Show AV OF 44 V X I 1 A AV FE IN I 1 U street scene in st thomas virgin islands prepared by tho the national society D C 1 HE virgin islands easternmost tin THE possession of the united states state in the western hemisphere hae bae come to the attention of more americans in recent weeks than fit at any other time probably since their purchase from denmark in 1917 unusual interest was aroused in 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 stones throw from porto rico st thomas the westernmost of the three larger virgins ing 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 bad 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 tile the east 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 three miles in the same direction Is tortola island of the british virgins almost as large as st john st croix the largest of the islands lies 40 miles to to tile the south it Is not it part geographically of the virg virgin in group but was included with st thomas and st john for administrative purposes by the ranes rind and Is classed by tile hie united states as one of its clr virgin in islands st croix is a little over three times the size f man hattan wand island containing approximately 84 square miles st thomas with an area of 28 square miles is about 14 miles long iong rind and has an average width not much over two miles tf it Is therefore almost exactly the size of manhattan island st john lins lias an extreme length or of eight miles and a width somewhat over two miles its area Is approximately 20 square miles mile the entire group including the numerous tiny islands of small lalue alue has little more than twice the area of the district of a tile the smallest of fir 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 tut but lc charts and local mops maps for those these islands the united states paid a higher price per acre than for tiny any other of its famous purchases only three cents an acre was paid for alaska alaka 14 for florida and 27 for the philippines the canal zone cost 35 3 85 83 per acre the price per acre paid for tho the virgin islands was approximately 20 i the feature that gives the chief value to the islands fro from in the point of view of the united states government Is 18 st thomas harbor on which Is situated tile the principal town of the group formerly charlotte amalie now st thomas another important feature Is coral bay on the island of st john st thomas harbor Is probably tile the best developed harbor in the west indies ant and Is naturally protected except from exceptionally strong hurricanes coral hay bay though entirely undeveloped d loped constitutes lin an even more commodious and better protected harbor harb b or of refuge these harbors were valuable to the united states in fit them selves but it was even more important that the united states prevent their falling into the hands of possible enemies the greater antilles maile made up of the larger of the west indio indies and tile the lesser antilles composed of the la Is lards lattis together form a gigantic crooked arm enclosing the caribbean sea the virgin islands are at the ellow elbow the closest point t to europe past this point streams the traffic between europe ant and the panama canal between new york anil and both the east and west coasts of south and central america ruid am between tile greater and lesser antall the virgin islands fell upon eill days economically ater after the transfer from denmark to the united states anil and many blamed the new owner for their troubles for the most part however the difficulties arose from a ed drought and postwar post war hard times that were not confined to the virgin isles conditions improve during the last few years economic conditions have become better more shipping is putting in at st thomas and tile the newly made citizens are more contented sanitation lias has been greatly improved by the american officials ciali and lias has shown results in a reduction of the death rate from to per thousand in november 1017 soon after they were tab taken en over by the united states the american virgin islands had a population of slightly more than 26 this was not a great deal over half the population in 1835 1935 nearly 03 93 per cent of the inhabitants in 1017 1917 were negroes or mulattoes A large proportion vt of the few whites were vere danes the present population Is about the inhabitants of the virgin island spent their first nine years under tinder the stars and stripes as neither citizens nor aliens in fact they were rather curious to know just what their status was in 1027 they were made full fledged elti by act of congress early this year the virgin wands islands were transferred from naval to civil rule one of the first proposals of the new governor was to construct winter resorts 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 Is unsurpassed in the whole sweep of the windward group of st croix one writer says its wooded hills cultivated valleys and magnificent roads lined on either cither side for miles by beautiful coconut and mountain cabbage palms all help to justify its claim to the title the garden of the west Ind indies les strategic advantage from the days of the buccaneers bucca st thomas strategic advantage has been realized for when the spanish main blain was the happy hunting bunting ground of the gentlemen of the black flag this harbor was their headquarters behind its outer hills hill the pirate craft found shelter from the open sea and werf were w well II screened from the sl sight ht ot of passing ships until tile the moment came to pounce down upon then them in more recent times it played the role of safe harbor for the thousands of vessels hound bound from europe to panama and surrounding territory ot or vice versa with a free port where re palis ships stores and coal might be had upon which there had been no levy or tariff duties the shipping world the harbor of charlotte amalie an attractive on most of its caribbean routes the result was that ag agriculture in st thomas fell into decay and nearly all of the activities of the I lands Island 3 population were devo devoted devoret teT to the interests of its harbor and one of the finest coaling stations in the tropical world was er established there to in addition to the coaling station there was a floating dry dock and a marine slip where splendid repair facilities were provided As long lone as these facilities were in demand st kt thomas was wag a fairly pros wand island men alen and women alike found it easy to get employment at least for ft a part of the time at what was to them a living wage which was one cent per basket of coal weighing fron 85 to pounds some carried as many as two or three hundred baskets during the tour four or five hours required to coal a ship when not doing this work they fo found und e considerable on sid erable employment discharging coal from frel freighters aters which brought it to to st thomas cut but then came the war in europe and all was changed the steamships of germany which made continual use of the harbor of st thomas were driven from the seas and where formerly all was business and enterprise only now and then a ship found its way into port and the people of st thomas thir agriculture neglected for years found themselves unable to gain a living either from the land or from the tea am |