The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-12
United States, and that it cannot with
safety be postponed.
tn hon q

| safety be postponed.
! From the time that California became
| part of the United States our Gov
eminent and it's public men, political
military and naval up to the last ad-
ministration, have maintained uni
| form and consistent position respect
ing Hawaii. They have always held
that our paramount position on the
Pacific Coast of North America made
! it a political necessity that these
islands should not pass into the hands
or under the control of any foreign
nation, and when the subject has been
discussed it has been held that when
ever the opportune time arrived they
should be annexed to the United States
l should be glad to support this state
ment by the declarations of Presidents
Tyler, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, John
son, Grant and Harrison, and of Sec
retaries of State Webster, Calhoun, Bu-
chanan, Clayton, Marcy Seward, Fish
Frelinghuysen and Blaine, but time viii
not permit and you are doubtless more
or less familiar with them. 1t is also
well known that on two occasions, III
1854 and 1867, the Minister Of the
United States to the Hawaiian Islands
was authorized by the President to con-
duct formal negotiations for annexa-
! ton.
The attitude of the political depart
ment of our Government is strongly sup
ported by our highest military and naval
authorities The official visit of General
Schofield, the late Commander Of the
army, has been referred to. In his re-
| ga 1,n a.
waiian Islands constitute the only nat
ural outpost to the defence of the IA
cific Coast. In the possession Of for
eign naval Power - they would
afford the means of incalculable injury
to the United States. We must
secure forever the desired control over
! those islands or let it pass into other
hands,: and he adds that the financial
interests of the United States are in
significant when compared to the i'm
portance of such a military and naval
station to national security and well
fare Admiral Porter in a, report al
ready cited used this language: Euro
pean commerce, customs, enterprise and
ideas of Government are making rapid
strides all over that vast ocean Paclhc),
a theater on which nature seems to have
intended the United States should exer-
else the principal control" If the Ha-
waiian Islands were occupied by the
British or other Power, he says, they
could launch forth their ships Of war
upon us with perfect impunity
and in the event of war we should be
driven from the Pacific. Every
| consideration points to the absolute ne
cessity of obtaining for the United
States a paramont influence there"
| CAPTAIN MAHAN'S STRONG
WORDS.
| Captain Mahan of our navy, the re-
cognized authority both in Europe and
America on naval warfare and strategy,
has recently discussed this question at
length, especially in relation to the Won
derful development of the Pacific re-
ferred to at the opening of this lecture,
and expressed in the strongest terms the
reasons why the control of these is
lands by the United States is military
necessity He says in part:
ITO any one viewing map that shows
| the full extent of the Pacific Ocean,
with it's shores on either side, two cir
cumstances will be strikingly and i'm
/
glance that the Sandwich Islands stand
| by themselves in a state of comparative
| isolation, amid vast expanse of sea;
and again, that they form the center
| of large circle, whose radius is approx
| imately, and very closely, the distance
from Honolulu to San Francisco.
From San Francisco to Honolulu,
2100 miles easy steaming distance, is
substantially the same as from Homo
/ lulu to the Gilbert, Marshall, Samoan,
Society and Marquesas groups (the
nearest inhabited islands), all under Eu-
ropean control, except Samoa, in which
we have a part influence. Too
much stress cannot be laid upon the
| immense disadvantages to US of any
maritime enemy having coaling sta
/ ton we'll within 1900 miles of every
point of our coast line from Puget Sound
| to Mexico. Were there many others
available we might find it difficult to ex-
clude from all. There is, however, but
the one Shut out from the Sandwich
Islands as a coal base, an enemy is
thrown back for supplies of fuel to dis
| tances of $500 or 1000 miles-or be-
tween 1000 and 5000, going and coming
operations well-nigh prohibitive 1t is
rarely that so important a factor in the
attack or defense of a coast line-of a
sea frontiers concentrated in a single
position, and the circumstances renders
it doubly imperative upon us to secure
it, if we righteously can"
Then he adds, referring to the pending
subject Of annsxation:
This is a Question of a principle, a
policy, fruitful of many future acts, to
enter upon which, in the fullness of oul
national progress, the time has now ar
rived" This view is also strongly en-
phasized by Admiral Walker, from
! whose reports I have already quoted
He says: 1T should not be forgotten
that Pearl Harbor offers. strategically
val and coaling station to be found in
the whole Pacific This manifest
/ fact the London Times" tersely recog-
nizes thus: The maritime Power that
holds Pearl River. and moors its fleet
there, possesses the key to the North
ern Pacific"
| If, then, in view of our great and
rapidly growing interests in the Pa
cifc, ii has become a political and mill
tary necessity that these islands should
not pass into the control of any other
nation, and If il is manifest that such q
contingency now treatens them, it is
| in my opinion. the plain duty of the
United States to annex them TO its ter
ritory. AnG in a matter which involves
the interests and destiny of great ma
ton of seventy millions of people nc