The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-03-28
HOUSTON, TUESDAY, MARCH rs.
TEN PAGES TODAY
An UNNECESSARY ArrENDAcr.


In the March number of the Forum in
an article ON The Future OF Our Navy"
Captain H. c. Taylor. OF the battleship In
diana, throws some light en- the value OF
the argument which was most prominently
put forward for the annexation of Ha-
va'i--the necessity of the islands as
Stopping place and coaling station In our
route across the Pacific.
The staple fact is. as now appears from
Captain Taylor's article. that there was
really no need for Hawaii as halfway
house in the Pacific for this country. On
the other hand, 1t seems we are going ont
OF our way to tale the route by way of
Honolulu. But when this argument, that
Hawaii was necessary as u resting place or
advanced coal and naval base falls, the
chief reason for annexlng the group falls
and It looks as il the Nation had again
been simply worked" by schemers. Cap
tain Taylor concludes his article as fol-
lows
ii Is safe TO say that no comprehensive sur
'eS OF our future strategy in the Pacific and
of our naval strength there can omit tho plain
fact that the quickest route from san Fran
cipco TO Manila lies well TO the north; also,
that the shortest distance between thuae point $
Is along n line which passes much nearer 10
Japan and Bering sea than 1t does TO the lla-
Ntilan Islands. Strategy and commerce must
takc account OF this; and, when the fact Is
fully recognized. we shall for the frst time
realize how valuable to the future Of our
navy, both IN peace and In war, Is our posses
sun of tho Aleutlon chain Of islands
II Is pertinent in this connection to note
that even now the navy department is
compelled to look TO this northern route
as the only one over which ii can get the
small gunboats and torpedo boat destroy
ers to Manila, for which Dewey has asked
The Hawaiian route fails us in the Grst
great emergency BY the northern route
these small craft can hug tho land almost
all the way over.
Commenting on this matter and Cap
tain Taylor's preferences for the northern
route. along which we have owned islands
for thirty years that could at any time
have been used for coaling stations. the
Springfield, Mass, Republican says:
Vie station which the jnEoes o eagerly aut
afNioualy seized last summer Is one whlef
&aws the transports and war and supply YES
sells OF the government, bound from san iran
SEQ to Manila and from Manila to san frnu
claco beyond their natural course and causes
delay and Increased expense The scheme %
Hawaiian annexation as a point of strategy
foieot or could not be brought TO admit, tina
The world was round, and that the lonsa
ways around It. are those nearer the equator
lic blindness and fatuousncss are fairly meas
uied by this singular example OF Obvious
ness to the most common facts OF geography.
We claim to be an extremely practical
and busineaslike Nation, but we can h
more easily led into hssty and uselossly
expensive action than almost any other
people on earth, and for no other reason
than that some smart SPECTATORS are di
rectly interested. We have been over
looking the value strateslcally and other
wise of the Aleutian islands for over I
third CT century only to spasmodicall,
conclude at late day that Hawaii wa
National necessity in our reaching on
toward Asia.