The times., 1898-01-19
WILL LOSE PEARL HARBOR
If Hawaii Is Not Annexed, the
Absorbing Power Gets 1t.
MR.. MORGAN DESCRIBES IL
He Shows the Advantages Now En-
.ioyed by It's Use Mica raSna
Practically Useless without the
Islands -Mahan's work Cited.

For more than two hours Senator Nor
gan, of Alabama, discussed the Hawaiian
annexation treaty yesterday afternoon,
and when he Finished for the day, he lad
not concluded the speech which he bega Il
la st week.
Almost the whole Of the time yesterday
was spent by the Senator in a discussion
of the military and 5stra gic Importance
of the islands, and he REINFORCED his own
opinions with quotations from the reports
OF military engineers this country and
the writer's of other pa tions. Mr. Morgan
found great deslrto support bis con-
tention in the work .of Capt. Mahan, the
we'll Known naval officer, who has writ
ten a book that. isiFa standard OF naval
matters the world orer. His citation from
the writings of this naval officer were
copious and interesting to the Senate,
many of the members never having taken
the time to familiarize themselves with
the obserya tiOns OF his literary officer.
1t was with respect to its relations to the
Nicaragua Canal that Mr. Morgan ex-
pressed the most concern. If this canal
WeTc 10 I've DUlli II NOulh. ne CODtSfidtt,
he practically useless with the islands i'll
the hands of foreign power and in time
OF war the utter folly of a aiure TO ia ke
these islands would then manifest itself.
1t would. he cOntended. be useless for this
Government to build this canal. much less
seek TO maintain and defend it, il the
Hawaiian Islands were not under the Stars
and Stripes, The commerce of the world
would pass through that canal, and the
nation that controlled that anal and
the Hawaiian Islands would be absolute
masters OF the Pacific, and control the
highways Of travel on that great body of
water. Without these islands the United
states would bc powerless to work out its
own destiny. and would he equally power
less TO prevent the interference of other
powers il they saw fit to resent the en-
croachInent OF American ira de and COM
nierce in the East.
The senator gave the Senate a mag
nficent description of Pearl Harbor, which
is now the property of the United States
for naval purposes under treaty rights
but which would be lost if the islands
were taken under the protecting wing Of
some other power. During his recent visit
10 tHe iSldHus MI. morgan devoted muCn
of his time to an investigation of this
harbOr. He found it all that had been
reported. and read to the Senate extracts
from official reports going to show that
it could lie easily defended, and that mo-
where else could fleet land; that by
q little dredging, 1t would be capable of
holding the fleets Of the world, and would
afford a safe and sure retreat to the ships
of tile power that held II in time of
war.
There is no doubt but the deba te on the
treaty is fast dra wing to il additional
strength Men who have been supposed
to be hesitating are beginning to express
views, and every man who has hitherto
been on the doubtful list has begun to
doubt the wisdom of ia ling to annex
the islands. The opponents OF annexation
have made no headway, and the friends
of annexation are meeting with more Ell
conra cement every day. When the vote
will be taken is a question: that cannot be
answered, but it is thought that at least
two weeks more wifi be devoted to the
discussion.