E&36 t / ttr&^c&ttrF^^eTSfi y a h }% <\ a ;; a a u >~ a n vhampion Monographs DECEMBER 5 th 1917 OUR UNNAMED ISLANDS Copyright 1917 by THE CHAMPION COATED PAPER COMPANY Printed on Aigrette Enameled Book by Publishers Printing Company, New York, with Ullmans Green Black A. Photographs by Paul Thompson. 1 ©CI. A 481 638 FEB -7 1918 NEGOTIATIONS begun by President Lincoln and con- tinued by Presidents Grant and Roosevelt were closed on the 31st of last March, and the Danish West Indies passed into the possession of the United States. Realty values on this hemisphere have risen constantly since the days when the Dutch bought Manhattan Island for $24.00. In 1803 we paid Napoleon $15,000,000 for all of the French posses- sions on this continent. Out of this great empire we carved four- teen States. In 18 1 9 we paid Spain $5,000,000 for Florida. At the time of President Lincoln's negotiations with Denmark the sum of $5,000,000 was asked for the three little islands which constituted the Danish West Indies, but by the time the transaction was consummated the price had increased to no less than $25,000,000. This is the record price for island real estate. The group of islands, which war-time legislation has made us too busy to name, is made up of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas. Their total area amounts to 140 square miles. They lie in the Caribbean, about 1850 miles southeast of New York, and are about .1000 miles from both Bermuda and the Panama Canal. It is apparent that there must be some latent value in these islands to have caused the United States to covet them for a period of fifty years, and finally to pay a price seemingly so out of pro- portion to their value. What is the reason, think you? It so happens that Nature, when she laid out the plans and speci- fications for the island of St. Thomas, designed a harbor which has been named Charlotte Amalie. She placed this on the southern side of the island. She buttressed it on two sides by high hills that jut up from the water. She left an opening one-half a mile wide leading into the harbor and dug the bottom of the harbor deep enough to provide shelter for a large fleet of warships. At the time of the Civil War Admiral Porter advised Sumner that there was no harbor in the West Indies so well fitted for a Naval Station as that of Charlotte Amalie. It is possible that the United States may here develop a station that will rival with the British Station at Hamilton, Bermuda. Commercially, our three little islands are of small value. At one time they exported a fair amount of sugar, but this industry has been steadily diminishing. At the height of the industry St. Croix operated one hundred sugar mills, but there are now but eleven. The island of St. John still produces a small amount of sugar, all of which is converted into rum. On these islands the green bay tree flourishes as exuberantly as any sinner. Here also the demon Rum holds full sway. St. John supplies the bay oil, St. Croix the rum and at St. Thomas they are combined and shipped. Most all of the true bay rum consumed in the barber shops throughout the world comes from these islands of ours. The largest of our new islands is St. Croix. It was discovered by no less a discoverer than Christopher Columbus. It boasts a population of 14,000 inhabi- tants, of which 90 per cent, are negroes. Neither of the two towns, Frederiksted nor Christiansted, possesses a harbor with sufficient depth to permit the entrance of steamers. It is necessary for vessels to anchor a mile from shore and to load their freight on lighters. Passengers are sent ashore in row- boats. The inadequacy of the harbor facili- ties is more than balanced by the > »-. STREET SCENE CHRISTIANSTED, ST. CROIX PRIMITIVE METHOD OF COALING— CHAKLUT TE AMALIE excellence of the land transportation. St. Croix has no less than one hundred miles of splendid roads. At the time of writing it supports innumerable carriages and twenty-two registered auto- mobiles. The larger sugar plantations are operating small indus- trial railroads. Forty miles north of St. Croix is the island of St. Thomas. This island is thirteen miles long and a little more than two miles wide. The only town on the island is Charlotte Amalie. Here the greater part of the natives dwell. The climate is not conducive to con- tinuous effort, and the negroes prefer occasional work lading the boats to steady employment on the plantations. Many women are employed loading the ships with coal. They form an endless chain and stride unconcernedly up the gangplank, each with an eighty-pound basket of coal balanced on her head. A penny a trip is the uniform compensation, and at this rate a coal-passer can make as much as $2.00 a day. Four miles to the east of St. Thomas is the island of St. John. This is the smallest of the three islands. The population is less than 1000, of which there are only two white landowners. WHARF SCENE— FREDERIKSTED, ST. CROIX There is not a single town nor, indeed, even a store on the whole island. The roads are scarcely better than goats' tracks, and the only means of transportation other than shanks 1 mare is on horse- back. The rocky hills are covered with bay trees, which furnish the extract of bay oil used in bay rum. St. John has one small harbor, called Coral Bay, which was a haven of refuge in the old buccaneer days. The temperature of these islands is remarkably uniform, the aver- age mean temperature for the year being 80 degrees Fahrenheit. During the winter the mercury occasionally falls to 70 degrees, ■^nd in summer, in the heat of the day, it frequently rises to 90 degrees. The winters are very dry, but in summer, during the rainy season, three or four showers occur nearly every day. Rain- bows are said to be as prevalent in these