The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-05-10
NY FREDERICK j. HAsK1N. (
Take may of tho Pacific ocean ant

| Honolulu
Take may of tho Pacific Ocean and
draw. lines across 1t from tho prin-
cipal ports In both Americas to the
Islands OF the Seas. Where these lines
cross you Will find I1awaii--the Cross
Roads OF the Pacific. And. incidental-
". you will have q homemade map Of
tho very kind thar every visitor to
Honolulu Is confronted with every
motion Committee, which is to say
every time he meets anybody at all.
Tho United States as whole may
not yet realize how rare and precious
Is this chain OF jewels OF the sea that
has shaken off the old name OF Sand
Wich Islands. but the islanders realize
It to the full. They know that the
va Of HAWAI- WALL is not to 30 calculated
don't discuss area. But when 1t comes
| TO strategic maps and applied geog.
raphy the Hawaiian IS on tho Job.
Of sbe Thoh ,. y the great Rqr
more than 400 miles from anywhere
that anybody ever hears about or goes
to. To the, unthinking that fact may
mean disadvantage, but Hawaii
land ports which are close to the main
land. but they are glad to stop in a
good harbor when two. or three thou
sand miles out on SIX or ten thou ~.
1
ships to stop made Honolulu in the
Fold days of the whaling industry. and
lit did not suffer from the overthrow
of the sperm candle by the oil lamp.
Jumps OF sugar into the worlds coffee
cup. But that was business which
\ concerned only Hawaii. for the world
doesn't ask whether Its morning sugar
/ lump comes from Hawaii or Cuba or
IJava.
Things are beginning to change now,
4 and Honolulu knows that 1t will not
i be long before the whole United States
territory. OF Hawaii is right IN the
middle OF the game. This same limited
states Is spending some untold millions
to cut ditch across the Panama
the Pacific Ocean. This same United
States is showing the world few
| Things by sending the biggest fleet
of warships ever got together for such
a cruise all around the Pacific. Why?
To show to the world that the Ameri-
can trade and prestige in the Pacific
Is to be guarded. No one supposes that
the United states is going TO permit
! away, and everybody ought TO know
that American trade in the great ocean
I VIII be extended II human means and
Yankee wit can accomplish IT.
1 Where viii the American battleships
1 stop on their way across the Pacific?
i Honolulu. Where Will the merchant
vessels that carry the American trade
to. the Orientput In? Honolulu. Where
Twill the great stream of traffic that
Will burst through from the Atlantic
when the ditch is dug first touch2
1 Honolulu. Where will be the great
American naval base In the Pacific?
Pearl Harbor. which is seven miles
from Honolulu. Where will be the
] great military outpost which will be
the buffer between rising oriental am
! bition and the maintenance of Ameri-
can dominion in the Pacific? Homo
lulu Where will be the great Ameri-
/ can empires rendezvous Malta and
i Gibraltar IN one? Honolulu.
The Hawaiians have been out here
Mn the Pacific watching things anr
I they knew the answer to all these ques-
an unwilling American government for
i years when they were begging to be
annexed. One bright May morning
Uncle Sam woke up to ind brown
came by the accident of fate, and Con-
Il gress at last was persuaded that Ha-
wall might be worth while as stop
over on the way out. Therefore, Ha-
vail was gathered into the fold by a
i joint resolution and, by most of the
i people, promptly forgot
i That was only ten years ago. What
now? There is storm brewing In
4 the Orient which will make the little
scrap OF 1898 fade into children's
4 quarrel. If Hawaii was necessary to
America for such little affair as the
brush with the Fiipinos. how much
! more valuable will 1t be when there
is mans fight ,a-coming? Ten years
ago Europe laughed at the little Amer
lean navy. 1t was good enough to
4 get the best of Spain, all right, but
America woke. up to the fact that it
: wasn't good for much more. There
along, but the United States turned
to navy building. Now It has the
A greatest fleet in the Pacific in the
which ranks second in the world In
/ size and first in relative efficiency
4 and there is fleet left on the Allan
4 whole navy was at the time OF the
4 war with Spain. SO much for ten
Years.
The gre1t struggle for the mastery
i Of the Pacific and the freedom OF
China may not come this year, or n E; ); ];
the next ten years. and Uncle sam IS
! very likely to be in the scrlmmage
He is beginning to wake up to the Sc
robustness of that likelihood In fact
goes, and IS getting into form on pub.
! lie sentiment. This great struggle will
be in the Pacific ocean. II, the mid.
! die Of the ocean is Hawaii. Hawaii
to the fore!s
: Hawaii has q sore spot. It IS sc
;. tcnder that one doesn't need to poke
!. to find it. 1t makes It's presence felt
and every visitor from the mainland
Of the United States ties knows 'n aboTt
| 1t before he has been IN Honolulu
!, that the people of the rest Of the
!, United States doesn't seem to know
{ that Hawaii Is n bona fide, insepara-
/ Bile, directly attached, seamless part
J. fs:s=-=:=:::::::::::.:..%:%.:-=%=;;
] U 1::1