USVI Public Records

Document text

a1 &gl X A VI CHRISTIANSTED THEATRE 8.00. MONDAY EVENING 8.00. “The Yellow Menace”. Fpisode No. 13 & 14: : “The Spy And The Submarine*. T wrhe Ray of Death”. THURSDAY EVENING The two last Reels of The Yellow Menace and four Reeis of The Midnight Man. ADRBISSION: o Resv‘rved Seq Le e S Al (;ene al Entrance. ... Lh]ld[en i dnd l()c e Another Drop In The Prices of Sugar Brown Crystalized Sugar 2 Ibs. 17c. Glear Muscavado ** Tc. pr. b, AT THE Christiansted, 25th February 1921. M. A. PRETTO. PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOR ST. CROIX. (Continued from yesterday’s Avs.) Ist Member for Christiansted Country Distriet (Stakemann) introducing the Or- dinance said,—Mr. Chairmann. In in- troducing this bill I know that I am going to meet with difficulty, but 1 am quite prepared for it. I consider it my duty to my constituents to bring this bill before the Council. Ido not believe there will be muczh opposition by the Members of the Council as they are well aware that the people of this island are meeting with great difficulties on ac- count of having no cne to make com- plaints to regarding measures as carried out by the different departments. . Personally I am not directly interested, and whether the bill is adopted or not is no concern to me, but as I said before I feel it mv duty to bring.itup If we as members of this Council do not bring before this Couacl the grievances of the people of this municipality, the Gov- ernm2nt cannot do anything. When you look on a man like John Quincy Adams;’how he was put to seorn and his life was threatened and yet he | put his measures through we can say | that such is the- duty of the constituen's . of the people of the member ir this . Counecil. i As Honorable Members are aware, | when the United States took over these | islands there were Commissions to each ' department, if any official or a public ~ officer did anything wiong, the people . would go to the Commission and the . matter would be investigated and report . made onit. Today we have none. we are under one head, and that head is like the | Czar of Russia. This Council has in sev- | eral cases tried' to do i*s best for the | poor people. 1 Regarding the Sanitary Department, . this -Council has voted a certain amount . for the people who are not able to make - Tepairs and ctanges to their property: I . ~ know ofa poor hungry woma , she is actually starving, who owns a two room | house who was called upon to pay eighty- | five dollars for a closet. Where is ' she to get the money from? True, she ' might have given a mortgaze on her ' house, but this would be unjust There | are complaints and complaints daily from | the public; the people do not come for. | ward in an official manner with .their | complaints because they do not know } where to go to, and for that reason there should be commissions to which they | could apply. lam notarguing the finan- | cial side of the question, because the ! United States is very generous in send- ing us money, and plenty of it, and it i is r'ght that Government should have a | free hand where the expes ding of money appropriated for these islands is eoncern- ed, but I do not believe there is a place of this size on earth where so much mon? ey §is spent and there is no auditor. Year after year meney is spent and not audited. 1 believe the amounts budget- ted are used for pub ic purposes, but not for those for which they are budgetted. Rumours are running around regarding certain department; these rumours should be investigated and if found to be incorrect those who make the rumours should be punished; if there were com- missions these rumours would be in- vestigated and it would be determined whether they are true or not; from this point of view it is necessary to have the commissions again. There is one more question; I am sorry to touch upon it, butI hope it will be taken in the light in which I view it— The Sanitary Department is suin- the public in the Police Court; that’s wrong. According to the Act of Congress the law must be administered by civilians and not by Navy officers of the Depart- ments. We are glad to ave the naval men in position, but they should not come in contact with the people for enforcing measures. We had naval men in thisisland whom the community praised for their ability and kindness shown to them; we can mention Dr. Brockmann, Dr. Olephant and Dr. Mc Clonahan and many others, but we have some who want to act arbitrarily.= The budgetted amounts for that department are enorm- ous and yet the poor people are called upon to pay such large amounts for their closets, and if they are not able to pay they are fined in the Police Court. The Sanitary Regulations under which they act are so obsolete and have never been used until now when the board is abolished, while not even the amend- mends necessary in connection hereof have been enacted. Instead of having a board of health we are having one man to rule, without means of appeal. Re- member the law says that the Police Master shall be the head of the board, beeause it was conceded that the Police® Master would be a man of legai training I wish to show how persistent they are in the Department of Health. —This is a case in which I was executor in an es- tate, a certain property was devised to a party in the United States,I informed him of the fact and he requested me to close the house and leave it so until he could come here; I did this and had nothing turther to do with the place; I never was asked by Lim to be his agent nor was I ever such; the Tax Comrission sent me one of their usual printed forms asking information respecting the pro- perty, I wrote on it uninhabited and signed it. By this I was determined to be an agent; the Sanitary Depar ment had sent me an order to have the yard cleaned, I told them I was not agent for the property, bnt to facilitate them I for- warded che order to the owner who sent