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Title: The Mentor: The Virgin Islands of the United States of America, Vol. 6, Num. 13, Serial No. 161, August 15, 1918
Author: Newman, E. M. (Edward Manuel)
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Mentor: The Virgin Islands of the United States of America, Vol. 6, Num. 13, Serial No. 161, August 15, 1918" ***
THE MENTOR 1918.08.15, No. 161,
The Virgin Islands
LEARN ONE THING
EVERY DAY
AUGUST 15 1918 SERIAL NO. 161
THE
MENTOR
THE VIRGIN
ISLANDS
OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
By E. M. NEWMAN
Lecturer and Traveler
DEPARTMENT OF VOLUME 6
TRAVEL NUMBER 13
TWENTY CENTS A COPY
Island Life and Color
We landed at St. Thomas in front of a little square overhung by palm
and mango trees and shaded by lofty ferns, and were at once among a
strange population. The children were all dressed in black, as nature
made them, with eyes that shone like glass beads. Some of the native
women were carrying trays of vegetables, fruit, bread, or small wares
upon their heads; others were squatting upon their heels, while in
front of them were little piles of sweet potatoes, peppers, limes, or
a few sticks of sugar-cane; others were hawking strings of shells and
shining beans called “Job’s tears.”
If one climbs to the hill above the town of Charlotte Amalie, he
obtains a charming picture: high-colored villas form the foreground,
the beautiful bay, with its ships and little islands, occupies the
middle distance, while beyond, across the blue sea, are the shadowy
forms of St. Croix and Porto Rico.
St. Croix is not so abrupt and severe as some of its associates,
though it bears abundant evidences of volcanic origin. It consists
of a multitude of little peaks and rounded hills, with ravines and
valleys between them. The mountains, where uncultivated, are a bluish
green, but where the sugar-cane is largely grown, the color of the
country-side is so light and rich a green that it seems as if Spring
had just spread her mantle over the land. The plantations climb the
hills and crown many of them, and skirt precipices, and sweep their
waves of golden-green down to kiss the white sea-waves. There are long
avenues of cocoa palms, with trunks rising fifty feet like polished
marble shafts, and then bursting out into a miracle of waving foliage
and nests of green cocoanuts.
Frederiksted and Christiansted are generally called “West End” and
“Basse (Low) End.” Our view of Frederiksted from the vessel had
prepared us for a beautiful place. It has some buildings with arched
fronts and many white and pink and yellow houses, half-hidden among the
strange tamarind and palm and mango trees, but when we got ashore the
vision vanished. The arcades were clumsy and crumbling, the streets
unpaved and irregular, and the cabins where the negroes lived were far
from picturesque. They are built of wood and usually consist of one
or two rooms, in which a large family is huddled at night. The people
spend most of the daytime out of doors, and meals are prepared in the
open air. There is no glass in the windows, and wooden shutters serve
to keep out the wind and rain.
Drives in the island of St. Croix over superb roads led us into valleys
where there were tamarind trees, delicate-leaved as our locust, and
giants called flamboyants, leafless but all aflame with scarlet
flowers; and the silk cottonwood with enormous misshapen roots and long
horizontal branches, on which grew a multitude of parasites and air
plants. Here, too, was the curiously formed frangipani, with hooked
or claw-like branches, and the banana tree, with clustering fruit
and huge and cone-like blossom. Flowers of all colors and shapes,
from the fragrant white jasmine to the yellow and red cacti, adorned
the roadsides. Black pelicans floated on the sea, or sailed in long
and continuous flight through the air; the groves were never without
modest music from numbers of elegantly dressed birds, and innumerable
brilliant butterflies harmonized in the beauty of their coloring with
the superb flowers upon which they fed.
From “Cruising Among the Caribbees,” by Charles Augustus Stoddard.
* * * * *
THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ESTABLISHED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF POPULAR INTEREST IN ART, LITERATURE,
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AND ASSISTANT SECRETARY, H. A. CROWE.
AUGUST 15th, 1918. VOLUME 6. NUMBER 13.
Entered as second-class matter, March 10, 1913, at the post office at
New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1918, by
The Mentor Association, Inc.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH BY H. PETERSEN. FROM “VIRGIN ISLANDS OF THE
U. S. A.”
BY LUTHER K. ZABRISKIE. COURTESY B. P. PUTNAM’S SONS.
ST. THOMAS HARBOR, VIRGIN ISLANDS--VIEW FROM THE FORT, BEFORE THE
DANISH FLAG CAME DOWN]
_THE VIRGIN ISLANDS_
_Early History_
ONE
Columbus, despairing of finding individual names for all the islands
he sighted, called the rocky archipelago which is the subject of this
number of The Mentor, “‘The Virgin Islands,’ after Saint Ursula and her
martyred maidens.” The group designated by this name includes upwards
of fifty islands and islets, several of which are owned by Great
Britain. When Spain ceded Porto Rico, ownership of three of the Virgin
Islands--Vieques, Culebra, and Culebrita--passed to the United States.
St. Croix is not one of this group, according to strict geographical
classification, but, together with the Virgin Islands, is one of the
Leeward Islands group, which comprises, among others, St. Kitts, Nevis,
St. Christopher, Antigua, Guadaloupe and Martinique.
Over a century and a half after Columbus discovered the Virgin Islands,
in 1493, adventurous Danes cast anchor in the harbor of St. Thomas,
but soon forsook this little isle of the southern seas for another
island at the mouth of the Hudson River--the Island of Manhattan, where
the Dutch had settled. The Dutch and the English, the French and the
Spanish, had previously visited the islands we call St. Thomas and St.
Croix when, in 1666, the Danish made another unsuccessful attempt at
colonization. Six years later, the Danish West India and Guinea Company
fathered a settlement from which descended all later colonies.
By the year 1680, over three hundred settlers were established on St.
Thomas. The principal industry was the raising of tobacco. 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. John, and owned by the British.
The British still had a jealous eye on the fine harbor of St. Thomas,
and to prevent attacks by them and by the French, who had taken St.
Croix from the Spanish in 1650, the Government of Denmark built, about
1690, a fort and a thick-walled tower overlooking the bay and its
peaked islands. In 1701, a priest, Father Labat, made a voyage to the
islands of America and wrote a book that contained the first lengthy
description of the well-cared-for estates, the streets and neat houses
of St. Thomas. Europe being then at war, and Denmark a neutral nation,
this broad haven at the crossroads of travel was the refuge of ships
escaping pursuit, and boasted a brisk commerce. Many tales of piracy
date from these rousing days of trade and warfare.
