The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1920-09-25
RACE HATRED GROWS ON VIRGIN
ISLANDS.
New American American Territory In
Serious Condition, Due to Preach
ings of Black Boss.
santa Cruz, V. l.. Sept. "a

santa Cruz, " l.. sept Co
In addition to the territory of the
three islands which the United States
obtained when it purchased the Vir-
gin Island group from Denmark for
$25, 999, 900, Uncle Sam fell heir to.
racial and labor question quite as in
Iutioh as anything of the sort which
eady troubles HIM within the As
States on the mainland of the North
American Continent.
Writing from Santa Cruz, the lar
gest OF the three islands. the Rev.
Waldemar Ivan Rutan of 725 Park
place. Brooklyn. curate of st. Paul
Church. FrederilSsted. and vicar of
the Church of the Holy Cross, Upper
Love. in Santa Cruz. describes the
complicated forces and the difficult
conditions which the Representatives of
the American institutions have to over
sion out of this Negro island still
governed by Danish customs and laws.
Things are little mixed up in
the Virgin Islands" the Rev. Mr..
Government is not doing overmuch
/ to straighten them out" The tier
ritory is officially American, and its
! inhabitants are living under the Ann
erican flag. But the Danish laws
were in effect up to Aug. /, and the
transition has not yet been eompl ely
made. At the time of writing the
American dollar, compared TO the
I
| al Bank of the Danish West Indies
was worth about s1.09. giving, the
Danish dollar purchasing value of
approximately 90 cents.
Although rich in soil. and having a
semi-tropical climate. SO that corn.
| cotton, potatoes, ~yams. rice, oranges,
pineapplas. and bananas can be and
actually have been grown with great
other grains could be raised with prop
er application, lack of capital and
lack Of American enterprise have kept
the islands entirely dependant on the
chief product of the islands is sugar;
! but even that is sent to New York
1 for refining. and reshipped; so that
| the. Islanders nay the New York
] price plus an exhorbitant freight rate.
| Besides these general industrial
difficulties. the more subtle and mpre
serious difficulties with which the
Americans who are assigned the duty
munity are confronted concern the in
habitants OF the islands. They were
very recently. still within the MEM
DRY of the great majority of those
cry in every way as tyrannical as
| anything recorded of the anti-Civil
! War days of our own South. Attic
legal freedom has come to the natives
they have not yet become acclimat-
cd to the new air liberty; and con-
| ditions which discourage the North
| erner travelling for the first time
| through our own South. only far
worse, are everywhere prevalent.
There has been little advance since
| the slavery days. Housing condi-
tions that rival anything we know
here in lack, of sanitation and lack
| of adequancy are an everyday mat
ter. Whole families of many child
| rem live in one room shacks. sleeping
on old bags of straw on the floor
or in cramped positions in chairs.
1t \. l. hA roll
cannot possibly be improved" the
/ Rev. Mr.. Rutan writes.
The immortality of the island is
The two questions which keep the
island in a seething condition of UNI
rest and dissatisfaction ARE the race
question and the labor question. The
natives are Negroes. but until recent
a basis of live and let live with
| their less numerous white neighbors
| They are also laborers. while their
| employers are almost exclusively the
whites. Within the last few years,
according to the Rev. Mr.. Rutan, the
\ feeling of discomfort and hostility
toward the white man and the en-
| ployer has grown until II forms a
and development OF the islands.
There are two labor unions In
Santa Cruz. or ST. Croix. One of
/ these is the Federal Labor Union,
the American Federation of Labor.
This was formerly connected with
| the 'St. Croix Labor Union" but sep
arated from 1t on account of the radi-
cal proclivities which the latter be-
The .St. Croix Labor Union" the
Rev. Mr.. Futan considers as a very
vicious organization. 1t is led by a
fairly well educated and energetic
| Negro, ID. Hamilton Jacksou. whose
| influence he finds to be of tho most
malignant sort in both the Industrial
and racial quarrel.
He is constantly preaching the
equality of the black man with the
white. and even telling the servants
| to refuse to call their employers
| master and Mistress In fact, he
| has been known to tell the women
servants to call their mistresses by
their Christian names. II they 0he
servants) are called by their Chris
tian names And j know of one
case where this actually occurred.
jackson is always writing articles
i in his paper-the Herald. published
! in Christiansted by the United Danish
West Indian Printing Plant. Inc
which would not be. tolerated any
where else. He has been able so to
overawe the whole island. including
/ the Governor. that everyone seems to
| be thoroughly afraid of him. In at
least one instance, when matter
was placed before the Governor re-
| garding a serious breach of the law
by one OF Jackson's assistants (the
Rev. r. G. Barrow.) the Governor
refused to do anything about it,
The Inhabitants Of the islands are
| divided into the white. black and
"colored" people. the last class con-
| sisting OF the Negroes with white
blood: Jackson is a black. and ne