AN ORDINANCE.
CONCERNING
THE
ESTABLISH-
MENT OF LIBRARIES IN ST. CROIX
Be it enacted
by the Colonial Council of
St.
Crowx:
1.
There
are hereby
authorized
to
be
established
and maintained
in
this Muni-
cipality
two public
libraries,
each
to
be
known
as
the
'‘Public Library”’.
2.
The said
libraries
shall be operated
by a board of
control
to be known
as
the
“Library
Commission’’
and
shall
be
composed
of
three
members,
one
of
whom shall
be appointed
by the Colonial
Council,
one
by
the
local
Red
Cross
Chapter,
and
one by
the Governor.
The
Governor
shall
ndme
the
Chairman,
the
Secretary
and
the Treasurer
of the said
Commission.
The members
shall be
ap-
pointed for a period of two years.
3.
The
Librarv
Commission
shall
make
all rules
and
regulations
for
the
conducting
and maintaining
of the
Pub-
lic Libraries
and
shall
have
full
power
to expend for said
purpose
such
funds
gs
may
from
time
to time be
received
y it
4.
The ' Library
Commission
shall
submit
to
the
Governor
annually
on'3o
June
a
report
of
its
activities
for
the
fiseal
year
including
receipts
and
dis-
bursements
of all
funds
r:ceived
and
ex-
pended
during
the year.
Thus
duly
passed
at an
extraordinary
meeting
of
the
Colonial
Council
held
Monday
10,
1920.
Christiansted,
St.
“roix, May 12,
1920.
D.C. CANEGATA.
ROBT. L. MERWIN,
Secretary.
Chairman.
I'ne
above
Ordinance
is hereby
sanc-
tioned and approved.
Witness
my
hand
and
the seal
of
the
Government
of the Virgin Islands
of the
United
States
at
St.
homas
the
22nd
day of May 1920.
J.
W. OMAN,
Governor.
Just Received
AT
THE
Gompany
Street
Emporium
SCHAEFER’S BEER,
EVAPORATED
MILK
in
small
tins
12c¢.
MARIE BISCUITS,
NATIONAL OATS in tins.
BLUE GRAIN .COFFEE,
PORTO
RICO
TOBACCO.
Christiansted,
26th May 1920.
M. A. PRETTO.
welaot
e L.
ooy |8
Readers
are
reminded
of tonight’s
show
at
the th atre for
which an
attrac-
tive
programme
i 3 publish:d
in
this
ISSuUe.
%
-
Th:
&ood
Commission
meets
tomor-
row.
We
have
confidence
in
the
new
chairmgn
and
look
for
a
readjustment
of
many
things
now
working ‘aardship
on the communiry.
.
‘
The Creole
sailed from here
yesterday
;
morning for
St. Thomas,
and
the
Vigi-
iant docked
at
10 a.
m.
'
The
Sub chaser
62 left again yesterday
afternoon
taking
mail
for St.
Thomas.
As will be
noted
from
an
ad.
in
this
issue,
Mr. M. A. Pretto
is
prepared
to
meet
the
publi:
demand
for
milk at
a
ch2ap figure.
Evaporated
cream
is pure
cream
of
the
richest
kind
.and
when
diluted with
an equal
quantity
of water
will not be below
the standard
for whole
milk, which
~vhole milk it
must
be borne
in mind, is-milk from the best milch cows
in the States.
Mr.
Pretto
is
one
of the
few
merchants
who
has
maintained
a
creditable
attitude
during
these
trying
times
and
lopked out for
the
interest
of
the
consumer
as
well
as
his own, and it
affords
great
pleasure
to
recommend
what
he offers for sale.
'
A Plea for the American
Agava
By Bank-director
Axel Holst.
DEAR MR. IEDITOR:
Now
is
the
time
when
the
Agavas
[Caritas]
are
flowering.
All around
us
we
see their golden
flower-masts
orna-
menting the hillsides,
standing
erect
like
golden
fir-trees
ab~ve
the
bush,
or
silhouetting
against
the
sky,
while
myriads
of
doctor
birds
flutter
around
them,
and
the air is filled with the happy
hum of the honey-bees
sucking the nectar
which drips incessantly
from
the
nectar-
laden flower-clusters.