St. John was permanently settled by the Danes in 1716. The French,
Knights of Malta, and “miscellaneous rovers” occupied the island of St.
Croix, thirty-five miles south of St. 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.
Population increased, the town limits were extended, stores and
dwellings were rapidly built, and thousands of refugees and adventurers
sought these shores for the purpose of traffic.”
But St. Thomas was not to remain a neutral port for long. In 1801,
England blockaded the island and held it for ten months. The British
flag again flew over the islands between the years 1807 and 1815,
as a precaution against seizure by Napoleon. In the readjustment of
nations following the events of the latter year, the group was restored
to Denmark. Once more, St. Thomas became the queen port of the West
Indies, and exacted tribute from the hundreds of ships that plied this
golden lane of commerce between the Atlantic and the Pacific. On the
birth date of American Independence, July 4, 1848, the black bondmen of
the Danish West Indies were freed by decree of the Crown, and forthwith
they forsook their agricultural occupations. The prosperity of the
Danish islands was affected when profits decreased in the production
of cane sugar. The abolition of slavery and the development of the
beet sugar industry both had a share in bringing about this condition.
Formerly, St. Thomas had been the sole port of call for steamers
carrying cargoes of goods that were in demand on neighboring islands,
including Porto Rico. Now other lines of transportation were organized,
and direct communication was established between Porto Rico and the
north. By the year 1866, planters and officials of the Government were
ready to consider the proposals of Secretary Seward that the islands
should become the property of the United States.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 13. SERIAL No. 161
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN
CHARLOTTE AMALIE. VIRGIN ISLANDS. DANISH GOVERNMENT BUILDING NOW U. S.
MARINE HEADQUARTERS]
_THE VIRGIN ISLANDS_
_History of the Transfer_
TWO
The need of the United States for a naval base to prevent
blockade-running during the Civil War influenced President Lincoln
and Secretary Seward to urge the purchase of the Danish West Indies,
in order to obtain the rights to the harbor of St. Thomas. Actual
negotiations were not undertaken, however, till after Lincoln’s
assassination. The first proposals were made to Denmark when she was
smarting under the loss of Schleswig and Holstein, after the victory
of her Teuton enemies. Secretary Seward visited the islands in the
year 1866, and offered five million dollars for the group. But Denmark
hesitated to conclude arrangements, lest she displease her victors.
Furthermore, Napoleon III refused his consent to the transfer of St.
Croix, and according to the agreement entered into at the time of the
purchase of St. Croix from France, Denmark could not dispose of this
island to any other country without the approval of the original owner.
Seven and a half million dollars was the price finally named in 1867
for the two northern islands, and the Danish Senate and the inhabitants
of the island voted in favor of the transaction. In the United States
Senate the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee was Charles
Sumner. As an opponent of President Johnson, it is believed he feared
the purchase of the Danish West Indies, following the Alaska purchase,
would bring too great popular favor to the Administration. At any rate,
no action was taken on the treaty when it was presented. The opposition
of Sumner to the Grant administration further delayed ratifications,
and, in 1870, the treaty was allowed to lapse.
The Danes again showed themselves willing to sell the islands during
the presidency of Harrison and Cleveland, but met no response on the
part of the United States. After the Spanish-American War, proposals
were again renewed. A treaty was drawn up by John Hay in 1901, and the
purchase price fixed at five million dollars for the three islands, St.
Croix being included by consent of France. The United States Senate
confirmed the second treaty in February, 1902, but this time the Upper
House of the Danish Parliament failed to ratify. German influence in
Denmark was held accountable for this attitude, since German steamship
interests would be furthered by the retention of the islands by Denmark.
In 1911, the transfer was once more broached, but again it failed of
consummation. The question last came up for discussion in August, 1916,
and again negotiations would have been fruitless but for the insistence
of the Danish premier, who threatened to dissolve parliament and
participate a general election if Government and people did not consent
to the disposal of the islands. On January 17, 1917, terms were finally
concluded between the two countries.
At a farewell service held in St. 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? Any
or all of these things so often the accompaniment of colonial rule? No.
At the bar of history the account is rendered. Today we may think of
the solid good of the past, and pray that the new flag shall stand for
all those things for which the old flag has stood.”
On March 3, 1917, an act was approved by the United States Congress
to provide a temporary government for the people of the Danish West
Indies, and on the last day of that month the formal transfer was
sealed by the payment of a treasury warrant of $25,000,000 by the
United States Secretary of State to the Danish Minister in Washington.
Telegraphic advice was immediately sent to representatives of the two
Governments at St. Thomas. Upon receipt of the messages the ceremony
of the transfer was enacted at the Saluting Battery, St. Thomas, by
the retiring Danish governor and the acting United States governor
(commander of the U. S. S. _Hancock_), in the presence of naval,
military and civil guards and an impressive assemblage of citizens.
The transfer was simultaneously celebrated at Christiansted and
Frederiksted, St. 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.”
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 13. SERIAL No. 161
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN
CHARLOTTE AMALIE. ST. THOMAS. VIRGIN ISLANDS]
_THE VIRGIN ISLANDS_
_Government, Institutions, Resources_
THREE
Under the old régime the executive power of the Danish Islands was
vested in a governor appointed by the king. For six months of the year
his residence was on St. Thomas; for the rest of the year it was on St.
Croix, thirty-five miles distant. St. Thomas and St. John comprised
one political part, St. Croix another. Two colonial councils made the
laws, a proportion of the members being appointed by the Government,
and the remainder being elected by the islanders for a term of four
years. Besides, there was a Danish police force that presented a brave
appearance on dress occasions in uniforms of pale blue and white, with
high hats crowned by bright red pompoms. Danish judges were appointed
for life. The whipping-post, we are told, still menaced offenders
under Old Country rule, and heavy penalties were visited upon natives
convicted of theft. Males twenty-five years of age, born on the
islands, or resident there for five years, who were possessed of a
stipulated amount of property and were of unassailable character, were
entitled to the franchise. As far as possible, the Danish Colonial Law
affecting the islands will be maintained by the United States.
The Colonial Treasury supported the Evangelical Lutheran Church as the
national church of Denmark, though various other denominations were and
continue to be represented in the islands. Lutheran and Reformed Dutch
congregations have worshipped on St. Thomas for over two centuries.
