Virgin Islanders pride themselves on their low percentage of illiteracy. Only about two per cent. of the inhabitants are unable to read and write.
LONGSHOREWOMEN COALING A SHIP
St. Thomas Harbor
The Importance of St. Thomas
Commercially, the island of St. Thomas is destined to play the most important part of all the group, as it is a favored way-station on the route from European ports to the Panama Canal. Its lost trade can be regained, and it may be possible for American manufacturers to display samples of their wares in especially built ware-rooms at Charlotte Amalie. This would enable the merchants of Central and South America to make their purchases again as they once did. It would obviate the necessity of a long journey to New York, and the port of St. Thomas would be a convenient place in which to see American-made goods and place orders.
THE FORT ON THE HILL ABOVE CHARLOTTE AMALIE
Now an American jail
The gold paid by the United States to Denmark for the Virgin Islands weighed 48 tons. Like everything else, the islands have gone up in price since the first negotiations undertaken, fifty years ago, but it was necessary for us to have them, as with St. Thomas in our possession and fortified no foreign power without a naval base in this part of the world would dare attack the Panama Canal without first capturing St. Thomas. Without it they would leave a fortified base in their rear, an extremely dangerous situation for an attacking force.