Show ADMIRAl DEWEY OPPOSES SURRENDER Of ISlANDS I Regards Philippines ss Gateway to I the Orient and an Aid In Maintaining Main-taining the Open Door Policy Washington Admiral Dewey strongly strong-ly resents tho proposition that has been discussed In a moro or less academic aca-demic way to surrender time Philippines Philip-pines which of all men he was a leading lead-ing factor In bringing under the AmerIcan Amer-ican flag In an Interview the admiral sets out tho reasons which Impel him to Insist upon the retention of tho islands The strong point of his argument ar-gument Is not based upon the military or naval Importance of time Islands but upon the great value present and prospective of the Philippines to America In the extension of our trade with tho orient The admiral says Abandon the Philippines I dont believe our country coun-try will ever do that Certalnlylt should not because It has altogether too much at stake It is only our control con-trol over tho Philippines that makes it possible for us to Insist upon the open door in tho east toward which our diplomacy las been directed for years Wo want our share of tho enormous commerce of tho east and wo cant keep tho door open for It unless we hold tho Islands Why did Spain for 200 years dominate the commerce of tho orient Just because sho had tho bay and harbor of Manila as a great commercial and naval base That base can bo just as useful to us commercially com-mercially as It was to Spain For ton years every strong European nation has been trying to got a foothold for commercial and naval purposes In tho far east Through tho fortunes of war tho United States obtained tho best position possible giving us superior commercial advantages over the nations na-tions What sort of a common sense would it be for us to give up such a position Suppose we should dispose of the Philippines and Japan should acquire them See how tho Islands stretch along tho coast Here arc the Philippines Philip-pines and Formosa If Japan had them sho could command overy gateway to tin nrlnnf nml Mm TTnttml C2fnfn wnulrl n nom be completely shut out Every ono concedes that tho orient is the futuro great field for the principal commercIal commer-cial operations of the world AVe ought to bo tho leaders but wo must at least havo a share In tho enterprise and in order to do so wo must maintain tho position we have occupied I think it is plain that wo must havo a commercial base such as Manila and then 1n order to protect our commerce wo must havo a naval base and at Su big bay such a base Is being developed devel-oped jy |