The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-22
UNCIE SAMS SUBJECTS
 IN GUAM OBSERVE
 THEIR FLAG DAY TODAY

Uncle Sam's 12,517 loyal subjects in the Pacific island of Guam will cele- brate their flag day today, for it was seventeen years ago today that the Stars and Stripes were first raised over Fort Santa. Cruz While the isl- and has an area of only 200 square miles, it possesses immense strategic advantage, and would be of tremen- dous advantage if the United States ever had to defend its possessions in the Far East.
 The annexation of Guam on June 21, 1898, was negotiated by Captain Henry Glass, commanding the U- s. S. Charleston At the beginning of the spanish-American war the Marianne or Ladrone group, of which Guam is the largest, belonged to Spain. The cruiser Charleston, en route to Manila, stopped at Guam and opened fire on Agana, the capi- tall The Spanish commander, not knowing that his country was at war, thought the attack was intended as 8. salute and he sent an officer to the Charleston apologizing for not return ing the courtesy, owing to lack of ammunition. When the Spaniards learned the true state of affairs, Guam was surrendered after negotiations that lasted less than half an hour.
 The transfer of Guam to the United States was formally concluded by the treaty of Paris the following Decem- Der. Capt. Leary, of the United States navy, was appointed the first Ameri- can governor, and later the island was made naval station and in 1899 | Commander E. D. Taussig took pos sission. The governor is always g. naval officer, and the island has a marine garrison as we'll as a station ship.
 The people of Guam have made great progress since Uncle Samuel took charge of their destinies. Far from being the untutored savages of | the popular imagination, they are in | te1ligent, industrious and fairly well educated. The people are mostly inn migrants or descendants of imrni- grants from the Philippines, as the original race of the island is practi- ca1U extinct There are many schools | and of the present inhabitants above | the age of twelve fully nine-tenths can read and write Since the Amer ican occupation slavery, which | f1ourished under the Spanish regime, has been abolished. Guam is a fertile, thickIy wooded and we'll watered isl- and, and produces abundant crops of | corn, tobacco, sugar cane, rice, cacao and tropical fruits.
 Guam is on a direct line from Cali fornia to the Philippines, and is B. i O44 miles from San Francisco and 1,- 5o6 miles from Manila. It was dis | covered nearly four centuries ago by Fernando de Maga11anes. Tn the old days Guam was port of call for the richly-1aden Spanish galleons which piled between the Orient and the ports of North and South America.
 Guam lies directly the trade route between the Panama Canal and the Far East, and this has given 1t a new importance. The United States is now engaged in fortifying the isl- and transforming it into a mid-Pa- cific Gibraltar. The magnificent harbor of San Luis d'Apra, with it's breakwater of coral reefs, forms a haven five miles long and from two to three miles wide, where the largest fleet of batt1eships may find a, safe refuge. A great army of marines, the largest fighting force in Guam's long history, will be permanently sta toned at Guam, and there will be transports always waiting to carry the seas oIdiers to any point in the Pacific. Batteries of big guns will protect Guam from any possible at- tack.