THE DEAL IN ISLANDS OFF

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2860, 26 August 1916, Page 10

THE DEAL IN ISLANDS OFF

REJECTED liY THE DANISH • LANDSTHING. (Reuter's TclesrauU (Rcc. August 25, 6.35 p.m.) Copenhagen, August 2-1. , The Danish Landsthmg (Upper House) lias rejected the proposed sale of the Danish West Indies. All the efforts of' the King and the Coalition Cabinet to pass the sale have thus failed. POSTPONED—NOT CLOSED. (Pec. August 25, 9.25 p.m.) Copenhagen, August 25. Parliament has decided to postpone the question of selling the Danish West Indies until after the elections. Opinion in the United States is not unanimous over the deal in Danish West Indies'. Says tho New York "Evening Post" of July 25: News that the United States Government has (signed a treaty with Denmark far the purchase of St. Thomas and tho other Danish possessions in tho West Indies burst upon the country unforeshadowcd. The matter had been discussed neither in Congress nor in the Press. Nobody outside of Washington apparently had an inkling of what was in the wind. Suddenly we have tho announcement of an accomplished fact, so far as the two Governments are concerned. A similar treaty was in ISO 2 rejected by the Parliament of Denmark. Seward's treaty of 1567 was rejected by our Senate—partly moved by the tremendous earthquake and tidal wave which at that, timo nearly wrecked St. Thomas. We are now proposing to pay 25,000,000 dollars for the islands which. Seward ■.wild have got for 7,500,000 dollars. Hut. as St. Thomas, in respect of tnulo and shipping, is worse olf now than fifty years ago, it is natural that tho ftriee should bo thieo times as high! Uncle Sam has not been so conspicuous a success in governing tho islands ho has already bought as to make his buying of more full of goud augury. \Yu have been like Senciio Pan/.a in dreaming that wc conk! iiiie over distant islands -,muh heller than over the homo country, but our disillusionment has been as sorrowful as his.