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¶ In St. Croix, largest of the three Virgins, only 43 people paid income taxes in 1933. Of those who die 65% are buried as paupers. Of the children born 65% are illegitimate. Among 4,545 families only 400 men can qualify to vote. (Requirement : $60 a year income or property worth $300.)
The President will have a first hand opportunity for seeing the steps that are being taken to remedy these conditions. One of his jobs will be to lay the cornerstone of a new hotel at St. Thomas, to attract tourist trade. Another will be to inspect Virgin Islands' subsistence homesteads—two-room huts instead of the one-room huts in which the natives have lived for generations. He will also hear the outdoor singing festivals and "rhythm" bands to which Governor Pearson has devoted so much time and trouble.
The replacement of National Bank of Danish West Indies is already under way. Since no private U. S. bank would establish a branch in the islands, RFC has promised $125,000 capital, and Islanders have subscribed $50,000 to start a new National Bank of the Virgin Islands.
Biggest New Deal project, however, is the investment of $1,000,000 of PWA funds and the starting of Virgin Islands Co. This corporation is to grow sugar, distill rum, and enter any other business that looks promising. All its shares will be held by public trustees, but it will pay taxes, be run for profit. Last week Virgin Islands Co. had just $30 capital, resulting from the sale of one share of stock to Secretary Ickes, one share to Assistant Secretary of the Interior Chapman and one share to Governor Pearson. It cannot begin to function until PWA buys 2,500 acres of sugar land, a rum distillery and a sugar factory.