The Florence daily tribune., 1899-01-16
WOULD BELONG TO US
North Pacific Islands That Would
Welcome Old Glory.
Lssssr Groups That Are Mtsgoverned
By the spnuisrds-Constan At
War with Troops from
Manila.

II America decides to retain the
Philippines, even temporarily, there
are three other lesser groups of
islands in the North Pacific which
are misgoverned from Manila. whose
population will hail with joy the
sight of the stars and stripes
flying once more in their har-
bors and upon their shores. There are
the Carolines. the Pelews and the
aarianas or Ladrones. The Caroline
archipelago is vast cluster of fer
tile islands, some high and noun
tainous, some low-lyhg sandy atolls,
densely clothed with cocoa palms, eN-
tending from the Pelew group in the
west TO Strong's island in the east.
Spain has always claimed the sover-
eighty of the group for the past three
centuries, but has never done any
thing in the way ofcolonization. From
the year 1885 the Spaniards have had
bad time in the Carolines. The natives
hate them, and many bloody engage
ments have been fougnt in which the
Spanish troops Manila natives led by
Spanish oificers) have come off badly.
cruising around Ponape (the largest
island of the group firing shells at
the native villages. but only one shell
in ten would explode Whenever
| troops were sent into the interior the
natives would pick them of as long as
their ammunition lasted. then they
would rush in on them with 1s-inch
butcher knives and make short work
of the survivors. Sometimes when
the gunboats were passing under the
high wooded biuffs of Jakoits harbor
the natives would assail them by hurl-
ing showers of stones upon their
decks. and full head of steam was
necessary to escape the onslaught.
The native troops are continually de-
serting, taking their arms with them.
and the Caroline islanders have many
hundreds of Remingtons now in their
possession. As far as authority over
the natives goes, the Spanish occupa-
! ton of the Caroline islands is farce.
| The Pelews and the Mnrianas are in
the same condition. and their occupa-
tion by another power would be q
blessing TO the unfortunate, perse-
cuted inhabitants. In all three
| groups there are some splendid har-
| bors, and II America holds onto moth
| ing else but Port San Luis d'Apra at
| Guam, and Lele harbor, in the Caro-
| lines, she will secure two excellent
naval stations. In the Carolines there
are. besides the fine harbors OF Lele
on Strong's island and Jakoits in
Ponape, many others in various parts
of the group. such as Yak and Rub.
which would form excellent coaling
stations. Lele and Coquille harbor.
on Strong's island (Kusale) were in
former years much visited by the ships
of the American whaling fleet. and the
island itself is one of the richest and
most fertile in the North Pacific.
| The old fort at San Luisd 'Apra, whose
garrison surrendered to the Charles
town, is n remnant of the old Spanish
half-fort half-castle style OF erection
that is still to be met with in the East
Indian archipelago. The walls are of
| great thickness, but one siN-inch shell
would lay the whole structure level
with the dust. In 1874 there were
about i2 guns in position, some of
them showing dates 1866. 1879. etc.
and the commandant and his harrison
of 40 soldiers were almost as antique.
For more than a year he had received
no letters or instructions from the
tnen captain-general at Manila, and
Tor two years no pay. In 1872 when the
notorious Capt. Bully" Hayes and his
| piratical associate Capt. Ben. Peese.
visited Guam. the governor quarreled
with them and trained the guns of the
fort upon their brig. This so enraged
Hayes that he wrote letter to the
governor. and threatened to send a
boats crew ashore and pull the place
down. The PRINCIPAL product of the
| place is copra tdried cocoanu). of
which large quantities are still made.
thongh since the Spanish occupa ton
the output has materially decreased
Exclusive of the Spanish earrisons,
there are not at the present time more
than 80 other Europeans in the Caro-
lines; these are Enelishmen. Amer
lean and German traders--Pan Mall
! Gazette