Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1897-09-15
EXPRESSED BY THE RECENT DELE
CATION To THE PACIFIC.
The Ansexation Of Hawaii the Most
fore she Next Congress.

| Oohotoi tuoi Soh Ill OIL hAhhihoA
interview said:
"The purpose of my trip, as has
been already announced, is to visit
the Hawaiian Islands SO that l
can familiarize myself by actual
contact with the geogtapbica', po-
litical, social and moral conditions
that exist.
81 have always been a firm adj
vocate of annexation. 1t would
seem needless to again give the
reasons for my belief in such
Government policy, because 1 have
expressed my views publicly on
number of occasions.
"The islands should belong to
the United States, first of all, be-
cause of their strategic value as a
defensive outpost of the Pacific
Coast. Ii we do not secure control
and promptly, at that, some other
country will take advantage of our
delay and lack of decision. Japan
is more than willing to assert her
right to sovereignty over The i'll
ands, and has shown a desire TO
move her frontier three thousand
miles eastward, while we hesitate
about reaching out two thousand
miles westward.
"The development of our navy
on the Pacific is a matter of
urgent Importance as a result of
the more and more prominent
position which the nations of the
Orient are assuming in the COM
mercial and diplomatic relations
of the world. Such being the case,
the Hawaiian Islands cannot be
over estimated ia value s7 , col.
ing point and depot of naval
stores and a central rendezvous of
the warships which We are bound
to place on the western seas.
Commercially the islands are
ours by right of custom and en-
terprise in development They
occupy their present place in the
world of trade chiefly through the
sagacity of American investors
who took advantage of the natural
conditions prevailing there and
exploited them in the develop.
ment of the sugar and other agri-
cultural industries. They natur-
ally stretch out their hands to us
and we in turn should not be slow
in accepting their invitation. 1t
was through our influence that
they were lifted from a state of
pagan barbarism to modern and
progressive civilization. The
United States have stood, in fact,
in the position of foster mother to
the Hawaiian Islands.
"They are prize which we
should be quick to grasp before
they are lost to us through the
quicker appreciation of their value
by some other nation"
In speech to the San Francis
CO Chamber of Commerce the
Senator spoke plainly and favor
ably on the question of Hawaiian
annexation, saying in part:
"My present trip 10 Honolulu
is voluntary one, made to see If
there is any good reason against
or in favor of taking the Hawaii
an group OF islands into the Unit
ed States. l am in favor of an
nexation, and firmly believe 1
will discover nothing to change
my views. People ask mo some
times this question: What are
you going to do with the islands
after you get them9' l say: What
are we going to do without them?
There is not nation in the world
but would like to annex Hawaii.
The United States must have the
islands, for three paramount
reasons. We need them for our
commercial supremacy on the
Pacific. They are required for
the better protection of our West
ern coast. Without them our sea
power in the North Pacific would
not amount to much. With Eng
land in possession of Hawaii,
California and the Western Coast
Of the United States would bs in
constant peril, and our Pacific
ocean commerce would suffer
greatly. President Mckinley did
right in approving the treaty Of
annexation to head off Japan's
purpose of obtaining the islands
eventually through colonization"