The Minneapolis journal., 1906-08-15
new ROADS OPEN
S0UDAN REGIONS
RAILWAY TO PORT souDAN, ON
7 THE RED SEA, COMPLETED.
Last Week In january a Memorable
Date In the Annals OF Egypt-His-
tory OF the Country Since the Nah
di's Reign Was Destroyed by Sir
Herbert Kitchener.


d's Reign Was Destroyed by Sir
Herbert Kitchener.
The last week Of January is a memo
rable date In the annals Of Egypt and
the Soudan. 1t was the week which,
twenty,one years ago, saw Gordon dare
Hthe high that proved too high," and
give his life for the country. Since
;hequsred mino?'rity; but with IL thS N;fdp 1fpeh
the Red sea last Saturday, it may fair.
ing Of age. The railway was once.
project Of Ismail g, that most Ineffective
of -dreamers. The man who instructed
his engineers to make the gage. OF his
new Nile line the same as that of South
Africa, since it would save trouble In
the end, had no common imagination;
but, tho, he saw the economic value. or
.aWaS 5yom s9ssa9 Msa hs ~4s
and relinquished that in turn after
building some fifty miles of it: Some
years later the idea was revived as one
Of the alternative schemes for the re
lief of Khartoum; but, rightly or
wrongly, the Nile route was chosen, ana
with the triumph of Mahdlsm, darkness
esttaea eeHay qeEhh When foF s qpSa
began his slow advance to. the recen,
quest, it seemed best to him to build
his line from Wady Halfa across the
great bend of the Nile,. since the Sua,
kim route involved serious strategtcal
dangers. r:-. le,.-
tary considerations are OF less aeeophha, m I,
the obvious economic value OF the
project impressed the new rulers, Of the
Soudan and their Egyptian superlofs.
It would shorten the -distance between
Khartoum and the sea by 900 miles,
and the main need Of the Soudan is IN
creased facilities for export and import.
Accordingly. in October 1So4, Az dae m;Ies mSts
bsTTe bbsTen been sg ad'
months. Nor has the cost been grea1
for the total spent is less than NIL,
lion and q half, and the cost per mile
has has been beer : only 84,15o. When; we con
slider the. difficulties Of the taskIthhe ASK the
ridges to be traversed, the. scarcity o.
water, the heat in summer and the IoI
rental rains in winter-the modest sun, th
work has been finished reflect the high,
est est eredit I upon Colonel Macauley and
his colleagues. Not only has the hne
been built, but as it's terminus. ne"
mort, on the Red seaport Soudan-
has been created, with a more, spacious
harbor and a better climate tnan qua qua
kim kin a. rms manv new others. l A line from IA
reima to .Abu Hamed, which IS amos,
COMPLETED, will bring the rich proviln9ce
of Dongoia into direct communicatloll
oi u;+b n4be the sea. There will be a brancf
to Kassala, where great irrigation "oIks
ore in nrogress, and a branch up Iht
left bank Of the Blue Nile: 4 Iouivt ;
line from FL obeid to the e. Me TIs Wiii en- IN
Kordofan an outlet for us eapv;;aS p;a ha 9.
,Soudan has found It's Teeohoin'' 's
no anyone with the Kaleidoscope
changes Of, the country, in the last tWen
tY Years in his mind the scene at Por1
Soudan s. hast Saturday must have beer
~ singular interest. Lord Cromer 1or
mally opened the railway in the pres
enceT not only of. Egyptian and soudan
ese.> off ieials, nEbYt of Arab merchant
f5eiRhs f5em shs and i1siId VIA ttibesmen from th'
Hinterland. His speech, spoken IN Eng
lish, was afterward W read IN ARABIC, an,
Wsas Ty's sTa soH Radolf sga tinI It dealt will
~ ~ fnndame economic questions o:
the: the :eountrv, With Ithat simplicity ant
d;re,etnesysI Are, 1Whieh III aTe the secret OF Lore
;Tro,nar,s ,lu, mower, Hitherto the Souda1
:railvvay mp the -Ni1e.has been rather
military than a. commercial undertak
mo, It. made the -reeonquest OF TN
conntry possible and i1enabled the new
rulers to import the first necessarles o,
civilization, but itstrading ehatacse s'd
Eministrative. 1t is notsfun as revenue e
nroduc;np expedient,p for it's receipts a
present lust balance expenditure. 6u
the Red sea line is thoroly commerce..
in its character an artery OF commnnl 10
I catinn which will open up the Soudal
to the world. On this point Lor(
Cromer's words are emphatic; MoneN
must be spent in development work be
! fore the country can become sel1-sup
porting. Peace is scarcely SIX year
od, gntted to its foundations by two dec
ssdes of war. It is the Egyptian tax
naver nave who meets the cost Of such works
but they are the only means whereby TN
Sends Sondsn Trst s7H saase e. is IS Lord
advice to him, "and think tomorrow
In an impressive passage Lord Gro
nier referred to his own part IN the re
Generation, Of the country - at3 III.
time Of life I can only hope to stan
on the tor Of an administrative Plsgah
I + can scarcely hope to enter the prom
ised land.o No man, he. declared, wa
really necessary to the future Of tn
sonpfry The fsundationss lions IN had idtssga bse,
well.being and international goodwill;
r. any Worker, even the most promI
nent ~ went. ran that need be sal
would be-: N NY gu 'un Angials q
moina. mo Egyptian policy on its pres
emit lines had become an unquestione
axiom. Of the British government, a. an
/ there was no fear Of turning back Ihi
we believe to be true. The future
the The Nae valley has gone out of part
politics; it has even gone out OF an
snecial administrative hands. Lor
Cromer' s. regime would be perpetuate
nnder any successor. But this fact doe
not not diminish the gratitude. Of EgyE
in general, to, the one. man who liftee
the country from the slough Of banl
ruptcy and confusion, and made its II
ture secure. To have so ordered thing
chat even he is not indispensable.
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