The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-31

mate of 75 per cent. loss of population is under rather than over the mark
 while the balance were, left impoverish.
 ed and broken in spirit. If you will re.
 member that it Is scarcely fivo years
 since Kitchener fought the battle of Om.
 thurman. l may be. able by giving you one or two of the countless instances oi
 the unspeakable savagery of the Mahd
 and his successor. the khalifa, to sug-
 gest to your mind a sufficient cause for
 the vacancy that exists here. The Mu-
 seab tribe had 1000 fighting men, besides
 old men and women and children, at the beginning of the Mahdrs reigh they now | number all told eleven families. The | Kabadish tribe had 35O0OO camels-this | tribe now possesses 1000. The first draft l made on them by the fiendish Khalifa
 robbed them of 10000 she camels
 Should the facts which history reveals | afford you insufficient reasons for the lack of population permit me to suggest | another line of thought-with an unciv- l ilized people does not fertile land be-
 get fiercer savagery that must in time lead to desolation, just as the garden spots of civilization beget luxury and | decay? The great obstacle to the speedy devel- l opment of the Sudan is lack of labor Be-
 lievlng that any and all races of men
 will work if properly handled and d.
 rected, am convinced that the few sur
 yiving natives of the Sudan will in time
 become as good workers as they were
 once good fighters. When they 2 are
 taught broader and better use of mon
 ey, when they are taught by. example
 that industry pays, and. when they be-
 gin to appreciate fair treatment and ee-
 curity to life and property you. will see
 a marvellous change in the lives of these
 shiftless. simple, lazy people. But even
 then in such regions as the Upper Blue Nile. the Sobat and the Bahr-el-Ghazel, foresee it will take patient teaching to lift the natives above the contentment which the rain crops give-where, as in Egypt, tho ambitious farmer should be satisfied with nothing less than two or three crops a year.
 A most interesting question is, what race of men is best adapted to assist in this pioneer work-to serve as model farmers, to train the natives and teach them how to make the best use of these lands. The not unnatural inclination 10 aeip ones own countrymen has led me to- conclude that in my small undertak- hE' l should like to try the American 1 negro as l believe him best fitted to do | ms work with advantage. to himself and 1 -o the Sudanese. It is my opinion that ne negro would aSSimilate with and inhu- 'nce the Sudanese without friction. True, le would most likely become the aristo- rat and in time the large landowner, which would doubtless cause some jeal- 'usy. Otherwise can foresee no difficult ies So long as he did not interfere with heir religion and parade his own beliefs II an arrogant way.
 The willingness of the negro to migrate o tho Sudan Is not question that gives ne concern, In fact should rather enjoy having the leaders of public thought ar- ayed against me on this point. And if Q could well afford to bide my time un- II the testimony of one successful set Ter would far outweigh an editorial writ ep by the editor who scarcely knows where to find the Sudan on his map of he world. If the negroes arc given a ! nance to settle in the Sudan. theN are ot asked to experiment in government iSking, nor to follow the fortunes of an pstart of an empire builder nor to sub