The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-08-12
THE HAWAIIAN GROUP.
ITS STRATEGIC VALUE TO THE
 UNITED STATES

Not to be UnderyaIued-They Will Act
 as a sor tOf Outpost of North Amer
 ican Continent, as Base of Supplies
 in Case Of Trouble With Asiatic Ma
 lions Over Our New Possessions.
 The slight ripple of excitement re- gently caused by an expression of opin- ion that Japan was looking upon our Philippines possessions with longing eyes-thereby threatening to involve us in war in the near future with the new power in the east-has happily passed away. It has left behind it surface of sufficient smoothness for re- f1ection, and in that we may see a nsW argument for the necessity of so strengthening our hold upon the Paci- ffc ocean that we shall not be found unprepared, when the increasing keen ess of the rivalry for the trade of the Orient precipatates conflict for the mastery of situation to which We hold the key, says Public Opinion.
 As world events go, the steps in the development of the Pacific Ocean, and of trade with the far east, have each other with marvellous rapidity. The markets of the Orient mean trade With 5OO,O0O,OO0 people, and no com-
 merical nation intends to be a laggard in the race to secure this rich prize. The chapter in our commercial history that tells of our disastrous defeat in the effort to secure an infiuenc3 on the Atlantic is on which we turn in the be- | lief that the new one that is to be writ ten regarding the Pacific will reach a conclusion more satisfactory to evsry patriotic feeling. On the Atlantic our | influence has almost reached the van ishing point. England and Germany have pushed their advantages until to- day that ocean is gridironed by the wakes of the steamships of our rrivals carrying ninety-two per cent of our commerce, while there is not single regular line of American-owned ships
 engaged in that traffic.
 But the present situation on the Pacific is full of portent. The trading nations may be said to be deploying | for position. Already in the arena may
 be seen England, with her Canadian and Asiatic possessions, Australia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, and her protectorate over the Gilbert Islands. and her interest in Hong Kong and
 Singapore; France appears with the | extension of her dominion in Indo- China, Siam and Madagascar, as in New Caledonia and the Society Is- lands by the taking of the Marquesas Islands and the Low Archipelago, Ger many, by her requirement of a con trolling interest in Kiachau and its E20,000,0C0 people, has footing here as
 we'll as at Shantung, and, her appetite Whetted for more power, has added the Bismarch and Marshall Archipelo go, part of the Solomon Islands, Ger
 Man New Guinea, the Caroline anG Pelew Islands, the great Marshall group midway between the Australian steamship lines from British Colum- bia and the possible Asian lines of the future from the isthmus. She longeG
 for Samoa, but was obliged to be con.
 tent with a part. She coverted the Phi
 ippines, and suffered keenest chagriI
 that they passed from her prasurnp
 tive control. To these must be added
 the large and rich Pacific possession!
 of Holland in Bornso, Sumatra anC
 Java; but of greater significance is thu
 rapid advance of Russia to the sea
 board, now checked by Japan, whicl power in turn, becomes an importan
 factor with it's home island empire ant it's possession of Formosa. Nor shoult
 an estimate of the situation and tn
 alignment of the nations fail to talk } into account the completion of a grea military highway from Halifax to Val couver, across the American conti nent, and from St. Petersburg to Via divostok, the rapid peopling of Britis1 Columbia and our north Pacific State and of Ar11ur and Manchuria districts all of which, to quote John R. Proc tor, "tend to change the front of tn world and to transfer to the Pacific tn
 national activities which for centurie " past have been rendered the Atlanti |. the theatre of stirring events"
 l While Russia has been coming over laIIo LC IAllo CSllLI6 Ol 1uLuIS dCtlNllN
 created by the requirement. of islan :, footholds by other nations, the Unite e States has come over seas. In tw
 strides, the first step resting on Hawa = the second on the Philippines, We ar in the very heart of the situation, an q in a position to take the dominion tha
 menifest destiny has evidently had i e mind. Our Pacific coast developmer :. demands an outlet. The annexatio : of Hawaii and the extension of ou $ coastwise restrictions thither he at
 quirements of the Philippines after tt s Spanish war, the results of oud diplc Y macy in opening the markets of th
 Far East have created a commerc :, which has stimulated our carryin 3 trade enormously and, while on tn :: Atlantic our merchant marine has bt t come a nonenity, on the Pacific W
 have four regular established line U carrying our flag our mercandise al <. our influence into the centre of the ne 7. markets. What may be called the e, r press trade, the trans-Pacifc tran: t portation of passengers and fa
 freight, is new largely in America e hands, as the tonnage of that cha e acter under our flag exceeds that n England about three times, thoug
 British tramp ships carry the bulk }, the loW-grade freight.