The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-02

/ mainland OF the United States. 1t
| must be here continually. and that
/ Kind OF a defense must be prepared.
with organized troops. If we have
not that defense ready, We are more
| than liable to lose our base here at
/ the very beginning of hostilities. Now.
| II is this particular thing that we
nave need of looking after now: that
is the Federal garrison that may be
stationed here must have assistance
locally, and that must be organized
assistance. You should have a ma
tional guard here organized Just as
large as you can for this purpose.
II think that you all agree that the
action that the government has taken
| in giving You large naval base here.
which I think it undoubtedly will be
in the future. will give much more
Importance to this Territory. 1t will
add to the prestige and it will add
to the business of the Territory And
likewise I think that you are all will
ing, If you can see your way clear.
to do what you can to safeguard that
institution. Consequently, in addition
to having organized troops for assist
ing in the banding of the heavy guns,
we must have organized troops to as
sist the mobile garrison that may be
stationed here in guarding against a
first attack that might be made.
NEED LARGE DEFENSE.
I'm addition to that, of course, we
need larger defense. but that need
not be here Immediately. A part of
that will necessarily have to be fur
nished from the mainland; part of
that it is also expected will be fur
nished from here: and / think some
steps might be taken here to find out
in a measure what can be done in that
respect. about what might be expect
ed. The War Department needs in
formation of what it might expect To-
cally here, for the reason that you
are so far away that we should know
quite definitely what is necessary here
as an ultimate defense. If by some
accident or by an overwhelming force
we should lose control of the sea, this
defense could scarcely be reinforced
from the mainland-no reinforcement
could be expected. Therefore our de-
quickly as possible after war breaks
tain itself. l think, perhaps that the
resources on this island are sufficient,
in addition to what is sent here with
the force, to support force of that
kind for long enough time TO secure
relief by a fleet that would have to
come even from the other ocean, but
the force should be strong enough to
prevent this place from being taken
and be strong enough to keep off any
probable attacks that might be made
upon it. For such defense, say,
the larger defense-what we call on
the mainland the coast guard, but
which here should be called a perma-
nent defense--this force must be met
mainly from volunteers, and we must
have some information about what
might he expected in the way of vol
unteers in this Territory to make up
this larger force. in order that we
may know two things-frst, the es-
adjustment of a proper arsenal to
furnish supplies for suthJ "a hFSbAble
force; and, in addition. to,athat, The
minimum force that must be sent
from the mainland in order to safe
guard the station on this island.
/ might say I think that the pro-
lection of this island is practically the
protection of this Territory; that there
is nothing else on these islands that
is tenable, if the United states holds
a base on this island, nor is there any
thing else here that will look partic-
ularly attractive or worth while for an
enemy to expend much time or energy
taking. This would be the objective;
it would be the objective, perhaps, not
so much as being of use to the enemy
as it would injure US to lose, it.
THE CHARACTER OF WARFARE.
'And that brings US down to the
! character of warfare that must be
carried on to be successful. We might
say that If we lose this, they can't
take away the mainland from US, but
no war has ever been successful, no
war has ever brought about proper re-
suits or strengthened the character
and dignity of a nation, that has not
been carried on aggressively. This
place is of more value to US as a base
than it is to anybody else for agrees
sive operations. If we do not keep
this base we are unable, or it is very
difficult for us, at least, to carry on
war aggressively anywhere in the Pa
cific, and therefore this base Is worth
more to us than it is to anybody else.
They would take this place, perhaps,
not so much for acting aggressively
against the mainland OF the United
States as they would to injure us in
acting aggressively against them.
Another thing that I think 1T is
well to remember, and that is that this
Territory is now a part of the nation,
a strong, powerful nation. It is well
to remember that the nation is only
strong and powerful on account of the
combined efforts of the various states
and territories that make up that ma
ton. Every state and every territory
must lend its strength to the nation in
order that the nation itself may be
stronger; without all the assistance
that can be given from all of the
states and territories, the nation can
not be most powerful.
within the last five or six years
the national guard of the various
states has improved very greatly. The
Federal government, upon the recon-
Of h. NJ, ~,