Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-09-19

British man-of-war went about the Pa
cific recently picking up unimproved
pieces Of real estate after the good old
British manner, and to the surprise of
everybody probably as much so to the
United States government as to that of
England-it was found that many Of
the little islands were already in the
possession of this country and Ameri-
can citizens were living on them.
LAW BY WHICH WE HOLD THEM.
In 1856 Congress passed law which
still remains in force, declaring that
any citizen of the United States who
shall discover a deposit CT guano on
any island, rock or key" shall be at
liberty to take possession of such place,
and such island, rock or key" may, at
the discretion of the President of the
United States, be considered as being
part of the United States.
The discoverer can sell the guano on
his islands only to citizens of the
United States, and the price which he
shall charge is regulated by law.
Crimes committed on these islands are
punished by the United States govern
ment, and are considered as if they had
been committed on an American mer-
chant vessel on the high seas. The
President is authorized to use the land
and naval forces of the United States
to protect the discoverer and his heirs
in their right Of possession of these
islands.
Under this law annexation to the
United States went on rapidly in the
Pacific and the West Indies. Some of
the guano islands were abandoned soon
after their discovery, but of those II ken
possession of legally by the citizens of
this country and still part of it-un-
less the President chooses to relinquish
the right-there remain sixty in the
Pacific, and in the West Indies the
Island of Navassa. Nayassa is of fair
size and lies between the southwestern
extremity OF Hayti and Jamaica, just
to the south of the Windward Passage,
and in the direct path of vessels bound
to and from the Isthmus of Panama
and New York. If it had a suitable
harbor it might be of great value as a
| naval coaling station.
WHERE THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
ARE.
The Pacific Islands lie in the region
Of the equator. There is a group about
a thousand miles south of Hawaii. and
Others are about two thousand miles
tro@ Hawaii, over near tie Gilbert
| Islands. Then there is Clipperton Isl
| and, southwest of Mexico. On the re-
cent aliases published in Europe the
island is marked as belonging to
France. 1t is, however, a possessiu.
| of the United States, and is workS,a :,v
| the Pacific Phosphate Company
three months ago Capt. McMurtry
OF the British ship Kinkora, came along
| and announced that he was going to
| hoist the British flag on the island.
| The captain saw visions of fame be-
| fore hlm-a knighthood. or possibly a
barony-for extending the domains OF
His Most Gracious Sovereign He
already imagined himself as being ad-
dressed as Lord Clipperton." not a
| bad sounding title. But there were
| three Yankees on the island. and they
hoisted the American flag and told the
| captain that if he dared to hoist the
| British flag there was going to be a
fight. The Kinkora was wrecked on
the coast of the island and the three
| Americans saved almost million feet
| of timber which was washed ashore
Then the British man-of-war Comus
came along and took away Capt. Nc
| Murtry and his men, while the Yankees
kept the island and the lumber.
AN INHOSPITABLE SPOT.
| One of our abandoned islands in the