The Nome daily nugget., 1935-02-09

Washington. D. C.-WNU Service. I"HE sultan of Sulu, the only
 oriental potentate ruling un-
 A der the protection of the Unit ed States, has recently been bereft of all political power, although he still exercises religious authority over his Moro subjects in little group of islands which are part of the Philippines. The new governor of the Philippines, Frank Murphy, decided not to appoint the sultan to the Philippine senate. Although the sultan seldom took his seat, the honor had been accorded him since the time of Gov. Gen. Dwight F. Davis.
 .In real life the sultan of Sulu is not the amusing semi-savage that George Ade put into comic opera three decades ago, but decidedly modern ruler of the Sulu archipel- ago, which forms a series of oceanic stepping stones from the Philippine group to British North Borneo," writes George NJ. Hanson, former United States consul at Sandakan, British North Borneo.
 Although he partly acknowl- edged the temporal sovereignty of the United States in 1899, and com pletely so in 1915, he retains some of the glamor ascribed to him by the dramatist and remains locally a potentate to the native Sulus, or Moros.
 Purely religious, his title con notes nothing more than leadership in the Mohammedan church within the limits of his sultanate. The sultan of Brunei. British Borneo, the recognized royal highness' in the greater part of the territory, is in- clined to regard him as a poor re- lation who pays tribute to Brunei {; but nevertheless he is full-fledged sultan and has authority of sort over 300 small islands and that part of British North Borneo with ad- ministrative headquarters at Sanda- kan.
 Tn BorneO, or elsewhere, the British are good colonizers. They believe 1t Is wiser to placate the Sulus on the Borneo side of the Sulu sultanate than to run risk of trouble; consequently they still pay tribute to the sultan and accord him military honors on his visits to Sandakan.
 Many Wives But No Children.
 ''The sultan brides himself on be- ing an American, though his domes- tic arrangements have hardly been of kind sanctioned in the United States. Under the Koran he may have four wives at one time; and, since he has power to dismiss q wife or divorce her by waving his royal hand, the limitation of num- Der has not been irksome. It Is said that in his day he espoused many wives. He has no children. how ever, and the Rajamuda. or heir ap- parent (muda Is a Malay word meaning "unripe'O, is his younger brother. Although the 1915 treaty recognized him as the spiritual head of the Sulu Mohammedans, It's terms were such as win eventually cause polygamy to be abandoned.
 "Matrimony Is somewhat casual among the Sulus, and it Is not un- usual for girls of thirteen, twelve, or even eleven to be claimed as brides. When 1 was United States consul at Sandakan, had an anus ing experience which impressed upon me the peculiarity of native marriage customs.
 "Shortly before the sultan's visit to Borneo that year, German land holder whom the British had ordered out of the country for the duration of the World war requested me to take charge of his rubber pianta. tion near Sandakan. I agreed. since 1t was then my duty to take over representation of German interests, to go there on each pay day and check the accounts. but I declined to assume official control of the plantation. Thus I became for a short time master of the Malay iaborers. pending appointment oi . permanent superintendent.
 ''Upon my arrival on the first pay day, the accountant. a Singalese from Ceylon. brought to my atten tion . plea from Aus. the house boy, who needed an advance of $1O Singapore currency. for wedding ex penses. Aus prospective bride, the Intermediary explained. was Cana pa, daughter of Samat. the chiei tapper.
 canapa Was Too Young.
 "Oanapa was rather a little girl and. 1t seemed to me. when hel mother presented her for inspec tion. much too young to be think ing of matrimony. 1 decided a littl, delay would do no harm. Although the mother. herself only twenty