The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-02
THE KEY OF
THE PACIFIC
CONTINUED from page 3. }

1
| ton could be established and defended
at this point that would add more than
| the value of several battle h ps to the
efficiency o. our navy. Under these or
, cumstances it is almost unaccountable
| to learn from Honorable Charles r.
Darling, assistant secretary of the
navy, that no appropriations have been
made. and that no legislation is pend
| ing or contemplated in the near future
| looking TO the establishment of a naval
| base at this point.
This is because of no difficulties in
| the matter of finding a suitable site for
the unique position of the islands
| themselves is supplemented by the fact
| that natural conditions present an OPP
| portunity no less favorable and un-
usual for the establishment and
| defense of a naval station. Six
miles from Honolulu, on the is
| land of Oahu, is Pearl River and
Harbor. at which point the government
has acquired 700 acres of land, with the
| ultimate intention of here esta blishing
| a naval station. Captain L. S. G..
White, of the engineers, is on record
as saying of this site: Mature seems
| to have had the use to which this
| land was to be put in view when form
| ing it. 1t is safe to say that no more
suitable site for a large and important
naval station and base can be found
anywhere else on the coast line of the
United States
| Situated inland is a lagoon of ellipti-
cal shape. deep and large. in extent ap-
proximately eight miles by four. where
vii Fol
anchor, sheltered from the sea by high
lands. 1t is connected with the ocean
| by a deep river at the entrance to
which was formerly bar, making it
unapproac liable. At an expense of S175,-
| 600 the government has removed this
! bar so that access to the lagoon or,
what is known as the Pearl Harbor
Lochs, is easy for the largest vessels
| save that the channel is tortuous. In
this ideal spot our fleet could be har-
| bored, supplied, and repaired but the
present facilities are Insignificant and
hardly worthy the name of a naval base.
Plans have been drawn for dry-docks,
ordnance department, naval stores
coaling depot, hospital, and station
and the preliminary plans for fortifica-
ton have been made. But here the
matter rests, as the necessity for such
a base does not seem important to
those in charge of such work.
When, however, it is considered that
the work of Strengthening the channel,
carrying out the plans and actually
fortifying the land and sea approaches
is; one that would require years for it's
accomplishment. the danger from pro-
eli
No nation will accommodatingly await
our pleasure in the matter of estab-
fishing a defense at Hawaii or in the
completion of the work of opening the
Panama Canal. All of our expenditure
for Notifications on the Pacific coast is
of trivial Importance compared with
the necessity of so strengthening the
Hawaiian Islands that our coast line
could not be reached. For, so strength
ened the Pacific coast is practically
safe from attack and our expenditure
for disappearing guns of high power is
rendered largely unnecessary. The in
tereStS of San Francisco demand the
protection of the Golden Gate from
bombardment. We are devoting money
to the fortification of 1000 miles of sea-
coast, while the vulnerable point is be-
ing neglected, the apex of that triangle
of which our entire coast line is the
base. This base is our second defense,
not our first, and, while the expenditure
we are making for its defense is not
perhaps to be classed as folly, to utter
ly neglect our first defense is a reversal
of military strategy. Were several i'm
ioI 70 ha
behind a mountain range through which
there was practically but one pass, it
would not require the brain of a great
military strategist to realize that the
pass itself must be first defended where
a handful of men could hold an army in
check and the cities themselves be
practically removed from the necessity
of defense.
Here on the Pacific coast the case is
no different. Hawaii stands as a pass.
The vast eXpanse of water affords no
other resting-place, no other supply
point for a hostile fleet than this And,
while we are spending millions upon
coast defense and more millions upon ,
warships, this pass in the ocean re-
mains neglected so far as being pre-
pared to withstand the brunt of an
attack is concerned as well as in the
matter of providing a refuge for our
own fleets. When a war has begun it
will be too late to establish our pass at
these islands and defend it. Captain
Mahan, in writing of the des!rability
of acquiring the islands,. said Tits rare
ly that so important a factor in the at
tack Or defense of coast line-of a sea
frontier-is concentrated in single
position. and the circumstances render
it doubly imperative upon us to secure
it if we righteously can" We have so
secured it. The necessity is no less
imperati tive to make it now impossible
that it should be wrested from us or be of
little practical use in time of war, be-
cause we neglect to improve our OPP
portunity in time of peace.