E. M. Newman

“ To this little world of dimmed glory and future hopes, of adventure and opportunity, the United States has fallen heir. For its protection hundreds of American Marines have already completed effective fortifications on hills commanding the harbor of St. Thomas, and the passage to the Caribbean Sea. ”

“ Thomas after the ratification of the treaty of cession had been exchanged by Secretary Lansing and the Danish Minister at Washington, the pastor paid this just tribute to the rule of Old Denmark, that had lasted, almost without interruption, for nearly two hundred and fifty years: “Of what are our thoughts, now that the end is reached? Of oppression and misrule? Exploited resources? A people crippled with taxes to enrich others? Education systematically neglected? The rule of the few over the many? Justice sold to the highest bidder? Government without heart or sympathy with the poor? ”

“ Denmark’s liberality is exampled in the fact that though both Danish and English were taught, the study of Danish was not compulsory. Though Danish has been the official language, English has long been that of the people. Under United States control it is likely that American teachers will replace some inefficient native black teachers, as has been done with excellent results in Porto Rico. Under the Danes, the school year was twelve months long, all children between the ages of seven and thirteen being required to attend classes six days a week, three hours a day. ”

“ Thomas, one sees scarcely an unruined habitation, and only a very few patches of cultivation, whence come those meager handfuls of vegetables seen of a morning in the long sun-stricken market—vegetables outlandish and twisted, as though they had been wrung from the unwilling earth in pain. ”

“ We will not have the problem of converting a hostile people to our ideas of life and government, as was the case in Porto Rico, where customs, language and sentiment were adverse to us, because not only is English the universal language and the associations American, but the people have ardently wanted American rule, as was evidenced by the popular vote in all the islands in favor of the transfer. ”

“ Thomians is imported from nearby islands and from the United States. Farm laborers are given thirty-five cents a day, but as dock laborers a dollar a day can be earned. On St. John the soil is used for the cultivation of bay and lime trees, and a few hundred head of cattle find grazing ground on the hilly slopes. Thirteen thousand acres on the island of St. Croix are devoted to the growing of sugar cane, 2,000 acres to cotton, and 30,000 acres to a variety of crops chiefly useful for cattle fodder. ”

“ The roaring of the sea and wind,—fiery meteors flying about in the air,—the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning,—the crash of falling houses, and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed, were sufficient to strike astonishment into angels. ”

“ For a day’s absence without permission a fine was imposed of ten cents for the first day and five cents for each additional day of absence. The fine for absence from examinations was fixed at fifty cents for each offence. According to Government statistics, all but a very small proportion of the islands’ inhabitants can both read and write. The Danish system of education will to a great extent be continued by the United States, exclusive of denominational training. There are no high schools in the islands. On St. Thomas there are two private academies. ”

“ Transportation from New York to this sunny isle of storied days and fortunate location is by the Quebec Steamship Line, which maintains comfortable ships on regular nine or ten-day schedule. The trip each way consumes a little over five days. A call is also made at Frederiksted, St. Croix, (and in the sugar season at Christiansted) , before the steamer proceeds to South America. Between Charlotte Amalie and San Juan, Porto Rico, a voyage of about fifty miles, there is a monthly steamer service. Fast sailing vessels also carry passengers to and fro among the islands. ”

“ We were in need of a naval base to protect the Panama Canal, and the harbor at St. Thomas provides the best naval station in the West Indies.
The islands were discovered by Columbus in 1493, on his second voyage to the New World. Since then the inhabitants have been under Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Danish rule. For over two hundred years the Danish flag has flown above these islands of the Virgin group. Repeatedly the United States has tried to acquire them. In 1865 Secretary Seward offered five millions of dollars, which was increased two years later to $7,500,000. ”

“ Climatically the Virgin Islands offer much to attract the tourist as a winter resort. They need first-class hotels, to be built and managed by competent Americans. There is no reason why the islands should not become popular with the tourist as soon as suitable accommodations have been provided. ”

“ The blacks welcome the coming of Uncle Sam. They look upon us as a Santa Claus, who will bring them untold blessings and wealth beyond their dreams. They are a simple, childlike people, with bodies of men and women but with the intellect of the average child.
Charlotte Amalie
Charlotte Amalie is a clean little town with regular streets, and buildings built of stone and brick faced with cement. The Danes are a cleanly, orderly people, and this is evident in the appearance of the towns on the islands.
OLD DANISH FORT, ST. THOMAS HARBOR
Hurricanes are frequent, and at times do great damage. ”

“ Three times a year the leaves are picked by nimble youngsters, who throw down twigs bearing perhaps a dozen leaves to women standing ready with bags that have a capacity of sixty to seventy pounds. Oil distillers pay two cents a pound for the leaves and the labor of picking them. When the essential oil is extracted from the leaf, it is mixed with rum or alcohol and water and further distilled to make bay rum. The latter process is mainly carried on by St. Thomas firms. The average price of bay oil in the islands is five dollars a quart; of bay rum, seventy cents a gallon. ”

