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Importance, not only from an economic point of view for the country itself, but also from a strategical standpoint for the control of all water trade routes to Asia from Europe, Australia, and the western part of Africa. Her possessions begin in the North with the Island of Borneo only thirty miles distant from the extreme southern island of our Philippines. Borneo, in point of size, is the third largest Island in the world, and, although still wild and sparsely populated, is potentially very rich. From north of Borneo, Holland's possessions stretch for twelve hundred miles to southern Java, while from Sumatra in the west the distance is about thirty-five thousand miles to the limit of the Dutch territory in New Guinea, on the east. All the islands are capable of very high agricultural and mineral development. Sumatra is rich in petroleum while coal, water power, fine timber, and many metals are also found. The Dutch Indies are not only self supporting in all respects but also turn in a great deal of revenue to mother country. In the hands of a world power with designs on the commercial and political control of the Asiatic continent, the possession of the Dutch Indies would be decisive.
   4. Their position envelops the Malay peninsula from well above Penang in the west to opposite the coast of Indo-China in
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