The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-09-02

bOtu HahA At bauiS-At AS AAihoSt
 Worth a War.
 To those HEAD T OCUAIE H RF
 To those who, suffering from a sur felt of war news, have not of late been following very closely the operations in the far east, all this talk of the is land of Sakhalin seems remarkable, and the news from New Hampshire that the peace negotiations may be broken off at any moment on account of a strip of barren land is wholly in- applicable. Yet when the facts are known and recognized the hagggling over the future disposition of the island is worth any amount of pains on the part of the opposing envoys. It might almost be said that. it is indeed worth continuing the war for-at least from Japan's standpoint. And what lends @ peculiarly interesting bit of romance to the Portsmouth proceed ings over Article 5" is the fact that the man who was principally respon- sible for Russia's first complete ac- quisitien of Sakhalin is now carrying on as an aide to MT. Witte, a great in tellectual battle for it's retention among the czar's possessions.
 Without attempting to make any forecast of the result of the peace con- ference, it can be safely said that Japan will fight for sakhalin as she will fight for no other article in the lagreement, saving perhaps the iIsdem- nity clause. For to Japan the island of Sakhalin has taken on the greatest importance since Nippon first realized the part she is to play in the family of nations in the future. She needs the island, not only because it is an in- tegral part of her geographical forma- ton, and not only for it's rich resources, but also as a place for her overflow of population, matter that, as soon as the war is ended, will engross, the mikado's closest and earliest attention. 1 The island of Sakhalfn, or Saghalien; or, it's native name, Taraika, is long, narrow strip of land that extends al- most due north and South few miles off the coast of Asiatic Russia, or what Twas once Asiatic Russia. It. lies in the isouthwest part of the Sea of Okhotsk, in lat, 52 deg. It is separated from the mainland only by the six-mile wide Mania Strait. Unfertile, mountainous land cold, it offers little encouragement to agriculture, but it is extremely rich in coal and is said to possess great de- Fposits of gold and other precious metals. It's coast line Is bleak and uninviting. On the western shore lofty cliffs rise sheer out of the sea, unbrok- len by bays or any indentations of land whatsoever, while the eastern
 coast is little better, although here and there narrow iniets and lagoons pierce the barren focks. Huge forests, how
 ever abound and will be source of fabulous income to the islands future
 owner. But it's chief value lies in it's
 fisheries. Its waters are said to be the
 finest fishing ground in the world,
 Japan Is a fish-eating nation. It is at
 the same time growing nation From the economic standpoint this fishing industry is all but absolutely
 essential to It's welfare. r. The population of SakhaIin is insig- !nificant-always has been. Its aborig- lines were the Ainus, the same race of linen as those who sprang forth first
 in Nippon. Tn 1872 there were 13O00 in-
 habitants, counting all sorts and con-
 ditions, and to-day there are about
 96,000, or a little more than one per-
 son to the square mile.
 To the Russians the islan is of prime importance. for the reason that it is
 about as far east as they can possibly
 get, because it makes them a constant
 source of fear to Japan because it is
 not altogether 8 bad place to sent exiles and prisoners to, and, finally, be.
 cause it practically commands the sea
 of Okhotsk and absolutely the mouth O 1.-the Amur river, that great artery o1
 commerce in the heart of Russianizet Asia.
 This long splinter of land, therefore
 has suddenly grown to be one of tn, chiefest spots in the world, inasmucl as it's near destiny is to work { Estupendous influence upon the histor, lof two great nations.
 . The one surprising point in the pres ,, ent contention over it's possession is tn 1 fact that it's strategic and intrinsic i'm / portance seems to have been an ap lparentIy recent discovery on the par
 of the Japanese statesmen, wherea
 Russia, if her actions are to be con
 sidered as guided by any degree ( . foresight, had without doubt realized i ? years ago when she made her first en | croachments on Sakhalin's inhospitabl shores. That happened in 1853, whe at last the Russian expansion ha 2 Ireached the Pacific. It was not, how ever, until 1856 that any political cogni
 zance was taken of what Japan like ' now to call a treapass. On February of that year Admiral Putiatin, in tn
 name of the czar, signed a treaty wit . sthe Japanese Tokugawa Shoguns a = Shimoda, specifying that in the islan . of Sakhalin there was to be "no deli imitation of boundaries between Japa and Russia," and that the condition ~ that had hitherto obtained should con T, tinue as they were which meant tha U Russia was to keep the posts that he ambitions generals had planted on tn ,4 island by the right no longer of usurps
 tio, but of treaty. In 1852 General Ne V velskoy had explored Sakhaln an ~ founded the first Russian settlement 2 e Ilinsk' on the southwest coast with onl " six Russian inhahstants as a start. an " a year later Muravievsk, on the soutr east coast. Thus was foothold gafne by the European monarchy
 'B l IT fnO1r tho al,