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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1905)
- r 38 TBE-STAY OREGOmAX, PORTBJtfO), -SEPTEMBER 3, 1905 Kangiri; the List of Forceful Men During the; Past Two Years' THE -world has bad to rovlse Us list of men with real power several times of late. It Is doubtful -whether any other similar period In tho last half cen tury has seen the humbling of so many believed by the multitude to be superla tively strong s . has the last twenty four months. Some have dropped out because of ad vancing age and death. It is but a little while since Joseph Chamberlain, with a long and successful career behind .him and bent on revolutionizing Groat Brit ain's fiscal policy, was a figure of con sequence before the world. Chamberlain is still alive, but physical infirmities have vanquished him. Only the other day John Hay, stronger; In diplomacy than any of his contemporaries, was believed to have many years of useful life "before him. Now John Hay rests with his fathers. A few now men of power have lifted their heads above the general level mean while, but they are noteworthlly less in number than those whose hands, believed to be strong and steady, have been found, after all, weak, nerveless and incapable In September, 1P08, desptto the opinion whispered here and there that he was not the equal of his fathers, Nicholas II. the Czar of All the Russia, was counted one of the most powerful men alive. Now, outside tho cringing members of the Rus sian courtier set, there is none so mean as to do him reverence. On the breaking out 'of the war with Japan the Russian naval and military chiefs were believed to be men of genuine lighting power. To day Makharoff is dead, Kuropatkin is dis graced, and so are Alexleff and Stoessel and the desperately wounded Rojest yonsky; all the supposedly mighty men of war on the Russian side are hopelessly down and out, World's Proved Fighters Are Few TOGO and Oyama and Kuroki and Nogl and Kamimura, and others with like names all short of stature and with stiff black hair and nut-brown skins those are the men of proved fighting power today, almost the only men of their class now alive. .It may be that there are officers In the armies and navies of Germany and France who might rise to the level of those Jans were they to have the chance to try. But they are few, indeed, who would like to bet their money on It. and no one would look for commanders of the Japs' caliber in the fighting forces of any othof European nation, except, perhaps. Great Britain. She has Kitchener and Lord Roberts among her soldiers, and Admiral Lord Charles Beresford among her sailors, who have been tried and not found wanting. But of the three, Lord Roberts is now so well along in years that he can no longer be included among the world's most powerful fighters. Great Britain, then, has only two active mon known to be strong in the profes sion of arms. Of these Beresford, the sailor, has had little chance to distinguish himself since the memorable day whon, before Alexandria, his achievements .were such that the admiral of the fleet was moved to signal "Well done. Condor!" in recognition of what- his ship had done. That was nearly a quarter of a century ago. Kitchener's deeds have won for him the unqualified admiration of the whole world. In India. In Egypt, in South Africa wher ever he has been sent to lead the British land forces, there he has led them to vic tors'. Like the Japanese, neither Beres ford nor Kitchener has ever known de feat, but neither has over had to meet a foe the equal even of the now despised Russian. Groat. Britain, to date, 1b entitled, perhaps, to be termed the "Mistress of the Seas," but her ships have not met the ships of another civilized nation for generations. It is generations since the armies of Great Britain were defeated, but in all that time they have made war upon none but, savages, save when fighting the Boers, and the latter -were finally overborne through sheer force of superior numbers and almost Infinitely greater resources. It Is pos sible that Beresford might match Togo on an equal footing, and that Kitch ener might hold his own against an equal force of Japanese, commanded by one of the Japanese generals of to day, but the world would have to see them do It before It would be satisfied that they could. It Is hard to name moreythan two or three living American fighting men who have proved the right to be con sidered alongside the -Japanese gen erals and admirals, much as the patri otically Inclined may regret the fact. Our Army and our Navy have Jiever been defeated; our ships are the only ones afloat at this time, except those of the Japanese (the Russian ships being mostly at the bottom of the sea) that have ever soon fighting service, but defeating the Spaniards was a dif ferent' thing froni what defoating the Japanese would be. Dewey, the hero of Manila, is still at the head of tho Navy. His daring In entering the Harbor of Manila, despite the presence of hidden mines and tho batteries of the forts, has been sur passed by no nava'l hero, living or dead. But, brilliant though the achievement was, it hardly placed him on the level since reached by the Japanese ad mirals. "Bob" Evans is alive, and undoubt edly an able fighter; Clark, who brought tho Oregon around the Horn from the Pacific Coast In time to take part In the Santiago fight, has just been retired; a few naval heroos'of the Spanish "War are still in active service, but they are not so young as they once were, and the brunt of the fighting would, hardly fall upon them were we to have a long sea war now. Samp son of Santiago Is dead, and Schley Is retired. Chaffee, among our actlvo generals, haa never failed, but he has never commanded a "big army fighting another one. Miles Is on the retired list Nearly all the jrorld's men of known power as fighters' today, then, are Ori entals, and Japanese at that. Yet how long is It since the Western world re garded the Mikado's military forces as "toy soldiers," an.d his entire people as too much devoted to beauty, too polite and too trivial, both mentally and bod ily, to be really worth considering among the nations of the earth? The World's Most Powerful Rulers THE President of the United States Is not a "ruler" at all in the sense the German Emperor is, yet-his name Is Included in every printed list of rulers, and, in these days, the world accordi the American Chief Executive a higher degree of power than ever before. This Is partly due to the Increasing. power of the Nation he represents, whether he "rules" or not. In the case of Theo dore Roosevelt, the undo'ubted power of the man has much to do with it, and this the w-orld .at largo has generously recognized. The self-aesump'tfon that he was a man of great native force by William, Emperor Of Germany, In the early days of his reign, caused all the world to laugh consumedly. But