Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1899-11-16

soil can be greatly increased ana Tie
population sustaining power OF the
soil can be multiplied many times over
In n monograph entitled CONNER
cial Africa in 1899" recently issue
by the treasury bureau of statistics
an interesting and exhaustive account
of railroads in the dark continent u
given. One of the statements that VIII
probably be a surprise to many is thai,
about two.fifths of the great cape u
Cairo" railroad is already constructe
and the prediction Is made that eari.'
in the next century the north ar
south lines will meet near the eQuato',
To be exact, this date Is placed in tn I!
year 1910 or about twenty years hence;
From this north and south line. also,
lateral lines are being pushed east an !.
west-one Of these from Natal. anothef
from Lourenzo Marquee another fror,
Reira to Salisbury in Rhodesia an
still another from Zanzibar to LAKE
Victoria Nyanza. probably to conne'
at Tabera with the great Cape
Cairo" road. The interior will also bl
penetrated by roads now BENT
planned, thus giving access to all por'
tons Of the continent. Transcontin.
entail lines from east to west will Join
Portuguese territory on both sides OF
the continent and the Germans will
probably also have similar means or
communication between their settle'
ments. At the north other lines Will
skirt the Mediterranean coast and thus
Africa will be banded to civilization by
Iron rails and the telegraph, and the
conquest will be complete.
Thomas Shelton Harrison, the Amer.
lean diplomatic agent and consul gen.
eral in Egypt, has an article In the
Forum about Egypt Under Lord
Cromer." Mr.. Harrison says that the
native working classes In the larger
cities are fairly we'll off, but that there
is class for which there Is little or no
employment. Crowds Of Egyptian
youths, half educated, and more or less
we'll bred, are striving for small gov
eminent clerkships, posts in the banks
positions on the railways. and so on.
They will do no manual labor, and they
must have what the French call CON
sideration.' They must have genteel
employment. Egyptian and American
youths are much alike In disposition II
what Collins p. Huntington says Of the
latter Is correct. He asserts that they
are overeducated to such n degree that
they acquire a distaste for all labor
and that as a consequence young men
spurn manual labor and work where
they may have to wear Overalls and
soil their hands, and compete for poor
ly paid but respectable positions. So
Mr.. Huntington wants the number Of
down, and no attempt to carry the
education Of the mass of young boys
beyond the point required to enable
them to cope with the practical details
of business. But If overeducated
American boys and half-educated Egyp-
tian youths shun manual labor, because
it Is not genteel. and II girls who have
next to no education will not work In
other women's kitchens because a So
cial stigma attaches to domestic SER
vice, then the possession or lack Of ed.
ucation does not seem to have much
to do with the matter. There appears
to be all the world over a preference
for "genteel" employment. Perhaps
that preference Ia stronger In Europe,
where a young man would rather
starve on the meager salary Of gov.
eminent employee and have a ''social
status" than do what he considers an
inferior grade Of work and earn much
better pay; but there are great many
American youths who seriously believe
that they would demean themselves by
manual labor. Overeducation Is not
80 much to be blamed for this as in
herited ideas about the greater respect.
ability OF certain kinds of work. What
is needed Is a crusade against the curl.
GUS classification Of work as genteel
and not genteel, rather than against
this alleged overeducation Of which Mr..
Huntington speaks. There was time
when it meant teaching boy more
than his parents knew-even II they
could neither read nor wrlte-and thus
educating him beyond his station in
life"
Tho Penalty OF Curiosity.
A somewhat distressing but un.