The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-01-30


ands are the real rivals for control of tn
Caribbean and of the Gulf of Mexico
and it may be added that the strategi
center of interest for both gulf and Ca
ribbean is to be found in the Windwar'
Passage, because it furnishes the ultl
mate power of the two islands to contro
the Caribbean. For, as has been SAT-
before, and cannot be repeated too Oft
en-, it is not position only, nor chletiy
but mobile force, that's decisive in war
In the combination of these two ele
ments rests the full statement of an,
case. The question of position has beer
adjudged in favor of Cuba, for reasons
which have been given. In the case OF
| a conflict between the powers holding
the two islands, the question of control
| inC the Windward Passage would be the
test of relative mobile strength; because
that channel is the shortest and best line
of communications for Jamaica with
the American coast, with Halifax, and
with Bermuda, and as such it must be
kept open. If the power of Jamaica Is
not great enough to hold the passage
open by force, she is thrown upon eva
sion-upon furtive measures-to MAIN
tain essential supplies; for, if she cannot
assert her strength so far in that di-
rection. she cannot. from her nearness,
go beyond Cubas reach in any direction.
Abandonment of the best road in this
case means isolation; and to that condi-
ton, if prolonged, there is but one issue. v
The discussion here raised brings to
mind the controversy over san Domingo.
whose acquisition was so strenuously
urged by President Grant, and so stout!y
opposed by the people of the country and
the conservative statesmen of the period
generally, and we see the sharp issue
sure to be raised whenever the idea of
an enlargement of our territory or sea
power comes up. With the country as
it is we can have the peace we have al
ways had. With any change comes the
need of controlling" points and pas
sages and channels that are now cheap
and peaceful highways so far as we are
concerned.
From the subjects suggested by the
canal. Captain Mahan proceeds to the
consideration of Hawaiian possession.
On this point he says:
Shut out from the Sandwich islands
as coal base, an enemy is thrown back
for supplies of fuel to distances of $500
or 1000 miles-or between 1000 and S00o.
going and coming-an impeachment TO
sustained maritime operations Well-nigh
prohibitive. 1t is rarely that so import
ant factor in the attack or defense of a
coast line-of q sea frontier-iS cOncen-
trated in single position; and the cir
cumstance renders doubly imperative
upon us to secure it, if we righteously
can.
"The annexation of Hawaii would be no
mere sporadic effort, irrational because
disconnected from an adequate motive,
but first fruit and token that the ma
ton in its evolution has aroused Itself
from the necessity of carrying its life be-
yond the borders which have hitherto
sufficed for its activities. How
much poorer would the world have been
had England needed the cautious hest
fancy that now bids us reject every ad-
vance beyond our shore lines"
Here again we have the assumption
that the control of the seas along the
great lines of the worlds commerce is
the chief element in the power and
prosperity of the nation. The danger
of taking Hawaii without an adequate
navy is very frankly admitted. This line
of arguemnt is fully set forth in the
essay on preparedness for Naval War
the contention being that great navy
would doubtless save US from great
war. He holds in general that the heavy
under which all Europe is
grooming today is cheaper and more
than the suffering and misery
Of the sporadic wars that would long
ago have broken out if everybody We're
not afraid of lighting a powder maya
zine under the whole of Europe.
We can but regard this as a very
strange view to be held. 1t was once
true that nations had to be constantly
ready for war, for they We're always
fighting. and thus great ornaments
have grown up and been kept up. But in
an era of peace and with a nation at
peace with all the world, can it be Sc
riously argued that such nation should
go about making itself into a great
fighting power at any cost? Such is the
demand of the interest for which Capt.
Mahan speaks. once the Balkan states
We're the cockpit of Europe. Now they
are largely peaceful and prosperous.
Would Capt. Mahan have them arm
and threaten and swagger again? And
if the great nations of Europe We're on
a peace footing at this moment, in the
light of what the world today thinks
of war, would it be their first duty to
create vast standing armies and costly
naves and shore ornaments? And if
this nation were today to begin this,
would it not mean war, or at least show
a purpose that would be a violation of
every one of our traditions?
We confess to a feeling of disappoint-
ment and regret that a great writer
should be carried off his feet in this
way. And not even content with open
advocacy of war for the sake of power,
ii necessary, and an equipment for it be-
forehand, he even opens up the religious
and missionary side of the question.
Hear him: ''The great task now before
the world of civilized Christianity. it's
great mission, which it must fulfill or
perish, is to receive into it's own bosom
and raise to its own ideals those ancient
and different civilizations by which it is
surrounded and outnumbered-the civ
ilization at the head of which stand
China, India and Japan. If. as is COM
monty said, faith is failing among our
selves, what shall play the tremendous
part which the church of the middle
ages played amid the ruin of Rome and
the flood Of the barbarians?"
If this means anything, it means that
We should have large navies and armies
partly, if not mainly, because he be
lieNeS that Christianity is losing its hold