A second topic in the story of Latin-America and the United States is Cuba; and this part of the story has probably never been told as accurately and interestingly as in the articles Cuba (Vol. 7, p. 594), and Havana (Vol. 13, p. 76) in the Britannica, both by Dr. F. S. Philbrick.
American relations with the Orient is a third subject of importance in the foreign affairs of the United States; and in this subject the most interesting topic is Chinese and Japanese exclusion. On this see the articles California, San Francisco, Coolie, and United States, History § 339 (Vol. 27, p. 723). At the end of the article Japan (Vol. 15, p. 156) there is a section on The Claims of Japan, by Baron Dairoku Kikuchi, which is of great interest in this connection.
Sea-Power
The place of the United States as a world power, we are proud to say, depends little on its army or navy—because of its enormous latent strength, its commanding geographical position, etc. But the comparatively greater importance of navy over army is now admitted by nearly every serious thinker—it was the concrete lesson of the Spanish-American War of 1898 as it was the point of the valuable historical essays on sea-power written before and since that war by the American naval officer, Rear-Admiral A. T. Mahan. The American navy and the navies of the world are matters of interest to every one—and like all matters of importance they are to be found treated in the Britannica.
In general see the elaborate articles Navy (Vol. 19, p. 299); Sea-Power (Vol. 25, p. 548); and Sea, Command of the (Vol. 24, p. 529); and for a detailed course of reading on naval history and theory see the chapter in this Guide For Naval Officers.
The Greater United States
The topics just discussed will serve as an introduction to the study of the Imperial United States, which may be pursued in the articles Alaska, Hawaii, Philippine Islands, Porto Rico, Guam and Cuba, and the articles on the towns and cities in the outlying possessions.
The result of reading these articles will be a determination to know more about your country, to master its history, its industries and its commerce as well as its political conditions.