Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 4, 1917
File No. 711.5914/18
Minister Egan to the Secretary of State
Copenhagen , November 15, 1911 .
Sir: Referring to my despatches No. 444, No. 462, No. 464 and No. 476, I have the honor to enclose herewith clippings, with translations, from Danish papers which are discussing the sale of the West Indies and the agricultural and financial conditions of these islands.
I have [etc.]
the west india islands
The fruitful work for the improvement of the islands
That which we wish to call attention to by means of these articles is the fact that, in certain radical and social-democratic circles, there has of late been carried on and is still being carried on an agitation with the view of again bringing the question of the sale of the West Indian Islands into the order of the day, and that attempts are being made in these circles to create a feeling favorable to the sale of the islands, partly by undermining public confidence in the administration of the islands, and partly by belittling the value of the work which has already been done for the improvement of the islands and the future possibilities for the islands which will be opened up by the completing of the Panama Canal.
It is a pleasure for us to be able to say that we have, during the last few days, received manifold proofs of the interest felt by the public in our West Indian Islands and of the sorrow and resentment which has been aroused by the news that an agitation is again going on in certain circles for the sale of these islands.
But we can fortunately add that the agitation, no matter how cunningly it has been arranged, has not gained and will not gain a foothold outside of radical and social-democratic circles. All other parties, as well as the Government, have decided to meet the agitation, if it really sees the light of day, with the firmest opposition.
The telegrams which have appeared in the foreign press, stating that negotiations have been opened between the United States and the Danish Government in regard to the sale of one or more of the West India Islands are quite untrue.
In the attempts to undermine confidence in the administration of the islands, great zeal has been displayed in representing the Plantation Association’s work on the islands as unsatisfactory, not to say unsuccessful. Nothing can be more remote from the truth. The truth is the exact opposite. Not only has the Danish Plantation Association accomplished more than was expected when it was started, but it has awakened an initiative on the islands. Others have seen that the work of the Plantation Association was not in vain and have therefore themselves taken hold and done what they could.
It is a fact that large tracts of land which were formerly covered with bushes and which, mark well, did not belong to the Plantation Association, are now under the plough. In many places where formerly there was nothing to be seen but a wilderness of bushes and mouldering ruins, there are now vast fields of good cotton, and many new houses have been built and old ruins, long left without roofs, are rebuilt and inhabited.
This is just the picture of the progress on the islands.
The Plantation Association has also done a great and energetic work in making experiments of different kinds, and it is not least the results of these experiments that have benefited lands owned by others than the Plantation Association.
It would not be easy in a daily newspaper to enter into the details of these experiments, but so much we can say: they have been so extensive and exhaustive that they have given the best guarantee that the Plantation Association will attain the goal it has in view. Thus no one has any right to use the Plantation Association as a scapegoat in an agitation for the sale of the islands.
[Page 579]The work of the Plantation Association has in itself shown that the improvement of the islands in the possession of Denmark is an indisputable fact.
the west india islands
The Excavation of the Panama Canal and the future of the Islands
The question has been asked us: What is the use of an agitation for the sale of the islands just now? It can not be on account of the condition of the islands. The work that was begun to promote the interests of the islands when their sale was refused has borne fruit, and far from the future of the islands being darker, it contains the richest possibilities. This is true to such an extent that, aside from all other considerations, it would be disastrous to sell the islands now. It is difficult to say how much advantage the islands will derive from the excavation of the Panama Canal, but there is no doubt that it will be of great benefit to them.
Therefore we are at liberty to assume that the agitation for the sale of the islands is based exclusively on personal interests. If this is the case, there is no wonder that a certain party insists that it is now high time to make the last attempt to sell them.
For every year that passes, it will be more and more difficult to break faith with the Danish Plantation Asssocation, and in the same moment that the Panama Canal is opened, the discussion in regard to its significance or insignificance will be broken off by facts which will speak a language that will banish all doubts on this subject.
How advantageous it is for the friends of the sale to recommence their agitation just now, and how easy to understand that it has taken the form described by us in this series of articles.
