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nificent railway system, and to all the Eastern lands by admirably equipped steamship lines. To the south lie the constantly developing countries of Mexico, Central America, Chile, and the other South American nations. On the southwest lie the British colonies, rapidly crystallizing into a great republican federation. To the west lies Japan, a country of forty million of marvellously enterprising and ingenious people, and China with her enormous population and immeasurable possibilities, now opening up to the world. To the northwest lies Siberia, the largest country in the world, in natural resources one of the richest, in the very act of being developed upon the Pacific Coast by a government of absolute power.

Nearly $4,000,000 per annum are paid by Great Britain and her colonies for subsidies for steamship and cable communications in or to the Pacific. With the completion of the Nicaragua Canal there will pour into the Pacific by the new route to the Orient and to Australasia the measureless traffic between those countries and all our Atlantic seaboard and a considerable portion of Europe.

International Importance of Samoa.-In the centre of this ever-increasing commerce in the northern hemisphere lie the Hawaiian Islands, with no other neighboring group to diminish their importance. Laying aside the debatable question of the annexation of those islands, few can be found who would for a moment concede that the "moral suzerainty" which we have for many years maintained over them should be weakened in any degree. The attempt by any foreign power to seize them would be resented as an unfriendly act by any administration, and would be resisted by force, as has been substantially declared by Mr. Webster, Mr. Legaré, Mr. Clayton, Mr. Marcy, Mr. Fish, Mr. Blaine, Mr. Frelinghuysen, and Mr. Bayard.

In the South, Pacific European nations have been swift to seize upon the vantage points. With the French in Tahiti and New Caledonia, the Spanish in the Carolines and Philippines, the Germans in the Marshall Islands, New Guinea, New Britain, and other groups, and the British in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Solomons, and many other groups, and exercising a practical protectorate over Tonga, there is no independent group left except Samoa. But these islands, lying south 10 degrees and west 173 degrees, are in the very path of commerce. They are

central to all movements in the South Pacific. Directly past them go all steamers between our Pacific coast and Australia. Here a Pacific cable will doubtless find one of its stations. Samoa stands as a sentinel and outpost in that vast southern sea, just as Hawaii does in the northern. If it is appropriated by any foreign power, we have no foothold left south of the equator, no place to which we can go as a matter of right. When we once relax our grasp we do so forever. Immediate annexation by England or Germany would follow, and those hands never open to release what they have closed upon.

Our Interests at Pago Pago.-Our modern warships are absolutely dependent on frequent coal supplies. As Mr. McAdoo said in his speech in the House: "All the greatest nations of the world are trying to secure for themselves places where they can get supplies of coal in emergencies. . This harbor of Pago Pago is a great advantage to us, and we have gotten it in an honorable way." Without criticising the opinions of respectable gentlemen who have never been within many miles of Pago Pago, but have recently officially reported that the harbor is of little value, it will be useful for a moment to see how it has been regarded by those who have seen it, and whose opinions are of especial value. In 1830 it was visited by that veteran missionary of the South Seas, John Williams, who reported that the harbor was an excellent one and should be acquired by England. In 1839 Admiral Wilkes visited it, and after describing it fully says: "This is of all the ports the best fitted for the refitting of vessels." In 1871 Captain Wakeman, sent out to report by the famous shipbuilder William H. Webb, wrote: "I found myself in the most perfectly land-locked harbor that exists in the Pacific Ocean," and gave full and satisfactory descriptions of widths, depths, landmarks, etc. In 1873 the British Consul at Samoa reported to his government the existence of an agreement transferring to the United States important concessions "in the magnificent harbor of Pago Pago," and expressed the hope that in case of failure of subsequent negotiations, "it may be possible to transfer the overtures of the chiefs to ourselves." In the very same year, the North German Confederation had instructed its Consul to secure the control of Pago Pago harbor, but he arrived too late. Our commander had completed his work. Our Commissioner, Mr. Goward, wrote from Pago Pago VOL. CLXV.-NO. 489.

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in 1878 "The harbor of Pago Pago is the most important in the South seas." Findlay's South Pacific Directory, the standard of navigation for those waters, says of Pago Pago: "It is a deep, land-locked basin, of easy approach, and perfectly secure anchorage."

For the more perfect realization of the rights secured to us, Secretary Tracy ordered a survey of the harbor to be made, which was carried out under the direction of Admiral Kimberly, and the most valuable portions of the shore front, as selected by him, were purchased in fee in 1889 and 1890 and are now absolutely owned by the United States government. To the suggestion that we have not secured title to enough of the shore front, the obvious reply is that if Admiral Kimberly's judgment was at fault, the adequate remedy is to buy more land. There are no known obstacles in the way, either of fact or law. The Berlin Act recognizes the validity of the former treaty with the United States, and does not forbid the acquisition of land by our government. In fact, many of our present titles were acquired since the execution of the Berlin act and have long since been confirmed by the Supreme Court of Samoa.

