The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1878-07-24
.a,eyEb LOCKETT's SPEECH
.,spaeIsoN OF THE VALLEY OF TIE
CO@. ,ao,CsrpPI WITH THE VAL
LEY OF THE NILE

%" able territory, an area almost
,,,ctly equal to the allavial lands of
e. e. s, al of Louisiana, had a surplus
q, expectation of cotton, corn,
...t, rice, sugar, beans, etc, which
w. .0n,ed in value in 1875 to the
am ofss3, 651, 900; and that the &C.
~, total products and betterments
Louisiana in the same year amour
I'd tosvery nearly the same sum-
aner deductiug the consumption of
S'Ss people of Louisiana, and the
are sum paid for imported provis-
NM. there is a heavy balance in fa-
wr ofEgypt.
Novthe question naturally arises,
,by Is this9 This is a question of
monsutous Importance to every
rouisianian, and tue answer to it is
ope which should chain your atten-
ton. I will try to give you that an
aver and can do so in one word
,Isat word is tabor. Not skilled la
boz for Of that Egypt cannot boast;
not labor of any high scientific Or
dst nor Of excellent quality, but Ia
BOT In immense quantity. Labor &C
nsl Of the millions of fellaheen who
Oll fr"the broad fields from earliest
dawn to latest ray of departing day.
light, week after week, with no inter-
vsning, Sabbath, month after month
With no rest days of rainy weather,
year after year with no winter Of re-
pose, between the harvest of one sea-
son and the planting Of another; &C
camulated labor too, handed down
from the remotest generations of the
past and stored up in thousand
forms to be utilized in this, day just
when and where it is most needed.
And what has all this labor done
for Egypt As I have before re-
marked, lit has made every foot Of
arabic land TEEN with abundance; it
makes that land produce three staple
crops year, unless one of them hap
pens to be cotton or cane, in which
case there will be two. 1t has COW
cred the' whole face of the country
with canals, to the number OF. $40, OF
which lib are navigable; it has
brought the mighty river Nile under
perfect control, so that when his an.
nual overflow arrives his precious
waters, are caught and stored and
distributed to every foot of his food
plain and sent in peace to the sea; it
has.lined the banks of the Nile and
hscanals with tena, of thousands oil
sakkieks and shadoofs, by means Of
which, in the rudest way, water is
lifted up during it's low stages and
poured upon the thirsty soil. This
labor makes the soil of Egypt pro
duce such crops that the laborer who
pays from $25 to $35 rent fee pei
year for each acre of land, and cap
itation tax of $3.50, is yet able tt
live. In addition to 5000 miles o
canals it has constructed over 100t
miles of railway, numerous telegraph
lines, and docks and harbors, light
houses and Notifications, bridges
palaces and public houses. This la
Dor in the year 1875 paid to tn
Egyptian government an income o
s55, 100000, which was Independent
Of the 100000 or 100000 re
ceived by the Khedivs from his pri
vate plantations, which were worke'
by his subjects without pay. Thin
of this, Louisianians, who groan uu
der debt Of $4,000, 900, upon whicI
you have to pay an annual interes
of$l, 050,000, with State expenses O
about 100000, / suppose. An
this brings me to the one great nee
Of Louisiana, to the only thing sh
needs to make her the rival not onl
Of Egypt, but of the richest and fair
est lands of the earth. That need i
labor. Labor to cultivate more the
roughly the land now titled by you
planters and farmers; labor to r.
claim the waste places formerly ur
der cultivation, now lying by tens c
thousands of acres idle and overru
by weeds and briers; labor to drair
clear and bring under the control {
the pillow vast areas of swamp land
now dark as night with the shadow
of an impenetrable forest, bat pos
sessed of almost infinite potentiaI
ties for productiveuess; labor
claim from the dominion of the Sc
wide expanses of marsh, now th
home of the wild fowl and alligato
6ut capable of being converted int
magnificent rice fields; labor to col