The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-12-20
London (By cable)

newspapers are publishing long &C
counts from their New York cores
pondents on the preparations for the
cruise of Rear Admiral Evans feet.
In the naval columns experts discuss
the advisability of testing the resist
ing power of ships to the wear and
tear of a long voyage. Naval Off
Gals agree that this, although ex-
pensive, is desirable, and also that
the cruise of the American battle
ships will afford good training for
the officers and men.
The Outlook, weekly publication,
on the other hand, returns to the
discussion of the political significance
of the movement. In long article
it says:
"The building up of the states on
the Pacific Slope, the annexation of
Hawaii, the growth of American
commerce in the Far East by the
purchase Of the Philippines and the
rise of Japan have reacted upon the
destinies of America with ever-in-
creasing intensity. As a possible bat
tie ground in the future, 1t is no
longer the Atlantic, but the Pacific,
that claims American thought"
On these grounds. and the fact
that it would demonstrate the strate-
gic necessity of the Panama Canal,
and that it would serve as a warning
to Congress that the present forces
are not sufficient to protect the two
coast lines, the cruise Is held to be
defensible, but still at is impossible
to separate it from the tension that
exists between the United States and
Japan
The Sunday Observer says that 1t
is difficult to believe that the Pacific
cruise of the American feet is dictat-
ed by purely professional reasons.
THE plain fact is" says the OBJ
server, chat the cruise Is a political
reconnaissance of force, in view of
the rise of Japan. The feet bears the
American flag to the Pacific as SYM
Dol of power and an expression of
the national will that it will defend
and develop American interests. Its
dispatch looks singularly like bluff
and an indiscretion. We fear that
the Americans have made a profound
mistake If they presume too much
on Japanese patience. 1t is unde-
niable that there is an element of po-
tential peril in the voyage"
The Sunday Times dwells upon the
personality of Count Hayashi, the
Japanese foreign minister, to whom
the full recognition of Japanese i'm
migrants is a matter of life and death.
He is not the man to be frightened
at the dispatch of the Pacific fleet,
says the Times, and, it adds, ''if
he ignores the move for the time be-
ing, he will plod on until he succeeds
with peaceful circumstances or can
see no issue but to fight"
The Daily Mail editorially describes
the cruise as movement the full
significance of which will only be un-
derstood by posterity.
The Daily Telegraph admits that
nobody can foresee the date or the
circumstances of the fleets return.
1t says that some weak points natur-
ally will be disclosed. but that 1t
will be great surprise If the Ameri-
can Navy falls short of the highest
standard of efficiency.
THE policy that has dictated the
cruise" says the paper, may be
wise or unwise, but it emphasizes to
an extraordinary degree the Presi-
dents firm conviction of the perma-
nence of the good relations betwe sn
the United States and Europe, otf cr-
wise he would never venture to send
the whole available naval strength OF
the United States to the uttermost
parts of the earth
1