No one has better stated, in brief form, the reasons for the treaty than did Secretary Bayard at the Washington conference, where he said to his associates :

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"These islands lie in the pathway of a commerce that is just being developed. There is something beyond the mere material present value of the land or the products." In his instructions to Mr. Bates he wrote: "The Samoan Islands are to-day almost the sole remaining neutral territory in Oceanica. The principle of neutralization is of special importance to the United States, for in no other part of Polynesia is a right of this nature possessed by them." In his instructions to the plenipotentiaries who negotiated the Berlin act, Secretary Blaine said: "The interests of the United States require the possession of a naval station in those remote parts of the Pacific, and by a treaty with the lawful authorities of Samoa they have been put in control of the harbor of Pago Pago for these purposes. We cannot consent to the institution of any form of government in Samoa subject directly or indirectly to influences which, in the contingencies of the future, might check or control the use or the development of this American right."

In the light of these facts it is a matter of surprise to read in Secretary Gresham's communication to President Cleveland of May 9, 1894, recommending substantially a withdrawal from the treaty, elaborate arguments based upon difficulties of administration, and its failure to increase our commerce, or to benefit the natives of Samoa, without the slightest mention of the fact that we had already acquired the shores of Pago Pago and that the security of our rights there and the neutralization of the islands were the prime factors which had controlled our action. The real question was absolutely untouched by the distinguished Secretary.

Climatic and Commercial Considerations.-A word should be said, incidentally, about the climate and possible resources and commerce of Samoa. The climate is necessarily tropical, and that imports such diseases as are incidental to tropical countries. An occasional year, like 1894, can be selected, when influenza or some fever has prevailed, which will show a high death rate among white residents. But there are no statistics existing, and no facts known, tending to show that Samoa is not one of the most salubrious of tropical countries. With a temperature in which sixty degrees and ninety degrees, Fahrenheit, are the extremes of heat and cold, relieved during the greater portion of the year by refreshing trade winds, with a luxuriant and marvellously beautiful tropical foliage, with absolute freedom from all noxious animals, and with a native population picturesque, kindly, polite, and hospitable, Samoa is in many respects a most delightful place of residence. The writer's own family, including three ladies, never, on the whole, before enjoyed as good health as during the years of their residence in Samoa. It was the only place in which Robert Louis Stevenson could enjoy life. In his own Scotland he must cling to the fireside or creep out of doors wrapped in a shawl. In his beloved Samoa he lived out of doors, rode horseback, took long excursions about the islands by boat, and was a man among men until the bursting of a blood vessel in his teeming brain ended his brilliant career. His family still live in the island home.

The soil is rich and productive. It supports a population of between 30,000 and 40,000 people in comparative idleness, while only mere fringes are yet under cultivation. He would be a rash man who would venture to say that the day would not come, and

at no remote date, when a great population would find its delightful home and abundant sustenance in these fruitful islands. The "Great American Desert," once denounced in the United States Senate, as unfit for human habitation, is now partially divided into great States, among the most prosperous in our Union. Fifty years ago little could be said of the Hawaiian Islands, except that there Captain Cook was murdered. To-day their commerce invites the heavily laden ships of many nations, but those of our own country incomparably beyond all others. Looking backward, what should we now say of the statesmanship that thirty, or even twenty, years ago would have allowed any European power to absorb Hawaii without remonstrance upon our part, upon the ground that its commerce was then insignificant, or that rebellion and political upheaval were imminent, or actually existing? In such a question, the possible future, not the insignificant and transient present, is to be the guide of wise political action.

Abandonment of Samoa by President Cleveland.-Manifestly no reasonable man could have expected that the treaty, under the best of circumstances, could prevent the depreciation in the world's market of the price of copra, the principal product of the Islands. That depreciation arose from increased production in other parts of the world. Its effect was necessarily to produce hardship and political discontent in Samoa, just as similar depreciation in the value of staple products in the United States produced similar results. Nor could it be expected that a new government, established among a people untrained to submission. to a central authority, among whom the chief was the unit of political power, divided into factions with prejudices as bitter and deep as those of the ancient Scotch Highlanders, enjoying political excitement as the very breath of life, accustomed from time immemorial to settle their political and factional controversies by fighting, could heal these ancestral controversies and ensure established peace and good order, without substantial physical and moral support for a time. Water so long troubled could not be quieted by the mere command, "Peace, be still!" No one did so expect when the treaty was made.

At the Washington conference the fifteenth article of Secretary Bayard's proposal was: "Each of the Treaty Powers will alternately keep four months in the year a man-of-war in Samoa

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