Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-10-03
OUR EQUATORIAL ISLANDS.
Certain Territory in Mid-Pacific Be
came United States ProDertZ as
Long Ago as 1856.

James d. Hague, the wel1-knOWn
mining engineer, has a very curious
trticle in the Century, which will be
:ead with interest in connection with
he reported race for Marcus island
It's scope is outlined in these open
ng paragraphs:
1T has not come to be generally
Known that about As years ago the
United States acquired formal and
actual possession of certain islands
the mid-Pacifc, lying within and
along the equatorial belt, and reach
ng westward nearly to the eastern
hemisphere.
I'm 1856 it had already come t,
pass that certain voyagers in those
regions, mostly American whalenen
cruising along the line, had occasion
ally visited several small. low ard
lesolate coral reefs and islands, oIt
some of which they had found vaiu-
able deposits of phosphates, or So
jailed phosphate guano; and in Au-
gust of that year congress passed an
act authorizing American citizens.
1nder prescribed conditions, to claiEc,
acquire. and enter into possession Of
such islands in the name of the
United States. Under the operation
Of this act number of islands were
so claimed and entered upon by
American citizens, who there and
then acquired, lawful possession, and
for many years thereafter enjoyed
exclusive rights of ownership and
exploitation under the authority and
Jurisdiction of the United States gov
eminent and the protection of the
American flag.
.'Two of these islands, Jarvis and
Bakers (New Nantucket), about that
time became unquestionably Ameri-
can possessions, not only under the
congressional act, but also by the of
fetal act of the commander of the
United States ship ST. Mary's, Capt
Davis, Z. S. n, who, under instruc.
lions from his government, in 1858,
visited both and "took formal pos
session of the islands in the name of
the United States, and deposited in
the earth a declaration to that effect,
executed on parchment and well pro-
tected,'' all of which he duly reported
to the secretary of the navy (EXecu-
tive Document No. II, Senate, Thirty
fifth congress, First Session, 1859.
''The flag of the United States was
therefore floating over American in
sular possessions in the Pacific az
long ago as 1853 and as far west as
f76 degrees 80 minutes from Green
wich, az Bakers island, 13 miles
north of the equator, and only about
300 miles from the anti-prime merid-
ian dividing the two hemispheres.
eff these facts are new or in any
way surprising to some good Ameri~
can citizens who, in these latter days.
have become urgent advocates of the
policy of territorial extension in the
Pacific, and who, perhaps, especially
maintain that the flag. once raised.
must never be hasled down, it may
be still more surprising to such read
ers to learn that, somehow. in the
course of human events, after many
years Of possession and active opera
ton Ivy American citizens. and not
withstanding the provision of the
original congressional act that no
guano should be taken from such
islands except for the benefit of
American citizens and for the pur-
pose of being used within the United
States, all these islands have been
deliyered or abandoned to other
claimants and, by hook or crook,
have passed into British possession.
under the British flag.
''This is true not only of islands
which were once acquired and held
under the act of 1856 alone, but also
of Jarvis and Bakers. for which
special claims were made in 1858 by
the United States government
through its agent, Capt. Davis, in the
ST. Mary's; both of these islands
have since passed, either by sale or
license or abandonment of the Amer
lean claimants and occupants. into
the possession of an English trading
firm, and thus to an English corpora
ton formed for the purpose of tax
ing over the business of said firm
about January 1, 1897. That the de
posits were not then entirely ex
hausted is at least indicated by the
prospectus of the English company
which states that the islands re-
ferred to then contained about 100,