Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 224, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1916 — For America’s Future Safety [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

For America’s Future Safety

Are the Danish fc| West Indies des-\S|r| lined to become a Wfl oreat naval base for’Wl the better protection of the Panama Canal Zone?

S-.F DENMARK finally cedes her I I West Indian possessions to —J the United States, as she has threatened to do on several occasions, about 138 square miles will be added to the territory over which the American flag flies, and our government will coine into possession of one of the finest harbors in the West Indies —a valuable naval base and coaling station long coyeted by political and military authorities in Washington. This is according to a writer in tlie New York Times Magaslne. St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix and the other tiny islands and rocks which compose the Danish West Indies are not intrinsically valuable. Their land is poor, their crops are small, their population is becoming smaller year byyear; for several years their revenue has been decreasing and they have been a financial burden to Denmark, but they lie in a strategic position with regard to the Atlantic trade routes leading to the Panama canal, and for that reason they have a potential value In the scheme of defense which must Jbe worked out to protect that great waterway against an enemy. The chief surprise in Washington’s announcement recently of the negotiation of a treaty with Denmark for the transfer of the Islands to the United States was the price—s2s,ooo,ooo- — which the convention fixed. In 1865 Secretary Seward offered $5,000,000 for the Islands and increased the sum 'to $7,500,000 two years later. In 1902 the Roosevelt administration agreed to pay $5,000,000, but the upper house of 'the Danish rigsdag refused to ratify 'the convention, which the United States senate had ratified on February 17. Possibly Denmark will eventually be willing to accept less than $25,000,000, for an influential element in that country is anxious to sell the Islands. [Moreover, the islanders themselves wish to Improve their economic condition, and it is highly probable that they would vote to place their future in the hands of the United States. They voted in favor of the transfer 50 years ago and they have less to lose .and more to gain at this i time. The reasons that Induced the United States to try to purchase the Danish West Indies toward the close of the Civil war apparently hold good today, with certain modifications. During the Civil war the federal government had no naval base in the West i Indies, and when it was necessary to refit warships on duty in the Caribbean the vessels were compelled to take a long voyage to find a shipyard. Now, however, the United States has naval bases in Cuba and Porto Rico, but i these are not considered sufficient to guard the trade routes and the Atlantic entrance to the Panama canal. San Juan, the chief port of Porto Rico, has a spacious anchorage, but unfortunately the water is comparatively shallow and the harbor is suitable only for the smaller class of war vessels. (Th the other hand, the harbor of Charlotte Amalie, in St. Thomas, Is deep enough to float the largest battleships without danger, and there Is another good anchorage called Coral bay lln Sts John. With proper fortifications, inaval men believe that St. Thomas would provide a serviceable and virtually impregnable base —a sort of American Helgoland In the Caribbean. The port of Charlotte Amalie has long been one great coaling stations of the world. It has shipyards, drydocks and repair shops, and besides being a port of refuge it is the headquarters for several lines of passenger and freight steamships. Undoubtedly the port’s proximity to the Panama canal gives It an Importance which may account for the high price the United States is asked to pay for the It has been said at various times that Germany Is opposed to the sale of the Islands, hoping that some day a modification of the Monroe doctrine would enable her to acquire them for naval purposes. Whatever truth there may be In this statement It Is certain that the United States will allow no foreign power to take control of the Danish West Indies, even though they are not brought under the American

