Evening star., 1948-02-23
T runun
Continued From First Page)

Democratic national committeeman
from the Virgin Islands, gave the
President a mahogany tray as a
memento of his visit and wished him
on behalf of the islanders con-
tinued success and reelection in
November" The islands have no
vote in the electoral college.
The plea for better treatment was
made by the Daily News, principal
st. Thomas paper which printed a
lengthy editorial blasting the way
the Interior Department admins
ters island affairs and declaring the
people are relegated to a type of
second-class citizenship which robs
them of the dignity of Americans.
The paper also carried an open
letter to the President from Roy P.
Gordon, chairman of the Municipal
Legislature of st. Thomas and st.
Johns, asking support for a bill by
Representative Crawford, Republi-
can, of Michigan, which would give
the islands about $l,000,000, 900 an
nually collected by an export tax on
rum The Federal Government
gets the tax now. Such a conces-
sion has been made to Puerto Rico,
and the Virgin Islands, virtually
Self-supporting, want the money for
needed Improvements which other
wise would have to be financed by
new taxes They now carry about
a $1,000O0O levy.
Question of Bases Raised.
The President also was due to
hear something about the islanders
annoyance over the abandonment
of wartime submarine and air bases
here which took away about 5000
armed service personnel. while SIM
liar facilities still are being main
tained in British and French pos
sessions in the Indies.
The people are hopeful that the
Presidents civil rights message to
Congress asking greater measure
Of elf-government for them will
get somewhere and the council
adopted a resolution praising this
move. and expressing appreciation
of the Presidents interest.
President Truman, who is accom-
panied by Interior Secretary Krug,
landed at French docks across Long
Bay from red-roofed Charlotte
Amalie at $50 yesterday morning,
after a rough 75-mile passage from
San Juan in the Williamsburg.
Welcomed by Gov. William H.
HASTE and others, the President
was driven to Emancipation Park
where he unveiled PLAGUE COM
memora ting the end of slavery and
his own visit. Descendants of the
former slaves were in his audience,
which cheered when Chairman
Gordon read the council resolution
and gave Mr.. Truman the scroll on
which it had been copied.
In a speech of introduction, Gov.
HASTE, recalling the days of slav-
cry, pointed out that now I'VE meet
as free men,
In his speech, the President de-
parted from text to declare: Poll
tical freedom is only the be-
ginning We must have freedom
of the spirit-religious freedom,
freedom from want, freedom from
fear. The United States is support
ing the United Nations in the effort
to implement these freedoms all the
world over. Eventually, the United
Nations will succeed. Then and then
only, will We have peace on earth,
good will to men"
After the welcome, the President
was taken for a 12-mile drive over
Crown and st. Peter Mountains,
part of the chain which towers
over Charlotte Amalie. He left his
car at an eminence called brakes
Seat, which commands view OF
the channel which links the Atlantic
Ocean and Caribbean Sea and is
famed as the passage through which
Sir Francis Drake showed his ships
in surprise futile-attack on