The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-26

Features OF Labor and Wages-Wo-
men Who work for Ore Cent an
Hour-An American
Copyright, 1907. by Frank G. Carp
Khartum.
A real estate boom in the heart Of
Africa.
Farm lands rising sky high.
Town lots selling at fabulous prices!
New streets reaching out into the
desert,
residences and business blocks GO
ing up, and the people crazy at the m
crease IN values,
THAT is what we have here at
Khartum.
/ have already told you Of the pros
perity Of the Nile valley. Of the mush-
room growth Of alexandria and Cairo
and how farm lands in the delta are
selling from $500 to $1,000 per acre
Similar boom conditions prevail IN
upper Egypt and farm lands are RS
ing all along the great river. ASslout,
Luxor, Assouan and the towns and VII
lagos of lower Nubia are thriving, and
away UP here, as far from the mouth
OF the Nible by its Windings ase the
Rocky mountains are distant frOrn the
mouth OF the Hudson, L find the same
things going On. Lands on the Island
of Tut in the Blue Nile opposite
Khartum, are priced out of sight, and
real estate spectators are trying to
DuN III IIl'N toh II IN $3.50
rich territory between the Blue and
the White Nile which here come to-
gether. In Khartum itself building
lot sare selling at the government auc-
tons for two hundred times what
their owners asked for them seven
wears ago: and in Halfaya, the suburb
which lies at the end of the railroad
on the opposite side of the river, the
farms have been divided into lots ana
are being sold for manufacturing pur-
poses. Farm lands near the river
which not long ago were to be had Tor
$40 an acre are now worth from $50
to $500 per acre, and some even more.
The Chicago of the sudan.
Khartum is bound to be the Chicago
of the Sudan. 1t lies here at the Juno
ton Of two of the greatest rivers of
north Africa, giving it naVlgable
highway to Abyssinia and to the rich
lands along the watershed of the kon-
go. 1t has railroads connecting it with
the Mediterranean, and with the eN-
ception of one stretch of less than COO
miles, where the cataracts lie, it has
the main stream of the Nile to give 1t
cheap freight rate to Europe Within
the past year or so it has opened a
railroad to Suakim, on the Red Sea,
and in time it Will be one of the great
stations on the main route by steamer
and rail from Cairo to the cape.
Khartum IS the capital OF the Anglo
Egyptian Sudan. | wonder If you
kIioN W iI1l lIi"N i o4lp IL S'' W. 80
are wiser than most men, not on the
ground. This country is a world in
itself and it is, to a large extent, I'M
explored. 1t is Of vast size. 1t begins
at the uppe end of Egypt and reaches
to Uganda and the Belgian Kongo, or
farther than from New York to the
Mississippi. 1t is more than LOO miles
wide: and it covers altogether twice
as much territory as France and Ger
many combined. 1t is more than one
fourth as large as the United States
with Alaska and the Philippines
added thereto; and it has some lands
which are richer than almost any part
of our country. The province of the
Gezireh. to which l have referred,
could be irrigated and form a country
more fertile and bigger thar Egypt,
and there are regions of good rainfall
in the south which are susceptible of
cultivation. The Sudan has vast for
ests and rich deposits of iron and 9th
er minerals. 1t has extensive grazing
lands and at the time When the mahdi
began his war against the khediVe and
the Christians, it contained a popula-
tons of more than 10000, 000. 1t
would propably support ten times that
number, although it has only about o.
100000 today. This country is all tri-
butary to Khartum; The best parts of
it are reached by the upper Nile sys-
tenn and the other regions will be
tapped by railroads., some of which
are already planned and soon to be
built.
The Story Of Khartum.
| called upon the governor of
Khartum this afternoon and asked
him to tell me the story of the city.
Said he:
The buildings which you see here
are all new, but the town is older than
some of the mushroom cities of the
United States. 1t was born before
Chicago, being founded by Moham-
med Ali in 1921. 1t grew with re-
r1n rlE a. 70 litN an1 I1nnn a1A1I
ten years later it was made the seat
of the government OF the Sudan and
became an important commercial cen
ter. 1t was such just before the insur-
rection Of the mahdi occurred, and it
was here that Gordon ruled and here
that he was killed. He was butchered
on the steps of a building on the site
of the present governors palace. At
ter that the mahdi declared that
khartum should be wiped out. He
destroyed all the houses and made the
Inhabitants come to his new capital.
Omdurman, which he had laid out on
the other side of the White Nile about
five miles to the southwark When
the people left they tore off the roofs
and pulled out the doors of their
houses and carried them along to use
In their new houses at Omdurman.
After that. for years, and until
Kitchener came. Khartum was moth
ing but a brile pile and a dust heap.
Omdurman had swallowed up not
only its whole population, but that OF
a great part Of the Sudan. The khalifa
forced the tribes to come there to live,
in order that he might have their men
ready for his army in times of war,
and the result was that Omdurman
had more than ahaIf million inhabit-
ants, white Khartuln had nothing.
Like Washington.
Then we had the war with the
khalfa, and we finally conquered
him the governor continued. we
z reduced the greater part of Omdur-
MAJ to uin and then began planning
the building of a great city. The idea
at first was to force the people to
move from Omdurman to Khartum,
but it was finally decided that it
Would be far better to AVE a native
city there. n to make this place the
government and foreign center, with
q manufacturing and commercial town
at HalfaNa, on the nothern bank of the
Blue Nile.
The khartum of today was laid
out after somewhat the same plan as
your capital at Washington; at least,
the reasons that determined the plans
were the same. Washington city was
plotted at about the time of the French