The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-03-20

way of defending our Pacific coast; it
will constitute one of the strongest
factors in the prevention of war with
any power in the Far East.
Your committee has received memo
rails from all of the strongest COM
mercial organizations on the entire
Pacific coast, urging that the devel-
opment of Pearl Harbor be provided
for at this session of Congress.
The national Importance of this
measure is emphasized by the fact that
commercial bodies from the Central
West and from New York city have
also memorialized Congress on this
subject during this present session.
The question of a naval base in Ha-
wall is not comparable with the same
problem in the Philippines. Hawaii is
both a permanent organic part of our
nation, and is also a source of reve-
nue.; during the past eight years Ha-
wall has paid more than 100000 into
the Federal Treasury.
Every consideration, whether of ma
tional honor or policy, demands that
Pearl Harbor be made impregnable
and equipped as a naval base imme-
diately.
With a naval base at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii would be our great defensive
outpost; in the hands of an enemy 1t
would double the nations cost for
naval defense.
URGES HAWAIIAN BASE.
The following is from the Washing
ton Post of March 8:
I'm the judgment of the committee,
the new developments on the Pacific
and among the nations that border its
shores make it imperative that a
strong operating base be established
for our navy at Pearl Harbor without
further delay.
An enemy Gin possession of Hawaii
could harass and threaten our entire
Western coast. On the other hand,
with our own fleet operating from a
well-equipped base at Pearl Harbor,
no fleet from the Orient would find
it practicable to threaten our coast
because of the stronghold left in the
rear and the prohibitive distance from
their coaling base.
"A naval base at Pearl Harbor is
not designed primarily for the protec-
ton of Hawaii; its main purpose is
to form a buffer of defense for our
entire Pacific coast, and to make pos
sible our supremacy upon the Pa
cific.''
REPORT OF NAVAL COMMITTEE.
The foregoing constitute vital state
ments is as sensational a report as
ever made by the House Committee on
Naval Affairs. The report containing
them was submitted yesterday in sup
port of the bill introduced a few days
ago by Representative Bates of Erie,
Pa, appropriating 100000 to estab-
lish a naval base at Pearl Harbor, near
Honolulu; 100000 of which is to be
Immediately available. The committee
ordered the bill to be favorably re-
ported. Such precipitateness of action
by so great a committee on a subject
calling for such a large expenditure
has not been known among House
members since the beginning of the
Spanish war.
That the Bates bill is an adminis-
trative measure and that the talk of
war between America and Japan in
spired it may easily be inferred from
the fact that President Roosevelt ask
ed the Pennsylvania to come to the
White House and talk about the bill.
The President approved it, so the
Pennsylvania member said.
The report ends with the following
statement: Every consideration of
national honor or policy demands that
Pearl Harbor be made impregnable
and equipped as a naval base imme-
diately." In another part of the re-
port the assertion is made that it is
the only practicable site for a naval
base in the Pacific Ocean, and is the |
recognized key to the naval supremacy
of these waters. Its equipment as an
operating base is prerequisite to the
operation of our fleet, |
whether offensive or defensive.
BEST HARBOR IN THE WORLD. |
The harbor which it is proposed to
:ortify IS said to be the best natural
harbor in he world With a depth of |
sixty feet and an area of ten square
miles, it is capable of harboring all
the navies of the world combined. The |
harbor is land-locked, and the noun
tains surrounding it shut off all view
Of ships lying within from the open
sea. The mountains are so high that ]
mortar fire would be Intellectual, and |
the dragging of guns to the heights of
land around would be impossible
For more than sixty-five years the |
United States government has official i
" recognized the Hawaiian Islands as |
the natural outpost of its defenses, and |
in 1871 President Tyler put out Mon
roe doctrine of the Pacific, saying that |
the United States would never consent |
to have them occupied by a foreign |
power.
IIaTurn lQIlllTEnErII