Out in the blue Pacific, plunk on the Equator, the U.S. now has an outlying bastion to protect the Panama Canal. Last week the State Department told how the U.S. had acquired military rights on the fabled, sultry, barren Galápagos Islands, long coveted by military strategists of many nations—and especially Japan. Also acquired from the owner, Ecuador, is another base on Santa Elena peninsula, Ecuador's westernmost tip, commanding the entrance to Ecuador's strategic Guayaquil Gulf. These new military outposts form a protective bastion within radius of 785 to 1,000 miles guarding the western approaches to the Panama Canal.
Establishment of the bases,...
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