The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-06-01
THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII.
QUESTION AGAIN OCCUPIES ATTEN.
 TION OF THE SENATE.

QUESTION AGAIN OCCUPIES ATTEN-
 TION OF THE SENATE.
 Favor of Prompt Action-senator nIor-
 gan Says That Under the Circum-
 stances Annexation is as Much a War
 Measure as Any Step That Can Possi-
 bly be Taken.
 Washington, May 31.-The senate re- mained in secret session for three hours this afternoon, and the entire time was given to rather free discussion of the Hawaiian question, based on a mos tion declaring it to be the sense of the senate, that the question of annexation should not be discussed in open ses- sion. At the conclusion of the debate the senate voted viva voce not to pur- closed doors. Several senators declar- ed themselves in favor of prompt ac- tion, the speeches of Messrs. Chandler and Morgan being the most pronounce ed in this direction. Senator Morgan expressed the opinion that under the circumstances the annexation of the Hawaiian islands was as much a war measure as any step that could pos- sibly be taken, and he thought that congress should remain in session long enough to pass all war bills. He paid his respects to those who preferred ad- journment to remaining here to attend to the country's business. A large portion of his speech was made in re- ply to Senator White, who had antago- nized the theory that the islands were in any way essential to our success in the conflict with Spain.
 Senator Chandler contended that the possession of the islands was a mili- tary necessity. He dwelt upon the fact that Hawaii afforded practically the only stopping place in the dreary waste of water between our own shores and the Philippine Islands. He mentioned the fact that we now have 120,000 tons of coal stored at Honolulu, and said that in view of the present war the little republic would be held to a striot accountability by other countries If we attempted to load this coal. The only
 proper way out of the difficulty, he said, was to annex the islands at once and thus serve our own convenience and save them from the vengeance of other powers.
 Senators Pettigrew and White were antagonistic to annexation, and Sena- tor Hale announced himself favorable to final adjournment after the passage of the war revenue bill and necessary appropriation bills. MT. PettigreW de- voted himself especially to Senator Chandler's declaration that the acqii- sition of the islands was a necessity of war. He contended that such was not the case and argued that Unalaska, a town within our own borders, was a far more desirable stopping point for ships bound to the Orient from San
 Francisco than Honolulu could be. He said Honolulu and Unalaska were each about 2,100 miles from San Francisco, Isbut that while Honolulu was more than |, 4,9OO miles distant from Manila, Una- .laska was only a little over 4,100 miles. Why he asked, "did not our govern ment consider this difference in dis- tance and store coal at Unalaska in stead of Honolulu? Why, unless it was in anticipation of the raising of this cry of necessity, in order to force us into acquiescence in the acquisition of the islands as a war measure, when 1t was known that annexation could not be accomplished in time of peace. Senator White thought he saw in the effort to secure Hawaiian annexationa at this time a desire to establish a precedent for similar proceedings in
 other cases, and said the matter should be postponed until after the war and all efforts at annexation considered tO- gether. He thought that if our princi- pal object had been that of securing a coaling station we should have fortified Pearl harbor, but as this had not been done it was evident that we must have other designs. Senator Lodge said af-a ter the conclusion of the secret session that he had accomplished his purpose in calling attention to the necessity for action on this subject before final 4ad- journment, and that he would not fur
 ther press the subject in connection with the war revenue bill.