The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-30


Mr.. Zogbaum. who is well known to the
American public as painter of naval
suAie and also as a recognized au
thority on naval life and work, ae-
eompaniedz the battleship fleet on its
great voyage to San Francisco.-The
Editors.
Some day peace may prevail upon
earth-perhaps even through the vio-
lenee of war in ffthe final conquest and
exclusive predominance of the race
proving itself the most noble, most in
telligent, most powerful but until
Utopian equality pervades mankind, no
people, however indubitable its love Tor
peace, NAV hope to escape, at some time,
from one cause or another, the pos
sibility OF danger of foreign embroil-
ment.
The United States has taken fore
most place among the nations. Year by
year the wealth and power of the
country are growing. its trade ever
reaching far beyond its territorial limits.
The flag OF its maritime commerce sur
rendered into other hands in the stress
of civil war, will surely sweep the seas
again The United States cannot, even
if they would, keep apart and alone in
the march Sof the nations, and consider
alton for the interests of the American
people, as influenced by or conflicting
with those of other countries, eompels
participation in matters of international
concern.
Never before in history have civilized
peoples maintained such great arma-
ments by sea and land. Whether, as
humanity IS now constituted, general
disarmament would conduce to peace
among the nations is a debatable ques-
ton. But it is an uneontrovertible
fact that all the great powers-not only
of the Oeeident, but also brave, highly
intelligent, intensely patriotic people of
the Orient refuse to disarm, and con-
tinue to support great armies and navies,
equipped with weapons and engines of
warfare of ever-inereasing power of
devastation. While such conditions pre-
vail, Americans can not ignore their
portentous possibilities. and the United
States must confront them with counter
preparation of force, ready and strong
enough to insure protection against
war through very preparedness to
make it.
In the far-extended coast line on two
oceans, separated by three thousand
miles of territory-and. until the com.
pletfon of the Panama Canal, accessible
by sea from one to the other only by
the practical eircumnavigation of a
continent-lies what is most vulnerable
in the geographical position of the
United States. The best defense lies
in the ability to prevent or divert
hostile aggression; obviously, under the
circumstances, a navy gives the most
adequate means to that end. And it
must be navy not merely in the pro-
vision of material alone-in ships, in
guns, IN supplies and resources; the most
powerful of war vessels, with the best
of motive power and armament, the
most improved of mechanical appliances
and devices, would be worthless in the
secrucial test of battle'' except in the
hands of those proficient to the highest
degree in their use. The practical APP
plieatien of the work of its preparation
for war-the training and discipline of
its personnel, the exercises IN gunnery.
torpedoes, and fleet evolutions and
taeties-must always be found in the
ships and in the feet; there is the
fighting force, with the burden OF active
service afloat, with the performance of
all duties incumbent on all hands, from
the Commander-in-C Chief to Jaek-o the
Dust The theoretical work of prepare
tion-the making of plans, the acquire
ment of information as to the relative
strength of possible opponents. the
study of strategy and tactics, and of the
art of war in general and of war by sea
in particulars of equally vital i'm
portanee; the neglect of one weakens
the strength and depreciates the value
of the other. In these days of constant
development of natural forces and
energies, when distance and the stretch
of oceans serve but slightly as protee-
tive factors, no. time remains for plans
and preparations once the hostile storm
cloud rises, and there is no surer invita-
ton to the evils and miseries of war
than lack of readiness and means TO
meet them.
For the American people there is no
sounder guarantee of peace than in the
maintenance of an active, mobile navy,
always so ready and formidable as to
render attack upon the shores of the
United States futile, through the power
to seek out upon the sea and disable or
destroy any enemy bold enough to at i
tempt it. I believe that the despatch of |
the Atlantic battlefield to the Pacific |
was a wise move on the part of the |
President, and that the coming visit of |
our ships to kindred people of the |
antipodes-speaking the same language |
as our own. and facing, in their rela- i
tions with alien races, similar conditions /
to-those which confront us, and which,
unless controlled by timely preeaution |
CHoLLY'S DISCOVERY.