Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-05

lev Of the Nile with Ame rican
drummers Business here is on
the boom and trade IS advancing
at teeC-aphic speed The ESyp-
tians are making money and are buyl7g
moro foreign goods than ever before. For
ages they have been so ground down by
taxation that the skins Of their stomachs
have tapped against their back bones. To-
dav they are fat and the said skins are
stretched like drum h-ads. They cat
Ing foreign food buying foreign cloth
Ing and Spending money on foreign
knickracks. The British government, which
now rules them. has cut down the taxes
are is giving them d square deal rs banks
are crowding the native Shy ocks to the
wall Its new dams are furnishing per-
cnn'al irrigation to a large part OF the
valley and the country has become imam
cially stable. The Egypt of today is new
land, ana for the first time Its peope are
taking the position nature intend q then
TO take In the markets of the world. The
nations Of Europe are awake to the s.tua-
ton and are pushing after trade in every
possible way They are establishing banks
and are organizing syndicates and exp'oi-
tation companies to exploit the Egyptians
and get a share of heir money.
Egypt As q National Customer.
Uncle sam Should study Egypt as ma
tion1l customer. and should have his men
on the e ound to introduce his goods. In
deed il IS difficult to know this country and
people without coming to see them. Since
the beginning OF history the Nile valley has
been considered the garden spot of the
blohe lis sol. is as black jet. as rich
as guano. and the floods Of the river an
nually coat II with fertilizer as sustain
ing the bonodust sold by the American
meat trust. Such parts OF 1t as can b. per-
ennially irrigated VII grow two or three
nor I.
and many regions will produce 800 pounds
of cotton per acre. Other parts are equally
rich as to sugar. and every Httlf farm pays
big interest on the moSey ana WORK spent
upon IL. As il is now, the land is support
ing more peope to he acre than any otner
earth. Belgium, that hotbed OF indus
try with it's m mes of iron and coal and It's
myriad factories, has only about eco people
per square mile and China the leviatha1
of Asia has less than 80. Little Egypt IS
supporting almost 100 per square mile;
and the bulk of them are crowded down
near the MediterTan an. and are nowhere
more than three hours by rail from the sea-
ports. They are situated that they can
be easily reached by water. and, with a
direct steamship line nom the United States |
they can be flooded with American goods
at the lowest freight cost. The North Ger
man LLOYD is nov serGing goods from New
York to Egypt in eighteen days, ana these
goods transshipped at Marse lie. by
direct steamers the time might be cut down
TO two weeks
of Egypt amounts to- We are spending
much in pushing our trade with China. and
for gP generation or more our papers nave |
been full Of the Chinese possibilities. AS 1t |
Is now the foreign trade of Egypt is more |
than Cne-third as large as that OF all China |
1t is Over SEQ. CG0,cG0 a year. and of this |
SlCo 100000 is brought in from abroad AS |
to the exports. take all and more than |
our share. But of tn, imports get hard |
~ n smell. In other words. We buy of !
Egypt from seven to ten million dollars a
year and sell her less than one-tenth that
amount. We do not sell her per cant OF
all that she buys and We take from Z to 10
per cent of all that she sells.
Moreover our tourists annually go up the
Nile by the thousands and they leave in
Egypt every winter as much as s4,Voo'ooo
Sixty per cent Of all the profits of the
Egyptian hotels come from Americans. and
we ought to get our share of the trade in
return.
What Uncle Sam Sh ould Do.
II wodld seem that Uncle Sam ought to
wake up and put his men on the ground |
lie ought to establish a more extensive |
consular service, ought TO build legation |
building at Cairo, and urge some OF his |
financial nephews to open bank or so |
here, with branches in New York and In !
other American ports. He should send out |
commission to study this trade, and !
should establish exposition warehouses in /,
Alexandria and Cairo, filed with the goods !
we make well. but which the Egyptians |
are now buying from England and other !
countries of Europe.
AS il is now. our consul general TO Cairo |
is acting as our diplomatic agent as we'll. |
The duties should be divided and a man
who will do nothing elss but push American
trade should be added TO the legation force.
As this country nominaliy belongs to
Turkey. we cannot send a minister plenipo-
Tertiary to il. but consul general is
given practically the same powers as an !
ambassador has elsewhere. and this part of
his work Is enough for one man to handle
Our present diplomatic agent at Cairo
who bear the title OF consul general is
Lewis NJ Iddings who was formerly one of |
the editors of the New York Times and
later on served first Sc cretary to our
embassy at Rome. He is by training and !
experience more diplomat than a consular |
officer. although he understands the United
States we'll and has had journalistic train
Ing before he took up diplomacy. AS diplo-