The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-12
THE ANNEXATION QUESTION
THE FIGHT IN THE SENATE HAS
 FAIRLY OPENED.

The First Gun Fired Yesterday by Senator
 Davis, Chairman of the Senate Commit
 tee on Foreign Relations-A Question of
 Vast tImportance-Worth of the Islands
 to Japan, England and Russia.
 Washington, Jan. 11.-Except for the few minutes given to controversy over some minor postoffice combinations, the entire time of the executive session of the senate to-day was consumed by Senator Davis of Minnesota In speech in support of Hawaiian annexation. MT. Davis is chairman of the senate com mittee on foreign relations and his speech was generally accepted as the semi official utterance of the majority of the committee. He spoke for about two hours and when the senate ad-
 journed had not finished.
 The speech was the first upon the merits of the treaty and on this account and because Senator Davis had made a careful investigation of the subject he
 
 senate. A portion of the speech deliv
 cred to-day consisted of a review of the relations between this country and
 Hawaii and was intended to show that the United States had exercised fos-
 tering and protecting care over them from the beginning with many evil dences of the intention ultimately of
 making them an integral portion of the
 American domain, T approach this
 question" the senator began, with. I
 hope, due sense of the responsibility imposed upon me in beginning a de-
 bate, the. result of which may be of welfare of both this country and the Hawaiian islands"
 "The question:, he continued, twas one of importance so vast that one must
 of necessity approach it with certain degree of timidity, because it was very difficult to present properly all the points involved, however much care and attention one might have given to the | subject" The senator consumed con- | siderable time in a general presenta- | tion of the reasons for annexation, say- | ing that they were both commercial and strategic He referred to the operations | of the European powers in China, pre- dieting that the time was not far distant when the great nations of Europe would | if they were not checked, control the entire Asiatic seaboard
 | Taking up the question of the rela- 1 tionship between Hawaii and the United States, he presented a very thorough review of the efforts which had been | made in the past to annex the island | and presented quotations from many | eminent statesmen of former times to show that the best American thought had always favored this policy. He
 referred at some length to the Marcy
 treaty, showing why it had not been perfected, as he did also to the treaty
 which was made during President liar
 rison's administration.
 l One of the strong points which MT, | Davis dwelt on was the desirabilfty of these islands not only to this country but also to all the leading powers of the world. "We," he said, should take the 1 islands while we have the opportunity and if we do not want them 1t will be a very easy matter to get rid of them 1 on our own terms" He showed that | they would be very important terri l torial acquisition to either Japan, Eng
 land or Russia and expressed the opin- ion that either of those powers would 1 take the islands off our hands at any | time we might make known our desire | to be rid of them. It would be easy 1 enough, he said, to turn them over to l some other country in case we found
 them to be an undesirable acquisition l but who would say that it would be So
 easy for us to take them at some future | time He therefore argued that the ex- | pertinent should be made at this time. | When Senator Davis concluded his | speech it was with the general under standing that he would continue to- | morrow.
 l