Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-03
Copyright, 1907, by Frank g. Carpenter)

ALEXANDRIA.
YAM AGAIN in the great seaport OF the
Z valley OF the Nile My first visit to It
was twenty-five years ago. Just before
III Arab Pasha started the rebellion
which threw Egypt into the hands Of
the English. ! saw 1t again seven years
la'er on my way around the world. and l
f-l now a new city which has risen UP and
swallowed those of the past.
The Alexandria Of today stands upon the
sire Of the greatest of the commercial CEN
It's Of antiquity. but It's present buildings
as- as young as those OF New York. Chi
Caro or Boston. 1t is one of the boom
towns Of the old world. and it has all
,rovu up within 100 years. When George
wilmington was President 1t was little
more than village. It has now more than
4.lao people. and IT will soon reach half
,. en-
Alexandria is city with all modern i'm
r.,ye,nents 1t has wide streets as well
T.vcd as those of Washington. 1t has
iasIr squares which will compare favor
ay with many in Europe. and buildings
vateh would be an ornament to any town
On our continent 1t is now city of street
C.fs and automobiles. Its citizens walk
o. .ide to its theaters by the light of cleo
tr.ylty. and its rich men gamble by read
l-E iBe ticker IN It's SlOCh thCIIdHSt- IL 10
3 town of big hotels. gay cafes and pal
aces galore. In addition to the 100000 MO
IJmmedans. there are more than lW'ocO
CHRISTIAN Europeans now living in II, ana
amung them soma of the smartest business
men of the Mediterranean sea. The city
las become commercial. money makiHg and
fortune hunting. The rise and fall or
stocks. the boom in real estate and the
modern methods of getting something for
nu,hing are its chief subjects of converse
ton and the whole population is after the
elusive piastre and the Egyptian pound as
earnestly as the American is chasing the
n!g kel and the dollar.
Alexandria's New Harbor.
IT Is easy to see where AleXandrias
wealth comes from 1t is growing fat from
the trade of the Nile valley. 1t is the water
gate to Egypt and the Soudan, and every
cents worth of goods that goes in and out
has to pay toll. More than four thousand
ships enter this port every year, and there
are now vessels in the harbor from nearly
every part of the world. ! came to Egypt
from Malta on ship bound to India and
Australia. and l get a steamer any
week which within fifteen days will take
me to New York. The German lines are
making a specially of Egyptian passen-
gers and freight. and they are gradually
capturing the bulk of the Mediterranean
commerce.
Alexandria has one of the best harbors on
the Mediterranean. Inc port mas DetH
proved within the past few years until Its
arrangements for loading and unloading
goods are unsurpassed 1t has break
water two miles in length and the biggest
ocean steamers can come right up to tho
quay. There are $3.50 acres of water in
which ships can have a safe anchorage, and
many vessels come here to coal. The most
Of the coal Is brought from England, and
left until the ships need it. Something like
j. 100000 tons were thus handled last year,
many of the steamers on their way in to
and out from the SueZ canal stop at AL
exandria for fuel
l do not know how much the harbor has
cost save that it runs high into the mil
lions OF dollars When Mehamet All made
Alexandria his capital the place was only
a village with no connection with the Nile.
He dug a canal fifty miles long to that
great waterway, and there is now a stream
OF vessels going up and down that cana
carrying goods into the valley and bringing
the cotton, sugar grain and other ro1ucts
out to the sea. The canal was constructed
by forced labor. The felleheen, to the num-
her of a quarter of a million. scooped the
sand out with their hands and carried it
away in baskets. 1t took them year to dig
the fifty-mile ditch, and they We're so over
worked that 10000 died on the job. Me
hamet Ali also spent an enormous amount
on the harbor, and Ismail Pasha laid out
more than sl2OO0OO0 in the same way