islands as the phenomena of the mirage is in Sicily. The natives jealously collect for their water-supply every available drop which falls in these showers. The roofs of the houses are so constructed that the water drains into cisterns. These cisterns serve as reservoirs for the drinking water of the island. There are also public wells in the town, but the water from these is unfit for drinking purposes. There is absolutely no sanitation on this island. All of the water, whether from wells or cisterns, is boiled before being drunk. The Mason'Dixon Line is unknown in these islands. Intermar- riages are common; a large part of the so'called colored population is in reality mulatto. Class consciousness as the result of race or color is entirely absent. In many communities a negro is the leading citizen. Our new dependents are, in the main a gay, carefree people. They have few towns and in these towns there is small evidence of enterprise. Sewers are unknown. Nevertheless these people look out for their creature comforts. The islands boast of three ice plants and three soda-water plants. The islanders have caught from the Spaniards a passion for holi' days. The Fourth of July has long been celebrated out of sym- pathy with the United States. Ten days later there is another great celebration because the island of Martinique is observing a holiday. Of course the birthday of the King of Denmark is an occasion for rejoicing; and before the War they celebrated the VIEW OF HARBOR OF CHARLOTTE AMALIE S STREET SCENE — CHARLOTTE AMALIE 9 GRAND HOTEL— CHARLOTTE AMALIE l> ^. nHHBMwm HOLIDAY PARADE— FREDERIKSTED 10 OUR NEW DEPENDENTS ARE EXPERT BOATMEN birthday of the German Emperor because the Hamburg- American Line had a steamship office at Charlotte Amalie. It is an insig- nificant and unpopular monarch whose birthday is not an occasion for rejoicing on the islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas. Since Congress has not yet found a suitable name for our new- possessions, we humbly submit that "The Holiday Islands" would fill the bill admirably. A local Labor Union was organised on these islands in 191 6. The leaders boast of a membership of 6000 and claim that they have raised wages from 20 cents per day to 35 cents per day. The greater part of the family income is spent on clothes. Since the average temperature is 80 degrees, it is evident that the cloth- ing is worn more to satisfy the craving for distinction than for bodily warmth. The warm climate also makes it unnecessary for the natives to spend much on provisions. Two meals a day are the customary regime of these islands. What is saved on food is expended on raiment. In 1 9 14 the United States exported 40,000 pairs of shoes to the Danish West Indies to satisfy the needs of 32,786 people. On 11 : week'days most of them are content to go barefoot. On Sundays the whole family put on their shoes and painfully wend their way to the Moravian churches. During the service these shoes, which are an evidence of worldly prosperity but are also instru' ments of horrible torture, are generally removed. They are put on again after service and the owners hobble off to the town limits, when the shoes are quickly removed, carried home and put away until they are brought forth again on the following Sunday. How this enormous consumption of shoes is possible is a mystery of trade which as yet has proved inscrutable. At one time an effort was made to cultivate sea'island cotton in the Danish West Indies, but the enterprise was abortive and this industry is now extinct. It is still believed, however, by many experts in cotton culture that the islands are admirably adapted to the cultivation of this fine quality of cotton, which is now being used in large quantities for automobile tires. HOEING SUGAR— ST. CROIX DISTILLING BAY OIL— ST. JOHN CHARLOTTE AMALIE— ISLAND OF ST. THOMAS 13 All three islands are in a volcanic center, but their history records no serious seismotic disturbances. They have been, however, the victims of hurricanes and tidal waves, which are frequent in all of the West Indies. In 1867, a few years after the United States first became interested in the Danish West Indies, we sent Admiral Palmer and the Rev. Charles Hawley on the frigate Monongahela to inspect the islands with a view to our purchasing them. The Monongahela anchored a mile off Frederiksted, when a typical West Indian hurricane joined forces with a tidal wave, said to have been 60 feet high, and hospitably hurried the ship along and left it on a roadway a considerable distance above normal sea-level. This misconduct on the part of the elements was used in Congress as an argument against our buying the islands, but it was not until October, 19 16 that another hurricane of equal violence visited the islands. The total damage from this hurricane was estimated at one-quarte: million dollars — a considerable amount to the poor islanders. Thi disturbance, however, did not prevent our taking over the Danisl West Indies, the purchase of which was ratified six months later ANCIENT DEFENCES OF CHARLOTTE AMALIE 14 CHAMPION MONOGRAPHS T IS our purpose to issue from time to time monographs on interesting sub' jects, each of which will be printed on one of our papers. We believe the best demonstration of the printing quality of a paper is an actual printed job, as distin- guished from mere specimen pages. The Champion monographs will be printed for gratuitous distribution among the printers, pub' lishers, and buyers of printing. It is possible that some would prefer receiving these mono' graphs in their homes, where they would find a place on the library tables. A post'card to the publisher giving the change of address will receive proper attention. 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