Show w street scene in st thomas virgin islands prepared by the national geographic society D C virgin islands easternmost possession of the united states in the western hemisphere have come to the attention of more americans in recent weeks than at any other time probably since their purchase from denmark in 1917 un usual interest was aroused in them because of the first visit to their shores by an american president the virgin islands are not remote from other united states soil they are hardly more than a stone s throw from porto rico st thomas the westernmost of the three larger virgins Is only 40 miles from that island and the presence of culebra island belonging to porto rico midway between the two ties the new possessions still more closely to this elder american brother by adoption the truly beautiful view that may be had from the 1500 foot peak of hilly st thomas includes to the west the dim outline of the porto rican coast st john the smallest of the three principal islands acquired by the united states lies only two miles to the cast of st thomas A climb to the rugged hills of st john will demonstrate on that the american virgins are also not remote from foreign territory A mile to the north lies thatch island a small bit of land belonging to great britain and less than throe miles in the bame direction is tortola island of the british virgins almost as large as st john st croix the largest of the islands ties 40 miles to the south it Is not a part geographically of the virgin group but was included with st thomis and st john for administrative purposes by the danes and Is classed by the united states as one of its virgin islands st croix Is a little over three times the size of man hattan island containing approximately 84 square miles st thomas with an area of 28 square miles is about 14 miles long and has an average width not anch over two miles it Is therefore almost exactly the size of manhattan island st john has an extreme length of eight miles and a width somewhat over two miles its area Is approximately 20 squire miles the entire group including the numerous tiny islands of small value has little more han twice the area of the district of columbia the smallest of the main divisions of the united states proper uncle sam paid high though the american virgin islands comprise 50 islands only the three mentioned are big enough to have a name on any but hydrographic lc charts and local maps for these islands the united states paid a higher price per acre than for any other of its famous burch aises only three cents an acre was paid for alaska 14 for florida and 27 for the philippines the canal zone cost per acre the price per acre paid for tho virgin islands was approximately the feature that gives the chief value to the islands from the point of view of the united states government Is st thomas harbor on which Is situ abed the principal town of the group formerly charlotte aballe now st thomas another important feature Is coral bay on the island of st john st thomas harbor ts probably the best developed harbor in the west indies and Is naturally protected except from exceptionally strong burrl canes coral bay though entirely undeveloped constitutes an even more commodious and better protected harbor of refuge these harbora were valuable to the united states in them selves but it was even more important that the united states prevent their falling into the hands of possible enemies the greater antilles made up of the birger 0 the west indies and the lesser antilles composed of the smaller islands together form a gl gantic crooked arm enclosing the caribbean sea the virgin islands are at the elbow the closest point to europe past this point streams the traffic between europe and the panama canal between new york and both the east and west coasts of south and central america and between the greater and lesser antilles the virgin islands fell upon evil das economically after the transfer from denmark to the united states and many blamed the new owner tor their troubles for the most part homeer ho weer the difficulties arose from a prolonged drought and post war hard times that were not confined to the virgin isles conditions improve during the last few years economic condi tlona have become better more shipping Is putting in at st thomas and the newly made citizens are more contented sanitation has been greatly improved by the american official and has shown results in a reduction of the death rate from to per thousand in 0 o ember 1917 soon after they were taken over by the united states the american virgin islands had a population of slightly more than this was not a great deal over half the population in 1835 hearty 03 per cent of the inhabitants in were negroes or mulattoes A large proportion of the few whiten were danes the present population if about the inhabitants of the virgin island spent their first nine years under the stars and stripes as neither citizens nor aliens in fact they were rather curious to know just what their states was in 1927 they mere made full fledged citizens by act of congress early this year the virgin irlandi were transferred from naval to civil rule one of the first proposals c the new governor was to construct winter reports for american and european visitors on st thomas and st croix two of the principal islands the islands climate Is pleasant the year round and the beauty of the islands as unsurpassed in the ahola sweep of the windward group of st croix one writer says its wooded hills cult hated valleys and cent road lined on either side tor miles by coconut and mom tain cabbage palms all help to justify its claim to the title the garden 0 the attest indies strategic advantage from the days of the buccaneer st thomas strategic advantage CM been realized for when the spanish van was the happy hunting ground of the of the black flag this harbor was their headquarters behind Us outer halli the pirate craft found shelter from the open sea and were well screened from the sight of passing ships until the moment cama to pounce down upon them in more recent times it played the role of harbor for the thousands of vessels bound from europe to panama and surrounding territory or vice versa with a free port where repairs ship stores and coal might be had upon which there had been no levy or taris duties the shipping world fondd the harbor of charlotte aballe an antrae alve on most of its caribbean routes the result was that agriculture u st thomas fell into decay and dearly p all of the activities of the island jat population were devoted to the la teresta of its harbor and one of tn finest coaling stations in the tropic world was established there in addition to the coaling there was a floating dry dock n marine slip where eplen ded facilities ft ere provided As long as these facilities were jj demand st thomas was a fairly P berous island men and women all found it easy to get least for a part of the time at vw t was to them a wage wu j was one cent per basket of coal ww ing from 85 to pounds sow carried a many as two or thre aw dred bashiti during the tour kornj D hours required to coal a ship not doing this work they found cw employment from which brought 1 st thomas but then came the war la fi and all was changed the steamy B of germany which made cotla f use of the harbor of st thomas w driven from the seas and where i marly all was business and u only now and then a ship to g way into port and the people fro thorn is agriculture ut VS for years found themselves un ia J the to gain a living either from or from the sea |