Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-17

tack and sheltering Il
naval base upon which will rest the
far-flung battle line assuring American
marine supremacy in the Pacihc
ocean.
There was a time when the most
common objection to the retention or
the Philippines by the United states
was expressed in, the sentence, we
couldn't defend them in case of war.
Nowadays one hears-in the Orient at
least-the remark, "The Americans
must keep the Philippines as mill
tary base to protect its interests IN
Asiatic waters" This also implies the
growing conviction that the United
States has other and gretaer interests
in Asiatic waters and in the Pacific
ocean than the Philippine islands. In
other words, the Philippines mo longer
present an army problem of defense,
but a navy problem of offense."
That military epigram lately used by
a weil-informed writer on Pacific af-
fairs, is subject to the qualification
that a naval base at Manila, however
well fortified against attack by sea,
must depend upon the army for pro-
lection from an invading land force.
The island of Luzon Is almost as large
as England, and an invasion might
easily be accomplished.
!
! the naval station of Cavite, which
some day will be equipped as great
| naval base should be equipped, Is al
ready we'll fortified. The fort on the
island of Corregidor, huge rock in
! the middle of the narrow entrance to
the wide bay, is not completed, but IL
is even now one of the most formidable
defenses in the Orient. The details Oh
! its construction and armament have
been properly kept secret, but it Is al
ready known as the American Gtbral-
! tar of the Pacific"
The Pacific ocean is becoming more
| and more important every year. ana
the American people are beginning to
realize that the Pacific is much more
! American than the other sea. There
are many great powers whose domin-
! ions touch upon the Atlantic-there
are only three who have possessions In
the Pacific. One of these Is Japan
whose entire dominion is washed about
| bv that ocean. Another Is Russia, hay-
| ing only frost-bound Siberian harbors,
but, despite defeat and reversal, still
hungry for a warm water Pacific port:
| The third is the United States OF
America. The Pacific ocean washes its
western seaboard. a section of increas-
| ing prosperity and Importance. 1t laps
| the shores of Alaska. which have
proved to be we'll worth defending. IL
contains the island paradise of Hawaii,
| the naval and cable bases at Guam,
the Midways and Samoa. And, four
thousnd miles away, the Pacific ocean
waterways lead to the Philippine
islands.
Whether or not the Americans will
some day surrender those islands to
their own inhabitants, there is no con-
siderable body of Americans who
would peacefully permit them to be
| taken away by another power. Nor
will they be sold. The proposition to
sell the Philippines, never counte-
nanced or encouraged by anybody in
authority, is impossible. for two suf-
ficient reasons. Such sale would
amount to a breach of faith with the
Filpinos which would forever be-
smirch the honor of the United States.
And again, there is but one prospec-
! tive purchaser-Japan. The Filipinos
are a Christian people and the Jap
anese are not. The Christians of the
United States would never consent to
the sale of a Christian community to
a Pagan power.
| 1t is impossible to consider the posi-
ton of the United States in the Pacific
except in relation to the other Pacihc
powers. For many years to come Rus
sia will be, for obvious reasons, quite
| out of the reckoning. This leaves
Japan and the United States as rivals
for the control of the great ocean, the
two nations possessing the greatest
geographical advantages in the compe-
tition for the rapidly increasing trade
of awakening China. Without intend
ing to excite feeling or appear in the
role of an alarmist, it must be admit
ted that IL there is any war in the Pa
cifc in which the United States is a
party it probably will be a war with
Japan.
The Filipinos as a class shudder when
the possibility of Japanese domination