The Golden Lure of West Indian Ambition
(Copyright, 1908, by H. B. Warner.)
ilium he was riding through a
w
West Indian village tha other day
an American tourist stopped to
take a drink and have a chat
with the natives. School waa Just
being dismissed, and the boys, who are
always eager to see and speak with a
stranger from over the seas, crowded
around him. The man asked a few of then
what they were going to do when they
grew up, and without an exception they
replied:
"Going to America, sir, as soon as ever
I can get enough money for the passage.
That's the place where West Indians get
on, for there's no room for them to go
ahead here."
The tourist made further inquiries among
all classes of people, white and black, und
found the same story everywhere. Every
family had a son or daughter In the States,
or one saving up money with the Idea of
going there and making a fortune.
America is the mugnet for all enterprising
spirits throughout the West Indies. There
are large British West Indian colonies In
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Or
leans, Newport News, Baltimore and other
cities along the Atlantio seaboard. These
colonies never attract any attention, be
cause they are composed of people who
speak English properly, and do not differ,
outwardly, from Americans, as most of the
other Immigrants do. But they are Immi
grant colonies none the less, with their
own peculiarities and their own clannish
sentiment.
They cling together, and make a point
of hunting up new arrivals from the West
Indies and helping them to find their foot
ing among a strange pj.ple in a strange
land. They retain a feeling of loyalty and
affection toward their native country and
the Hag under which they were born. Harely
does a British, Danish, Dutch or French
West liHlton take out his naturalization
papers and become an American citizen,
however long he may dwell in this country.
In that respect, they differ most markedly
from other Immigrants. And when they
gather together, as they often do, on fes
tive occasions, It is to celebrate one of their
own national holidays and pay lienor to
their own flag and their own monarch.
But, though they thus decline to be as
similated, they esteem American institu
tions and form an excellent element in any
community in which they settle.
Usually they come to this country poor in
everything save youth and spirit. Ihey
have no money, no knowledge of American
business methods, no acquaintance wltn
the ways of a big city. Many a young man
an Ives at Boston or New York from Ja-malca-where
there is the largest exodus
with $5 or $t in his pocket and not the
slightest notion ot what he is going to do or
where he is going to look for a Job.
West Indian immigrants seldom have the
$30 required by law. but as tney are always
first-class passengers on the steamers the
immigration inspectors do not trouble them.
They are incredibly reckless. They will
throw up a good Job In Barbados, Jamaica,
or Antigua, spend almost their last cent
buying flrst-class steamship tickets, and
land in America with a wife and family,
but neither money nor prospects.
Yet, somehow or other, they always
"make good," and often win positions of
wealth and importance In the community.
"When I arrived here," said a Jamaican,
who now holds a leading place In financial
circles In Boston, "I was a youngster of IS,
who had never seen a big town or city. I
had Just $2 in my pocket, and my chum,
who came with me. had $4.
"Boston scared us at first it was so large
and so full of people-but some West In
dian friends took us in hand, and we both
got places as clerks in business offices the
first day we looked for work. It was hard
for the two of us to live on those $6 until
our first payday came around, but we man
aged it; and ever since then we have both
gone ahead steadily.
"American business houses, as a rule, are
glad to employ British West Indians. They
are well educated, trained to responsibility
from earliest youth, Intent on making their
way, and familiar, of course, with West
Indian products and requirements. It is
true, they don't know many of the things
that every American clerk knows; but
then they know many things that no Amer
ican clerk knows, and that more than com
pensates, from the employers point of view.
"I have followed the careers of hundreds
of West Indians who have come over here,"
continued the Boston merchant, "and I
have known very few of them to fail and
go back home again. Those few have
made the biff mistake of 'getting remit
tances from home.
"I have known young West Indians who
tramped the streets, workless and penni
less snd nearly starving;, while their fathers
owned big plantations ana employed hun
dreds of negro and coolie laborers. A let
ter would have brought them all the money
they wanted, but they were too proud to
ask for help. They wrote home cheerfully,
and never said a word about their struggles
until they had made good.' Such fellows
as those are bound to "make good' In any
American city."
Boston contains tha largest West Indian
olony In America. There are nearly 4,000
West Indians there, mostly Jamaicans.
Many of them are engaged In the banana
trade, of which Boston la the American
headquarters and Jamaica the tropical
center.
In New Tork there are probably 3,000
West Indians, and one street turning off
the lower part of Ninth avenue Is almost
entirely inhabited by Jamaican negroes,
who swarm together in one community by
a natural instinct.
In Philadelphia, according to a promi
nent Barbadian who lives there, the West
Indians number nearly 2,500, and occupy
many leading positions In the world of
commerce and Industry.
"From all accounts," said this Barbadian,
who Is In a big way of business, "the
exodus from the British West Indies Is
going to Increase. Indeed, it Is Increasing
all the time. The growing poverty of tlio
islands Is making it Impossible to go ahead
there, however shrewd one may be, and
naturally all the bright, enterprising young
men come here. The cost is much less
than that of going to the mother country,
and every West Indian Is firmly convinced
that there are plenty of dollars to be
picked up here, while he is dubious about
England.
"Look at this paper," he continued, pick
ing up a recent copy of the Standard, a
local newspaper of Antigua, B. W. I.
"See what It says about the matter:
" 'The number of those who have left
for, and those who contemplate going, to
the United States, of the pick of the St
Kttts and Antigua young people of both
sexes some of them In the government
service, too is suggestive of rata leaving
a sinking ship to escape peril.