“ Wilbur Steele, a recent traveler in the islands, says of the natives that they no longer wish to till the soil. “They have come back to the sea, and it was coal that brought them. Standing on the boat deck of the steamer alongside the dock, one looks down upon a river of coal, flowing ceaselessly, hour after hour, through the hot day, taking its source among the black tablelands beyond the dock and emptying its burden in the vitals of the ship underfoot. ”

“ Newman, accompanied by a British major, made a tour of the English provinces, where millions of women are engaged in war work. “The women of England,” writes Mr. Newman, “are working very hard; they are doing work that few people would believe women capable of performing. I have a picture of women workers in Glasgow forging steel ingots. Women make shells of every size, run huge machines of every description, build hydro and aeroplanes, do carpentry work, blacksmithing, painting, and, in fact, almost every phase of labor formerly done by men. ”

“ Half the population was composed of slaves. To further increase their number, King Christian V of Denmark decreed that natives of Africa be brought across-seas in ships specially engaged in slave traffic. All the European countries that had undertaken to develop the agricultural resources of the West India Islands had found after repeated disasters that only black men were fitted to work in the tropics. Besides tobacco, estates were now planted with sugar cane, sprouts of which were obtained from Tortola, another island of the Virgin group, twenty miles east of St. ”

“ Newman sends us word from London that air raids there are strengthening instead of weakening the morale of the British. Few Londoners ever think of hiding in the bomb-proof cellars when the enemy planes arrive, and when the warning signal is given the entire population rushes to the roofs of buildings and other points of vantage to watch the fight. ”

“ Thomas until, in 1733, France sold it to Denmark. King Frederick V, in 1755, purchased the Danish West India Company’s land, forts, buildings, slaves, merchandise and ships for $1,500,000, and made St. Thomas a closed port. However, within a decade the former policy as to world commerce was resumed by order of the king, and during the pre-Napoleonic wars St. Thomas was the meeting-place of vessels flying the pennants of all the warring nations. “Things were lively in those days,” writes Mr. Luther Zabriskie. “Money flowed like water into the coffers of the merchants. ”

“ Newman had intended to resume his South American series—which has been appearing in The Mentor—and was about to sail to the southern continent when he was summoned to Washington and commissioned by the United States Government to go over and make a special study of war conditions in England, France, and Italy. Mr. Newman’s objective is not the trenches—there are plenty of war correspondents and battle photographers. His mission is a distinctly new and important one. ”

“ Croix, and that extends from Christiansted to Frederiksted at the west end of the island. A macadam road twenty-one miles in length connects the two towns, and over this highway passes practically all the traffic on the island. Here we see a curious procession of natives driving all kinds of queer vehicles drawn by diminutive ponies or donkeys.
Women carry upon their heads loads that would stagger the average man. They are able to balance almost anything, and one sees them carrying boxes, barrels, and even pianos, although the latter require about four women to balance their weight. ”

“ Class distinction rather than color distinction exists.
“The laboring classes are generally courteous and respectful, and with the minimum of creature comforts enjoy life as keenly as do those in the middle and upper classes. ”

“ Croix. On April 7, 1917, the first governor of the islands, Rear Admiral Pollock, late Chief of Naval Intelligence, was officially welcomed and installed in office.
The inquiry, “Are the islands worth the expenditure of $25,000,000?”, is answered by present-day students of naval tactics. “We have at least the value of the twenty-five millions in these offensive times in keeping any foreign power from getting a foothold there. We have bought the finest site strategically, logistically and tactically for a first-class naval base on the Atlantic seaboard.” ”

“ Situated 1440 miles south of New York and 1025 miles from Colon, the northern entrance to the Panama Canal, the islands are ideally placed for a short sea voyage. The population in recent years has been diminishing, because of the loss of trade and the consequent falling-off of the number of ships in the harbor. ”

“ Thomas, and from an agricultural standpoint it offers but few opportunities. Its inhabitants, aside from about two hundred whites, are all negroes. The Danes were unable to teach them their language, and practically all speak English with that peculiar drawl that has become familiar to us in Jamaica and other islands in the West Indies. ”

“ Croix has much to commend it. The climate is warm and dry. The daily variation of extremes of temperature the year ’round is moderate. The winter and early summer months are the most agreeable for outdoor recreation. August and September are the hottest months, but prostrations from heat rarely occur. ”

“ I have obtained pictures of the Land Army composed of women doing all kinds of heavy farm work, such as harnessing horses, and ploughing. In Edinburgh I photographed some quaint street scenes showing the motor buses with huge gas bags on top to take the place of petrol. ”