Page 305 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

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Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. 283

of the art as may be needed must be given in
loco, cursorily and dogmatically. Therefore it
will be said here briefly that the strategic value
of any position, be it body of land large or small,
or a seaport, or a strait, depends, 1, upon situa-
tion (with reference chiefly to communications),
2, upon its strength (inherent or acquired), and,
upon its resources (natural or stored). As
3,
strength and resources are matters which man
can accumulate where suitable situation offers,
whereas he cannot change the location of a
place in itself otherwise advantageous, it is
upon situation that attention must primarily be
fixed. Strength and resources may be artifi-
cially supplied or increased, but it passes the
power of man to move a port which lies out-
side the limits of strategic effect. Gibraltar
in mid-ocean might have fourfold its present
power, yet would be valueless in a military
sense.
The positions which are indicated on the
map by the dark squares have been selected,
therefore, upon these considerations, after a

careful study of the inherent advantages of the
various ports and coast-lines of the Caribbean
Sea and the Gulf. It is by no means meant