The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-06-27
DEFENSE OF
The ISLANDS

The Hawaiian Promotion Committee,
through its New York Office, has been
widely distributing an article in the
issue OF June 10 of Public Opinion, by
Atherton Brownell, entitled "The Key
TO the Pacific" The Washington Post
of Saturday morning had the following
editorial, based on advanced copies of
the article:
Mr.. Atherton Brownell, in Public
Opinion, makes plea for the immedi-
ate and adequate fortification of Ha-
wall and the establishment of a naval
base at Pearl Harbor as contemplated
by plans held in partial allegiance by
Congress. 1t is pointed out that Ha-
wall stands in the position of an un-
defended pass, a source of weakness
when it should be citadel. In case of
war with any naval power, and more
particularly with Japan, Hawaii would
naturally become the first object of at
tack preparatory to an assault upon the
Pacific Coast. With Hawaii in her
possession, Japan would have naval
and military base within 2000miles of our
mainland. and would be able not only
to harass our Western coast, but to
force us to loosen our grip on the
Philippines.
"On the other hand. If the United
States were to fortify Hawaii and es-
tablish a strong naval base there, the
command of the greater part OF the
Pacific Ocean would be secure. No
hostile feet could cross that vast
ocean and carry on operations without
recoaling. The American fleet would
he rendered far more mobile than any
combination that could be brought
against 1t, and consequently more eff
fective.
"All the arguments in favor of the
fertilization of Hawaii are known, of
course, to the military authorities and
to Congress. If the War Department
and Congress could have reached an
understanding, appropriations would
have been forthcoming, no doubt, be-
fore this time. But Congress, and es-
pecially the Senate, demanded some
what specific information as to the
scale upon which the military author
tiles intended to work. 1t did not
wish to make huge appropriations in
a lump, to be expended without n de-
tailed accounting. The War Depart
ment, on its side. insisted that infor-
nation sent to Congress regarding the
plans for fortifying Hawaii and other
insular possessions would become
known to every power in the world
thereby rendering these defenses far
less formidable in the eyes of a pos
sible enemy than they would be if
their strength were unknown.
Congress at its last session appro-
priated s936,00 for the construction and
equipment of seacoast batteries in the
insular possessions, including Hawaii.
Enough was said in both Houses to
indicate that the advantage of fortlfy-
ing these possessions is fully appre-
ciated. and that sufficient funds Will be
forthcoming. Congress adhered to its
determination to know how much
money is to be allotted to each har-
Dor, although 1t decided not to require
the War Department to furnish de-
tails of fertilization works. The pro-
vision as finally enacted is as follows:
Hereafter all estimates for forti-
fications for insular possessions of the
United States shall be made and sub
mitted to Congress showing amount
proposed to be expended at each har-
bor in each insular possession
1.-The military authorities are thus
permitted to carry on their fertilization
work in secret-if they can--while the
people will know, in a general way. at
least, what it is costing them to fortify
the outlying territory of the United
States. Congress has wisely abolished,
even in this secretive and technical
branch of the country's defense, the
old haphazard plan of making lump
sum appropriations"
ERNEST G. WALKER.