GUAM EASE PLAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 83, 10 April 1939, Page 6

GUAM EASE PLAN

DROPPED BY U.S.A.

A BITTER DEBATE

(From "The Post's" Representa'avcf

NEW YORK, March 15

The United States Government has abandoned the plan to develop the island of Guam, in the Western Pacific, "as a major air and submarine base, with a garrison sufficient in strength to make its reduction or occupation a major effort on the part of any probable enemy." For three days the House of Representatives bitterly debated an initial outlay of five million dollars; the remainder of the 558,000,000 dollars naval appropriation was passed with little discussion. Guam is 3300 nautical miles ■■ west of the Hawaiian Islands, the present outpost of American defence in the Pacific, and only 1350 miles from Yokohama. There is no question of the valuable strategic position which the island occupies; nor is there any question of the right of the United States to fortify it. That right was relinquished in 1922, when the Washington Naval Treaty prohibited any new fortifications west of Hawaii, as part of a general settlement of Pacific problems, by which Japan agreed to a mutual limitation of naval strength and a pledge to respect the integrity of China. By her own choice, Japan permitted the agreement on naval limitation to expire, and set out to destroy the integrity of China. In such circumstances, it is held that the United States has plainly recovered the right to fortify Guam; the only question at issue is whether it is good policy to do

During the debate, one Representative, essaying to give the House a lesson in geography, said: —"Guam is a small island, completely surrounded by Japan." Owned by the United States since the termination of the SpanishAmerican War, in 1898. it is surrounded by 1400 small islands held by Japan under a mandate of the League of Nations. The population of Guam, last year, was 22,314, including 20,000 natives. It is governed by the. officer in charge of the American naval station, and is manned by less than a thousand American sailors.

Three arguments were advanced in favour of fortifying Guam. It was contended that,, while it was not essential to the protection of Hawaii, it would, in the words of the Naval Board, "reduce to its simplest possible terms" the problem of defence. Secondly, it was contended that a fortified Guam was necessary for the security of the American naval squadron in Asiatic waters. Thirdly, that a strong advanced fleet base at Guam would exert a restraining influence on Japanese policy in Asia, and assure "practical immunity of the Philippines against hostile attack in force."

Opponents of the plan argued that it would stretch the line of defence over too great a distance to be effective. To the suggestion that Guam would serve as a repair base for the Navy in time of peace, it was contended that American warships could doubtless make use of British repair facilities at Hong Kong and Singapore in time of peace, as they have long made similar use of British facilities at Gibraltar. In the event of war in which the United States was not involved, it was contended that American naval units would retire south towards Singapore and the Dutch East Indies with greater safety than towards Guam, through the labyrinth of Japanese islands that surround it.

Members of both Houses of Congress expressed a strong conviction that it would be better policy to decide, at first, how far the United States intended to go towards restraining Japan in Asia, and, after consultation with the Philippines—now on the eve of receiving absolute independence—what policy the United States intended to follow towards these islands. As that conviction grew, it turned the scale against the fortifications of Guam.