The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-02-28
THE PASSING IHRONG.


letter appears also in the New York Even
Ing Post Bausman says, among othsr
things:
The truth IT, ali this talk about the
military Necessity Of oar having ,hlSNs
I Islands - nonsense. We don't need thsm
al all Let ~ reaso a little. II w re-
+ qalTe them. * must De for purposes eather
offensive or defensive. Now. offensive ar
Ne may need them for defense, or, rather,
for this - practically the only excuse,
We ought 10 have them ourselves IN order
+ that others may not use them against u.s.
station? Grant that Then how many
7 home ports OF ours can they menace Does
+ Pacific coast OF this country there are only
( three VULNERABLE. points? Nature has not
{ opened this coast with harDors and rivers
she has the other. There neither are nor
can be here that number of opulenr mari
tine cities which. on the Atlantic coast
from Maine 10 LOUISIANA. may tempt tue
avsrice or the revenge Of foreign en-
/ IRON Southern California TO Cape Flat
/ terry there are only the harooT5 or san
| Diego. San Francisco and Puget sound
! Now. II we cannot defend these three
! ports by fortihcations and by oar present
| squadrons without going two thousand
| miles and more into the Pacific to get an
/ expensive outpost. to get an outpost that
! itself must be defended by ships. 10 get
1 an outpost 50 far from our own coast that
( an enemy in possession OF IL, TO use X Tor
/ supplies and repairs, would have 10 oper-
Z ate by intermittent war rather than con-
/ tinuous attack. then In all reason We had
! better give up our policy or minding our
| own business and adopt one of laying
! about Us on all sides and mauliug mankind
/ II would be just as cheap in the long run
/ 70 do one "a the other. Let US, then. go
on. Let Us take Hawaii. squander millions
on Hawaii, build a navy for Hawaii, ana
then fortIfy the AieItans to protect the
approaches TO Hawaii. Throw away your
Mercators projection. Look at the giooe.
! The Alegtians are not so distant frocn Ha-
wall. Let US. accordingly, fortfy the
Aleu;ians and build there a drydock, too.
for reserve station for our squadron or
Hawaii.
The degree OF ignorance on this subject
ia something astonishing That ignoranc>
is found even In the official departments
where we pay men 10 know better. Let US
give you an instance Last summer. when
some madman or Schemer spread a rumor
that the japanese were fools enough 10
think OF wasting on Hawaii ammunition
and ships which they msnifeStly needed
against powerful neghbcrs ar home the
batfleshlp Oregon was lying near Seattle
in the waters OF Puget Sound Forthwith
the navy department ordered her to San
Francisco Why Not because that city
or any other American city In the re-
hottest danger. That nobody claimed II
was for offensive purposes. admittedly.
that she was sent there She must be in
readiness TO depart at once for Hawaii
San Francisco is no miles south of Puget
Sound. and Hawaii ever so much farther
south than that. 30 of course the oregon
would b, 50 much nearer the islands
+
aboard her must have grnned at The con-
ciuson. Though the Islands are very far
south OF San Francisco. they are. by rea-
son of the spherical shape Of the earth
almost as near to Seattle. The difference
Is not above 900 miles Thus the ship was
sent g" miles TO gain 90. But this is not
ali. She was 10 sail from San Francisco
harhor. Now this involved two things
her being able to get into that harbor and
her being able TO get out Of it. In quiet
seas either is easy. In rough weather the
deep keel OF this ponderous machine has
not margin enough al Golden Gate for alb
solute safety. 50 at such times she has al
ways 10 remain n prisoner. fine scheme
Of offense this But. worse stii the only
dock or this coast large enough TO hold
on Puget Sound. Moreover. II q change OF
plan should require her dispatch TO Japan
itself then San Francisco would be sever
al hundred miles farther away
THE only power in whose hands islands
distant from our coast could ever he
danger 10 us IS England. But what would
has here on Vancouver island. within
stones throw of our Puget Sound coast,
a complete naval station. a drydock. forti-
fcations. abundance OF coal. besides tele
graphic and railway connection. The last
country that Will ever want the Hawaiian
islands for naval purposes Is England.
They are too far from Asia. they are too
far from America and she already has her
ample stations on each of those continents"
In personal cores pondence received in
/ this city Saturday Mr.. A. 5. Kerry stated
( that by today he would have all Of his
sawTnlll outfits across the Chilkoot pass
and that he could begin cutting lumber at
his Lake Lindeman mill March l. Mr.
Kerry wrote to l.. II. Gray. agent OF the
freight department OF the Great North
err railway. recounting number OF the
/ Incidents Of his trip and the packing Of
/ his supplies and four sawmill plants over
| the mountain pass.
The letter was from Skagway. dated
| February IS and Mr. Kerry stated that
! he would leave for the interior and would
! not return for some time TO the coast. He
/ nad made half a dozen rounds OF the
( principal points on the trail including
! Sheep camp St0ne house. the Scales and
the summit. and ne was ready 70 stand
for any story that might he told OF the
. hardships % b encountered. On one trip
II took him three and a half hours 10 go
from Stone house % The Scales. a dis
tance of five miles The wind no wrote
hlew down the canyon with terrific fc:Ce.
and seemed 70 gather up IN its way All the
! snow In the mountains. The only way to
I make any progress was - shut ones ewes
/ and trust 20 luck that TIM freu was being
kept Mr.. Kerry had two camps at
Sheep camp. two al The Scales and ex-
pFS,ied by the ilth 20 have two more az
Lake rirdeman. There was the occasion
al day when much Roadway can 30 ma lie
but tho weather generally was bad. and
great sTort Vas necessary 70 accomplish
+ anything. Sometimes not foot could
DO made IN days AZ the time the letter
was written al % the outfits had been
moved from pyea and more than half ~
them Were over the summit In spite OF
acknowledgements Mr.. Kerry expressed him
self Rs we'll pleased with the outlook. and
( had enjoyed experiences that he horas
would bring lteral returns
one Of fhe incidents - his prog~oss over
the mountains was worth special mention
He said that one cf the gangs that he
/ happened % he with stopped near r. r1a~a
( fhat looked IKE The mouth of a shaft or
cave Il vas near Stone house So-oo
/ distance further jn thu direction tha. tho
shaft led, a stoVeqipe was sticking ouf %
the SNOW They concluded that they
would investigate and following the mas
saEe@Ay hey came - a tent in Which
were several men. T'hev We're a. c-,rn-
torfaoiy nNed as possible under the cir
cuulsia0oss. the snow entirely GOVERNS
the tent They had sn mundane. ~ s.,-,-
pies and We're making the aaet OF ne
s.tuaticn. The men told NJ. Kerry tha+
g tork = length cf stnvar,sr-. a 5sx- =,