The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-07-11

l Horn without wetting her decks said
the mate, as he pointed to the SHARP
| prov, broad beam and heavy masts OF
l the schooner Julia E. Whalen, whose
| final loading he was experimenting
| yesterday afternoon at the Custom
House wharf. There were potatoes and
onions galore. There were barrels of
beef, and pork. and biscuit, and ham
and bacon, and sacks of flour and corn
and oat meal. and case upon case of
coffee and sugar. There We're boxes of
fruit and vegetables and fish and every
; thing that can be canned or dried, and
bottles of jellies and preserves, and all
the condiments and sauces in creation,
and-"tell 1T not to the w. c. T. u
five hundred bottles of beer and several
denijohns of whisky
There is on board the Whalen, be-
sides her crew of captain, mate, cook
and five sailors, a party Of five laborers
to work at the guano deposits, and two
scientists, Prof Bryan, who is to hunt
and classify the birds and bugs and
trees and grasses, and Prof Sedgwick,
who viii geologic and analyze guano,
RosehilFs bright-eyed little boy
us a representative of the Mackay
Gable Company going on this boat?"
was asked of President w. C. Peacock
of the Marcus Island Guano Company.
mo, but I wish there was. SO far as
the question of using Marcus Island as
a cable landing is concerned 1 have
! drawn the attention of Mr.. Dickinson
| to what appear to me positive advan-
! tageS, and / have no doubt that gen
| tleman will give the matter proper con-
! sideration.
| "A glance at the map will show that
| by using Marcus as a link between
Midway and Guam, additional
| length of only 55 miles is necessary,
| and if the latter station We're omitted
and the wire ran from Midway to Ma
Mia via Marcus, saving of between
f75 and 500 miles would be effected
Il understand that the reduction of
length IN individual links of long dis
tance cables materially decreases the
cost of manufacture and increases the /
efficiency in working to marked de- I
gree, but of course every additional |
landing costs money for Installation I
and maintenance.
II have a chart published in 1883 /
from which it appears that soundings /
have already been taken the whole dis I
lance between Honolulu and Marcus
Island, showing depths and nature of
ocean bottom, presumably for cable
purposes.
I'VE have samples of guanos which
We're brought by Captain RosehilI on
mis- last visit and they assay very salts
factoriiy. Two firms in the United
States have already offered to contract
for supplies aggregating $4,000 tons per
annum at profitable prices, and the
present expedition is sent out to ascer-
n in hn FONT Of he re
such other information as may be of in
terest or value
We anticipate no trouble with the
Japanese or any other people.
''WilI there not be a question between
Japan and the United States to the {
right of sovereignty over Marcus? q
said Mr.. Fitch. in response to a ques-
ton. We'll, / cannot see any room for
Il controversy. Under the law of ma {
tons title to unclaimed and unoccupied
land becomes vested in the government
which first formally asserts such title.
Once asserted, such title cannot be di- {
vested except by conquest, by treaty
or by an equally formal act of aban- ,
donnent. A nation, unlike individ !
ual. is not required to preserve its title
by continuous possession, or indeed by
any possession at all. There are hun
dreds of islands in the Aleutian Archi-
pelaSo, or for that matter on both the t
and Pacific coasts, where no 7
flag of the United States floats and
where no human being lives. but it does u
not therefore follow that any other ma II
ton can claim them. Uncle Sam has, V
equally with any cililized power, the Z
right of sovereignty over any land I
which has once been acquired by him. 7
The archives of the State Department E
at Washington show that in 1889 the :
merican flag was nailed to a cocoanut
tree op~>Marcus Island by Captain An
drew A. Rosehill, who then formally
claimed the island for the United C
States. He placed a notice of such ii
,laIm, signed by himself and crew, in a
glass bottle which was fastened in the q
'orks of a tree. He built a cabin there I
md left a member of his crew there '
With native wife brought from the V
Caroline Islands and a years supply of F
provisions. The acquisition thus made r
vas formally accepted by Secretary fl
Blaine in 1882 as the records at Wash
nSton show. and Marcus Island there
~ became as much a part of the Uni
ed States as Oahu is now a part of it.
After that there was for twelve o
ears a question between the United j
states government and Capt. Rosehill n
Is to the extent of his rights to the
,uano deposits on the island, but there
vas not then. and has not been since.
s not now, and in the nature of things
lever can be any question as between -
he United States and Japan or any .
ed States to the island and there is Q
lot now any question as TO the rights Ia
T RosehiI. fer he has since complied
With all the provisions of the act of >,
congress- governing the acquisition of ~
.uano islands. He has given a bond %
CT fifty thousand dollars which has -
cen approved, and he carries with him
ne license of the United States, under u
ne department seal of Secretary Hay, FIR
living him and his assignee, the Mar a,
us Island Guano Company. an eXclu- 20
i've right to remove the guano deposits
rom Marcus Island and to occupy the
land for that purpose. q
The island has been since 1897, when j
OsehiN was there the last time, occa- "a
onally visited by Japanese fishermen. c;
nd il is possible that some of these, ed
citing in ignorance Of the prior claim
the United States, may have claim
the island for Japan. But if SO
lere would still be no room for dis 81
ute and no place for an international 10
The government which ~
as first in time of claiming would be =, -