Water and Rum

On his way back from Panama, Secretary of the Navy Denby called at the Virgin Islands and heard the complaints of the islanders who are economically in a desperate position. Now that he has returned to Washington, he must try to solve the problem that the islands present and fulfill his promise to send out the best navy engineer obtainable to make a survey of the very serious water situation on the islands.

The Virgin Islands, lying about 60 miles off the east coast of Porto Rico, were bought by the United States from Denmark in 1917 for $25,000,000. There are three chief islands in the group, St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John, and about 50 smaller islands, most of them unnamed and uninhabited. Their combined area is only 132 square miles and their population about 25,000.

The islands were bought chiefly so that Germany might not obtain a naval base in the Caribbean. Now the question is: What shall we do with them? St. Thomas has a good port for a naval station but will not be used by the Navy because Guantanamo Bay is superior. St. Croix is suitable for agriculture, but has had almost no rain for three years; so its sugarcane industry is practically ruined. The drought, which has also affected most of the Greater Antilles, is so great that there is not even enough water on the islands for cattle, and the cattle industry is vanishing. Prohibition spoiled the remaining occupations of the Virgins--the rum trade and the resupplying of ships. Rival West Indian ports are making the most of the fact that St. Thomas is dry to attract ships to their ports for refueling. So whereas once 90 ships called every month at St. Thomas, it is a rare month now when 25 vessels put in. The Colonial Council was very emphatic in telling Secretary Denby that the Volstead Act is "ruining the islands." Mr. Denby replied that what the islands need is not rum but water, which is also true.

Captain H. Hughes Hough, in command of the Virgins for the Navy Department, will ask Congress to appropriate money for a system of dams and reservoirs to preserve the islands from drought. But as Secretary Denby pointed out, the Navy Department is not responsible for the economic care of the territory. In fact, no department of the Government seems to have the care of the islanders. The Navy Department appoints a governor and lends a staff of engineers, but nothing more. Last year a commission from the Virgins visited Washington to lay their grievances before the Government. They spent several days trying to find a Department which could hear them--and there was none. So finally they told their troubles to President Harding and departed. Meanwhile the exports from the islands have fallen off, from $3,571,787 in 1921, to $754,729 in 1922.