The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-08-15
aci6c Naval Problems
Army and Navy journal.

In commenting IN our last issue upon
former Attorney General of the United
States, @who wrote US in regard to his
indiscriminate charge that an iniqui
tous lobby is behind the demand for a
large navy, we said that the contractor
and others who profit directly bv the
construction of warships are far behind
public sentiment in matters of large
national concern. We could ask no
more striking confirmation of our view
than is supplied by the opinions of that
able British naval officer who has been
contributing for some months to the
United Service Magazine, of London. a
series of admirable papers on 1.-The
Struggle for Sea Power: The Rise of
the I. S. Navy This officer writes
under the pen-name of ''Captain r.
NJ We would recommend these pa
pers to the careful consideration of
Mr. MacVeagh and others who take his
wrong point of view in judging of the
influence behind naval expansion.
lie writer III lHe LOEdon nldgdZfnp
is not an alarmist. He treats Of the
American navy in a dispassionate and
judicial spirit, and weighs with great
deliberation and care every phase of
the question of sea power. The paper
from which we quote below is the con
Guiding one of his Illuminating series
He is no "Pacific coast firebrand. -
nor has he any relations we ever heard
of with shipbuilding firms He is sim
ply an officer of the British navy who,
being far removed from the racial an
tipathies which might be urged against
American advocates of a large navy in
the Pacific. can view the situation in
that ocean with an unbiased mind. II
IS therefore peculiarly enlightening to
read the following analysis. which he
makes in the July issue of the maya
zine, of the problems which confront
the United States as a result of the
Spanish War:
"The war with Spain left the United
States saddled with heavy responsible
ties. The possession of Porto Rico. the
Sandwich Islands and her share of the
Samoan group, with the protectorate
over Cnba, made her a colonial power;
her annexation of the Philippines made
her an eastern power, and has brought
her face to face with rival in Japan,
with which country, unless she walks
warIly. she may easily find herself
drawn into a contest that might well
be fraught with disaster And If has
to be remembered that there are many
possible causes of quarrel American
trade interests in China are consider
able, and there has, since the conclusion
of the RuSso-japanese war. been much
friction developed owing to the question
of the open door in Manchuria and
Korea, the United States claiming the
right tn trade on equal terms with the
japanese in those two countries.
Then, again, the treatment of the
japanese by the municipal authorities
in San Francisco and other towns on
the Pacific slope has created 4 good
deal Of bad feeling between the two
countries, while the enormous influx of
japanese labOrers-m0St Of them trained
solders-into Hawaii and the other IS
lands of the group IS by no means
looked on with favorable ewes bv the
authorities. And lastly it must be re
membered that the japanese are ambi-
tlous, and that they undoubtedly are
looking forward to the day when they
viii be the supreme power in the far
East; it is the hegemony Of that quar-
ter Of the globe for which they are
aiming. They have never looked with
favor on the acquisition of the Philip
pines ny the United States. and undues-
tionably hope some day to add them to
their empire. When the annexation Of