But for those who neither can agree with Mr. Nansen in his view of the history and the goal of the Nation, nor will allow themselves to be led by the secret motives, which keep the radical and socialistic sale-agitation alive, there is all possible reason to affirm that we, neither from national principles, economical considerations, nor with respect to the opportune work begun on the islands, which has opened a new field for Danish enterprise and work, can or will agree to the sale of the islands.
But we should not be satisfied with this; on the contrary, we should utilize the fact that the sale-agitators have again put the islands in the order of the day, and raise the question: What can be done to enable the islands to reap the greatest benefits from the possibilities offered by the opening of the Panama Canal?
What febrile, secret activity there is to make the sale of the islands popular, may perhaps be seen best by considering the part played by the Panama Canal in this agitation. It meant death to every thought of sale, and therefore it must be hidden as well as possible.
Nay, they nearly went so far as to defend the view that the Panama Canal would just ruin the islands. More ridiculous talk could hardly be invented, and hardly a single soul could be caught by it, but a discussion of this question would be in place if it can only lead to a negotiation as to what can be done to give the islands the greatest possible advantages from the Canal.
It is obvious that the task is now of quite a different character than when it was a question of cultivating the islands. Then it was natural and opportune that private initiative took hold; here it is specially the State that is to show the way and do the work.
As everybody knows, it was the harbor of St. Thomas, its situation on the steamship route and its excellent presuppositions, which the Americans were after, when they undertook the building of the Panama Canal. It is on the harbor of St. Thomas that the work must be done, if the islands are to enjoy the advantages which are naturally theirs.
But if nothing is done to modernize the harbor of St. Thomas, while there is time, the good presuppositions may be wasted. It is then asked what the Government intends to do, in order that we may be ready in time to pluck the fruits when this great world’s enterprise gives its harvest.
the danish west indies
The series of articles which the renowned author, L. C. Nielsen, has been writing for this paper in regard to the Panama Canal have aroused a lively interest in the Danish West Indies, and in the provincial press considerable attention has lately been devoted to the condition of these islands. Nothing new has, however, been said on this subject. The impression is given that the authors of these articles have a very superficial knowledge of the Danish West Indies and a very exaggerated idea of the work of the Plantation Association. The truth is, however, that this Association, notwithstanding energetic leadership and ample means, has not accomplished much, simply because there was not much to do. Of the three islands, St. Croix is the only one that is arable, and unfortunately this island can only grow sugar cane, and on the one side, cane sugar is excluded from America by means of the American custom duties, and on the other side, it finds no market in Europe on account of the low prices of beet sugar.
The men who have unselfishly worked in the Plantation Association must certainly have found out that the islands can not be kept up simply by cultivation of sugar cane, no matter how rational this cultivation may be. What we will harvest on the St. Croix plantations in the future will also be nothing but disappointment and loss, more economic loss.
The papers which now again, without visible cause, raise the question of selling the islands, even if only to agitate against it, will not benefit the Plantation Association.
It will be just as astonishing in the West Indies as it is here to read in København the following:
“It is a pleasure for us to be able to say that we have, during the last few days, received manifold proofs of the interest felt by the public in our West Indian Islands and of the sorrow and resentment which has been aroused by the news that an agitation is again going on in certain circles for the sale of these islands.
“But we can fortunately add that the agitation, no matter how cunningly it has been arranged, has not gained and will not gain any foothold outside of radical and social democratic circles. All other parties, as well as the Government, have decided to meet the agitation, if it really sees the light of day, with the firmest opposition.”
We do not know what circles are now agitating for the sale of the islands, but as it is not probable that it is the Government, there can not be any imminent danger of the sale taking place. We hope that this will lessen the sorrow and resentment”; but since this paper København is in such a state of tremor, it is hardly worth while to explain to it that the same economical considerations which in 1905 urged every sensible Danish citizen to sell the islands, now, since the Panama Canal has created new conditions and possibilities, must urge every sensible Danish citizen to keep them. This simply depends on the common commercial principle that when an article suddenly begins to rise in price it should be kept.
We submit this simple reasoning to the consideration of our excited colleague. It will be easier for that paper to understand than the agricultural conditions of the West India Islands.