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