1939: Guam

The island of Guam, largest of the Marianas group, lies in the North Pacific Ocean about 1,500 mi. due east of the Philippines. Acquired by the United States from Spain by the Treaty of Paris (Dec. 10, 1898), Guam has been maintained as a naval station and a port of call for Pacific fliers.

Guam is 30 mi. long, 225 sq. mi. in area. It has a population, estimated in 1938, of 22,314, predominantly Malayan; including 679 members of the naval base. Copra and coconut oil are the leading exports. Other products are coffee, rice, corn, bananas and citrus fruits, tobacco, sugar cane, timber and kapok. In 1937 total exports were valued at $215,203 and total imports at $774,244.

Guam is administered by a governor (Capt. J. T. Alexander, appointed 1937), who resides at Agana, and is under the jurisdiction of the United States Navy Department.

In 1939 attention centered on Guam when a naval board, headed by Rear Admiral A. J. Hepburn, recommended fortification of the island on the grounds that it would insure the Philippines immunity from attack, simplify defense of the United States in the Pacific, and be of use to the fleet in maintaining Atlantic defense. When the bill to provide funds for fortification was introduced in the House, however, it was turned down by a vote of 205 to 168 (Feb. 23), despite the fact that the project had the support of both Administration and Navy Department. Its opponents viewed it as a needless expense and as an act which Japan would probably regard as unfriendly. Toward the end of the year, however, the Navy Department revived its proposals, maintaining that the fortification of Guam was essential to the protection of United States interests. (The plan was finally defeated.)