Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-25
It Was Given Out to the Press by
Mistake.
Was NOT MEANT FOR PUBLICATION
Administrations Opinion Of His
Request for the Oregon.
TO OVERAWE THE NATIVES

gon to Manila at oEce Is still the subject Of
general discussion here. But apparently
the administration is satisfied that 1t under
stands exactly what the admiral meant
when he used the term political reasons"
for 1t was stated positively at the Navy
Department today that no inquiry had been
addressed to the admiral on the subject and
he would not be called upon for a further
explanation. This means that the interpre-
tation placed upon the phrase by the ad-
ministration is exactly that conveyed by
Secretary Long yesterday; namely, that the
big ship is regarded as necessary to impress
the Fflipinos, not only on Luzon, but those
on the other islands of the group, with the
overwhelming power of the United States
navy for in the dense ignorance in which
these people live, they can be impressed
only by personal observation.
1t is an error to assume that Admiral
Dewey's dispatch ON this subject came in
open English. The department received
from him two dispatches yesterday; one
lating to the arrival of the Yorktown,
which was in plain English, and the other
relative to the Oregon, which was in the
navy cipher. 1t was not intended that this
dispatch should have been given publicity,
but in the haste of preparation of matter to
go before the cabinet 1T escaped close scru-
tiny on the part of Secretary Long and was
permitted to reach the press along with the
other current routine dispatches.
Need for Strong Naval Force.
In the absence of further news from Ad-
miral Dewey as to the hurrying of the
Oregon to Manila, the officials of both the
War and Navy Departments adhere to their
original declaration that the political"
reasons alluded to in the admiraTs dis
patch mean simply the necessity of having
an adequate naval force to cover the many
important strategic points in the immense
area of the archipelago. 1t is pointed out
that the necessity for a strong naval force
at Manila is quite as great as it was dur
ing the blockade of the port and for the
same reasons as existed at that time when
the International situation vas tense, Iut
in addition to this there is pressing need to
cover many other points where there are
important foreign Interests at stake so as
to relieve this government of the reproach
OF allowing those interests to suffer and to
prevent the pretext which would he eagerly
siezed by some powers for landing marines
a Manila elsewhere.
The presence of the Oregon at Manila
would go far toward solving Just this prcb-
lem. This powerful fighting machine would
more than make up for the absence of sew
eral of the smaller naval vessels in case of
foreign interference in Manila bay. 1t
would also allow the smaller craft to be
distributed at important points among the
islands.
Public Slow to Grasp the Situation.
best acquainted with the situation in the
Philippines lay great stress on the fact
that the American public, including Con-
gress, is slow to grasp the extent and i'm
portance Of the Philippine group and the
very powerful force that will be necessary
to completely control the situation.
The mere statement that the group COM
prises over l, 200 separate islands gives very
little idea Of the Importance of the group
because on an ordinary map not a hun
dredth part Of them are shown, and the
largest islands look like mere specks In a
waste of ocean. The fact is, however, that
Luzon at the north and Mindanao at the
south of the archipelago are each of them
300 miles long, or longer than from Wash
ington to New York, and the whole archi-
pelago from north to south covers stretch
as long as from Chicago to New York with
the Islands in plain sight of each other
all the way. There are ten islands in the
group that are fifty miles or more in great
est length and twenty others that are ten
miles or more across.
SO far from being uninhabited wastes,
there are large number Of towns of
10000 inhabitants and over, and rnany of
these places, almost all of the coast cities
must be occupied by land or naval forces
Or both before this government can enaS
antee anything like safety to the large com
mercial interests involved at the various
points.
Control Of the Wires
one of the first things that the War De-
partment aims to do is to secure control of
the cable and telegraph lines. of which
there are roughly 1,5OO or 1000 miles in
the archipelago. 1t has been frequently
stated that there is no cable commupic.-
uon between Manila and Iloilo but there 10
caple line the whole distance the prom
erty OF British company which has hat,,
1orced to abandon it's property. owine 1n
the instruction. The cable from Manila
is1nd tIns SCUM .ii1 through the maze of small
thn
or Panay at Capiz. a seaport of 13o00 IN
Iapllailts. Ihence land line runs across
tahay i,y 10 llollo. But the land line is en-
t1rely in thu hands OF the natives 80
the British company has been forced to
abandon its stations, both at Can't ana
liollo, the capital of the island If is tha
WIS.,. wisn Oh Admral Dewey and Gen. Otis to
command Capiz as soon as possible. since
tfls would save run of nearly 200 n,iisS
In communicating with Manila from IloiIo
AS soon as the interior of Panay is in the
hands of the United States forces tbare
will be direct wire communicated be+weao
the two largest cities in the archineie 90
Manila with 10000 Inhabitants, and Iioiio
with 10000. 1-'o'
The Island of Negroes.
Ihe cable and telegraph system Of the
archipelago does not stop at IioiIo. how
ever, but jumps across a narrow strait on
the south to Bakalot, a large town on the
north coast Of the island of Negros which
Ae'S oil eduy nolsteQ the American flag and
announced its allegiance to the United
States Neeros is 140 miles long and has
telegraph line running around the coast
to Escalante, another town of over < ono
inhabitants on the east side This point
1t is also expected our forces will occuny
at the earliest possible moment, giving us
control of the whole island, with telegranh
communication between all of it's important
towns.
From Escalante the cable continues south
across another narrow strait to the island
of Sebu. long and fertile. but very mar
row, island, 100 miles long. There is a
land line across this island to Sebu CITY.
the capital, a town of $4,000 inhabitants,
and here the telegraph system stops after
covering two-thirds the length of the ar
chipelago north and SOUTH
There are still large islands to the south
Of this point-Masbate, fifty miles long.
MindanaO. which is 800 miles north and
south by 900 miles east and west and PaIa
wan, which is about 200 miles long Each
Of these islands has important cities, which
must be occupied, but which It will take a
long time to reach at the present rate of
progress Of the campaign.
No Railway System.
None of these islands. so far as known
hA1 any railroad system except Luzon. b,,t