The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-04-06
A Royal L" Jim Fisk"

DR.. Field, in his last letter from the
Orient, writes as follows:
Not satisfied with managing the af-
fairs Of government, the Khediye, with
that reckless spirit which characterizes
him, is deeply involved in all sorts of
private enterprises. He is a speculator
on Il gigantic scale, going into every
sort of mercantile adventure. He is a
great real estate operator. He owns
whole squares in the new parts of Cairo
and Alexandria, on which he is con-
stantly building houses, besides buying
houses built by others. He builds ho-
tells and opera houses, and runs steam
boats and railroads, like a more mag
nigcent, because a royal, Jim Fisk.
The steamer on which we crossed the
Mediterranean from COnstantinOple to
Alexandria belonged to the Khedive,
and the railroad that brought us to
Cairo, and so does the hotel in which
we were lodged here, and the steamer
in which we went up the Nile.
Nor is he limited in his enterprises to
steamers and railroads. He is 4 great
cotton and sugar planter. He owns a
large part of the land in Egypt, on
which he has any number of planta-
tions. His immense sugar factories, on
which he has expended millions of
pounds, may be seen all along the val
ley of the Nile; and he exports cotton
by the shipload from the port of Alex
andria.
A man who is thus cup to his eyes"
in speculation, who tries to do every
thing himself, must do many things
badly, or at least imperfectly. He can
not possibly supervise every detail,
however he may try; and his agents
have not the stimulus of personal in
terest te make the most of their oppOr-
tunity. | often asked when up the Nile,
if these great sugar factories which |
saw paid, and was uniformly answered
" No;n but was told at the same time,
as the opinion of all concerned, that
they would pay in private hands-if
managed by those who had a personal
stake in saving every needless expense,
and increasing every possible source Of
income. But the Khedive, they tell
me, is cheated on every side, and in a
hundred ways. And then if there were
not actual fraud, the system is one
which necessarily involves immense
waste and loss. Here in Cairo, | find
it the universal opinion that almost all
the Khedive's speculatiOns have been gi-
gantic failures, and that they are at the
bottom of the financial trouble which
now threatens Egypt.
Such is the present financial condi-
ton of the Khedive of Egypt. L couple
the two together; for although an at
tempt is made to distinguish them, and
we hear that although Egypt is nearly
bankrupt, yet the Khedive IS personally
"the richest man in the world!n But
the accounts are so mixed that it is very
difficult to separate them. There is no
doubt that the Khedive has immense
possessions in his hands; but he is, at
the same time, to use a commercial
phrase, enormously " extended" he is
loaded with debt and has to borrow
money at ruinOus rates; and if his es-
tate were suddenly wound up, and
receiver" appointed to administer up
on it, it is extremely doubtful what
would be the assets" left.
Mr. Cave has just come out from
England, to try and straighten out the
Khedive's affairs. He has a great task
before him. Wise heads here doubt
whether his mission will come to any
thing, whether, indeed, he will be allow
ed to ret at the ''bottom facts" or to
make any thing more than a superficial
examination, as the basis of a white
washing report which may bolster up
Egyptian credit in Paris and London.
But if he does come to know ''the truth
and the whole TRUTH then | predict
that he will either abandon the case in
despair, or he will have to recommend
to the Khedive, as the only salvation
for him, a more sweeping and radical
reform than the latter yet dreamed of.
1t requires some degree of moral cour-
age to talk to a sovereign as to private
individual, to speak to him as if he were
a prodigal son who had wasted his sub
stance in riOtOus living; to tell him to
moderate his desires and restrain his
ambition, and to live a quiet and sober
life; to 'slive within his means,' etc.
But this he must do, or it is easy to see
where this brilliant financiering will end.