The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-08-16
RAISING COTTON IN EGYPT.
Osman Pasha Maher has Departed for
Home With Some American Ideas.
Constitution, August 9th.

which he intends to SOW when he
reaches his native land, and see if he
can introduce anything beneficial to
his countrymen. A pasha does not
have to make campaign for re-elec-
tion and it is not his purpose to dis
tribute seed among his constituents as
congressman do. He will plant these
on his own farm and the govern
ment lands, and if the experiment is a
success he will let his neighbors have
some.
The pasha was glad that he came to
Georgia, but he wilted more collars
here in Two days thar he does at home
in week. Colonel Jim Smith warm
ed his excellency up when he got him
on the locomotive, and took him riding
over the plantation. The breeze
blew through the pasha's mustachios,
but it was hot on the locomotive, and
he was glad to get of. Mr.. Picton,
the interpreter, said that the pasha
sits on couch at home and makes his
employees hustle around and get him
what information he wants. The
American way is new to him, but it
gave him a good appetite. He was
hungry enough to have eaten pork, if
it was net forbidden to the faithful
followers of Mohammed. But pork is
in the same category with wine, and is
under the ban.
Pasha Maher thinks the American
farmer is great eater. After seeing
how things are running on agreat
American plantation, he stated that
the American laborer in this country
is far better off than the Egyptian fell
lah. The latter only gets about two
piasters, or ten cents, day, while the
farm laborers in this country gets at
least 80 oents. That struck the
Egyptian as high price to pay for
labor when cotton brings only 8 and 9
cents a pound. He saw how much
the farm laborer has to eat, and va
riety and quality. s'Many a time, !"
said he, "our fellahs sit down to din
ner of piece of bread, an onion and
salt. They make hearty meal on
this simple diet 1t is cheap as their
meals have to be. The native peas
ants get little or no meat and few veg
etables. They live in a hut made Of
sun-dried brick. The Nubians who
come down the country to work in the
fields make themselves sort Of mud
hut. The garment is a simple blouse,
dyed blue generally.
In the fields the mn and women most
ly go barefooted. The women veil if
their husbands are strict. Otherwise
they do not pay any attention to this
requirement. A husband can divorce
his wife any time he pleases by turn
ing her out of doors. She then goes
to an officer and states the case and
gets paper that effect and thereafter
she is at liberty to marry and so is the
husband.
The Egyptian peasant women are
not noted for virtue. Ahusband new
er sees his bride until after they are
married. Then he may not like her
and he can divorce her. The girls de-
velop early and the boys and girls
constantly marry at fifteen. After
twenty the women break and get ugly.
This is the case with the peasants who
have to lead very hard life, but
it is not true of the better class Of Ia
dies.
England has now about 5000 troops
in Egypt. Since the the British oc-
cupation, in 1882, the condition of
things han greatly improved. Prior
to that the poor had a rough time Of
it. They were heavily taxed and op.
pressed beyond endurance. 1t was a
revolt against the usurpers and op,
pressors that started the rebellion.
The sedition was carefully spread un-
til it reached all over country. Then
came the massacre of June 18th, when
SO many foreigners were killed. The
police pretended to stop it, but really
helped it on for a time. Mr.. Picton,
the pasha interpreter, was then in the
interior, he says. The pasha was re.
siding near and offered him protection.
Mr.. Picton had brother at Alexan-
dria, who kept sending for him to come
to the coast. So at length he ran
down. Many foreigners were killed
in trying to reach the coast. Mr.. Pic.
ton got there all right and sent his
family away. When the lombard
ment of Alexandria occurred under
General Wolseley, Mr.. Picton was on a
postal service vessel in the harbor o1
Alexandria.
The occupation restored order. The
English and French took more of q
hand in managing affairs and the coun-
try is far better off now than it was
before. The usurers were driven out
Taxes are collected without imposition
Formerly collector would come
around and demand the tax Of fellah
and when it was paid give receipt or
piece of rotten paper. In the course
of month or two the paper would fall
to pieces and then the collecto,
would appear again and demand the
payment over. The poor fellow would
not dare to refuse for he would be
whipped IL he did. And in this man
ner the poor were robbed outrageously
They got tired of it and concluded
that they might as wei! die fighting
against it as die struggling to live un
der such corruption.
Now the farms are cultivated better
an. are more productive. The cities
have been greatly improved. The
streets of Cairo and Alexandria have
been paved with slabs imported from
Austria, and the country is getting
along fairly we'll. There is some
prospect that it will some day work
out of debt, but the taxes are enor
nous. While in Georgia the tax on a
farm is about 9 cents per acre for the
average, ia Egypt it is $3.50 per acre
The tax there is 3 1-2 per cent, while
in Georgia the State and count,
tax together are under l cent of tht
dollar.
The Egyptian goes away with higf
opinion Of American railways. At
lanta's union depot, with the many
trains running in and out, impressed
him and he got an idea that the cit!
is about ten times as large as it is. II
Egypt separate apartments are provi
ded for the women on the trains. Thu