The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1921-12-16

From Hiram Bingham Bird who
spent last summer with his family
on Maui there has come a copy of
the New Haven Courier Journal with
an editorial marked which Mr.. Bing-
ham rightfully believes will be of in
terest to Maui readers as showing an
Eastern States attitude toward Ha-
waii.
The editorial which is entitled
Hold Hawaii" follows:
when Admiral Dewey took Manila
in the leafy month of May, 1898,
most of us had to hurry to u at
lases to find out where the Philip
pines were. Even today our know
ledge of the geography of the Pacific
is still so hazy that when Japan pro
poses that we do not fortify our is
lands in the Pacific, some of is are
inclined to group Hawaii, Guam, and
the Philippines under the same head
ing, as foreign possessions, the forti-
fCation of which only serves to an
noy Japan and postpone the fruition
of practical plans for disarmament.
As a matter of fact, these three
groups of islands are scattered ove
such a wide area that the fortifying
or non-fortifying of them presen
radically different problems. Hawaii
which is about 1000 miles from San
francisco, is more than 1000 miles
from the Philippines. Even Clam is
as fan from Honolulu as Liverpool is
from New York. On the other hand
the distance from the Philippines or
from Guam to Nagasaki is only about
1000 miles. Powerful Notifications
in the Philippines or at Guam might
properly be construed by Japan as
bases from which we could make a
successful attack on the Asiatic coast
but Notifications in Hawaii no more
constitute a menace to Japan, Git is
3,445 miles from Honolulu to the near
est Japanese port) than Notifications
at Sandy Hook constitute a menace
to Germany.
The Japanese do not like the
climate of the Philippines. Guam is
a mere speck on the ocean. In Ha-
wall, however, more than 1875, 900
Japanese have found their homes.
The climate agrees with them-more
would like to come. OF the 10000
babies born each year in the Hawai-
ian stands 5000 are Japanese. We
are told on good authority that most
OF these japanese are not even
'hyphenates.' There is practically no
such thing as a Japanese-American.
They maintain their W language,
religion, political loyalty, and patrio-
tic devotion to the homeland Just as
we, Americans, would do were we to
n ourselves on a group of Japanese
stands Thus Japan already has a
foothold in Hawaii. The Treaty of
versailles has given her, in the port
OF Jaluit, the Marshall Islands, a
naval base which is as neal Honolulu
as San Francisco is. If we relax our
vigilance in defending Hawaii, we
snail tempt Japan to take advantage
OF the fact that nearly half of the
population is already japanese, and
that a conquest of these islands would
be a comparatively easy matter. This
could only lead to a long and terrible
war. The best way to prevent such
a wal is To make of Hawaii a veryi-
able Glib altar. Such a procedure
could ret be construed as an aggres.
l move against any Asiatic power,
for laval is too far away from Asia
to serve as a base of attack. On the
other hand, Hawaii is near enough to
our own mainland to serve as the
Keystone of our defense of the Paci-
fc coast. Without it, Japanese sub
marines could not act against our
coastwise trade, nor could a Japanese
fleet carry on naval operations in the
vicinity of San Francisco.
w can well afford to agree not
TO fortify the Philippines or Guam.
AS long as Japan holds the Carolines
n the Marshalls, it would be prac-
tically impossible for us to carry on
war for the defense of the Philip
pines. The proposal hat Japan shall