The Mena weekly star., 1907-07-11

No Str ln TOXIC.
 Washington, D c. Ju 7.-presldenf Roosevelt is credited hsre with hay ing solved the Japanese question. He has called the Japanese bluff The official admissions of seeren ry MetcaIf and Secretary Loeb that the bulk of American naval strenFth ls to be transferred promptly to le Pacific are accepted as sufficient evidence that 1t will stay there and their diplomatic effort to interpret this movement merely as practice cruise is received with smiles.
 That sort of talk Is designed 10 lei Japan save it's face. The fact ia thai from the moment the fleet of Admiral Bob" Evans reached Pacific watert the Japanese fleet VIII rank secoud No one expects for a moment. after the nervous experience Of this coun. try during the last few months. that the Japanese fleet will ever again hs permitted to be the first naval power in the Pacific.
 In view of Ambassador AakIs i'm pudence at the state department and of Japan's very sassy attitude fl has been the universally accepted opinion here and abroad that an at tempt to transfer the fleet to Inc Pacific would be too critical a ster in the sensitive relations of the i've countries. Japan might reasonably regard 1t as preparation for war or even as an actually hostile step. The Japanese themselves eleverly al lowed just this impression to go abroad. But the President adopted the simple expedient of ordering the fleet to go, daring the Japanese gov. ernment to protest or resist
 What are you going to do about it?" is the naughty signal that the Japanese can read from the flags at the fighting tops of Evanss shipf Apparently they are not going to do anything about it. Ambassador Aoki hasens to say that Japan will by no means consider the sending of the fleet hostile move. Tokio Is silent. While Japan is financially unready for another war. 1t Is even less ready for fight with this particular fleet And therein is shown again thu strong hand of the Presideat. wha can win Nobel peace prizes. but who is we'll up on the war game. too
 frir s.f he. is that the route most feasible for the big ships is by way of the straits of Magellan. The route across the At. lantic and Suez canal is open to the objection that it would bring the big ships almost into Japanese waters. and the movement might. consequent. ly be regarded as a menace. which Secretary Metcalf has stated has never been contemplated. The Snez route, too. Is longer by a thousand miles than the Magellan route. This, according to the best calculations. and allowing for short visits to ports not on the nearest sailing route, is about 13.000 miles in length.
 Admiral Evans will. 1t is expected. start with 16 battleships besides the colliers. The armored cruisers Wash ington and Tennessee. which are now in French waters, are under orders Co return. refit and proceed to the Pa cific coast to form part of an ar mored cruiser squadron to be assem- bled there It is possible that they will be detained and accompany the battleships on the cruise. When Ad- miral Evans arrives off the coast his fleet will be increased by the addition of the battlesrip Nebraska, newly commissioned and simply awaiting the rounding out of her skeleton crew. The battleships Wisconsin and Oregon now at Bremerton navy yard, Puget Sound. will probably have completed their extensive repairs by next March so that they, too, may be added to the fleet which will then comprise is battleships. besides the armored and protected cruisers of the Pacific fleet
 Tokio, July LA report rom NeW York that President Roosevelt had officially confirmed the dispatch or 16 battleships to the Pacific produced but little commotion here. Some are inclined to read between the lines either a sinister motive on the part of certain section of Americans ar fected with anti-Japanese mania, or the maehination of a tool of a third power which is trying to benefit from tho ruo~rafe ff ptbarc