The age-herald., 1897-12-12

S@ commerce by the use of steam power and every step in the growth of our pop alatlon and productions on that vast coast has confirmed and strengthened the wise forecast of the true American policy so firmly advanced and suppoptsd by such statesmen as Marcey, Webster, Tyler and many others in the early | days of the republic.
 'srhs changes i'm all conditions on the Asiaa1s coast of the Pacific, since the days of Marcey and WeBster, have been 1 rapid and very great in the direction of more liberal commerce with all these nations; while their progress in pro- auctions, manufactures and in the vehi- cles and vessels of transportation have greatly improved, and their intercourse with America has increased until they seriously threaten our industrial classes by their immigration.
 '@rhe volume of our commerce with them has rapidly increased but it is not l one-tenth part of what it must soon 1 be.
 "The European nations, realizing the l peril to which their trade with Eastern Asia is exposed, by the annexation of Hawai- to the United States, and by l our ulIGCl tIduc dClOso lHC aSiiiS CS@eN'- are obtaining sea ports on that coast l by diplomatic pressure upon Corea, Chi na anli Siam, or by force of arms, from which they propose to intercept the trade l from those countries and from India, 1 Australia, Formosa and other islands, in- l cluding Japan, that is beginning to flow l in a steady stream to American ports. 1 Russia, Germany, France and Great | altx rea6 n the effort to keep this trade directed l to Europe as it has hitherto been. our duty to our industrial and commercial classes demands of us every honorable l effort to relieve them of the burdens of middle men, by securing to them direct l trade with Asia and the great islands of the South Pacific.
 "In those regions more than half of the industrial people of the world are found in easy reach of our trade. Their trade with Europe amounts t9 $22o0,00o annually. Of this immense commerce we get an Insignificant fraction, not exceed | ing 5 per cent, on direct lines across the | Pacific.
 "Thus the country that produces a | rich on our substance?
 and of the useful metals than any other country, as well as the largest amount of silV;r, and is in possession of largely more than half of the American coast | of the North Pacific, has only miser- able fraction of the direct commerce with Asia, which is created by the labor of our own people and is transported and handled, for a heavy commission, by Flu | ropeans Why should they not grow | rich on UT substance?
 These seem to be cogent reasons for a policy that will meet the rightful de- mands of our people for some expan- | sion of commerce with Asia, such as | we have been declaring, but failing to | enforce for the past seveaty-five years | As a matter of commercial common | senss we cannot afford to de'ay these | measures while the commerce of Asia | which is struggling to reach the coast l of America is being diverted W tn in- | creased, activity and by new intervenors and will soon get into fixed channels | of trade that we cannot change.
 Great Britain possesses at Van couver great coal field that will sup ply all the North Atlantic fleets foi centuries, while our coal fiells in the State of Washington are not so good or So available as those on Vancouver | Island.
 With Hawaii and Pearl harbor in her possession she would control the | supply of steam fuel in the North Pa | cific, and would cut in two our great coast line and leave us without The | means of defending it, except by the use of heavy land forces and seacoast bat | teries.
 "In that case and, indeed, in every case the defense of our coast would re- quhre a great increase of our naval power, if we provide warships to de fend eryzimportant seaport; but With few powerful ships and a fuel supply and other munitions in Pearl harbor. we could easily concentrate a heavier fight ing power and on shorter lines than any other nation could do in the effort to att tack our coast.
 "It is enough to give shape to our policy that Great Britain has a powerful fortress at Esquimatt, and the coal fie,d1 at Vancouver, without throwing Hawaii into her possession. as would most likely