The Colorado statesman., 1907-06-15
JAPS WANT WAR
UNCLE SAM MAY BE EcALLEDUP UPON
TO ADMINISTER SPANKING.
PACIFIC FLEET INADEQUATE
Naval Department Admits War With
Japan Would Mean Loss of
Hawaii, Alaska and Guam,

st. Louis.-"Japan intends bringing
about war with the United States at
the earliest possible moment" is the
exact phrase used by Richmond p
Hobson in an interview here. Mr..
Hobson is en- route to southwestern
cities to deliver series of lectures.
Japanese officers are teaching mill
tary science in important schools in
China, and under their guidance China
is founding arsenals and raising armies
in ecah of her Provinces" he said. 1T
is natural for the Asiatic people, now
that they are on the theater of the
world, to believe the white and yellow
races are TO have Titanic struggle
for supremacy. The contest naturally
will include struggle for commerce.
and Japan wishes to control the great
market of China and have the yellow
races control the commerce of the
Pacific.
Because of our having neglected to
fortify our Pacific possessions, and
failed to build an adequate navy.
Japan could take our possessions east
ward without material resistance.
Therefore, it is important for the peo-
pie to realize that the japanese gov
ernment intends to bring about war
earliest
possible moment.
Not wishing to fly in the face of the
worlds opinion, Japan must create a
plausible pretext for war, and no mat
ter how trifing 1t will be seized upon
for this purpose"
Hobson believes the United States
should station its entire naval force
near Hawaii and the Philippines. He
says permanent peace can be estab-
lishcd with Japan only by building =
greater navy.
Washington. = The administration
is in a sad state of perplexity regard
ing the naval situation on the Pacific
coast and in the Far East. The strate-
gists of the Navy Department are d1-
vided on the important question Of
whether or not additional warships
should be ordered to Pacific waters.
1t is conceded that some battleships
are badly needed in that quarter and
the only reason they are not dis
patched at once is the fear that such
action will have a disastrous influence
on the Japanese question. While there
is nothing in the present relations be-
tween the two nations that threatens
to become a casus belli, there is al
ways the possibility of a crisis being
precipitated by a hasty or imprudent
act infiaming the people of one coun-
TRY or the other.
Army and navy officers have figured
on the possibility of what would hap
pen in the event of war. Practically
all of them concede that at the first
blow the PHILIPPINES would fall into
the hands of the Japanese, which
would be followed by the losing of
m HaN loc clx a
same time the Pacific coast of this
Japanese fleet, provided the Mikado
decided TO risk sending it across the
seas to lombard and lay siege to the
coast towns of the slope.
All the Washington strategists have
resigned themselves to these losses
within a brief period after the com
mencement of hostilities Conse-
quently the desirability of increasing
the naval strength on the Pacific
coast and in the East is admitted by
every one. From what officials say 1t
is believed that steps in this direction
would be taken at once but for fear of
the effect of such action. 1t would
stimulate war talk and arouse the sus-
picions of the Japanese government.
The weakness of the American navy
in the Pacific will be realized when it
is stated that not a single battleship
flying the Stars and Stripes is to be
found between San Francisco and Ma
Mia. Three squadrons are maintained,
one IN Chinese waters. one in the Phil
ippines and one along the Pacific
coast, but the most powerful craft in
the combined fleet is an armored
cruiser of less than $4,000 tons.