402 CUBA AND PORTO RICO 



profitable. In St. Vincent, for instance, there are thou- 

 sands of acres of fertile lands uncultivated and likely to 

 remain so. The holders of these lands appear to be 

 unwilling to sell them in small lots at reasonable prices, 

 and are unable to cultivate them. The British Sugar 

 Commission has recommended that these lands be ac- 

 quired by the government and sold to the peasantry. 

 It has justly said that a monopoly of the most accessible 

 and fertile lands by a few persons who are unable any 

 longer to make beneficial use of them cannot, in the 

 general interests, be tolerated, and is a source of public 

 danger. 



What is needed in the British West Indies is a com- 

 bination of the English and American systems a preser- 

 vation of the English respect for law with a mixture of 

 American push and go, with a relaxation of the English 

 official pride which looks down upon trade and industry, 

 and a little less American familiarity, which breaks down 

 even the respect in which the West Indian negro holds 

 the white race, and which is the only barrier between 

 himself and his political supremacy in these islands. 



A greater drawback to the West Indies than the one- 

 sided agriculture is their political condition. Their 

 distribution among too many jealous nationalities neces- 

 sitates the support of expensive and useless adminis- 

 trations, and prevents federation of interests and the 

 development of trade among themselves and with the 

 United States, the nearest and largest natural consumer 

 of their products. Very ridiculous some of these political 

 conditions seem. The island of St. Martin, not as large 

 as an average county in the United States, is divided into 

 two principalities, the French and the Dutch, each of 

 which maintains an administrative force as large as that 

 of the State of Texas. Then, as we sail down the eastern 

 islands, hardly a score in number, and within sight of one 

 another, aggregating in area less than our little State of 

 Delaware, we find five foreign flags and no less than a 



