St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-04-09

Adm. Georges Robert, whose re-
fusal to renounce allegiance to
Vichy and join the Allies recently
inspired the U. S. State Dept. to
maintain a food blockade of the
islands.
This tends to confirm the hint of
impending trouble given by Navy
Secretary Frank Knox last Tues
day-that "there is good deal OF
local resentment for Adm. Robert
for being so stubborn"
Eliminated Council
The Negro islanders - workers
on banana and sugar-cane planta-
tions, small merchants and fisher
men-have lived under Roberts
dictatorship since the fall OF
France. The rights they enjoyed
under the Third Republic - the
right to vote, to speak, and write
freely-were snatched from them
the moment Marshal Petain an
nounced creation of the Vichy
Government.
Adm. Robert maintains his au-
thority with the help of several
thousand French sailors crews OF
the French warships stationed at
Fort of France, Martinique. One
of Roberts first acts was to elimi-
nate the General Council, demo-
cratic body of Negroes and Mulat-
toes which used to vote the budget
and manage the local affairs of the
islands. Before the war, the Cen
eral Council possessed the power
to oppose the Governor of Marti-
nique and even the Minister of Col
onies in Paris on certain legislative
issues.
Praise for Axis
There have been no municipal
elections since Frances collapse,
the Vichy-sponsored mayors carry
ing out the executive orders of
Adm. Robert. A purge of the 1890
civil servants of Martinique and
Guadaloupe-all but about 80 of
whom were non-whites-resulted in
all the higher officials being fired.
All those suspected of De Gaulist
or Allied sympathies not only were
watched closely, but often impris-
oned. They were replaced by spe-
cial agents imported from Vichy
France, officers of the French
Navy, and policemen.
By early 1912, each village had
it's garrison of gendarmes, con-
stantly on the alert against civilian
uprisings. Their numbers were in
creased last July, when rumors of
an early U. S. invasion spread
through the islands.
An official intelligence service,
operating under direction of the
French Navy, prizes into the lives
of the Negroes, forbids on pain of
instant Imprisonment all express
sion of anti-Vichy sentiment, or
listening to British or American
short-wave broadcasts. The Navy
also directs the information serv-
ices which spread pro-Axis propa-
ganda not only in the press and by
radio, but also in the 100 schools.
The Axis New Order is even
praised from the pulpits of GER
tain churches.
Suspicion of allegiance to De
Gaulle or the Allies is apparently
enough to warrant an immediate
summons to police headquarters,
where all the legal rights of the
citizen are violated. Even death
sentences have been pronounced,
though evidence of actual execu-
tons is lacking.
De Gaullists Sentenced
Those sentenced to prison terms
for "traitorous activities" have
been sent to the French penal col
ony in French Guiana. Now that
this French colony in South Amer
lea has Joined the Allies, these vic
Tins presumably will be released.
The Robert dictatorship has in
furiated the Negro and Mulatto
population which for century en-
joyed political freedom. The French
West Indian natives always have
militantly safeguarded their rights
and privileges and have had a gen.
uine affection for the mother coun-
try which extended those rights.
Prior to Robert, no French Cover
nor had succeeded in violating the
rights of the natives.
The $500 white folk of the
islands-largely the owners of the
huge plantations and the barons of
commensurate predominantly for
Adm. Robert, in whose anti-Negro
policy they see the extension Of
their privileged positions.
Economic Status
The economic status of the
islands is daily becoming more des-
perate-with the Negroes bearing
the brunt Of the suffering. Their
diet consists almost entirely of
tropical fruits and vegetables and