Missionaries of the Moravian Church began their ministrations in the
year 1732, and, under Government subsidy, have had an important share
in the education of the island children, both black and white. The
education of Roman Catholic children has been in the hands of the
Catholic Church. Free schools and schoolbooks were provided by the
Danish Government. 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. Morning hours were reserved for
the session of the lower grades and the later sessions for the upper
grades. Three weeks’ vacation was permitted in September. The high
percentage of literacy in the islands may in part be credited to a
system of fines in force for many years. Unless officially excused, a
pupil arriving an hour late at school was subject to a fine of one to
five cents. 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.
The abolition of slavery and the prominence of St. Thomas as a port
have so impeded the development of the island’s natural resources that
today most of the produce consumed by St. 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. Consular
reports give the main manufacturing industries of the islands as sugar,
rum and molasses on St. Croix; bay rum on St. Thomas; bay oil, bay rum
and the products of the lime tree on St. John.
The hurricane of October 9, 1916, was the most disastrous to real
estate and commerce that had been experienced in the islands since
1867, the loss being estimated at about $1,500,000. The full force
of the wind fell upon St. Thomas, though the greatest number of
deaths--about fifty in all--were reported from St. John. The accustomed
signals--two guns fired at a short interval--gave warning early in the
afternoon of the approaching high winds. Accompanied by heavy rain,
the wind blew at the rate of 125 miles an hour. It bared hills of turf
and trees, lifted houses from foundations, wiped out villages, laid
cocoanut groves low, stripped bay trees of their leaves, destroyed oil
stills and sunk ships in the harbors, or drove them ashore and left
them but disordered piles of wood and metal. On June 25th of each year
it is the custom of the islanders to hold services of prayer to ask
protection from the raging trade-winds that blow across the Atlantic
from southwestern Europe, and on October 25th they give thanks if the
prayer has been answered.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 13. SERIAL No. 161
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN
CHRISTIANSTED. ST. CROIX. VIRGIN ISLANDS]
_THE VIRGIN ISLANDS_
_St. Thomas and St. John_
FOUR
Since the age of the discoverers, the harbor of St. Thomas has welcomed
the craft of the sea-going nations of Europe--craft sometimes black of
prow and sinister in design. Father Labat recounts the tale of a French
privateer, Legendre the Blond, who on an autumn day in 1695 ran into
the harbor at Charlotte Amalie, robbed the Brandenburgh warehouse of
24,000 riksdollars (about $13,000), and relieved the employees, from
director-general to humblest clerk, of everything except the shirts
they wore. Accomplices of French privateers, with the connivance of
authorities at St. Thomas, once sent a warning that enabled a robber
fleet to reach France with a sum equivalent to $400,000 stolen on
the British island of New Granada to enrich the war chest of Louis
XIV. In April, 1699, there arrived a notorious “rover of the sea”
at the harbor gate of St. Thomas. “Well outside gun range,” he hove
to, and asked refuge from the pursuit of English ships. It was none
other than Captain Kidd that begged this hospitality, and a governor
of less tolerant ideas than some others that had represented Denmark
refused him admission. Later, when the pirate secretly disposed of
his ill-gained cargo to island traders, part of it--tens of bales of
fine muslin valued at 12,000 pieces of eight--was stored in a St.
Thomas warehouse. Captain Kidd departed for New York, and from there
was sent to England for trial on the charge of piracy. The taller of
the two towers on the hills behind Charlotte Amalie is the traditional
stronghold of Black Beard Edward Teach, “one of the realest, blackest
and bloodiest pirates that ever graced the Spanish Main. He came to
his own at the cutlass of his Majesty’s Lieutenant Maynard in the year
1718.” Forty-five bays on the coast of St. Thomas and thirty inlets
that indent the shore of St. John were in those days a well-considered
aid to the dark dealings of men and ships.
It was at Magen’s Bay, a large inlet on the north side of St. Thomas,
that surveys recently made by the American Indian-Heye Foundation of
New York uncovered the remains of a primitive settlement. Vessels
found in burial mounds were without decoration, and were in other ways
unlike those that have descended to us from the first inhabitants of
Porto Rico and San Domingo. Archeologists accept this as proof that
the aborigines of the newly-acquired American group were not Arawaks,
as previously supposed; nor do the crafts disclosed by research
reflect the Carib culture of the West Indian islands farther south.
As yet, the tribe that hunted the cottonwood groves of St. Thomas,
built canoes and fished the swarming bays has not been classified.
It is hoped that future excavation on the Virgin Islands of Great
Britain may aid identification. On the island of St. John there are no
indications of aboriginal life beyond a few rock carvings, from which
evidence it is judged that this island had no village site, but was
used for ceremonial meetings. On St. Croix, ten village sites have been
discovered by various investigators.
Visitors to St. John find special interest in the bay rum industry.
Here the bay tree is indigenous to the soil, no orchards having been
set out by man. 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.
“If you love beautiful scenery,” says the author of “Isles of Spice
and Palm”--“if you are interested in strange people and quaint ways,
visit that chain of island gems which stretches in a broad curve from
Porto Rico to the tip of South America, and which is known as the
Lesser Antilles. By days of travel these islands are close at hand; by
customs, manner and life they are remote as the Antipodes.” Admiral
David Porter called St. Thomas “the keystone to the arch of the West
Indies.” 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.
Coral Bay, St. John, is twice as deep as the hill-bound harbor of St.
Thomas, and is large enough to shelter at one time four or five hundred
vessels. It is actually a better haven than that of St. Thomas, but
the latter is closer to the trade routes. Before the World War it was
not unusual for two hundred ships to call in one year at the port of
Charlotte Amalie.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 13. SERIAL No. 161
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN
STREET IN FREDERIKSTED. ST. CROIX. VIRGIN ISLANDS]
_THE VIRGIN ISLANDS_
_St. Croix_
FIVE
The island of Santa Cruz or Saint Croix (Holy Cross) was so named by
the Spanish and the French who occupied it at different periods until
the year 1733. As the Knights of Malta, under grant from Louis XIV,
were for a decade in possession of this isolated domain, the name
has interesting associations. Not long after St. Croix came under
control of Denmark there was born on the island of Nevis, fifty miles
away, the boy known to history as Alexander Hamilton, son of a Scotch
merchant and a cultured lady of Huguenot descent. At his mother’s death
the child was put in the care of relatives who lived on St. Croix.
