 1000 and
5000. Fredrikstad is a fiat, white
dusty town, swept by the wind from
it's open roadstead, and is neither pic
turesque nor interesting. Christian
sted, on. the other hand, is a beautiful
tropical city, full of flowers and palms
and picturesque old houses. 1t has 6
pretty little harbor choked with sane
and mud. The bulk of the people il
st. Croix are black negroes, while the
dominant class are mostly IrishmeI
and Danes.
From these facts, it will be seen thai
we have not bought valuable piece
of real estate, but the purchase seem:
to be amply justified. Whatever thu
value of the islands to us, our poten
tial value to them is enormous. Th'
people of the Danish West Indies arr
looking to us with faith and hope fol
many things, and the whole Caribbean
world will watch our course ther'
with keen and critical interest. Where
fore Uncle Sans new islands are {
more important part of his domain
than they appear on the map.