Problems of the Pacific 



3*5 



which we may string a wire or series 

 of wires, by which we may converse 

 across this great body of water, stretch- 

 ing half way round the globe, making 

 every one of its intermediate landings 

 and relay stations on our own territory 

 and protected by the American flag. 



Meantime England has decided to at- 

 tempt to connect the western coast of 

 Canada, via Fanning Island, the Fiji 

 group, and Norfolk Island, with her 

 Southern Pacific possessions of Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand, The proposed 

 routes of these two cable systems are 

 shown on the map here presented. 



It is proposed to also construct con- 

 necting links between Fanning Island 

 and the Hawaiian Islands, and by a 

 short side line connect the Samoan 

 group with the main line. This would 

 give to the American and the British 

 lines an opportunity for an interchange 

 of business and put all the important 

 groups of the Pacific — the Hawaiian 

 group, the Samoan Islands, the Fiji 

 group, Guam, and the Philippines — in 

 direct cable communication with our 

 western coast, and enable vessel owners 

 and owners of their cargoes to commu- 

 nicate with them en route to and from 

 this great market which we are seeking 

 to invade. 



My next suggestion is that we have 

 in the city of Manila a most valuable 

 distributing point for commerce destined 

 for the Orient. Located at a point 

 where the steamship and sailing lines 

 of the western Pacific converge, it be- 

 comes at once an important port of call, 

 transshipment, and exchange, and lying 

 midway between the great business cen- 

 ters of the Orient — Yokohama, Shang- 

 hai, Canton, Singapore, Calcutta, the 

 Dutch East Indies, and the cities of 

 Australia — it furnishes a base for com- 

 mercial operations, a point where Amer- 

 ican warehouses filled with American 

 goods will be accessible by cable and 

 quick steamer transportation for all 

 these points now so far removed from 



great European and American trade 

 centers. That these natural distribut- 

 ing points are of great strategic impor- 

 tance to the commerce of the nation 

 controlling them is illustrated in the 

 growth of the commerce of the United 

 Kingdom in the Orient since the estab- 

 lishment of Hongkong and Singapore 

 as distributing stations for her com- 

 merce. Hongkong became a British 

 colony in 1842, and Singapore at a 

 somewhat earlier date. In 1840 the 

 exports of the United Kingdom to the 

 countries adjacent to these commercial 

 stations amounted to but about $10,000, 

 000, while today it is $125,000,000. 

 While it is not assumed that this in- 

 crease is entirely due to the control of 

 these commercially strategic points by 

 the United Kingdom, their great im- 

 portance for such purposes is generally 

 admitted. That our control of Manila 

 is likely to be not only beneficial to 

 American commerce, but even to estab- 

 lish us as a formidable rival in the trade 

 of the East, is admitted by that distin- 

 guished British writer, Archibald R. 

 Colquhoun, whose familiarity with con- 

 ditions in the Orient makes him a rec- 

 ognized authority upon these topics. 

 In his work entitled " The Mastery of 

 the Pacific," recently issued, he says: 

 "The presence of America in the 

 Philippines and the consequent shifting 

 of the center of activity considerably to 

 the east of Hongkong open a grave pos- 

 sibility, for it is obvious that Hongkong 

 will in the future i be out of the direct 

 trade routes between Australasia, the 

 Malay Archipelago, and the great mar- 

 kets of America. . . . The possi- 

 bility of Manila becoming a serious rival 

 does not at present seriously exercise 

 the Hongkong merchant or ship owner, 

 but . . . there are evident signs 

 that the United States mean to make an 

 important center of the capital of the 

 Philippines. . . . Among the most 

 significant factors of the Pacific situa- 

 tion is the advent of Russia coming over- 



