Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-08-30

here is ample room for a fleet, 1t has
ever facility which might be needed
for the creation of dockyard and
repair station. The obstacle 10 its
use has been the existence OF cora
| barrier across the entrance, which
| has locked the passage of vessels oil
any but the shalloWest draugnt, al
! though there is deep water within the
| locks. Construction at this important
point has been III progress ever since
! The annexation; just what is The
present condition at the reef. whether
ii has been blasted out to admit the
| entry OF vessels of the first type, is
known only to the general board OF
the navy. The building of the repair
shops has not been prosecuted with
vigor but after a dozen years of work
it may reasonably be expected that
the reef has been disposed of: Hawaii
has value for something more than
its service as an outpost to cover the
Pacific coast of the mainland. Sup
ported from the navy yards at Mare
Island and Bremerton. it is the sec
ondary base from which the American
fleet will address itself to whatever
task may await it in the Pacific.
Guam and Midway, though coming
into ownership Though different
means, have the same sort of import
ance. The former certainly, the is'-
ter probably must be held in order to
insure the safety and even the action
of the Pacific cable Midway. low
group of sandy islets. is indefensible.
IL,
accessible only to schooner of the
lightest navigable draught. Its value
lies in the fact that it affords a
speck of land on which to equip in
utter loneliness relay station
where messages may be reinforced
over the long stretch of ocean be-
tween Honolulu and Guam. There is
reason to believe that Midway might
be sacrificed without stopping the use
of the cable.
1t is far otherwise with Guam. That
place is essential to submarine COM
munication. Honolulu could not
reach Luzon without at least one re-
lay, and it is not known that Midway
has the power to communicate with
Manila if Guam were cut out. No
improvements have yet been made to
the Guam harbor of San Juan d'Apra.
1t will accommodate at most two YES
sells OF the army transport type: the
anchorage is poor, and at this sea-
son of the year, gales may render it
unsafe.
The relation to these American out
posts of the German possessions in
the Pacific is somewhat intricate
They are the Marshall Islands, the
Carolines, the Ladrones, the New
Guinea colony, including the Bismark
Archipelago, and Buka and Bougain-
vile. the most northerly of the Colo
mon Islands, and in the south German
Samoa. New Guinea and Samoa alone
possess economic value; not enough
to attcact avarice.
The Marshall Islands, in two
chains known as Radak and Ralik, lie
midway between Hawaii and Guam,
but somewhat south OF the most di-
rect fine OF travel. They are lagoon
islands, the navigation is dangerous,
and the only point which might serve
as a bare rendezvous of a fleet is the
lagoon Of Jaluit.
The Lardone Islands extend north
ward from Guam in the direction OF
the Boin Islands. which have long
been in Japanese ownership. From
Salphan, the most southernly OF the
German Ladrones, Guam is visible.
The Caroline islands extend from
the vicinity of the Marshalls in a
long chain of unimportant islands
destitute of harbOrs, and in their pro-
longation, through the equally un,m-
portant Palua group, came close to
the coast of Mindanai of the Philip
pines. The important point in the
Carolines is the island of Vap. The
harbOr there is tortuous, and beset
with coral reefs. 1t is in no sense
available for naval purposes. But
from Guam a secondary line of cable
extends southwest. This establishes
Van as German station at the be-
ginning of cable line which reaches
Berlin through the Java seas and
Asia. Vap is equipped as radio
station OF such power as to form the
receiving center of aerograph com,
muncation through battleship re-
lays, independent of any central by
laws of neutralit ashore. In New
Guinea Kaiser-Wilhelms land orders
the possession of Papua which is ad
ministered by, the Commonwealth Of
Australia. Together these two colo
MES, as yet most imperfectly develop
ed, occupy all of New Guinea east Of
the Dutch border at the meridian OF
144 degrees east. At Herbertshoehe
in the Bismark Archipelago, is {
small center of German commerce, {
station secondary to the Samoan
headquarters of the Deutsche Hand
els and Plantagen-Ge o
Hamburg, the successor to the ole
Firma Godeffroy, which introduced 6
colonial policy to Bismarck's German
empire. In the Marshall and the
Caroline islands, commerce is almos
wholly in the hands of the Jaluil
Gesellschaft
Should Japan and Germany no
compose their difficulties which have
led to the delivery of the ultimatum
by Toxic. all these islands would lie
open to attack and possible seizure
! by Japan. This would establish ar
| o1t