Before he reached his teens he was apprenticed in Frederiksted as a
counting-house clerk to the firm of Nicholas Cruger. His youthful
letters of business and friendship are distinguished by mature
reasoning and elegant phrase. In November, 1769, when twelve years of
age, he wrote a boy friend expressing impatience with “the grovelling
condition of a clerk,” and avowed: “I would willingly risk my life,
though not my character, to exalt my station.” The date, August 31,
1772, is memorable in St. Croix for a furious hurricane that endured
a third of a day and made “the whole frame of nature seem as though
unhinged and tottering to its fall.” The young clerk described this
disastrous visitation in a letter addressed to his father on September
6th. “It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking
place,” he wrote. “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.
Misery in its most hideous shapes spread over the face of the country.”
This letter, appearing in a newspaper, aroused such interest in the
talents of the writer that a month later it was arranged for him to
sail for the American Colonies and there continue his interrupted
studies in a grammar-school near New York. Later, the youth entered
King’s College, now Columbia University. At seventeen, having already
allied himself with the interests of the Americans, he addressed with
ardor and inventive argument a great meeting of patriots assembled in
New York to act on the proposal to hold a general congress of colonial
representatives.
In Hamilton’s boyhood, St. Croix, a sugar-producing island, shared the
richest commerce of the West Indies. The first sugar plantations were
laid out about the middle of the eighteenth century; towns named for
Danish kings, Christian and Frederik, were plotted, and good roads
built. The south side of the island is level and well adapted for
agriculture. Here are many estates owned by corporations that operate
sugar factories.
As a resort, St. 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. In an average year, the maximum
temperature in summer is 92° F., and the minimum 74° F. The normal
maximum winter temperature (in January) is 83° F., and the minimum 65°
F. There is no malaria in either St. Croix or St. Thomas. The charming
scenery of St. Croix is disclosed by pleasant roads that wind among
the sugar plantations and up to the fields on the slopes, where a
high-grade sea island cotton is successfully grown.
An English physician, long resident in the islands, styles St. Croix,
“The Garden of the West Indies, on account of its superior cultivation,
its beautiful homes and its fertility.” He says, “Its scenery is
extremely varied. To the lovers of dark gloomy hills and large waste
lagoons, the eastern part of the island offers many attractions. A
rich, fruitful valley occupies the central and most southerly portion
of the island. A drive through this, upon the splendid road that runs
from Christiansted to Frederiksted, a distance of fifteen miles, will
amply reward anyone who cares for picturesque scenery. On each side
are cocoanut trees, sometimes varied by the areca palm. Between these
and behind them may be seen sugar-fields, perhaps full of undulating
cane ready for cutting. A manager’s house peeps out from a dark clump
of mango and tamarind trees. Hard by is the negro laborers’ village.
Cultivated to their very tops are many of the hills. A windmill here
and there, and a glimpse now and then of the sea, complete a landscape
not often seen outside of the tropics, and not often seen outside of
St. Croix.”
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 13. SERIAL No. 161
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN
COUNTRY ROAD. ST. CROIX. VIRGIN ISLANDS]
_THE VIRGIN ISLANDS_
_The People_
SIX
The people of the Virgin Islands, in the words of one who knows them
well, “are intelligent, agreeable, and well-informed, and many of
them are educated and refined, though to a great extent deprived of
broadening influences through their isolation. They are peaceful and
industrious, and crimes of violence are unknown, but they have needed
capital for the development of their resources and incentive. From the
standpoint of one who has lived in the islands, I am frank to state
that the ‘negro problem’ here will hardly be the problem--difficult of
solution--which at first glance it seems to be; for while most of the
leading merchants, tradesmen and minor officials are men in whose veins
runs colored blood, they are often more courteous and considerate than
those of white skin occupying similar position in America. Hospitality
and good cheer abound everywhere, and the prevailing atmosphere is
one of cheerfulness, now further stimulated by reason of the transfer
to the United States. 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. 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. The great problem will be to introduce
necessary changes gradually, and to furnish the laboring classes, under
prevailing wage conditions, with a livelihood and a chance to develop
in accordance with modern ideas of labor. A cheerful and hopeful people
come under our government, and a tolerant attitude on our part will do
much to cement a bond of friendship and materialize a hope of years.”
The problems of St. Thomas and its sister islands are complicated
by the disinclination of the negro population for pursuits of the
soil. We are told that “looking out across the wide sweep of the
island of St. 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.” 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. The river is perhaps four feet wide, the width of two
baskets touching rims, each basket carrying sixty to sixty-five pounds
of coal, or a comfortable load for a colored woman’s head. Beneath it,
as beneath the belly of a Chinese dragon, one catches glimpses of brown
bare feet moving rhythmically.… Afterward, when the work is done and
the vessel sated, they go away through the town, as swaggering a crew
of long-shore-women as one would care to see, slapping shoulders and
calling names. They are full of an exuberant gaiety which tons of coal
cannot crush.” Mr. Steele visualizes for us a bit of Charlotte Amalie,
pleasant to remember: “A sun-drenched street with a yellow pavement and
close walls of pink and violet and flame and ultramarine; big studded
doors set deep in recesses; windows sealed with shutters the color of
malachite; and, of a sudden, the mouth of a dark corridor leading away
through the internals of a great flat stucco block and down into the
glare of the street below. There was something fascinating about that
intimate vista. Arch succeeded upon Spanish arch, thick in masonry;
somewhere a lacework of sunshine mysteriously procured, traced the
floor of the corridor; beyond it showed a dim net of fronds and the
ghost of a fountain--a world languorous, remote, and self-contained.”
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.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 13. SERIAL No. 161
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL
AUGUST 15, 1918
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS _of the_ UNITED STATES _of_ AMERICA
By E. M. NEWMAN, _Lecturer and Traveler_
Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New
York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1918, by The
Mentor Association, Inc.
[Illustration: VIEW OF CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS]
_MENTOR GRAVURES_
ST. THOMAS HARBOR BEFORE THE DANISH FLAG CAME DOWN · ST. THOMAS, DANISH
GOVERNMENT BUILDING, NOW U.S. MARINE HEADQUARTERS · CHARLOTTE AMALIE,
ST. THOMAS · CHRISTIANSTED, ST. CROIX · STREET IN FREDERIKSTED, ST.
CROIX · COUNTRY ROAD, ST. CROIX
The Virgin Islands formerly known as the Danish West Indies were
purchased by the United States for the apparently exorbitant sum of
$25,000,000. While the group comprises more than fifty islands, but
three are inhabited. These are St. Thomas, Santa Cruz or St. Croix
(sahn krwah), and St. John.
