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75TH YEAR.
CHRISTIANSTED,
V.II. U.S. A.,
WEDNESDAY,
14tTH
JANUARY
1920.
home, where
it
ferds
upon
the
food
there, and eventuatly
12avaz
as
a
poarfeet
beetle,
:
Other kinds of beetles
act
as grave-dig-
ges;
vertain ants keep
a diary; avid there
are
masons,
carpnenters,
and upholsterers
among
the
bees.
The
mason-bee
con-
structs
its cell of
mortar.
By
dropping
saliva on bits of earth
and
mixing both
together it pounds
th:
mixcture
into
a
sort of cemant.
[t works
this
into
the
shezpe
of a mould, insid:
whnich
the
fe-
male
deposits
her
.egg
Several
such
moctar
c2!ls may
ofien
b 2 frard
lying
close
togetner.
The carpencer
bez,
makzs
its hyl32 on
decayed
wood
and knes
it witn pieces
of
leaves,
which
it euts
off in the
form of
a c'rele,
and adjuscs
so scilfully
that
its
nest
is
mad
2 wai@rtizat
withoat
any
coating.
A
very
ingeniously
construc-
ted home
is also
ther
of the
upt olsterer
bee,
which dexterioasly
cuts
out the
pe-
tals
of
the
half-expanded
flowors
of a
poppy.
It
then
strengthens
the
folds,
and fits them
so that
a splendid
tapestry
everhangs
the walls of its
home
in which
the
honey
is deposited.—lhid.
PORTO
RICG’S PROGRESS.
(Atlanta Journal)
Porto Rico’s
Progress
under
the
Stars
and Stripes
"is
deseribed
by
(Governor
Yager in his recent
raport
on
two decades
of American administration
as
constitut-
inga record unequatled
‘‘by any
people
anvwhere
in
the
world,
in
the
same
length
of time,”’--a
record.
he
adds,
“‘eraditable
alike
to
the
Porto
Ricans
thernselves
and
to the great
free
Repub-
lic to which they owe
allegiance.”’
Tlat this is not the mere praise
»" over-
zealyus
pride
app
ars
from
a
lock
into
autl enticated
facts and
figures.
In
the
tweaty
year
period,
for
exampie,
ap-
pro> imately 6 and
& half
million
dollars
have
been
expended
ior public building
and nzariy five millions tor an
irrigation
system.
Furthermore,
and
specially
significent.
There
has been
created
in
Porto
Rico
a modern,
democratic
school
system
of-
fering free®education
to he“children
of
the island.
As
a
result
of
this
system
of instruction
the percentage
of
adult
itliteracy has
been
reduced
from
79.9
in
1899 tn less
than 60 per cent
in 1919.
In
1899 there
were 21,873
children
attend-
‘ing school,
as
compared
with
160,794
children
in
1919-20.
[ne
numbar
of
THE
ST.
CROIX
AVIS
3
18 printed
and publeshed
daily (S ndays
and Holidays
excepted)
by
G.
Johansen
at the Avis Office.
TER MS---50 cents
monthly
wn advance,
2 cents
per single copy.
\
Entered
as
second-class
matter
May
26th 1917 at
the Post
Office at Christian-
wted, St. Croix,
V. L. of the U. S. A.,
un-
der the Act ofMarch 3.-1879.
.
Contribution
to this paper will be glad-
ly received
when the same
deals with mat-
ters of general
interest,
and ts
accompa-
nied with
the author’s
name,
as
¢ quar-
antee of good faith.
The editor ca.mot
be
responsible for the views of his correspon-
dentsnor does he necessarily endorsethem.
JAPANESE THEATRES.
=
Japan
must
be a happy
land
for
thea-
tre-goers.
because
in that land
seats
are
not paid for—in fact,
there
are
no
seats.
The Japanese
much
prefers
to
squat,
feeling, no doubt,
much
more
at hhme
in
this
comfortable
attitude.
Sczats,
how-
ever,
are usually
brought for
the
Ise
of
any toreigners
who .uay
be presert.
There
are
no
hard .and fast laws
of
‘eonvention.
The Japanese
playgoer
mav
do
as
he
pleases;
he
may
eat,
drink,
.smoke,
and criticise
to his
heart’s
con-
tent.
;
"
:
Conversations
are
carried
on, and,
if
they
merit
it, the
actors
are
met
by
a
storm
of criticism and
chaff.
Whnen
a
man
enters
th2 aulicorium
he
removes
his boots,
and
if the
wea
her is
hot,
auy clothing that appears
to him
to
be superfluous.
The
naive
frankness
of
the
actors’
prompter
is rather deligntful,
forif
an
acgor
forgets
his
lines
th2
prompter
comes
on the
stage
and,
quite
o)enly,
points out
to the actor where he is wrou
2.
A
Dboy is kept for the
express
purpse
of
walking on the
stage and
wiping he
perspiration
off
the
actors’
faces:
this
duty
he carries
out
without
distucbing
the
even
tenor
~f
the play.—FEveryday
Lase.
INSECT
INGENUITY.
There
is no better place than
a
garden
to study insects.
Tne
dark-colored
vee-
tle —the vil-beetle—may be observed,
and
as
soon
as the bees
come
the larva of this
beetle contrives
to get upon
a
bee’s body
so as to
be
carried
a vay to
the
bee’s
No.
11.
-
teachers
has
increased
from 525
to 2,984
There
were
nc
public
school
buildings
twenty years
ago;
now
there
are
529.
The expenditure for schools
twenty years
-
ago was
$283,098,
and
for
1918-19
the
|
school
appropriation
was
$2,467,703.
At
the
same
time
laws and court
pro-
cedure
have been
changed
so
completely
‘‘as
to
leave
%’w
of
the
old
Spanish
.
practices
unaltered.””
The fearfully in-
sanitary
conditions which
once
prevailed
have beea
supclanted
by
a public
health
.
service
of
a
most
effective and
benefi-
cient chiaracter.
The system
of taxation
also
has been
modernized,
wages
gener-
-
ally increased,
and
conditions
of
labor
.
mu~h bettered.
The public
debt created
.
for all of theseimprovements
is now liitle
-
more than
ten million
dollars,
while
the
value of the improvements
themselves
is
.
more
than
fifteen
and
a
halt millions.
.
Assuredly,
thisis
a record
of
which
all
|
concerned
may
well
be
proud.—Porto
Rico Progress.
-
|
NOTICE
?
Fro
10,000
can
be loaned
on first priority mort-
.
gage
in a
property,
by applying
to
-
the Upper Guardian.
St
Thomas Jauuary
1920.
&
o
Publication
|
Tis
hefeby
made
known
that
the
|
l Horse,
Carriage
and
Boat Tax for
the
,
7
first half year
IJ2O
will be received
hy
the
Policemasters
in
Christiansted
and
.
Frederiksted
from
the 20th
January
to
~
the
10th February
1920,
both
days
in-
cluded,
after
which
the
list of
arrears
~
will be transmitted
to the
same
authori-
ties for furi her
measures.
Each
debtor of tax will be subject
to
a
.
fine Fres.
1.00 if the tax be
under
Fres.
i
25.00
aud
Fres
2.00
if the
tax be
Hres.
25.6 C o1 above,
beside
the
ord nary
lavy
|
expenses,
:
Government
of
the
Virgin Islands
of
.
the United States
of Ameriea,
St. Croix,
'
December
30,
1519.
‘
For the
Governor,
|
R. O'HAGAN.
Government
Sezretayy,