flag. Thus the hopes of Germany or any other power that covets the islands are doomed to disappointment. Last February a Copenhagen dispatch told about a pamphlet having been published by M. Hageman, a planter of the islands, who advocated their sale. He w’as pessimistic about their future. Their sanitary condition was bad, he said, infant mortality had reached a rate of 62% per cent, while the population was decreasing at an alarming rate. The decrease of population—most of the inhabitants are colored —is perhaps the best index of the gradual impoverishment of the Danish West Indies. In 1828 their population was 46,000; in 1841, 41,000; In 1890, 32,000, while the census of 1911 fixed the number at 27,086. Absentee landlordism, combined with land monopoly, has Induced poverty and discontent in the Islands, and the people have cast envious eyes upon Porto Rico, from which they are separated by only a few miles of water. They have seen Porto Rico and her people flourishing under American rule, while the sugar plantations of their own islands have steadily yielded less, and Individually the people have become poorer. The result is that many negroes have emigrated from the Danish West Indies to Porto Rico and the United States, and, having tasted the benefits of American government, they are undoubtedly willing that their brothers still under Danish rule should change their allegiance. It would hardly be fair to accuse the Danes of misrule in the West Indies. Their failure, which is acknowledged by their willingness to sell their tropical possessions, has been due to various causes, economic and social. It was not many years ago that the British government had to make grants to several of its colonies In the West Indies in order to avert financial disaster, and the Danish islands have had to contend with the same economic conditions, while possessing fewer natural resources than the British islands. If the United States takes control of St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John.it is probable that they will again become prosperous. The black man will take up the unused land he cannot get now, new capital will go. in, and the sugar growers will have better facilities for marketing their crop—the staple product of the islands. And the islanders themselves will feel quite at home with officials who speak English, for they have always refused to use Danish, the language of their rulers. The Danish islanders have a measure of self-government, and it is reasonable to assume that they would demand similar rights from the United States. Like all islands of the West Indies the Danish possessions have had a checkered history. They changed hands several times in the days when the nations of Europe fought for sea power and a share of the wealth of this hemisphere. Columbus discovered the Islands on his second voyage. They were then Inhabited by Caribs and Arawaks. In 1657 St. Thomas was

colonized by the Dutch, who were succeeded by the English. Then came the Danes, who have held the Island since 1671. St. John was settled by the Danes in 1684. . Both the Dutch and English settled St Croix in 1625, apd in later years the Island was ruled by Spaniards and the French. In 1653 Louis XIV sold St. Croix to the Knights of Malta, and they In turn gave way to the French West India company In 1665. The island proved to be a poor Investment and was abandoned by the French In 1695, the whole population going to Santo Domingo. St. Croix was virtually uninhabited until 1733, when the French sold the islands to the king of Denmark for $375,000. The early prosperity of St. Thomas was due to the fact that in 1764 the Danes declared It a free port, to which all vessels might come. St. Thomas at once became a distributing point for much of the West India trade, and for many years an Immense business was carried on there. Now there is a possibility that a new and perhaps brighter chapter will be added to the maritime history of the port. From the deck of a vessel in the harbor the town of Charlotte Amalie is strikingly beautiful, covering three spurs of a mountain clad - in tropical foliage. From the heights above the town one may see on a clear day the Islands of Porto Rico, Bieques or the Crab, and St. Croix in the distance, and there are many other extensive views. Sir Frederick Treves, the famous British surgeon, in his book, “The Cradle of the Deep,” calls Charlotte Amalie the most picturesque town In the whole sweep of the Windward islands. “The walls of the houses,” he says, "are for the most part a dazzling white. Some are yellow or gray or orange; certain of them are blue. The roofs are always a generous bright red. Between the houses and overshadowing the roofs are clumps of green trees. Here and there can be seen stone stairs climbing up through the town, gardens with creeper-cov-ered walls, a tufted palm, a manyarched arcade, the balustrades of shady terraces. Viewed from the sea Charlotte Amalie would seem to be a place for those who make holiday—all gayly tinted villas and palaces, where the factory chimney, the warehouse and the Woeful suburb are unknown.” St. Thomas was a famous retreat of buccaneers, one of whom was Teach, or Blackbeard, who had 14 wives. Sir Frederick tells how Master Teach was killed in a bloody duel on the deck of his ship, and how his conqueror, Lieutenant Maynard of- H. M. S. Pearl, cut off his head and hung it on the bowsprit of his sloop. "With this strange ornament swinging from the bows,” he adds, “and with 13 pirates safe in the hold, Maynard set sail for Bath Town in North Carolina. Here the 13 were promptly hanged.” All of the Danish Islands are of volcanic origin and surrounded by coral reefs. The surface of the land varies from low coast plains to mountains, but springs and streams are not plentiful and at times the country has suffered severely from drought.