eIT 0L
A VIS
ST. MARY’S MOVIES
Tuesday,
June
19, 1923, 8.15 P. M.
ELLIOTT DEXTER
(
IN
"
“THEWITCHING HOUR”
-
7 REEL DRAMA.
PRICES:
cdl
TR
0 S
e e
LEOCAL
The
s.
s.
‘‘Bolivar”’ sailed
from
New
York on Thursday having 46
tons
of
car-
go
for Christiansted,
and
12
tons
for
Frederiksted.
The
s.
8. ‘‘Guiana’’ will sail from New
on June
26th.
Today Mr and
Mrs.
W. S.
Abramson
of this town
celebrate
the
twenty-third
year of their marriage,
having
been
uni-
ted in
wedlock
on
June
18,
1900 in St.
Thomas,
V. 1., by Rev. Father Branshau,
a French priest
who was
Suverior of the
Roman
Catholic
Church
there
at
that
time.
We beg to extend
to Mr. and Mrs.
Abramson
on
this
occasion
our
hearty
eongratulation®
and
all good wishes
for
many
more years
of unit2d happiness.
The
s.
s.
Romanita
with
usual
mail,
cargo
and
some
passengers
among
whom
were
Despatching
Secretary
Rappolee
and Ass’t. Public
Works Officer Gebhart,
made
the rougd
trip
through
this
port
on Saturday‘tuming
via
Frederiksted
yesterday.
“The football match
between
the Athle-
tic
and
Dreadnought
clubs,
played
on
Parade
Ground
yesterday
was
won
by
the former by one goal
io none.
The
re-
sult
indicates
that
the
Athletics
have
made rapid strides
in their playing.
Tonight
the Prisoner
of Zenda
will be
screened
at the Christiansted
Theatre
as
per
ad
in this issue.
This fiim produc-
tion is among
the latest
shown
here
and
may
be
recommended
as
having
won
Such popularity
on the
continent
where
it drew full houses
at its presentation
in
New York City.
St. Thomas
is
considering
tobacco
cul-
tivation
say
the
papers
of
the
sister-
isiand.
In
view of the
spreading
tend-
ency
in
the
United
States
to
place
“‘smokes’’
on
the
black
list
we
would
suggest
chewing
gum
as
being
more
likely
to win ..s
way,
if adopted
as
as
a
Virgin Island industry.
The Native
Brass
Band
entertained
a
large and appreciative
gathering
of list-
eners
at its concert
last
night.
The
pro-
gramme
was
well
rendered
and elicited
lustly applauses
and
encores.
‘‘Election
Day’’ composed
by
Mr. Herman
Sarauw
made
a hit with the people.
Poli’.cal Peonage
In The
Vir-
gin Islands
By ARTHUR WARNER.
{The Nation’s
Special
Corresponident
in
the Caribbean)
St. Thomas,
March
1.
(From Saturday’s
daily Avis.)
Formerly
our regime
in the Virgin
Is-
lands
called
frankly
a
‘‘naval
govern-
ment.
Recently
it
has
{aken
pains
to
say
(without
any
change
in
character)
at
it is a ‘‘civilgovernment’’.
At the
-
*ime
it bag
tried
to break
two
of
the
p.uars
of civil government—an
inde-
pendent
judiciary and
a free
press.
The
appointment
of judges
is commonly
an
executive
funetion
in democratic
govern-
ment;
but the discharge
o
judges
by an
executive
is
never
permitted
for
the
, reason
that it
would
revive
the evil of
. which His Majesty George
11l is
accused
in
the
Declaration
of
Independence:
““He
has made
judges
dependent
upon
his
Will alone.
for the
tenure
of
their
offices.”” In
Danish
times
judges
were
removable
only by judicial process.
Gov-
ernor Oman,
of the United States
Navy,
findiny himself
displeased
with
Judge
Malwin, discharged
him
while
on
the
way
to
the
United
States
on
vacation,
The
United
S-ates
Circuit
Court
sent
Judge
Malwin back,
but
he
gotonly
as
far
as
Porto Rico when President
Hard-
ing, exercising
the
supreme
powers
over
the
Virgin Islands,
confer ed
upon
him
by
the
Congressiopal
act,
intervenead.
Judge
Malmin received
a
message
in San
Juan
in conscqueace
of which
he return-
ed
to the United
States.
Admiral
Kit-
tjlle
who
succeeded
Governor
Oman,
v\ent
a
step
further
last
summer
and
tried to force through
the Colonial
Ceun-
cil of St.
Thom=as
and St.
John
a measure
giving him authority to discharcve
judges.
When
the Colonial Council refuced
to do
his bidding,
he dissolved it.
Governor
Kittelle also
begun
the
at-
tack uron the freedom of the press
which
has
been continued
by the
present
Gov-
ernor,
Captain
Henry
H.
Hough.
An
account
of these
maneuvers
was given in
a previous number
of The Nation,
and it
is only necessary
to recall here
that
two
native have been prosecuted
by the
gov-
errment
and
convicted
of
contempt
of
court foreditorial eriticism
of the
mildest
kind,
while
for
similar
utterances
two
aliens
have
been
deported.
Une
of the
serious
causes
of
friction
during the American occupation
has been
the
econstent
presence
of
sailors
and
marines,
The
sailors,
engaged
at
the
navy yvard in St.
Thomas
or aboard
ships
in the harbor,
are
more
or less
inevitable
as
long as
& naval base
is maintained
in
the
islands;
the
marines
are
altogether
superfluous.
In the early days of Ameri-
can
occupation
there
was
some
savage
attacks
upon
natives
by
sailors
or
ma-
rines.
Latterly their behaviour
has
been
better,
tuta fruvitful
source
of
trouble
and
annoyance
is the fact that
the
Vir-
gin
Islands police—the
rank and
file
of
which are natives
and Negioes—
are
not
allowed
to errest
sailors
or
marines
for
disorder
or cime
in the
streets
or public
places;
nor ¢-
; sailors
or marines
be tried
inthe
...
. arcourl.
Itisnecessary
tosum-
mon the military guard and try them, it at
all, by courts
martial.
In Darish
days
the
police and
insular
courts
had
authority
over soldiersin public places,
a
condition
whieh
exists
in
the
United
States
and
virtually all over
the world.
The
denial
of this authority
in
the
Virgin Islands
causes
unnecessary
delay
in
case
of trou-
ble and
sets
the sailors
and
maries
up
as
a
privilege”
class.,
The
etfect
both
on
them
and
on
the
rest
of the people
is
de-
moralizing.
But
the
cruellest
conse-
quence
of
the
American
orcupation
of
the Virgin Islands
has been
the introduc-
tion
of
the color
lire intoa
population
nine-tenths
of
which
is
Negro.
The
Danes
virtually ignored
color.
Danish
soldiers
married
Negro
women aad
to»k
them
home
to Denmark
when they went,
At Danish
social
functions,
official
or
ctherwise,
Negroes
were
invited
with-
out
any
thought
of
their
eolor,
and
in
general
life of the
islands
the
black
man
had
no
reason
to
feel
inferior,
or
to think that others considered
him so.
In six years gll that has changed.
Negroes
are
no
longer
invited
to
social
fune-
tions among
the whites.
The colored
man
urst dazed,
lster
chagrined,
final'y
re-
sentful—has
been iniiiate. into that
un-
reasoning
prejudice against
a
black
skin
cf which the United
States
is
so
tragic
and exponent,
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