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