[Illustration: Copyright by Clinedinst Studio
TRANSFER OF THE DANISH WEST INDIES TO THE UNITED STATES
Secretary Lansing handing Constantin Brun, the Danish Minister at
Washington, a Treasury Warrant for $25,000,000. The others in the group
are Secretary Daniels, Secretary McAdoo, and Rear-Admiral James H.
Oliver, first appointee to the Governorship of the Virgin Islands of
the United States of America]
Denmark received from the United States an average price of $295 per
acre. Alaska was purchased at a cost of two cents per acre, and the
Philippine Islands cost us about twenty-seven cents per acre. For
strategic, economic and political reasons the Virgin Islands are worth
far more to us than their purchase price. 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. Again, in 1901, negotiations were
entered into with Denmark, but Germany intervened, and once more the
project failed.
A price was finally agreed upon, and the transfer of the islands took
place March 31, 1917. The ceremony was most impressive, though Governor
Oliver, appointed by President Wilson, could not arrive in time to
take part in it. Commander Pollock, of the gunboat _Hancock_, was at
Santo Domingo and was ordered to proceed at once to St. Thomas and take
possession in the name of the United States. He arrived on the day of
the ceremony, and was met by the Danish governor, Danish officials, and
officers and marines of the Danish gunboat _Valkyrie_. In the presence
of a large assemblage the Danish flag came down after nearly two and a
half centuries of rule, and the Stars and Stripes was raised over the
former Danish Government buildings, over forts, and on various private
flagstaffs. Many of the Danes were in tears. A number of them had been
born on the islands and knew no other home. To them it was a sad event,
but practically all realized that the transfer was best for the people
generally and for the future of the islands.
[Illustration: MAJOR SALLADAY AND STAFF
Commanding the United States Marines stationed at St. Thomas--on the
steps of the barracks, Charlotte Amalie]
_The Commerce and People_
Besides Charlotte Amalie, a town of about 8,000 inhabitants, there are
a few scattered settlements on the island of St. Thomas. Some years ago
the harbor was a free port and Charlotte Amalie enjoyed a considerable
commerce. Immense warehouses were built, and merchants from Central and
South America came to the island to purchase merchandise. When the port
was no longer free, its commerce gradually dwindled and the harbor was
almost deserted. Ships called only to go into drydock or to coal. It
now remains for Uncle Sam to restore its former trade with our sister
republics to the south.
[Illustration: CAMP OF AMERICAN MARINES
Beneath the walls of the fort on the water-front, Charlotte Amalie]
Little or nothing grows on the island of St. 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. 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.
[Illustration: OLD DANISH FORT, ST. THOMAS HARBOR]
Hurricanes are frequent, and at times do great damage. A storm of
several years ago unroofed many of the houses, tore down palm trees and
destroyed most of the foliage. Traces of the hurricane may still be
seen, but its effect is gradually being obliterated.
Many steamers have been wrecked on these islands. Among numerous
sailors stranded on St. Thomas was a Frenchman named Louis Monsanto.
He founded on the shore of Krum Bay what he calls the graveyard of
ships. Lying about are several odd figureheads that once adorned the
bows of lost boats. Each has its story of thrilling escapes and tragic
loss of life to awe the listener.
Marines now police the island, and to them has been entrusted the task
of restoring order, mounting guns for the protection of the harbor, and
firmly establishing American rule.
[Illustration: VIRGIN ISLAND TAXI-CAB AND EXPRESS SERVICE]
_An Island Bluebeard_
These islands were once infested by pirates; in Charlotte Amalie
we see Bluebeard’s and Blackbeard’s castles. An English pirate who
married a woman from Charlotte Amalie went away on one of his piratical
expeditions, entrusting to his wife a small box which he told her not
to open unless he did not return in six months. After two months,
woman’s curiosity got the better of her and she opened the box. She
found therein just seven letters, but they were seven compromising
letters written by women of Charlotte Amalie. She did not kill her
husband, instead she invited the women to an afternoon tea at her home
and poisoned all seven. So, you see it was not, in this case, the man
who was the “bluebeard,” but the wife--a sort of bluebearded lady. She
was arrested, tried and convicted, and was condemned to be burned at
the stake. The eventful day arrived. Fagots were piled high about her,
the torch was about to be applied, when the pirate ship appeared in the
harbor, the pirate and his crew came ashore, and the wife was rescued.
Then she sailed away with her husband, and they “lived happily ever
after.”
[Illustration: ENTRANCE OF THE GRAND HOTEL, CHARLOTTE AMALIE
From “The Virgin Islands of the United States of America,” by Luther K.
Zabriskie, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Publishers]
_St. John and St. Croix_
The smallest of the inhabited islands is St. John. The few people
living there are employed in picking bay leaves. The bay tree thrives
on the island, and the oil obtained from its leaf is used in the making
of bay rum.
The largest of the islands is St. Croix. It is about twenty-one miles
in length and from four to fourteen miles in width. Rich and fertile,
its soil produces chiefly sugar, a product capable of still further
industrial development. The principal difficulty encountered is in
obtaining good water. There is but one stream on the island, and except
for the water from this stream the people must depend on rain water
stored during the rainy season. One of the first duties that we have
before us is the boring of artesian wells, as all the islands are in
great need of good water for drinking and commercial purposes.
[Illustration: COVERED WALK
Christiansted, St. Croix]
There is a primitive sugar mill on the island of St. Croix that is
owned by Danes. One of the owners told me that the day the islands were
transferred to the United States the negro employees formed a union and
struck. They lost no time in availing themselves of the advantages that
organized labor enjoys in a great republic.
The seat of government of this island is Christiansted, a town of about
4500 people. It is a neat, substantial little place, with covered
colonnades extending through the business section of the town. These
covered passageways enable one to walk about without being exposed to
the rays of a tropical sun.
[Illustration: “GOVERNMENT HILL,” CHARLOTTE AMALIE
Showing Administration Building (upper right-hand) and Governor’s House
(flying American flag)]
It was from Frederiksted, the chief port of St. Croix, that Alexander
Hamilton came to America. Born on the island of St. Nevis, his mother
died when he was still an infant. He was then sent to an aunt who lived
on St. Croix, and it was there that he gave evidence of the brilliant
mind that in later years made him one of the most conspicuous figures
in American history. It is a strange coincidence that over a hundred
years after Hamilton left St. Croix it should come into possession of
the nation he served so brilliantly. What might George Washington, “The
Father of his Country,” say if he could know that the birthplace of the
young West Indian attorney, to whom he looked for legal counsel, was
now part of the great republic in whose establishment each of them had
such an important share?