" 'Really, the situation is becoming se
rious. If the emigration were confined to
our never-do-wells. It might be thought a
mercy that they should leave their coun
try for their country's good, but unfortu
nately the majority of this class remain,
and, as a consequence, the difficulty In
procuring the services of competent, trust
worthy young men to fill such places as
clerks in the various lines of trade, and of
workmen In the several crafts, Is becoming;
acute. The dregs remain, from which little
or no good can by any process of squeezing
be extracted.
" 'We are made to understand that the
bookings for first-class passengers for
America by Korona and Fontabelle on their
return voyages from this colony are enough
to shut out all others. And still there are
many more, only biding time, opportunity
and the realizing of a few dollars, ere they,
too, shake off tropical dust from their feet.
" 'There is no help for It, unfortunately.
The States can find room for all, we opine,
and it may be that by and by the West
Indian element over there will be so strong,
and so satisfied with republican rule, as to
Influence and render less difficult to be
solved the problem of annexation.' "
The newspapers of the other Islands say
practically the same.
A small circle of West Indians In New
York have formed a society which they
call "The Carlb Cannibals." They meet at
one another's houses, talk over otd times
and common friends down south, and ar
range to give a helping hand to other West
Indians who have not yet "made good."
One evening they were talking about their
own experiences why they came here, how
hey came, and what happened to them.
"I was a government clerk down in Ja
maica, earning $500 a year," said the presi
dent of the club. "If I had waited another
five years I would have got an increase of
$50 a year. As for promotion, there was no
chance of It unless one of the old fogies at
the top of the tree was obliging eneugh to
die.
"Well. I Jogged along contentedly until I
fell In love with a planter's pretty daugh
ter. Wo became engaged, but when I asked
the planter" for the parental blessing he
told me not to he a fool, and asked me
what I proposed keeping a wife on. Of
course, I looked like an ass, but I told him
I meant to have her all the same.
" 'Well, then, my lad,' he said, looking at
me rather more kindly, 'you Bhall have
your chance. When I was your age I was
In the same boat But I didn't stick In the
mud here on starvation pay. I went to the
States, made money, came back and bought
this plantation, and married Mary's mother.
You go and do the same.'
" 'But I have no money to go there with,
I ventured.
" 'And yet you propose to marry a wife,'
he retorted, adding: 'Well, here are $50.
Take them as a loan. Your passage will
cost you $42, and you'll have about $5 to
land with, provided you don't drink too
many cocktails on the steamer. If you can't
make a position for yourself and come back
for Mary within a couple of years, yoa
need never expect to get her.'
"I took the money and oame here. It
was rough sledging at first and many sj
time I was tempted to go back to the easy.
If unprofitable, life In Jamaica. But tha
thought of Mary kept me steadfast and
In less than the two years I was able to go
back, pretty well fixed, and demand her
from the old man. And what do you think
his wedding present to me waa? The same
y note which I had repaid him out of my
first earnings.
" "When you sent that, my boy,' he said,
'I knew you were safe to come back tor
Mary, so I had It framed and kept it wait
ing for you.' "
"When I came here," said another mem
ber of tho club, turning to the president,
"I had an even greater Incentive than you.
I was an overseer on a St. Kit Is plantation,
working for my board and $5 a week. I
didn't wait, as you did. I married her
and we managed to get here by pawning
the few bits of Jewelry we possessed. Wo
bluffed the immigration Inspector it waa
only two years ago and landed with Just
over $3 in our possession.
"That same afternoon I walkod Into the
first newspaper offico I saw and got a J b
as reporter at $G a week, though I ki ew
nothing of the work. It was pretty tough
work living on that small wage, but In a
few weeks I was getting $30 ou a better
paper, and now I'm making a livable
salary."
"I know a West Indian," spoke up a
third member of the club, "who is now
head of the American organization of a
big English bank, lie came to Philadel
phia for a holiday, soon after leaving
school, liked the placo, took a position
aa a Junior clerk, and rose very quickly
to tho top of the tree."
"Do you know," remarked tbe old Jamai
can, "that a great many West Indian
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REV. AND MRS. BANDY. PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARIES TO INDIA,
AND TUE BOY T1IEY ADOPTED Photo by a Stuff Artlat.
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"RAJAfl," THK INDIAN BOY ADOPTED BY RKV. AND MRS. BANDY, IN
NATIVE COSTUME Photo by a Staff Artist
women come here and marry rich Ameri
ca ua T They are tho daughters of tha
aristocratic old planting families who have
lost their money through the ruin of the
West Indian sugar Industry. Thoy come
here by shoals to earn a living. I suppose
there must be hundreds of thorn in Boston,
to say nothing of Philadelphia and New
York. Some of them bocomo stenographers,
but most of them do the beat kind of
fancy needlework. The West Indian woman
of tha higher classes Is an adept at that
kind of work, as you know.
"Sooner or later they moot their million
aire and marry him. Americans seem to
find them Irresistible, and that's not
strange, for. of course, wo all believe her
that Die Creole girl of the good old plant
ing families la the best girl on earth."
Profitable Transfer
A Harvard fullback has married a gtrl
worth $5,0u0,000. Transferred the fullness
from back to pocket, aa It were. Denvo
Post
Numerous Attractions
It Is astonishing how popular Baltimore
can be, despite the fact that It Is out ot
the oyster season. Cleveland Plain Dealer
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