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._:'?“ ’{‘tv\/// ;“; 8 ':{ffi \:/ ; | ¢ f/\\//4¢' !/N : » ‘ ¢ <{’ DR %ik\\\'a;\\I \ i _ i is i I ‘\\. : ”‘Q/ 75TH YEAR CHRISTIANSTED. V. I. U.S. A.., WEDNESDAY 10ra NOVEMBER 1920 rank and file is sugar. A sugar-cane three times a day is sufficient to keep many of them alivel® ‘Continuing, he remarks, how in the afternoon '‘their real food consisting eof a plate of fungee, which is a nauseating mixture of fish and ‘cornmeal,”” which is preferred to the most succulent beefsteak, is taken.” Noubtless, the writer has in mind, con- ditions prevailing elsewhere his own homestead, doubtless, but his state- ments, vague as they are, nevertheless speak for themselves He next toughes upon the .greater @mount of .industry displayed by the wgmen over the men, which, he says, is_ggf to the disparity of the sexes, and which ‘‘renders the possession of a man, something in the nature ofa lexury.s Touching next upon the overwhelm ing preppnderancy of the negro popu- lation, the writer nas a ¢ood deal to say. But it is, indeed, strange, that Mr. Franck like so!many other Ameri- cans should not hawe known that the islands were peopled by Negroes. But what a blessing it is that he has not found them the profotype of his blirk American brethren. Touching upon the subject of the sale of these islands to!the United States, he has not a word to say in favour of the Danes. According to his estima- tion, they were the biggest set of black- guards and rascals that e er existed. They removed every scick of furaiture from the public buildings; they tore “out the mirrbrs from the walls; they tore down the embossed leather paper from the walls and findlly, took down and carried away the rope on the Govern- ment flag-pole! - . Touehing next upon the schools, he draws some very unfavourable pictures of them, and those in charge, thereof But knowing the sound, healthy prin- ciples on which the workings of the schools were based under the Danish administration, our only wonder is that any individual could allow himself to become such an-inmitigated falsifier! Mr. Frank has doubtless visited some obscure country school, and from what he might have seen and met with there, tries to embody all the schools into. this category. There _is one thing with which we are all gerfectly well acquainted that the Danes had in these islands, a very thorough and systematic idea of education, * Mr. Franck crowns his impertinence when he writes: ‘‘T'hough his (the Gov- ernor’s) private yacht may be on the ~_ THE ST. CROIX AVIS | 18 printed and published daily (Sundays and Holidays excepted) by G. .Johansen | at the Avis Office. i TERMS---50 cents monthly in advance. | ~° 2 cents per single copy. i Entered as second-class matter May | 26th 1917 at the Post Office at Christian- ‘ sted, St. Croiz, V. I. vj the U. S. 4., un | der the Act of March 3. 1879. £ Contribution to this paper willbe glad- | ly received when the same deals with mat- ‘ters of general interest, andis accompa- nied with the author’s name, as a quar- _antee of good faith. The editor cannot be responsible for the views of his correspon- | dents nor does he necessarily endorseihem. | FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF THEIS- LANDS. 1 We have before us at present the Century Magtazine for September in } which appearsa rather lengthy article on these islands by Harry A. Franck. The article which is entitled ‘'The Vir- gin Islands,”” and which deals with many problems affeciing ‘us, is written in a rather more or less facetious man- ner. Jn many instanees, it proves t e author’s superficial knowledge of things - coneerning us, while in others it proves his utter .ignorance of real conditions past and present. His description of thirgs in general are vague. While in some they are misleading, in others they are utterly false. His expressions, too, relative to the natives are not only quiz- zical and border on the riiiculous, but savor of that impertinence with which one meets from a certain section com- ing from the mainland. After giving some description of his voyage from Porto Rico to St. Thomas in the ~'Virginia,”” and wherein he com- plains of Congressional Committges and our governors having their battleships and commodious steam-yachts in which to travel, while the tax-paying citizen has to be left to the mercies of the “*Vir- ginia’’, he launches his first blow. The first ~thing tnat _strikes him aiter ‘landing is ‘‘the loose-kneed stroll’”’ of the Virgin Islander which he claims is . typical of all his processes, mental, mor- al, or physical, a characterization, which ne likewise applies to the town. Then he charges the pedple of r%ing under- nourished, as ‘'most of their money is speat on dress.”’” Anent this matter of food he says: The chief diet of the No. 261. very point of steaming froem St. Tho- mas to St. Croix or vice versa, even American white women are left to the mercies of the filthy ‘‘Creole’” .... Yet native Negro 'girls are readily carried back and forth, because they happen to be the daughters, relatives cr dependents of members of the Coloniai Council or some other local officials of the islands we are paying taxes to support.’”’ This is indeed, the aecme of impertinence, bred 6f ignorance ! There are other hings in the article that are beneath the regards of any re spectable and intelligent reader, as for instance, his undeserved attacks upon both Governor Oman and Judge Thiele; his characterizaticn of the inhabitants as a varcel of unsophisticated Leggars. Nor must we forget his remarks relative to the general state of mor- als he found prevailing in the is- lands. Without going into any further details, we will just inform, that pever until the advent of the new-comers have there heen such open prustitution and vagrancy. They seem to be the result of that peculiar idea of liberty -of which we hear so much boast. There was a symtem adopted by the Danish Govern- ment, however, by which vice especial- ly by the young was held firmly in check, instead of being encouraged as it is today. As we have already stated, the article is such, that one bhardly knows into what class to place the writ- er. There can be no doubt of it how- ever. but that he is of those, from whom the Negro can expect but little.—St. Thomas MailNotes, Nox. 2nd. £ /A A3 ‘,/ o~ : ?5’ \& / i,f ® " ° & Optical Service YOUR_ presc—xgti;)ii filled, and special iround lenses promptly duplicated through the mails. . Consult our refractionist, moder- ate charge for consultation. F. M. CORNEIRO, St. Thomas, U.S ¥ L