The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-05-17
PACIFIC WAR
PREDICTED
CONTINUED nom page one,

| VI ilint Nnt 'Nh1t WIN uhNt ~
share of the reserve powder that none,
buys. Furthermore two of the BIZ
mills owned by the Powder Trust ar
located on the California coast an,
their product, of course, would be avail
able in case of hostilities and press
ing demand for ammunition.
The Paymaster General of the Nav.
says that the collier and transport ser
vice on the Pacific is pretty good. The
collier service will be supplemented II
the course of few months by bis
new 17-knot ship, the Prometheus, nov
yard. She will cost $1,100,000 and viii
have a capacity of 5000 tons ofrcoal
besides room for large quantities OF
ammunition and for a small compile
ment of men. A similar collier is
building on the Atlantic coast and will
cost an equal sum of money. But the
navy also has a considerable number
| of colliers both on the Atlantic and
the Pacific oceans. The navy colliers
now on the Pacific ocean are:u the
| Alexander, at Woosung, China; Iris
Manshan, and Pompey at Cavite, and
Saturn at Magdalena Bay, Mexico
Some of these golfers carry as much
us 5000 tons of coal and are good ships
for that kind of business.
| The Navy Department keeps its
stores of coal at Cavite. 1t buys good
Pocahontas steaming coal for delivery
at Cavite and then keeps the colliers
to distribute it among the ships on
the Asiatic station. Not less than 40,
900 tons are held in stock at Cavite
and generally it is much more. Some
times the amount is 100000 tons. There
fore in coal the navy on the Pacific
is wel-provided for emergencies. There
are other stores for the Pacific Navy
but that is the largest and most i'm
portant.
The army manages the transports, OF
which there are now nine on the Pa
cifc ready for immediate use and, al
II matter of fact in constant use. They
are the Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas
Logan, Buford and Crook, all forrear
rying men and having large capacity
ranging from 500 to 1900 soldiers ant
their officers, the Dix and Warren
which are for the transportation o.
animals and freight, and the Burn
side, which is cable ship. Further
more there are four government trans
ports in the inter-island Philippine ser
vice-the Sacramento, Liscum, Seward
Wright. This is transport service
probably in considerable excess of any
thing Japan could command lmmedi
ately, although more might be press
ed in to the service from the merchant
marine in the course of few weeks
but in the meantime our government
could be starting transports from the
Atlantic to the Pacific along with 9th
er ships of war.
In the matter of other supplies fol-
a navy, the Paymaster General IS Office
could easily meet all demands. Sup
plies of food and clothing are kept in
stock and can easily be augmented
The navy has it's own factory that
turns out $4,000 garments every month.
Assistant Secretary Newbery, who
was the acting Secretary of the Navy
when ex-Secretary Shaw made his
warlike speech, said he would not deny
what had been stated at Worcester, al.
though it was plain that he thought
that every annual report by the Secre-
tary of the navy for several years had
requested appropriations for additional
equipment along the lines indicated in
Mr.. Shaw's speech.
There are many men prominent in
public life, however, who do not think
there is to be war for the control
of the Pacific. Senator Newlands, who
lives in Nevada, but has large inter
ests on the Pacific coast, is one of
them. 81 do not think there is any
immediate prospect of war; said the
Senator ih commenting upon ex.Secre-
tary Shaw's prophecy. "Japan is
busy building up her resources and will
not engage lightly in war. Our only
danger comes from our possession of
the Philippines. That was an intru'
siye entrance into the governmental
policies of the Orient and may cost us
dear. If war occurs it will be on the
Asiatic coast, not ON our coast. With
the Hawaiian islands in our possession
and Pearl Harbor thoroughly fortified
and protected by our ships of war a
hostile fleet projected from the Asiatic
coast against our coast would have no
halfway coaling station and the Mt
taeking ships would be almost with
out coal by the time they reached our
coast. In short time they would be
dereliet ON the ocean.
"But the Philippines are so near
TO Asia and 40 far from the United
| States that any difficulty in the Ori