The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-03
Is the Sword Mightier Than the Pen fin These Early Twentieth Century Daysf

watch upon men and affairs who do
 not recognize his adherent power.
 turthermore, his power is growing; 1t
 has been fostered by no Bismarck, as
 was that of Emperor William l., his
 grandfather, and. unlike Roosevelt's,
 it will not be terminated by law at a
 set time. There is no impending iul-
 perial election in Germany for him to | look forward to. as Roosevelt has to l look forward to the Presidential elec- tion of 1905. Roosevelts friends be- | lieve that he will be man of unusual power even after he ceases to be President, but that is matter which tnne only can settle.
 Whether the Emperor's uncle, Ed ward. British King and Emperor of In- dia, will pass into history as a monarch of real power, it is yet too early to say. There is no doubt that he has shown
 himself man of much greater force | than was expected when he was merely the Prince of Wales, son of the good Queen Victoria, who might rule some day, but who might die before his mother and so never ascend the throne | at all. Edward differs essentially from his nephew, being as quiet as the lat l ter is noisy. The ultimate rating of 1 both may possibly depend upon the | prowess Of their lighting men. No one l can foresee what national quarrels may arise under the new conditions in the | Orient.
 | Compared with William and Edward, | no other European rulers are in sight as men of power. Of Asiatic rulers the Shah of Persia has absolute power
 over his own subjects, but he has never proved his power to be more than local to his own country and probably never will.
 The Turkish Sultan? Well, for years
 the sultan's power has been dependent | mainly upon the inability of Europe's Christian rulers to get together and throw him out. They might find it quite a task were they to try it now. It has been shown in every war with the Sultans forces that the rank and t1le of his army is made up of men who are hard to whip-men who, like the
 Japs, can live on little and endure much-men who count their lives as
 nothing in battle and know how to obey orders. Unlike the Japs, their ex- cellent lighting is due to religious fa- naticism and not to patriotism, but re- suits are what count in way as in any thing else. It Is not impossible that military commanders of surpassing ability might develop among the Sul- tan's officers, as they have among the Mikado's.
 Peculiar Power of the SenussL
 Perhaps the Sultan's power is more | subtly menaced by a man who lives in l mid-African oasis than by any E%so- pean Power or combination of PoWSrs The influence of this man may have | been at the bottom of much of the | trouble the Sultan has lately had | among the wild tribes of Arabia, which l has been sufficient to make the Constan- tnopie Government do much hard thinking within the last few months
 This man is known as the Senussi, and, though no white man is believed ever to have seen him, he is a person. age of great and real power in the en- tire Mahometan world The Senussi's headquarters is at Jarabub, on the southern edge of Sahara. about seven hundred miles south of Tripoli and about five hundred miles west of the Nile. He is at the head of a mysterious secret society known as the Senussiya, formed in 1880. u..
 Its ultimate object is to drive all Christians out of Mahometan lands. It is believed to have at least ten million members, and 1t has emissaries wher- ever the followers of Christ and the followers of the Prophet ruk elbow over and over again, for years, every European Power with African colonies has feared that the Senussiya would start Jehad. or holy war. It is known that for three-quarters of a century the mysterious society has been accum- ulating vast war treasure and a great store of arms >s
 Such war would bring tobether the
 English. the Germans and the French
 with their African possessions, as noth-
 Ing else could once begun, 1t could
 never be brought to a close without
 enormous loss of life. When finished. the monetary power of the Senussi
 would be forever broken. or the Chris tian nations, so-called. would be driven. not only out of the Mahometan parts
 of Africa. but probably out of ever other country in the world where the Mahometans dwell
 The father and the grandfather of
 the present Senussi pursued a waiting game, growing stronger. even stronger, as the years rolled by, and to date he