[Illustration: From “The Virgin Islands,” by Luther K. Zabriskie, G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, Publishers
PANORAMIC VIEW SHOWING PLANTATION ON THE ISLAND OF ST. CROIX]
[Illustration: PLOUGHING ON ST. CROIX]
There is but one paved highway on St. 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.
Agriculturally, St. Croix offers a good field for development. Cotton
as well as sugar can be grown profitably, and, with modern American
methods, its products can be materially increased.
[Illustration: ON A SUNNY ROAD, ST. CROIX]
_System of Education_
When the Americans first took possession there was much confusion.
Danish law conflicted with American law, Danish customs differed
from American customs, there was a Danish postmaster and an American
postmaster; but these things are now straightened out and order has
been completely restored.
The Danish method of instruction, which has long been in use, has been
continued by the United States. The system differs from our own in that
the schools are in session practically the year round, and religious
training is required. The religious training in the schools will be
discontinued, but otherwise the Danish method will obtain.
Virgin Islanders pride themselves on their low percentage of
illiteracy. Only about two per cent. of the inhabitants are unable to
read and write.
[Illustration: LONGSHOREWOMEN COALING A SHIP
St. Thomas Harbor]
_The Importance of St. Thomas_
Commercially, the island of St. Thomas is destined to play the most
important part of all the group, as it is a favored way-station on the
route from European ports to the Panama Canal. Its lost trade can be
regained, and it may be possible for American manufacturers to display
samples of their wares in especially built ware-rooms at Charlotte
Amalie. This would enable the merchants of Central and South America
to make their purchases again as they once did. It would obviate the
necessity of a long journey to New York, and the port of St. Thomas
would be a convenient place in which to see American-made goods and
place orders.
[Illustration: THE FORT ON THE HILL ABOVE CHARLOTTE AMALIE
Now an American jail]
The gold paid by the United States to Denmark for the Virgin Islands
weighed 48 tons. Like everything else, the islands have gone up in
price since the first negotiations undertaken, fifty years ago, but it
was necessary for us to have them, as with St. Thomas in our possession
and fortified no foreign power without a naval base in this part of the
world would dare attack the Panama Canal without first capturing St.
Thomas. Without it they would leave a fortified base in their rear, an
extremely dangerous situation for an attacking force.
The value of the harbor of St. Thomas and its strategic advantages have
been recognized since the days of the Spanish buccaneers. Once the
headquarters for ships sailing under the black flag, the memories of
those days will always form a romantic and fascinating side of the life
that was. Today there are modern harbor works, floating docks, marine
slips and wharves provided with electric cranes, oil reservoirs, coal
depots, fresh-water tanks, machine shops, and many other things that
contribute to the commercial advantage of St. Thomas as a port of call.
We must not overlook the political importance of extending American
jurisdiction over islands situated in the Caribbean Sea. The
possibility of a change of sovereignty of any of the islands under
foreign jurisdiction is of grave concern to this country.
The Monroe Doctrine, a settled national policy, would have caused this
country to look with disfavor upon the acquisition of the Danish West
Indies by any other power. The treaty of cession of these islands to
the United States is therefore a matter of no small moment.
[Illustration: A BAY RUM CARRIER
Island of St. John]
[Illustration: A NATIVE ON THE WAY HOME FROM MARKET]
[Illustration: “BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE,” CHARLOTTE AMALIE]
[Illustration: PUBLIC SQUARE, CHRISTIANSTED, ST. CROIX]
Previous to the purchase, Rear Admiral Casper F. Goodrich thus defined
the advantages of the transfer in an interview in the New York _Times_.
“Were the Danish West Indies in the possession of an enemy, what
interests of ours would be menaced? Let us seek the answers to this
momentous question. From them, as a base, to Charleston, our nearest
important Atlantic harbor, is about 1200 miles; to Norfolk about 1300
miles--distances easily covered in three or four days by a fleet which
could fight an action and return with plenty of fuel left in the
bunkers. Moreover, raiding operations therefrom, could, and doubtless
would, seriously interfere with, if they didn’t wholly interrupt, our
foreign commerce, even at remote points, such as New York, Boston and
Portland. In the other direction lies Colon, a little more than one
thousand miles away from St. Thomas. It is against Colon that an
inimical campaign would more possibly be directed. The possession of
this gateway to the Pacific would restore the conditions of the war
with Spain, when the _Oregon_ had to circumnavigate the whole of South
America in order to join Sampson off Santiago de Cuba.
[Illustration: STREET IN FREDERIKSTED]
[Illustration: HOUSE WHERE ALEXANDER HAMILTON LIVED AS A BOY,
FREDERIKSTED, ST. CROIX]
[Illustration: DANISH SUGAR MILL, ST. CROIX]
“It is evident that a foreign nation endeavoring to acquire the Danish
West Indies could in fact have no mere commercial or profitable
colonial aim in view. There is but one harbor in the group that is
especially fit for a naval base--Charlotte Amalie, on the south side
of St. Thomas. By skill and care it could be made to accommodate a
fleet large enough to occasion us grave concern. From a secure harbor
for merchant steamers to a naval establishment and a military outpost,
the path is neither hard nor long. It is wiser, however distasteful,
to forestall any such manoeuver by a foreign power by buying the
islands ourselves. We do not relish the idea of such a thorn in our
side, such a threat to neighboring Porto Rico, to our naval station at
Guantanamo (only 300 miles distant), to that at Key West (1000 miles
distant), to the free navigation of the Caribbean Sea, and the Mona and
Windward Passages (between Porto Rico and Haiti, Cuba and Porto Rico,
respectively), or to our Gulf cities. Thus it appears, north, east,
south and west, these islands are a most valuable _point d’appui_ for
any European government wishing to quarrel with us. It is, therefore,
in the highest degree essential that we spare no effort to prevent
their falling into unfriendly hands.”
_Transportation_
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.
[Illustration: BAY OIL STILL
From “The Virgin Islands,” by Luther K. Zabriskie, G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
Publishers]
[Illustration: LABORERS’ HOMES ON A ST. CROIX PLANTATION
From “The Virgin Islands,” by Luther K. Zabriskie, G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
Publishers]
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. At one time there
were 46,000 people on the islands; in 1911, the number had dwindled to
27,000, and the present population is said to approximate this figure.
