Omaha daily bee., 1919-03-20
Caroline Islands and Japan
Brooklyn Eagle.

OF supreme importance to the United States
is the contention of Japan that she should con-
troll the Caroline islands and others in the same
group that formerly belonged to Germany and
are now the subject of much discussion in the
Paris peace conference.
1t is probable that league of nations will be
formed and that an international naval force
will be one of the provisions. but interested
countries on the Pacific seem to feel that the
world should be made safe for themselves first;
therefore Japan is hurriedly advancing new rea-
sons why she should have all the South Sea
islands lying north of the equator. Australia is
just as determined to control those to the south,
and the United States is literally Standing by "
The South Sea islands are made up OF sever
al groups, known as the Carolines, the Marshall
islands, and the Marianne group total of some
500 small islets with population OF about $4,000
people, and an area of less than 1000 miles. Or
this group the island of Guam belongs to the
United States, it being coded by Spain in 1899,
when she sold the remainder to Germany
With the United States controlling the Ha-
waiian islands, Guam, and the Philippines, her
naval supremacy on the Pacific would seem Sc
cure. Japan, however, wants toothold IN the
CaEolines for a naval base, then if the interna-
tional naval police force fails in becoming a
reality, she has accomplished enough to serious
ly contest our Pacific security by an extensive
fortifcation of her new. possessions.
Capt A. P Niblack of the United States navy
in paper read before the Naval Architects and
Engineers early in 1917 emphasized the value of
naval bases by saying:
1T is an historical fact that no great naval
battle has ever been fought in midocean. but
always near the bases of one or the other pow
ers and the ports of supply, or naval bases, in
dictate the direction of the line which operations
must take in time of war and which become
lines of communications once the fleet has ad-
vanced beyond any one naval base on the route.
We already have in the Pacific the hearts desire
in strategical positions, and we seem to lack
only the knowledge and nerve to strengthen
such of them as will permit us to take the inita
tive and thereby forestall and even prevent war
by making it too hopeless for anyone else to
take the chances"
1t s,certain that were Japan to gain control
of the Carolnes she could so fortify them as. to
nulify all our advantages in holding Guam
Then she is but three days steamng time from
our Philippines while we are twenty or more,
so the possibilities of a great navy, first on the
ground and well supported by several bases in
fifteen hundred mile radius would place the
United States decidedly at disadvantage.
ANY consideration of the strategy of the Pa
cifc is utterly futile which leaves out the cree
ton OF Guam into great naval base as our key
to it for all time" says Captain Niblack. Other
possessions which we now questions of
definite offensive or defensive areas, or of short
enlng lines OF communication, and such
worthy of consideration as strategic points, but
our first necessity is consideration of Guam"
Naval experts have agreed that nothing, not
even numerical battleship superiority, is equal
to one frst-class naval base If Japan should
gain her present ideals in the Pacific it would
be the longest stride she has ever made in the
direction of naval supremacy on the greatest
ocean, and means that one little mistake in time
of war, one single slip or apparently minor set
back would wrest the advantage from our hands,
so nearly would the power be divided
Whatever the political future of the Caroline
islands, they bound to be objects of scien-
tltlc interest tor generations to come, says the
National Geographic society.
Who built the massive stone structures which
give evidence of high degree of civilization at
some prehistoric time?
What was the origin of the stone currency,
some "coins" of which weigh five tons?
These are but two OF the many questions
which these Pacific islands of mystery present.
The stone ruins extend from Ponape an island
toward the east of the group to zap. on the
west On zap are great stone terraces en-
bankments and roads, composed of neatly laid
stone blocks, stone graves, stone platforms and
enormous chambers resembling council lodges
with gables and tall pillars, frequently carved.
Ponape dscloses the Pacific Venice There
the ruins are partly submerged Apparently
they once stood on an island city, unless their
site was connected with other islands before
terrific upheaval inundated them.
what IelldlIS lOudy IS HOIc lIldH Hall d
hundred rectangular walled islets. projecting
above the waters of lagoon. There is an
outer lagoon, separated from breakwater three
miles long. In all this construction huge basat
blocks were used. Apparently they we're I'M
touched by iron tools. Recent study has con-
frmed the belief that these mighty megalithic
monuments antedate the present native popula-
ton of the Carolines.
"Orgin of the unique stone coinage is not
known. She'll money seems to have supplanted
the unwieldly stone discs for small change long
before the white man arrived. The stone money
is made from limestone or calcite. 1t probably
was employed for primitive banking rather than
for general circulation. Its security from theft
assured by itsNweight. Specimens are found
piled about the homes of native chieftains. In
GLIDING reefs not inhabited the Caroline islands
number more than $780, OF the total land area
of 800 square miles, Ponape, zap, Kusaie and
Hogou, or Truk. In 1911 the total population
was about $4,000, and of these fewer than 400
were Europeans. The islands extend for about
1000 miles, east and west. They lie more than
$500 miles to the east of the Philippines, and
about 1000 miles north of New Guinea"
No Place for Doctors.
The little island of St. Kilda, the most re-
mote of the Hebrides-attacked by German