The San Francisco call., 1898-03-21
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BY A MODEST CRITIC.

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 The Laine letter about Weyler Is about the worst attempt to fool the public deeply interested in the disas- ter to the Maine that has yet been at tempted. This piece of news is, of course, due to the New York Journal. The Laine confessing himself a pris- oner in Cabanas Fort swears he saw couple of tons of dynamite laid in Havana harbor. Will this class of nauseating insult to intelligence never cease2 l recommend MT. Hearst to employ, at any rate, one news editor who knows the rudimentary princi- pies of handling explosives. And I sometimes wonder what the ignoram- uses who concoct these stories imagine an electrically connected submarine mine to be. They are not expected to know much about the mechanism, but from matter that has been printed by the Journal and it's miniature, it is evil dent that they imagine mine to be constructed by wheeling a few hundred sticks of dynamite over the water in a hand barrow (made buoyant by occult power) and dumping the load into the water. One of the assistants at this strange seance then plunges his arm into the water and, To! electrical con- nection With-anywhere-is made! Another of the elect Gas the work is done by night then smells the briny deep and the position of the mine is plotted by intuition! The most mar vicious thing to me about it all is that anyone can read and dige7t such crass nonsense as the Journal sees fit to publish.
 The ghost of the Chronicles strate- gic attache appears ag~in. It is, how ever, not very painful to have to lay him anew, as he arises from his inter- ment much like a "Jack-in- the boX," for the face amuses, though it be the same old face. He still squeaks of the strategic value of the Hawaiian Isl ands, but this time thusly:
 Ut has not escaped the notice of the Senate and the House during the present war scare that Honolulu is the one weak point as it stands in the defensive sys- tenn of this coast. Spain could not send single. modern cruiser under steam from the Philippines or Carolines to the neighborhood of the Golden Gate unless she could coal the ship en route. The
 
 therefore, would be to seize Honolulu and use it as base of supplies"
 Spain would, as she could, coal her ships en route if we were at war with her, which we are not and are not likely to be. If we owned Honolulu. however, she might possibly but not probably, take it and use it as base, but will this innocent never see that in 1T, lr OF r., patton of Hawaii by ' enemy is impos- sible? The independence of the islands is already guaranteed, and our enemy, no matter what nation it might be, that would choose to incur the wrath of either Germany, Great Britain or any other firSt-claSS power by SeiZing an independent State, would wish his cake dough and even flour. By refus ing to annex these islands and insist ing on their independence, we wipe out serious menace to the coast. With the independence of the islands firmly established all our enemies who desire to attack this coast are truly robbed of all but a floating base. Possibly Captain Mahan will tell me how much wisdom there is in a strategic move ment which gives the enemy a clear chance to obtain a point of vantage. If in the next twenty years we increase the navy so that we can spare a dozen ships to protect the group, leprosy be- ing stamped out, the Chinese and Jap anese having by the grace of the Crea- tor betaken themselves to their native soil, there might be no such very seri- ous objection to making them a part of American territory; but to-day it is evident that we cannot spare the ships; the leprosy flourishes exceedingly, and the Orientals are there in their revolt ing swarms. The Chronicle is placed in this position by it's advocacy of the annexation of these islands It is either willing that they should become a county of Californi~ or it does not object to take the risk of the addition of two Senators to represent a handful of men. Which is it? There is no pos sible logical escape from the dilemma, and it is welcome to which ever horn of the bull it chooses to grasp. Will that paper join the Examiner in it's out spoken wish to inosculate this State with leprosy, if so, the people of Cali fornia should know that fact. It has been demonstrated so often that from any StdnOpOlnC these 1SlanQS are worse than valueless to us that it seems idle to continue to discuss it, but public opinion in California should be farther awakened to what this polluting plan of annexation actually means.
 The purchase by the Government of cruisers abroad and the evident intent to move more rapidly in the rebuilding of the navy draw attention to the manning of the ships. I opine that the encouragement of boys to enlist can scarcely be too strongly urged. And of course training ships must be provided. American ships should have, as far as possible, American hearts on the mess deck as well as in the ward room. Our navy is now recruited from seamen of the various merchant ser vices of the globe, and that is unwise. The day of the striking of topmasts in fighting ships has passed. The most valuable seamen in the marine branch of the national service to-day are those who are capable of properly serving modern oIIDS Thoea who bava