The only means of transportation on St. John is by horseback. As the
island is very hilly, the roads are not suitable for vehicles. On
St. Thomas there are about fifteen miles of good roads, traversed by
numerous carriages and a few automobiles. St. Croix boasts one hundred
miles of roads, but few of these are paved.
We include in our West Indies possessions not only some of the Virgin
Islands, but Porto Rico. Porto Rico, however, is no more American today
than when we first went to the island. But the Virgin Islander welcomes
the United States. The circumstances attending the purchase and
transfer of the islands were most auspicious, and we foresee only the
happiest outcome from the relations between the natives and the United
States.
* * * * *
_SUPPLEMENTARY READING_
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA _By Luther K. Zabriskie_
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS _By T. H. N. de Booy and J. T. Faris_
DANISH WEST INDIES _By W. C. Westergaard_
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF VIRGIN ISLANDS]
When Mr. E. M. Newman, who is now in Europe, returns, he will bring
pictures and information that will mean a great deal to all the
readers of The Mentor. Mr. 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. He is to make a record, in pictures and text,
of the living conditions of the people in war time as he observes them
in the allied countries. When he returns, this material will be put
at once before the public in a series of lectures, the purpose being
to make clear to Americans just what war means to those that are not
“out there,” but are doing their bit in the home city, town, village,
or farm district. Naturally, this material will have tremendous vital
interest to all of us in the United States who are watching and
wondering what war is going to mean in our daily lives and occupations.
“I hope particularly,” said Mr. Newman, “to illustrate the conservation
of human power that makes possible the release of able bodied men to
the war with the least disturbance to commerce. The object is to bring
back to the United States a graphic presentation of what can be done
and what should be done to permit us to utilize every ounce of our
strength for the successful prosecution of the war.”
* * * * *
The Mentor will publish Mr. Newman’s material in three articles,
entitled “England in War Time,” “France in War Time,” “Italy in War
Time.” We expect to have these important articles ready for publication
in the Fall--the dates will depend upon the time of Mr. Newman’s
return. On the opposite page we print some interesting information just
received from him.
[Illustration: W. D. Moffat
EDITOR]
War Conditions in England
Mr. 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. Mr. Newman witnessed a night air raid on London.
“For fear that I might miss something,” he writes, “I went up on the
roof of a building and watched the searchlights and saw the flash of
the many anti-aircraft guns. The boom of cannon and the whirr of the
machines was an inspiring spectacle. I must say that the British airmen
are perfectly wonderful. I watched with intense excitement several
battles in the air, during which I saw flashes of fire from the machine
guns which the British flyers were using to destroy the German planes.
Seven of the invaders were brought down, and while I regret that any
got away, I think the result was most gratifying. Were it not for the
loss of life and the destruction of property, I would like to see
another raid.”
Mr. 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. 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. I went to Ilford,
where I photographed girls working on engines as stokers, oilers and
cleaners. The American Y.M.C.A. Hut in London is a very busy center,
where our boys are entertained and cared for. I have a pretty picture
of an American girl making flapjacks for some of our sailor boys.
Other pictures I have show girl chauffeurs, ‘Penguins’ or Royal Air
Force Girls, girl messengers, porters, and a girl driving an electric
truck. Londoners are ‘carrying on’ cheerfully, and at the same time are
enjoying theaters and other such pleasures as life in wartime permits.”
THE MENTOR
The Wealth of The Mentor
=1= =Beautiful Children in Art=, by Kobbé.
=2= =Makers of American Poetry=, by Mabie.
=3= =Washington the Capital=, by Elmendorf.
=4= =Beautiful Women in Art=, by Willing.
=5= =Romantic Ireland=, by Elmendorf.
=6= =Masters of Music=, by Henderson.
=7= =Natural Wonders of America=, by Elmendorf.
=8= =Pictures We Love to Live With=, by Huneker.
=9= =The Conquest of the Peaks=, by Fay.
=10= =Scotland, the Land of Song and Scenery=, by Elmendorf.
=11= =Cherubs in Art=, by Kobbé.
=12= =Statues with a Story=, by Lorado Taft.
=13= =The Discoverers=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=14= =London=, by Elmendorf.
=15= =The Story of Panama=, by Bonsal.
=16= =American Birds of Beauty=, by E. H. Forbush.
=17= =Dutch Masterpieces=, by Van Dyke.
=18= =Paris, the Incomparable=, by Elmendorf.
=19= =Flowers of Decoration=, by H. S. Adams.
=20= =Makers of American Humor=, by Burges Johnson.
=21= =American Sea Painters=, by Arthur Hoeber.
=22= =The Explorers=, by Hart.
=23= =Sporting Vacations=, by Beard.
=24= =Switzerland, the Land of Scenic Splendors=, by Elmendorf.
=25= =American Novelists=, by Mabie.
=26= =American Landscape Painters=, by Samuel Isham.
=27= =Venice, the Island City=, by Elmendorf.
=28= =The Wife in Art=, by Kobbé.
=29= =Great American Inventors=, by Brace.
=30= =Furniture and Its Makers=, by Richards.
=31= =Spain and Gibraltar=, by Elmendorf.
=32= =Historic Spots of America=, by McElroy.
=33= =Beautiful Buildings of the World=, by Ward.
=34= =Game Birds of America=, by E. H. Forbush.
=35= =The Contest for North America=, by Hart.
=36= =Famous American Sculptors=, by Lorado Taft.
=37= =The Conquest of the Poles=, by Rear Admiral Peary.
=38= =Napoleon=, by Ida M. Tarbell.
=39= =The Mediterranean=, by Elmendorf.
=40= =Angels in Art=, by Van Dyke.
=41= =Famous Composers=, by Henry T. Finck.
=42= =Egypt, the Land of Mystery=, by Elmendorf.
=43= =The Revolution=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=44= =Famous English Poets=, by Mabie.
=45= =Makers of American Art=, by J. T. Willing.
=46= =The Ruins of Rome=, by Botsford.
=47= =Makers of Modern Opera=, by H. E. Krehbiel.
=48= =Two Early German Painters--Dürer and Holbein=,
by F. J. Mather, Jr.
=49= =Vienna, the Queen City=, by Elmendorf.
=50= =Ancient Athens=, by Botsford.
=51= =The Barbizon School=, by Hoeber.
=52= =Abraham Lincoln=, by Hart.
