El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-15


| of Gibraltar. Morocco is most init
mately a Spanish problem, although it
! is probably more Importantly a pan
European problem. Germany and
| France, quarreling over their disputed
| rights in Morocco are now for the
| third time in a decade threatening to
| involve Europe in a general war. Spain
! has it's full share in the imbroglio and
| with every move in the game risks
| internal revolution.
Spain holds several small costal cit
les in the territory of MorScco, chief
among them being Ceuta, in plain
view of Gibraltar across the narrowest
part of the strait, and Melilla, farther
to the east Ceuta is simply a Spanish
port, but at Melilla the Spanish claim
a sphere of influence" in the hinter-
land which amounts to an assertion of
suzerainty over the Riff tribes that
inhabit the region. Spanish capital
lists operate iron mines in the Melilla
country. The Riff tribesmen objected
to the operations, and two years
ago a Spanish army invaded Mo-
rocco and subdued the natives. The
war was so unpopular at home that it
led to the riots in Barcelona and to
the overthrow of the Conservative gov
eminent. The present Madrid gov
eminent recognizes clearly that Spanish
national interests demand the partici
patton of Spain in every diplomatic
movement concerning Morocco and that
at the same time every act on the part
of the ministry will involve the danger
of a domestic revolution, perhaps mere
ly political, possibly one of blood.
Morocco is Unique.
Morocco is unique among the nations
of the west. Its sovereign is a sultan
who rules over the Shereefian empire
with the absolute authority of civil
and religious supremacy. Unlike all
other Moslem monarchs of the present
day, who must recognize the religious
authority of the Sheik ul-Islam. the
sultan of Morocco is the head of the
faith as well as of the state. The
present sultan. Mulai Hafid, is the lin
cal descendant in the thirty sixth gen.
Grafton of Ali, uncle and Soninlaw of
the prophet Mohammed. He came to
the throne by virtue of leading a sue
cessful revolt against his brother, Mu-
lai Abdel-Aziz, having had himself
proclaimed sultan at the city of Moroc
CO, the southern capital Of the empire,
in August, 1907. Six months later he
was acknowledged in Fez the northern
capital, and a year later in Tangiers,
the diplomatic capital In January,
1903, he was formally recognized by
the powers upon his obligating himself
to respect the engagements entered
into by his predecessors and the pro-
visions of the act of Algeciras.
The City of Fez.
Morocco occupies the northwestern
corner Of the continent of Africa and is
known to it's people as Maghrib-el-
Aska, or 1.-The Extreme West" 1t is
nearly as large as the state of Texas
and although a great part of its area
&c 10 of
about 100000 people. a great many
Of whom are nomads without fixed
habitation. The people are Berbers.
Bedouins and Arabs by racial descent,
and there are also great many Jews
and negroes. Fee, the principal CAPT.
tai of the sultan, has a population of
100000; Tangiers, the principal sea-
port, has about $4,000. The country an
nually exports about $13,000,000 worth
of products. chiefly barley, cattle, wool
hides, Morocco" leather and poultry.
1t sends over 100000 worth of eggs
each year to the European markets.
And all this in spite of a total lack Of
stable government or modern transpOr-
tation facilities.
The act of Algeciras was the out
come of a conference of the powers
called to consider the problems of Mo-
rocco, internal as we'll as external
1t was remarkable as being the first
European council in which the United
States participated, although the
American representative was instructed
that he was present only because of
the American treaty relations with
Morocco. and he made this clear by dis
claiming, after the conference acted,
any responsibility on the part of the
American government for the enforce
ment of the act
Starting of the Trouble.
The trouble started in England. Ear
ly in 1904 a series of conventions en-
tered into by the British and French
governments ended several issues in
dispute and established the much-dis-
cussed Franco-British entente COR
dale Chief among the considera tons
of this practical alliance were. the
abandonment of all French pretensions
to predominant influence in Egypt and
the upper Nile country, and a recipro-
cal acknowledgment on the part of
Great Britain of the supremacy of
French influence in northwestern Afri-
ca, including the Moorish coasts and
hinterland. Nobody raised any objec-
lions at the time.
Eleven months later, the military
power of Frances ally, Russia, in the
meantime having been destroyed by
Japan, the German emperor. on a
yachting cruise in the Mediterranean. |
landed in Tangiers and made a spec
tacular speech recognizing the COM |
plete and absolute independence of his |
Shereefian majesty, Abd-elAziz.
The kaiser's speech was followed by |
such aggressive activity on the part of |
the German government that the |
French minister of foreign affairs was |
forced to resign under most humili- |
ating circumstances. The Germans |
called for an international conference |
to decide the status of Morocco and |
the sultan supplemented the call with |
an invitation for the delegates to as |
semble in Tangiers. But the Moorish |
hotels are not very good and there |
fore the conference assembled on jan
uary Is, 1906, at Algeciras, in Spain, |
port of the coast of the Strait of Glib
raltar at which three different Moor |
ish armies had landed to effect the /
of Spain in the days when |
the Crescent was bright After sew !
eral weeks of discussion the act of AL
geciras was drawn up and signed by \
the powers. This act provided for the /
reform Of the internal affairs of Mo-
rocco and for the uniform treatment /
of European investors