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to Midway Island, a cable station, which also is sufficiently large and suitable for the establishment of airdromes. In addition, the submarine cable runs from Midway to Guam thence north through the Bonin Islands to Japan. From Yap, now in the possession of Japan, 500 miles southwest of Guam, a cable runs to Shanghai, China, and connects with the cables all along the Japanese base from Formosa north. The possession of Midway Island and Guam, therefore, would give uninterrupted cable communication from Midway to Japan and the whole Japanese base by way of both Guam and Yap, and at the same time would sever communication over our cables from Honolulu west to Guam and the Philippines. While the importance of cables may be somewhat curtailed due to the development of the radio telegraph, they are still a much surer and more secret means of communication. Several of the small islands and reefs between Midway and Niihau Island are not only suitable for the installation of observation posts and radio stations but also for landing fields and emergency airdromes. The distance of Midway Island from Yokohama and the Japanese base is some 2300 miles, or a couple of hundred miles more distant than Honolulu is from