It is a sight which
it
is
well
worth
getting
up early
on
a
Sunday
morning,
just to go and
see.
And
yet,
it
seems
to
me
that
the
Agavas
are
becoming
ever
scarcer
from
year
to year.
All around
us
we see
them
being
cut
down
and
destroyed
for
no
perceptible
intent or
purpose.
OUf late,
I
have
seen
on
the East end of the island,
how
fire
has
been
put
to
each
single
Agava along the road,
while prickles and
thorns
are left standing.
:
Why all this destruction?
It
can
hardly be
for any
agricultural
purpose,
first
ocecanse
of
the
situation
of the plants,
and secondly,
because
what
little space
is taken
up by the Agavas
is
of no consequence
at
all considering
the
amount
of waste-land
we have here.
I
do
not
know
what
drives
men
to
exert
themselves
so much
when there
is
a
chance
to destroy
something
wild
or
beautiful!
[t is ‘the same thing
with the
wild animals,
birds, reptiles,
inseets
ete.
etc.,
whether
it bea harmless
Agouti,
an unfortunate
deer,
a pigeon,
a pelican,
or, especially,
a
chicken-hawk!
There
are
rew sights
out here of great-
er
beau.y
than
a
grazing
deer
carefully
venturing
out into a
lagoon
late
ir
the
afternoor,
just at dusk,
or early in
the
morning,
just befdre
sunrise,
while
the
grass
and
bushes
are
still
hazy
or
a
couple of mighty
chicken-hawks
cireling
in the sky
on outspreaa
wings,
the wing-
tips slightly raised
and wavering,
while
screeching
bel »w
as they go pass!
But in response
tc
both of these sights
~most
of our people
have
but
ene
thought
—the gun!
Must
we then kill everything
which
savours
but
a.
little
bit
of
the
wild? —Wou:d
it
then
be
so
glorious
it
we could suceeed
in removing everything
al:ound'us
wiich remaias
of and
ceminds
of
the
great original freedom?
And
all
of
us could
become
blameless
and
well
behaved,
perfectly
harmless
tame
cats!
It
seems,
that
this
desire
to
cut
down
and
kill is
being instilled
inte the
very
chiidren!
In
the
Britis!:
Islands,
they
collect
ground-lizzards
from
the
keys,
liberating
them
on the mainland
to
elp
in fighting the insect pests
which destroy
the sugar
cane,
and posters
to that effect
are placed
all around.
But here
we stone
them,
and
kill them,
whenever
an
op-
portunity
is
given.
1 have tried
myself
to
procure
the
large
iguanas,
when
caught
in the
traps,
liberating
them
in
our garden;
and it was joy to all of us
to
see
them around
in
the trees,
how
they
could
sit
among
the
foliage,
changing
their colors from skyblue
to grass
green,
chocolate
brown
and
coal
black
But
what
was
the
fontcome?
Naturally,
a
sto: e! a (rack-stone!)
1
may
have
deviated
a
litile too
far
from
my origfhal
intention,
a
plea
for
the
beautiful
Agava;
but
returning
to
same
I would
say
to intending
destroy-
ers that
even if the beauty of the
plant,
which
is rightly
considered
among
the
wonders
of
the
plant-world,
could
not
gain
for it immunity from
destruction,
then
the
information, that the plan* is
a
very
valuable
one,
might
carry
some
weight,
and
perhaps
cause
it
to
be
spared-—until
further.
To
prove
the
statement,
an®l
save
further comment,
{ venture
to ask
you
to
reprint
the {ollowing three
articles
from
3
different works.
These
statements
all
refer
to the
utility of the
plant.
Some
other day, if I get the time,
and you will
spare
me the
space,
] may return
to
the
subject
and
offer
some
@sthetic
and
botanical facts about
the Agavas
as well
as
some
other
West
Indian plunts.
Thanking
you for space.
Very truly yours,
AXEL HOLST.
CENTURY-PLANT [Agavé
America-
na]
American
aloe,
or
maguey,
is
un-
doabtedly
the
most
liberal
vielder
ot