The Portland daily press., 1899-02-27

on. and Dewey Need Many ships and
Men.


Washington, February 2s.-The public
statement that Admirsl Dewey's despatch
regarding the Oregon came IN open Eng
fsh, 10 an error. The department received
rom him yesterday two dispatches. one
r,latiug to the arrival Of the Yorktown
which was In plain Epglish and the
dher relative to the Oregon. which was
n the navy cipher. IL was not intended
nat this despatch should have boen CIV
IN publicity. but In the haste of the prep
,ration of matter to 90 before the public,
escaped close scrutiny and was per-
nitted to reach the press along with the
,ther current routine dispatches.
In the absence Of further news from
Admiral Dewey as to the hurrying OF the
oregon D Manila. the officials of both
he war and navy departments adhere tc
sheir original declaration that the "po-
'itical'' reasons alluded to In the de-
,patch mean simply the necessity of hav-
pg an adequate naval force to cover
l1he many important strategic points
n the immense area of the archipelago.
| II is pointed out that the necessity for
/, strong naval force at Manila Is quite as
great as 1t was during the blockade OF
:he port and for ths same reasons as OK
isted at that time when the information
| 20 this there is pressing need to cover
many othur points where there are i'm
portant forsign interests at stake, so as
70 relieve this government of the reproach
of allowing these interests to suffer and
Ito prevent the pretext which might be
eagerly seized by some powers for land
ng marines at Manila or elsewhere. The
presence Of the Oregon ut Manila would
20 far toward solving this problem. She
would more than make up for the alb
sence of several OF the smaller naval ves-
sels In case of foreign Interference in Ma
1ila bay and would allow the smaller
uaft To be distributed at important
points among the islands.
| The officials OF the department who are
best acquainted with the situation in the
Philippines lay great streets on the fact
that. the American public, including
| Congress, is slow TO gtasp the extent and
Importance of the Philippine group and
4 the very powerful force that will be me-
| oessary to command tho situation COM
Iletely. The mere statement that the
group comprises over 1900 Islands, naval
officers say. gives very little idea of the
Importance of the group, because on an
ordinary map, not hundredth part of
them are shown and the largest Islands
Look like mere speoks in waste OF
OCEAN. The fact is, however, that Luzon
at the north and Minadauao at the south
of the archipelago are each of them 800
miles long, or longer than from Washing
ton TO New York, and the whole archipe-
lago from north 10 south covers q stretch
as long as from Chicago to New York
with the islands in plain sight of each
other all the way. Ihore are ten Islands
in the group that are so miles or more
in greatest length and 20 others that are
ten miles or more across.
so far from being uninhabited wastes,
there are u large number of towns Of 10, :
900 Inhabitants and upwards. Many of
these places, almost all OF them coast
cities, must be occupied by land OF naval
forces, or both. before this government
can guarantee anything like safety to the
lfsrge commercial interests involved.
One of the first things that the war
department aims to do Is to secure con.
troll OF the oable and the telegraph lines
of which there are, roughly, 1900 or 1000
miles in the archipelago. 1t has been
frequently stated that there Is no cable
Communication between Manila and Ilo-
| lilo, but there is cable the whole dis
tance, the property of a British company,
which has been forced to abandon its
property owing to the insurrection. The
cable from Manilx runs south through
| the maze OF small Islands till 1t lands
on the north shore of Panay at Caiz. u
seaport OF 1900. Thence land line
runs across Panay to Iloilo. The land
line, however, is entirely In the hands Of
the natives and the British company has
been forced to abandon its stations both
at Csdiz and Iloilo.
1t Is the wish of Admiral Dewey and
Gen. Otis to command Cadiz ss soon as
possible, since this would save run Of
nearly 800 miles, In communicating
with Manila from Iioilo. As soon as
the interior OF Panay 10 in the hands of
the United STATES forces, there will be
direct wire communication between the
two largest cities In the arobi ipeiago,
Manila and Iloilo. The cable and teis-
graph system does not stop at Ilioio,
however, but jumps across narrow
strip of water on the south to Dakelot a
large town on the north coast Of the ISL
and Of Negroa which has already hoisted
the American flag and announced it's
allegiance to the United States. Negros
Is 100 miles long and has a telegraph
line running around the coast to Essa.
lante, a town of over 5000 Inhabitants on
the east side. This, It Is also expected,
our forces will occupy at the earliest
possible moment. giving US control Of
the whole island with tslsgraphic COM
| IN munication between all of its important