Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-29
WORTHLESS SAHARA
FRANCE CALLED UPON TO ADAM
DON IT'S CONQUEST.
A Writer Declares That the Railroad
and Related Colonial Schemes
Are Folly.
m la Nouvelle Revue.

Translated from La Nouvelle Revue.
The recent establishment of an army post
at Bea-Zireg is but the beginning of a new
extension of our possessions in the Sahara
If We judge of the future from the past, We
may be sure that this extension will be
limited only by our resources in men AMI
money-unless we finally come to realize
that we are wild goose chase.
The era of expeditions has rebegun in
this part Of Africa. We can expect nothing
else while we are obliged to keep open the
caravan route from the head of the railway
at Beaai-Ounif to the Gases of the far
south. If we wish to keep this line in per-
manent use We must secure It from the in
curSions of the Moorish tribes to the west.
Experience has shown that the various
posts along it's route are insufficient to pro-
tect 1T, by reason of the extreme mobility
of the bandit tribes which infest IL.
We will thus be forced by circumstances
to extend our control westward, purely to
relieve the present situation.
Leaving aside the very important ques-
ton of the international compiled tons
which might be caused by our invasion Of
Morocco, it is easy to see that this policy
would involve very heavy expenses. The
administration of government the installa-
ton and support of garrisons, costly at
best, are doubly so in the heart of Africa
where civil officials can be tempted only by
high salaries and where the death rate of
cavalry nOTSeS is 20 per cent per annum.
Moreover, the entire civil and military
forces would have to be victualed. as the
land is entirely barren, and must receive
all its supplies from the Tell Uhe land be-
tween the Atlas range and the sea).
Heat and Drought.
What are We to receive in return for this
expenditure? We now know this part of
the world we'll enough to judge of its eco
nomic value. 1t has none. either agricuI-
tural or commercial. 1t is impossible for
one who has not seen it to form an idea of
its sterility and desolation. Rain falls but
once in three or four years: the tempera-
ture sometimes reaches 100 Fahrenheit.
The GASES, the name of which suggest
paradise on earth, are places where the
water in the sand has escaped evaporation;
they produce scarcely enough dates to feed
their wretched inhabitants, and no grain
or vegetables to speak of. This drynesS is
not confined to the Sahara. but extends to
Lake Chad, that rs, over almost all the
land which our colonists have already chris
tened the Central African empire.
From a commercial point of view the Sa-
nara Is no more promising. To buy from
us the inhabitants must have some COM
modities of their own They have only
dates-usually too few for their own needs
ostrich plumeS and few skins Adrar
and the Trarza country (north and east of
Senegal and TibeSu northeast of Lake
Chad barter their salt for the rice, millet-
flour and gold dust of the Soudan. but this
traffic, especially in gold dust, is nconsd
cradle. Only the slave trade gives any
commercial activity to the GASES which We
have not occupied, and this, of course,
would cease on the arrival of our troops,
as it did at Wargla and In the Wadai.
Strategic Considerations.
The occupation of the Sahara. then. is ut
terly useless. One wonders how any one
could even conceive such a scheme. More
over, the detaching' of troops to form the
very numerous garrisons that would DO
necessary would be a grave mistake from
a military point of view. In case of war
with q power in position to cut OFF AL
geria from France would ,the whole
strength of the 10Th Army Corps Uhe pres
sion be enough to protect, not merely the
Tell, but even the coast? 1t is at least
doubtful, especially if one takes into ac-
count the likelihood of native upriSngs.
The center of French power in North Africa
is wholly in the Tell, not among the sands
of the Sahara. In case of war, for eX-
ample, with England, the commander in
Algeria would have to keep the enemys
forces from gaining foothold on the
coast, for If they did they would beyond
doubt be joined by the natives, as were the
Romans in their campaigns against Car
thage. The commanders first act would be
to call in the garrisons protecting the lines
of communication in the far south. What
effect would this Indispensable measure
have on our Mohammedan subjects? They
and we know how such belief would at
f.n hair