Show PARTITION OF SAMOA London newspaper are calling for a fDrtton of Samoa The Graphic openly accuses he Germans of inciting the na tires to attack the British consulate and to sweep the English into the sea The Times that a dangerous point In the tension has been reached And so i goes While reports from Apia contrast strangely with the assurance of Baron von BulGe to the reichstag that our countrymen will find fun security un der the American flag In the Philip pineR there Is no reason a et to question the truth of Samoa dispatches dis-patches Are uli the triumvirate which has tried to govern the Islands has been inharmonious in-harmonious and unsuccessful The arrangement ar-rangement was never satisfactory to Germany She bas watched for years for un opportnlt to abrogate the reaty Her conduct has been studiously usly offensive i seem for the purpose pur-pose of bringing thc other two signatory signa-tory powers to a realization of the undesirability of a continuance of the contraCt The result would be a dhl 44 slon of the little kingdom in which the kaiser has hid slice nredy spotted And while Germnn interests In Samoa Sa-moa ale considerable they arc not ptjX5ifloUflt It L 1 5150 ttu that th laou t 1 commerce of Apia Is In the hands of the Germans practically But In time I of peace the bulk of th Import trade Is rltsh and imports cons rbly er coed exports The British population also largely exceeds tlt German Nor are the interests of the UnIted States by any means Inconsiderable There is more frequent and direct steamship communicatIon with thIs country than with German and Unied States treaty rights are at let morally bY far the greater of allOwing Owing gaer to proximity of the FIJI islands the British are not In any particular par-ticular need of Samoa for strategic purposes pur-poses But they are all Important to Germany not a the Gents pretend on acunt of commerce and colonists but because she now lisa no possessions In the 1aclc south or east of the Solomon Solo-mon islands two thousand miles away To the United States it Is greater still for the islands form a hafway station between our frontier at Honolulu on the one hand and New Zealnd and Aus tria on the other The United States has been dragged into thIs threecorlered policy in Samoa Sa-moa mainly in the Interest of humanity t keep that country from utter spoliation spolia-tion Whether i wi have accomplished accomplish-ed Its purQse by relinquIshing It rights there at this time or not may notbe altogether clear and the desirability desir-ability of taking onethir of the tern i tory to end a perpetual row with Germany Ger-many and possibly to avoid a serous I ser-ous cash In time is likewise an open question I Looking at their area population resources re-sources and trade the islands are I scarcely worth much wrangling over 1 One or the smaller Philippines Is of I more aue than the whole group The I total area is 1OiG square miles or one i fifth less than that of the state of Rhode Island The total population Is about 5000 or threeffths that of No ada The total foreign commerce Isles Is-les than 600000 a year But as this was ager two decade ago than It Is now there Is a chance for Improement In that direction If i were doubled i wouldnt make a Important fguN In our balance sheet The chief value of the islands Is as a coaling and naval station and port of call and refuge and that value is secured to us In the I lease of paO Pago harbor and must be perpetually maintained In the event of a partition of the islands I is-lands which Germany ha long desired and which English sentiment Is now I demanding in aU probability the whole island of Ttuia and the little Islets lying l east of it would fall to this country coun-try and if we should accept them only as our full share we should be acting with becoming modest and selfdenial for they form not nearly onethird of the group In area or population I There has ben a sort of tacit understanding I un-derstanding that we should tae Tu I tuna German Upolu and Great Drlt ala SavaU In that case we should have the bEst harbor In the whole group German would have the chief scat of commerce and Great Britain < I would have the largest area of land Each of the thrc would thus have In one respect the heal of the bargain nut the question arises arc we look lug for any islands Do we ned any Are we not trying hard to let go of Home hot ones that wc picked up In a ann battle I seems that something should be done to Endthe strain which Samoa has I put upon the otherwise friEndly relations rela-tions between this country and Cer many Besides 10 good can result to I this nation from a tripartite league with European powers Whatever territory ter-ritory we control let us govern It alone or relinquish control I the Philippines Philip-pines arc not worth the trouble it will lake to govern and clvlze them eon I tanJy the Samoan islands are not I |