the man has been justifying the as sumption, and today, despite some cavil ing, there are lew among those who keep close watch upon men and affairs who do not recognize bis Inherent power. Fur thermore, his -power is growing; It has been fostered by no Bismarck, as was that of Emperor William L, his grandfather, and, unlike Roosevelt's, it will notbe ter minated by law at a. set time. There Is no Impending Imperial election In Germany for him to look forward to, as .Roosevelt has to look forward to the Presidential election of 190S. Roosevelt's .friends believe that he -will be a man of unusual ixwcr even after he ceases to be President, but, that Is a matter which time only can settle. Whether the Emperor's uncle. Edward. British King and Emperor of India, will pass into history as & monarch of real power, It is yet too early to say. There Is no doubt that he has shown himself a man of much greater force than was expected when he was merely "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 essen tially from his nephevc. being as .quiet as the lattcp-Js noisy. The ultimate rating, of both . may possibly -depend upon the prowess of their fighting men. No one can forseo what national quarrels may arise under tho 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 hla 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 Sultan's forces that the rank and file of his army Is made up of men who arc hard to whip men who, like the Japs, can live on lltttle and en dure much men who count their lives as nothing in battle and know how to obey orders. Unlike tho Japs, their excellent fighting la due to, religious fanaticism J and not to patriotism, but results are what count In war as In anything else. It Is not Impossible that military' com manders of surpassing ability might de velop among the Sultan's officers, as they have among" theMlkados. . ' The Peculiar Power of the Senussi PERHAPS tfie Sultan's power Is .more subtly menaced "by a man who lives In a mid-African oasis than by any Eu ropean power or combination rf powers. The influence of this man may have been. J J - at the bottom of much trouble the Sultan ha3 lately had among the wild tribes of Arabia, which has been sufficient to make the Constantinople government do much hard thinking within the last few months. This man Is known as the Senussi, and. though no white man Is believed everx to have seen him. he Is a personage of great and real pqwer In tho entire Mahometan world. The Senussfs headquarters Is at Jarabub, on the southern edge of Sahara, about' TOO miles south of Tripoli and about 500 miles west of the Nile. He Is at the head of a mysterious secret society known as the Senusslya, formed in 1S30. Its ultimate object is to drive all Chris tians out of Mahometan lands. It Is be lieved to have at least 10,000.000 members, and It has emissaries wherever the follow ers of Christ and the followers of the Prophet rub elbows. Over and over again, for years, uvery European power with Af rican .colonics has feared that the Senus slya would start a Jehad, or holy war. It is known that, for three-quarters of a century the mysterious society has been accumulating a vast war treasure and a greet store of arms. Such a war would bring together the English, the Germans and the French, with their African possessions, as noth ing else could; once begun, it could never be brought to a close without enormous loss of life. When finished, the mllltary power of the Senussi would be forever broken, or the Christian nations, so caiied. would be driven, not only out of the Mahometan parts of Africa, but probably out of every other country In the workl where the Mahometans dwell. The father and the grandfather of the present Senussi pursued a waiting game, growing stronger, ever stronger, as tho years rolled by, and to date he has been doing the same thing. The help of the Senusslya was asked by both the Mahdl and the Khalifa when they were fighting the British, but was not granted. Had it been the results might have been differ ent. During the Boer War the Senusslya Intelligence department kept close watch of the operations, and today It has agents constantly on duty at Cairo, Alex andria, Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and other African cities occupied by Europeans. The original Senussi. who was a great reformer a sort of Mahometan Martin Luther and was driven Into exile by the Sheik el Islam of Cairo, was as much op posed. In his day to the men of his own religion in high places as to the Chrlr tlans. All alike, he said, were corrupt; none made for true godliness, and against Turkish rule and practice his face was set as a flint. As with him, so it was with his son, and so It Is with his grand son. This is why It is more than possi ble that the present Arabian uprisings have been inspired by him, and If the power of the Senussi Is ever really ar rayed against the Sultan, then days of real trouble will begin for him. Two Great Antipodean Rulers REMEMBERING the triumphs of Japan, It would be a mistake not to count the Mikado among the world's most powerful rulers, even though It be true that Japan contains several men of more real native power than he. But, powerful though the Mikado may be, with his thousand, generations of an cestry behind him and with the backing of a national patriotism that is as strong and as dogmatic as the most fanatical re ligious sentiment imaginable, he Is not to be mentioned In the same breath with a certain half-bred Mexican-Indian, Por flrlo Diaz by name, who really rules, and for three decades has ruled, over the re public to the south of us. It was of Diaz that a great thinker said, after con sidering profoundly his antecedents, the national material upon which he had to work and the results he had achieved, that, all In all, he was the most powerful ruler In the whoje world. Possibly that Is so today. The republic over which Diaz rules, far more like a benevolent, absolute despot than like an elected executive, Is made up of the most difficult human elements. People of Spanish blood, developed In the new world; people of "aboriginal American blood, by no means easily transformed into good citizens of a civ ilized state; hybrids notoriously mercu rial, fickle and turbulent the world over with a mighty thin sprinkling of Span lards, other Europeans and Americans, make up the citizenship of his country. Before he took the helm. Mexico, like every other Spanish-American State, was torn by revolutions, church ridden, the prejf of other nations, whipped by the Yankees, seized by the French as an Em pire for Maximilian, tho Austrian; sub ject, in Tact, to about all tne His any country has ever suffered. Diaz himself a real soldier in his youth, as no other ruler now living, not even Roosevelt, was after years of fighting for lost causes, Sf defeat, of exile, of Impris onment, both In his own land and In the (Concluded on Page 39.)