Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-12-03
VOICES OF the PRESS.
Mr.. James Bryce on Our Annexation Prc.
Qramme
On. Y. SUM-

In the leading article of the Deem
Der Forum the policy of annexation for
America is discussed by the Right
Hon. James Bryce. well known to oui
readers as the author Of THE Ameri-
can Commonwealth" The facts he
has in view are the annexation of Ha-
wall proposed in the treaty which the
Senate will be presently asked to con-
firm. the suggested purchase of the
Danish West India Islands, and the
possibility. If not probability. that
Cuba's attainment of independence
would lead to her becoming a member
of our Union. He undertakes to show
that. by the acquisition of these or any
other transmarine possessions, we
should lose more than we should gain.
Mr.. Bryce Is skilled advocate, but
he Is not convincing in this instance.
Some of his assertions are ill founded
and some of his admissions are fatal to
his purpose. He says. for example,
that, if Hawaii and Cuba belonged 10
us, we should have to create a navy
equal to that of England or France;
Otherwise. the islands would be
wrested from us in the event of a war
with stronger maritime power. Such
result would be by no means un-
avoidable. If the two islands men
toned were ours. we should so fortify
their more important points as to rem
der these entirely defensible against
naval attack. There Is no basis,
either. for the statement that there is
no room for Anglo colonists
in Cuba or Hawaii. The present popu-
lation of Cuba is only about million
and half, and it is undoubtedly
capable Of supporting a population
equal to that OF Java. which exceeds
twenty millions 1t is equally certain
thar. on the interior uplands. and along
the coasts. except in low-lyng and
marshy districts. the climate is quite
as suitable to Americans Of British,
Irish or Teutonic descent as Is that Of
our South Atlantic and Gulf states.
Mr.. Bryce should be at the pains to
note how we'll Anglo Americans thrive
in Florida before taking for granted
that they would find Cuba uninhabit
able. AS FOR Hawaii. If its climate
does not suit Americans. 1t is difficult
to understand how few thousand OF
them can have been. for 50 many
years. the dominant element there.
With regard. also. to the number of in
hahitants which the Hawaiian group
would be able To sustain. We need only
observe that it formerly contained Il
much larger population than ii does
now. and that only "a fraction of its
able area has been, as yet, put under
the plough.
Another thing which We cannot accept
is Mr.. Bryce's assertion that islands like
Cuba and Hawaii are needless for dcfen-
sve purposes. He does not deny tina,
both islands in the hands of Il hostile
power would constitute coigns Of vantage
which we might well regard with appre-
hension. But the contingency. he says.
Will not occur: no European power as he
believes. will ever attack the United
States. The assumption Is not based up
on experience. We have had one war
with England in this century: we came
near having another about the Oregon
boundary: were within measurable
distance of a third, when the Washington
treaty created the Alabama commission.
Again. the position taken by Mr. Cleve-
land in his Venezuela message would
have rendered war inevitable had not
Lord Salisbury agreed to refer the boun-
dairy of British Guiana to arbitration,
We narrowly escaped war with France
in the days of the first republic and first
empire. and. again. in the reign of Louis
Philippe. and we should have been driven
to hostilities had not Napoleon III. with
drawn hts troops from Mexico. The rea-
son given by MIR. Bryce for his belief that
European powers would never attack us
strikes us as curiously weak. The rea-
son is that. owing to the enormous siZ.
of our country, an attempt to penetrat,
its interior would have as little chance OF
success as had Napoleon's invasion of
Russia. We answer that hostile power
might make no attempt to penetrate our
interior. yet might infiict upon us meal
culable and irremediable injury. A large
proportion of our national wealth and at
least tenth of our population is Concen-
trated in our coastwise cities No other
country i'm the world is in this respect SO
vulnerable. Passing over Chicago. Buff
falo. Cleveland. Detroit. Milwaukee, and
other great centres of industry. which
lie on the lakes and might possibly es-
cape attacks from British gunboats. the
list of our maritime cities. which stand
exposed to a hostile fleet include not
only the Federal capital Washington,
and the commercial metropolis. New
York. but Philadelphia. Baltimore. Bos-
ton. San Francisco. New Orleans. Mobile.
Savannah. Charleston. Portland. New
port, and other towns of considerable
magnitude.
So long as this state of things exists.
and it will exist forever. or until Ameri-
cans adopt the cowardly Chinese policy
of placing their habitations many leagues
back from the sea. 1t will be a matter
of vital moment to us to deprive possible
enemies of those islands close to our own
coasts which would serve as stations for
coaling and repair. Long before the age
of steam our forefathers appreciated the
strategic value of the Bermudas to this
country, and. when independence was
declared. projected the capture of those
islands, plan which could not be car
ried out, owing to England's ascendancy