The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-10-19
United States Must Occu.
py Pearl Harbor.
With Its Precipitous Shores the
Harbor Can Easily
Be Fortified.

While Senator Morgan was in Homo
lulu he wrote letter on the subject
of annexation to the New York Her.
ald Extracts Of it were published in
the local papers. We reprint it below
in full
There is no active or organized op-
position to annexation in Hawaii.
Some royalists naturally regret every
step that leads to the dedication of the
country to free self-government, which
is now beyond reversal, and they ex-
cite the apprehensions of some natives
that annexation will tend to their So
cial degradation But the effort and
it's results are insignificant The less
informed classes are free from politi-
cal cares, and those of the educated
classes are free from all jealousy to-
ward the white race. Their desire for
annexation is intense and earnestly
patriotic.
They are American in the most de-
cided form, without any tolerance of
Asiatic theories or forms of civiliZa-
tion. They copy nothing from the Ash
atics, while they eagerly adopt the
customs and manners of the Ameri-
cans. If there is any actual controversy
about annexation in the Republic the
fact is not discernable in any open
demonstration that it is at all i'm
portant. A meeting at Hilo recently,
in opposition to annexation, was fail
ure, the people taking no interest in it.
The settled and universal conviction
is that this is an American question
between American people, as it has al
ways been in our dealing with it. An
nexation to the United States, or pro-
tectorate by our Government, are the
issues to which all discussion is con-
fined, it being agreed on all sides that
the Islands will not have the settled
prosperity and contentment they need
and deserve if their foreign relations
are to depend upon their naval power
for security and freedom from agita-
ton
For want of metals and fuel the "sea
power of the Islands is far short of
the importance of their agricultural
productions and of their value as a
commercial center and as a place of
rest and refreshment and for supplies
and repairs for navigators. We can
supply these wants quicker and more
| hoY nt rv
and this fact must necessarily draw
Hawaii to us with hooks of steel
| that no power can destroy. In this re-
| spect our only rival is Great Britain
through the Straits of Fuca.
| Whatever country furnishes ships OF
war and of commerce to Hawaii viii
| find here ample material for supplies
and a body of native sailors that are
not excelled in many of the best quail
| tiles by any people in the world. Thi:
will be the nucleus of our supremac!
in the navigation and commerce of thu
North Pacific AS to the wealth ant
power this will bring us, all CONNER
cial history is full of narrative. If con
lecture need to be indulged, the wild
est fancy would become tame in thu
| presence of obvious facts that alread
are visible at Honolulu.
VALUE OF PEARL HARBOR.
Considered in sense as broad a
the distance between Asia and Amerl
ca. there is no place on either coast
or in any island of the Pacific Ocean
that is of equal Importance and valu
to commerce or naval power as Pear
Harbor. The reasons are that 1t
central in the arc of the great circle
north of the equator, that is describe
by the coasts Of Asia and America.
has the best climate of any port o
either coast 1t affords the best an
cheapest shelter to shipping, and tn
least expensive ways for provisioning
!, repairing. coaling and watering yes
sells of any size.
The sea line of the harbor is cora