St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-01-25

within the confines Of the continental
United States, and for it we send out
to foreign parts another 500, 600, 600
Without going into detail it may be
stated that we expend annually at least
$3.50, 600 600 for purely tropical prod
ucts. which we cannot raise ourselves
In word, from the expansionists
point of view the acquisition OF these
islands gives us all we have hitherto
lacked in the way of tropical produc-
tions and fills long felt want. And,
what is more, while they produce the
things we lack and need the people Of
those islands manufacture almost moth.
ing and will look to us for all their ma
chinery, -four cotton and wooden goods
in fact for everything necessary to
civilized communities.
OF these newly acquired tropical pos
sessions Of ours Porto Rico is the south
ernmost and also the easternmost. In
fact, it lies farther to the east than any
portion of Maine even and about Ill the
the Hawaiian group lies between lati-
tude 10 and 20 degrees north and Cuba
just south of the tropic of cancer, Porto
Rico lies between II and Is north, and
its northern coast line is 100 miles to
the south of Cuba's southern shores.
Within a little more than thousand
miles of the equator, its southern coast
facing the Caribbean sea, its northern
toward the Atlantic it forms the key
stone of that arch of islands, the Anti.
lean archipelago, extending from near
the mouth of the Orinoco on the north
coast of South America northward and
then westward, toward the eastern coast
of Honduras, inclosing that vast body
of water known as the Caribbean sea,
It is about 1000 miles distant from
Havana and Key West, 1900 from the
isthmus of Panama, |, 400 from Mica
ragua, 1900 from New York and 5000
from Cadiz in Spain.
The trouble with us, said Senator
John 7 Morgan to the writer not long
ago, is that we are afraid of being
great. 1t seems at last that we have
overcome our dread of territorial eXpan-
sion and are no longer afraid of trying
at least an experiment along that line.
1t has long been foreseen by our naval
strategists that if we ever possessed a
navy, we must also own or control
naval bases or coaling stations in vari-
GUS parts of the world. A glance at a
map of the world reveals the fact that
Great Britain has girdled the globe
with such stations, for the supply and
refreshment of her fleets. 1t was sutii.
GENTLY emphasized in the east when oui
feet was ordered out of Hongkong; il
the west when the coal heaps of St
Thomas and Martinique were declared
neutral property
Fortunately brave Dewey captured {
toaling station for himself, and III thu
West Indies we were rendered tempo
rarily independent by GOLFERS accom-
panying the fleet, and finally by tn
taking of Guantanamo But if Dewe
had not taken Manila, and if Ceryera'
feet had been as strong as was at frs
reported and we believed, the coalin
problem would have been an importar
factor in determining the success {
failure of our plans 1t may be maj
ter of surprise to many to learn thi
such acquisitions have been urged Il
many years, at least 30 past, in ii
halls of congress Away back duril
the administration of President Linco
Secretary Seward had in mind the a
QUESTION Of the Danish islands of
Thomas, st. John and Santa Cruz, al
later negotiated treaty by which f
81, 500, 900 we were 60 acquire thel
But for the unexpected opposition
certain senators when the treaty W
up for ratification we should have d
quired them, and Notwithstanding t
enormous sum we promised to pay
though St. John Is a lovely island,
tile and picturesque, and Santa g
covered with rich sugar plantation
yet the sole object in view was
single harbor of st. Thomas
Porto Rico, an island Which beco'
ours merely at the cost of conqu
combines all the advantages posses
by st. Thomas in marked degree
1T has at least six good harbors an
vast extent Of fertile territory, as aga
the one harbor Of st. Thomas and
cltster of barren rocks. Strategica
then, as possessing commanding 81
ton in these seas, with numerous
bors for the assembling and reiittin
our fleets with unlimited SUPPLE