USVI Public Records

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cos the additional stations, by offering suggestions as o the best localities in the Virgin Islands in which to establish them, as wellas offering to act .as weather observers, or by suggesting tiie names of desirable persons for s ich duties. . All communications with regard to this subject should be addressed to the Covernor of the Virgin [slands. To the Editor of the ‘'St. Crolx Avis™. In today’s ‘‘Avis’’you treat editorial- ly my controversy with Mr. Svendsen; hat why use the name of noor old Svend- sen any lonzer? He is simply the fence b>hiud which a combine is sianding. Any nle can see that. I have rot the time to devote to the training of this combine in elementary lcaic, let m= give you a specimen of cheir reasoning ‘‘vou made a statement’’: ''lf you were not to put on a film treatirg tl e subject (e title proclaimed then the ile was us2d sitaply to catch che people as it eartied¢ wiih it the promise of some- ti ing salacirus.”’” The eombine then ar- gies that it ‘ollows as a necessary con- ¢l Ision that the people coulé be caught. Zoor old logie.!! A fisherman goes out at night supplied w th bait hcping to make a good catch of fish. It rerzatedly occurs that the fish wll not alaw themselves to be caught. Ir other wods they will not bite. Fregquentiy we near the fisnerman say: “‘Mshing is poor, the tish will not bite, al hough I Fad a splendid bait.”’ Surely it was the irtention of thz iisherman to ca:ch tho fich, an'! he hoped to make a gcHd hau!, bal theve was no bilateral con- traet, as tlie fish would not cooperate. Ocmmereializers of moving pictures want to cateh the neopie. They ar2 not in that business for the good of taeir health. Tl ey want t» swe'l their financialincome. Tkay are lyoking for big dividends. Therefora thev commercialize a title they thoy hope w !l catch the people. Lhe title is 10 be the bait. Ihe house must be pack- ed and tc se:sure tna‘?xo titla must have ‘'rep’’ init. y "“here is mv cortention that the title is used to catel. the veople. i did nut sc.y the pecple o Christian- sted wanted to b 2 caught or that they were caught. I did not say taat the peo- ple'were rezdy to rush or that they did rusn to the “heatre Aug. 18th. From what I hear the title was not an atttrac- tive bait, tha. the house was nol crowd- ec and there was no demand for repeti- tion: on Tuesday. That refiec:s credit on the moral sense of the veople of Christiansted. I have never said vor implied the people here have suffered by comparison with peo- ple 2lsewhere. ButIhave said publiely and repeatedly that you will find here peole as noble, as good and as true as you will find anywhere. gT O RO LN AR YD Mr. Editor: it is quite evident to me ' that contributions to your columns can ! now serve no other purpose but to In- crease the sale of your paper. As faras lam concerned the coniroversy ends so- | day. The Editorial ‘n today’s peper and the letters over Mr. Svendsen’s signa- | ture can show a striking similarity of | style. In other words the editor has the ! decided advantage of wmaking ecitorially favorable comments on his own letters and disparaging remarks about my ¢'n tributions. That is a vather unprecedent- ed move In journalism. Itis cuerrcila warfare once more. I have made un- equivocal statements as to where I stand on the moving picture question, Fir-t, last and always I am in for pictures that have an educational value and for films that give inpocent ammusement, I am first, last and alwayvs against pic- tures that soil the hkearts of chiluren, or encourage vouth in & down-hill course or confirmi. erime those who have n ade poor of their lives. I am first, last and al- ways against commereializing a| tle that has no higher motive than door- eceipis. JOSEPH W. DAILY. Christiansted, St. Croix, V. L . September 5, 1919. j ¢l . Te Mr. Datly. 1. You inquire whe is the mai: hiding bebind me : 1 must iell you, it 1s not one mai. but a econsiderably ‘arger s ction of the eommuniiy ‘nan voil imagine. 2 Birih Cunirel cven in your under standing of the word, might reiate to the reg stering of births in an office, and be corcical as vell as purely innoce:it, and deeidedly need not suggest enything fiithy. In this case, ‘'your conclision is | broader than its premises.’’ | 3, A jokel heard on board a Trans- Ailantic steamer or entering the harbor of New York, and related to ycu as a joke, you have repeated as my ov'n per- scnal statement. This you wil recall was mentioned in a conversation with | you when you expressed ycurself as an | opponent of prohibition which you ex plained to.me as having bzen intr yduced into the United States principally tirough wzalthy influences which aimed at placing | some substitute on the market. As re- gerds the principlesI derended cn that occasicn, and which you ciaim couald not | be tolerated in any respectable commu- ! nity, I must say that the orinciples I de- fended we e that an illegitimatels born | person was not an unclean person whicn was your opinion.fAnd you even gave | me as an example that should it be dis- | covered that a man stidying at the | Catholic Theological Serainary for. the priesthood was illezitimat?, lic wo:ld be | immediately expelled, against which 1 | protested as entirzly unreasonable. You | also gave an example of 12 woma: who ! had come to vou with two small cuildren for pecuniary assistance, and who you told me you drove away when you discov- ered that the children were illegitimate. Had it been the Salvation Army that wo- man had applied to, her needs would have been investiceted and help given regardlessof her social standing. 4, Your claim it answerto paragraph 2 of my letter is that I do not know very far and you know the opposite to be true. Here vou are lowering again your standard of language to the sanie leve! as that in the discussion -with Mr. Mayhew. Kindly uphold # polite tone. You appear to have the opinion that you have come t(' an island where the people are o uncul- tivated that you can act and speak as as you pleas . 5. In your answer to paragraph Bof my letter, you contradict that ‘Irepeat- edly asserted that I had projected the pictures the preceding night’’. In this connectiom you are leliberately trampling the truth underfoot. My wife and | are willing to take our oath upon my having twice made the assertion you refute. 6. Youclaim that paragraph 4of my letter constitutes a weak foundation upon which to construet an argument. 1 now ask vou frankly: Did you or did vou not sugges( to the official that the film was immoral? 7. Replying to pavagraph 5 of my letrer youa ought to have been able to see that I was ‘‘big enough, had learned enough, and knew enough Enrglish to conciude from the context that perfec- tive was a typograhpical error.”’ 8. You deny that everybody who has seen the pictures agrees they are abso- lutely harmless; but the only person to whom you have referred denies to have given such verdict to you about the pie- tures, or to have said ‘‘that he would not wish his children to witness certain features of the film’’. 1t seerrs to be Mr. Daily that you have gone far from the original question in this case. You hav. accused me for having exhi- bited iminoral pictures and brought as proof for your accusation a man who is represented as saying that he would not like Lis ciilldrer Db sge certain features of the film, but who emphatically denies ever having told you so. This is thc question, and the only question in this case, and_if you are unable to advance better evidence for your accusation then it would be bbtier that we drop the sub- ject, as I am satisfied that the public is very well convinced of who is right or wrong in this matter. Respectfully, EINAR SVENDSEN. As I was strolling on ‘‘Plaza Wil- liams’’ this morning I saw one of our editors, towe!l on arm, coming from the bath-house. It must be necessary for the editors to keep cool in these days. OBSERVER.