=53= =George Washington=, by McElroy.
=54= =Mexico=, by Frederick Palmer.
=55= =Famous American Women Painters=, by Arthur Hoeber.
=56= =The Conquest of the Air=, by Woodhouse.
=57= =Court Painters of France=, by Coffin, N. A.
=58= =Holland=, by Elmendorf.
=59= =Our Feathered Friends=, by E. H. Forbush.
=60= =Glacier National Park=, by Hornaday.
=61= =Michelangelo=, by Cox.
=62= =American Colonial Furniture=, by Esther Singleton.
=63= =American Wild Flowers=, by Eaton.
=64= =Gothic Architecture=, by Ward.
=65= =The Story of the Rhine=, by Elmendorf.
=66= =Shakespeare=, by Mabie.
=67= =American Mural Painters=, by Hoeber.
=68= =Celebrated Animal Characters=, by Hornaday.
=69= =Japan=, by Elmendorf.
=70= =The Story of the French Revolution=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=71= =Rugs and Rug Making=, by Mumford.
=72= =Alaska=, by Browne.
=73= =Charles Dickens=, by Mabie.
=74= =Grecian Masterpieces=, by Lorado Taft.
=75= =Fathers of the Constitution=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=76= =Masters of the Piano=, by Finck.
=77= =American Historic Homes=, by Singleton.
=78= =Beauty Spots of India=, by Elmendorf.
=79= =Etchers and Etching=, by Weitenkampf.
=80= =Oliver Cromwell=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=81= =China=, by Elmendorf.
=82= =Favorite Trees=, by Hornaday.
=83= =Yellowstone National Park=, by Elmendorf.
=84= =Famous Women Writers of England=, by Mabie.
=85= =Painters of Western Life=, by Hoeber.
=86= =China and Pottery of Our Forefathers=, by Esther Singleton.
=87= =The Story of The American Railroad=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=88= =Butterflies=, by Holland.
=89= =The Philippine Islands=, by Worcester.
=90= =Great Galleries of the World--the Louvre=, by Van Dyke.
=91= =William M. Thackeray=, by Mabie.
=92= =The Grand Canyon=, by Elmendorf.
=93= =Architecture in American Country Homes=, by Aymar Embury.
=94= =The Story of the Danube=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=95= =Animals in Art=, by Kobbé.
=96= =The Holy Land=, by Elmendorf.
=97= =John Milton=, by Mabie.
=98= =Joan of Arc=, by Ida M. Tarbell.
=99= =Furniture of the Revolutionary Period=, by Esther Singleton.
=100= =The Ring of the Nibelung=, by Finck.
=101= =The Golden Age of Greece=, by Botsford.
=102= =Chinese Rugs=, by Mumford.
=103= =The War of 1812=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=104= =Great Galleries of the World--The National Gallery, London=,
by Van Dyke.
=105= =Masters of the Violin=, by Finck.
=106= =American Pioneer Prose Writers=, by Mabie.
=107= =Old Silver=, by Esther Singleton.
=108= =Shakespeare’s Country=, by William Winter.
=109= =Historic Gardens of New England=, by Mary H. Northend.
=110= =The Weather=, by C. F. Talman.
=111= =American Poets of the Soil=, by Johnson.
=112= =Argentina=, by Newman.
=113= =Game Animals of America=, by Hornaday.
=114= =Raphael=, by Van Dyke.
=115= =Walter Scott=, by Mabie.
=116= =The Yosemite Valley=, by Elmendorf.
=117= =John Paul Jones=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=118= =Russian Music=, by Finck.
=119= =Chile=, by Newman.
=120= =Rembrandt=, by Van Dyke.
=121= =Southern California=, by C. F. Lummis.
=122= =Keeping Time=, by Talman.
=123= =American Miniature Painting=, by Mrs. Elizabeth Lounsbery.
=124= =Gems=, by Esther Singleton.
=125= =The Orchestra=, by Henderson.
=126= =Brazil=, by E. M. Newman.
=127= =The American Triumvirate=, by A. B. Hart.
=128= =The Madonna and Child in Art=, by Van Dyke.
=129= =The Story of the American Navy=, by Barnes.
=130= =Lace and Lace Making=, by Esther Singleton.
=131= =American Water Color Painters=, by Kobbé.
=132= =Peru=, by E. M. Newman.
=133= =The Story of the American Army=, by Hart.
=134= =Our Planet Neighbors=, by Harold Jacoby.
=135= =The Story of Russia=, by Leo Pasvolsky.
=136= =The Story of the Hudson=, by A. B. Hart.
=137= =Prehistoric Animal Life=, by Dr. Matthew.
=138= =Hawaii=, by E. M. Newman.
=139= =Earthquakes and Volcanoes=, by Talman.
=140= =The Canadian Rockies=, by Ruth Kedzie Wood.
=141= =Corot=, by Elliott Daingerfield.
=142= =Bolivia=, by E. M. Newman.
=143= =Russian Art=, by William A. Coffin.
=144= =The American Government=, by A. B. Hart.
=145= =Christmas in Picture and Story=, by Singleton.
=146= =The Picture on the Wall=, by Weitenkampf.
=147= =Lafayette=, by Albert Bushnell Hart.
=148= =American Composers=, by Henry T. Finck.
=149= =The Luxembourg Gallery=, by Wm. A. Coffin.
=150= =Julius Caesar=, by Prof. George W. Botsford.
=151= =The Incas=, by Osgood Hardy.
=152= =Rodin=, by Emile Villemin.
=153= =The Columbia River=, by Ruth Kedzie Wood.
=154= =The Story of Coal=, by C. F. Talman.
=155= =Benjamin Franklin=, by A. B. Hart.
=156= =The Forest=, by Henry S. Graves.
=157= =Metropolitan Museum of Art=, by S. P. Noe.
=158= =The Cradle of Liberty=, by A. B. Hart.
=159= =Mt. Rainier National Park=, by Belmore Browne.
=160= =Photography=, by Paul L. Anderson.
You need only mail a postcard--listing ten or more of the numbers
opposite the titles--and we will send the selections of your choice,
all charges paid. Ten copies, at 20 cents each, may be paid for on easy
installments of but $1.00 a month for two months. We urge you to mail
the card to us today.
THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, 114-116 East 16th Street, New York City
MAKE THE SPARE MOMENT COUNT
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Mentor: The Virgin Islands of the United States of America, Vol. 6, Num. 13, Serial No. 161, August 15, 1918" ***
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