The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-06-03
A DECISIVE EPOCH-MANIFEST DIES.
TINY.

: publicly 10 declare that, in the TWEEN
3 tieth Century. the Pacific Ocean woulC
be the theatre of the worlds creates
commercial and financial progress, il
which he predicted the United State:
would bear the most CONSPICUOUS part
The accuracy of these representation:
is now generally conceded. At thai
time. of course, there was no thought
lof any political entrance of the United
States into the wide and stagnant a.
reas of Asia. insular or continental
The war with Spain did not appear on
the horizon, and the acquisition of the
Philippines, whether or no they be per-
manently retained, was beyond the re-
gion of conjecture. There were states
men and writer's, who looked to the
ultimate annexation of Hawaii, or the
| establishment of protectorate, as prac-
ticable and even desirable, but these
anticipations rested upon a purely
speculative basis, and were mainly en-
tertained for their bearing upon the
western shore of the Republic.
Territorial expansion and the extern
sion of political systems are not ne
cessarily, certainly not directly, con-
nected with the aggressive activities of
commerce and finance, to which ma
tionaI boundaries and national insti-
tutions, though of importace in mat
tiers of detail, interpose very slight OBJ
stacles. For the purpose of this arti-
Gle it would be superfluous to discuss
the question of the applicability of the
American system to the Philippine ar
chipelago. 1t may be safely assumed,
that, except in contingencies of which
there is no visible sign. the political
destiny of Hawaii is determined, and
that these islands are the advanced
guard of the mightiest of world powers.
The designs of Russia on China,
therefore, as manifested by it's policy
in Manchuria and pointed by it's re-
cent acts of regeneration. are of di-
rect, immediate and absorbing, inter-
est to the American people. Itself
largely of Asiatic, and chiefly of Tar
tar, extraction, it pursues, remorseless-
~ and with unprincipled astuteness, a
policy that has existed for
and the final object of which
is the domination of Monaghan Asia
and the Pacific.
In the march towards ideals of ma
teriaI, intellectual and moral suprema
cy, there is a sense in which genera
tions are of but little import, but there
is another sense, in which the deter
mination of a moment may deeply or
color the future. Such a
though it may be Temperate |
~ deferred, is in plain sight, and may |
be seized or alphabetically disregarded. |
as the executive branch of our govern |
ment may be reused to decisive action |
Shall the boarded wealth of China, Co |
rea and other Asiatic territory. in |
evitably to be swung into the tides Of |
modern advancement, feed the Musco- |
vite or the composite race, OF which |
the United States and the British En- |
pire are the representatives? This is |
the problem, in the solution of which !
present movements will be most influ- |
entail, and probably controlling.
The power and craftsmanship of Rus
STA are not to be underestimate. The |
map of the World on Mercator's Pro- |
lection, which is most convenient for |
the purpose, shows the territorial uni |
ication of the Muscovite Empire, from |
southern boundary being coincident |
with the northern line of China for |
seventy degrees of longitude or there
abouts. The transfer of Alaska to the |
United States was at once the settle
nent of the eastern line of the Empire |
upon Asiatic soil and withdrawal from |
a dangerous position in the northwest
ern part of North America, which on
all sides was flanked BIZ the United |
States and the Canadian Dominion. |
And the seizure or retention of Man |
churia would mean the driving of a |
wedge into the northeastern part OF 1
the Chinese Empire, that would secure |
to Russia an impregnable position in |
emma ltSelI, would give 1t the means |
by few more blows, of breaking its |
unity, would insure the ascendancy Of |
the Russian sphere OF influence, and |
would also enable that power to COM |
mand the seas adjacent to the easterly |
coast of China, to Corea and to Japan, |
and a clear entrance to the North Pa
cific Ocean.
This a time for breadth, prescience
and defniteness. in American state
manship. The nice adjustments of
what is termed the balance of power
in Europe, is only fully understood by
students of history, geography and pro-
duction. and by the chief engineers Of
governments. A period has now been
reached, when comprehensive thought,