Island Check-up

The President announced that Carmi Alderman Thompson of Ohio will make a report on all the chief insular possessions of the U. S. in the Pacific in addition to his expected report on the Philippines (TIME, April 12, THE PRESIDENCY). Mr. Thompson will visit Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, for which natty white costumes must be procured, some advance knowledge acquired.

Islands of the Pacific governed by the U.S. include (in order of proximity to San Francisco):

Aleutian Islands are part of the territory of Alaska, stretching 1,200 miles, and facing Siberia.

Hawaii, consisting of nine principal islands with a total area of 6,449 square miles and a population of 255,000, is a territory. For nearly five years Wallace R. Farrington has been governor. His most notable utterance is: "The eventual destiny of Hawaii is to enter the family of states with the full rights of statehood." Two thousand miles from San Francisco, 4,600 from Panama, 4,300 from Manila, 3,400 from Yokohama, these islands are the "cross roads of the Pacific." Sugar is the leading industry.

American Samoa contains Pago-Pago,* perhaps the most valuable harbor in the Pacific, ceded over to the U.S. by the native king in 1872. Samoa later became a U.S. dependency under a tripartite agreement with Great Britain and Germany. Under the administration of the Navy Department, its present governor is Captain E.S. Kellogg, U.S.N. It is 4.200 miles from San Francisco, 4,200 miles from Manila. Its 9,000 natives, called the highest type of the Polynesian race, are all Christians. The chief product is cocoanuts, the dried kernel of which is copra.

Guam, ceded to the U. S. by Spain, is 5.000 miles from San Francisco, 1,500 from Manila. Also ruled by the Navy Department, its present governor is Captain Henry B. Price, U.S.N. Cables and radio stations make Guam internationally important.

Miscellaneous. Ocean-breaking rocks over which the national anthem is annually sung, include Wake Island (one square mile) directly en route from Hawaii to Hongkong, and the Midway Islands, many leagues north of Hawaii.

*Famed as scene of Rain, popular U. S. melodrama.