South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-05-01
VIRGIN ISLANDS
UPON THE ROAD
TO EVERYWHERE
HarbOrs Valuables to L. S. in
Preventing Them From Be
Coming Foe Property.

WASHINGTON, April so Just
what did UHc,e Sam get for the
I $25,OOO,OOO he paid TO Denmark for
the Virgin Islands?
A recent spectacular airplane flight
by United States marines from
Washington over the larger islands
of the West Indies 10 map out an
air line TO these latest lands TO come
under the American flag has raised
/ the question anew An answer is
given by the following bulletin is
/ sued from the Washington headquar-
! ters of the National Geographic sol
ciety.
The Virgin Islands are not re-
mote from other United States soil.
4 They are hardly more than a stones
] throw from Porto Rico. s.. Thomas.
/ the westernmost of the three larger
/ Virgins. is only 40 miles from that
! island and the presence of Culebra
/ Island. belonging to Porto Rico.
midway between the two. ties the
new possessions still more closely to
+ this elder American brother by
adoption. The truly beautiful view
! that may be had from the 1. 5OO-foot
peak Of billy st. Thomas includes
| TO the west the dim outline Of the
/ Porto Rican coast.
Close TO British Territory.
st John. the smallest of the three
principal islends acquired by the
United States. lies only two miles
. to- the east Of st. Thomas. \ climb
I 10 the rugged hills of ST. John will
F. demonstrate that the American Nir-
gins are also not remote from for
eign territory \ mile to the north
lies Thatch Island. a sman bit Of
land belonging TO Great Britain. and
less than three miles in the same
direction is Tcrtola Island of the
British Virgins. almost as large as
-. John.
est Croix the largest Of the new
Is purchased islands. lies 40 miles
10 the south. II is not a part geo
graphically Of the Virgin group. but
was included with s.. Thomas and
st. John for administrative purposes
by the Danes and is classed by the
United States as one OF its Virgin
Islands. St. CroiN is little over
three times ;hc size Of Manhattan
Island. containing approximately 81
square miles St Thomas. with am
area of 2S square miles. is about Ia
miles long and has an average width
not much over two miles. IL is
therefore almost exactly the size of
Manhattan Island. 81. John has an
extreme length of eight miles and "a
width somewhat over two miles. It's
area is approximately 20 square miles.
The entire group. including the nu-
merous tiny islands OF small value.
has little more than twice the area
of the District of Columbia, the
smallest of ,he main divisions OF
the United States proper.
Our Highest Priced Purcshase.
For these islands the United
States paid 4 higher price per acre
than for any other Of its famous
purchases. Only three cents an acre
was paid for tlaska "A for Florida.
and % for the Philippines. The
Canal zone cost s25.S3 per acre. The
price per acre paid for the Virgin
Islands was approximately S295.
THE features that give the chief
value TO the islands from the point
OF view OF the United states govern
ment are s. Thomas harbor on
which is situated tho principal town
NJ the group. Charlotte Amalie; and
Coral Bay on the island OF St. John.
ST. Thomas harbor is probably the
best developed harbor in the West
Indies. and is naturally protected
except from exceptionally strong
hurricanes Coral bay. though en-
tirely undevelcped. constitutes an
even more colnmodious and better
l protected harbcr 90 refuge. These
harbors were valuable 90 the United
states I'm themselves. but IL was even
more important that the United
states proven. the:v falling into the
II hands OF possible enemies.
An Atlantic Crossroads.
u THE Greater Antilles, made up OF
\ the larger OF the West Indies. and
| the Lesser Antilles. composed OF the
smaller islands, together form
y4gantic crooked arm enclosing the
/ Caribbean sea- The Virgin Islands
are at the 'e'Sow.' the closest point
90 Europe. Past this point streams
The traffic between Europe and the
/ Panama cca19l. between New York
/ and both the east and west coasts