Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-08-10
Copyright, 1907 by Frank G. carpen-


ter)
A LEXANDRIA,--1 have spent
IA the whole of today wander
ing about the cotton wharves
of Alexandria. They extend
for mile or so up and down the NAH
mudiych canal, which joins this city
to the Nile. and are ilanked on the
other side by railroads filled with cot
ton trains from every part of Egypt.
These wharves lie under the shadow of
Pompey's Pillar, ana they extend all
along the canal almos. to the harbor
Upon them are great warehouses filled
with bales and bags. There are cotton
presses nearby, and in the city itself
IL a great cotton exchange where the
people buy ana sell lust as they do at
Liverpool--from the samples of lint
which represent the bales brought in
from the plantations,
THE ALEXANDRIA COTTON MAR
kET.
Indeed, cotton Is as big factor here
as 1t is in New Orleans and the banks
of this canal make one think OF the
great cotton market OF that city. The
warehouses are OF vast extent ana
tne road between tneui and lnis tate.-
way is NuNtitu WITH ualtS DA llill ana
great bags OF cotton seed Skull
capped, psue sowie4 h.sspkials SO
high upon the bales iong-bedoeu
wagons hauled by mules. Other
Egyptians are unloading the cars and
boats and others are carrying the COT
ton 10 the warehouses;. Tney tote the
bales and baos on their backs, anG now
and then a man may be seen carrying
a bag OF loose cotton Weighing cou-
pie of hundred pounds upon mis- head.
'rhe cotton seed is taken from he
0oats III the same way seed TO the
mount or SEQ pounds OFTEN forming "a
Miad for one man.
Up Late in the afternoon / went down to
the harbor to see the cotton steamers,
They were takin' on cargoes Tor Great
Britain, Russia, France Germany and
the United States Cotton forms three
fourths of the exports of this country,
and somethin" like 100000 worth OF it
is annually shinped to the United States
This is so Notwithstanding we raise
more than two-thirds of all the cotton
OF the world. The total product in
1905 was almost 100000 bales, of
which we raised over 100000, Egypt
then produced a little less than 1,l00,-
COO and its product brought more per
bale by far than ours There is al
ways a big demand for Egyptian cot
ton 1t is worth more on the average
than that of any other country. and 1t
is in fact, the chief money maker of
the Nile valley.
COTTON Is KING.
Cotton is the great white Pharaoh
which the Egyptians worship. He has
the majority of the Nile farmers in his
employ and he pays them royalty. He
has rolled up Il wave of prosperity
which Is now eneulf the Nile val
I AZ.
and the prospects are that he
will make his countrw ROW richer
from year to year.
Cotton is now pourin~ about $780,
100000 of new clean money into the
laps of the Egyptians every II months,
and this means an AVERAGE of about
$40 per family. In addition about S10,-
000, 900 are annually realized from the
sale of cotton seed and cotton cake. SO
that every man, woman and child
In the vale of the Nile has, on an av-
erage, 80 worth of new money from
this crop alone.
Not only this. but the cotton yield is
steadily increasing, and, with the new
irritation works now under way 1t will
soon be greater than ever. From 1895
to 1900 its average annual value was
only 45, 000. 900 After the Assouan
dam was completed it iumned to s70,-
100000, and 1t is now, as / have said,
over SS0,000,000.
A GREAT FUTURE
In the past few months the British
government has decided to raise that
dam. This will almost double the
amount of water which can be used for
the cotton crop. and that means more
cotton and more money. Lord Cromer,
the British governor general, says that
the greater part of upper and lower
Egypt can be made to grow cotton,
and that the cotton plantations will
eventually cover more than 100000
acres. IL 40 per cent of this area is
annually put into cotton, at the present
average yield of $50 ~-'-'- per acre,
1t Will produce something like 100000
bale annum. or one-ninth as much
as the present cotton ~ the world.
Sir William Garstin ono of the great
est irrigation en"ineers of modern
times, and the man who had much to
do in building the Assouan dam. says
that 10000 900 bales is one of the posi-
blities of Egypt's future, and that 1t
VIII be 10 or Is ears before the crop
reaches that amount. In addition 10
putting water into some - the GASES
which lie in the valley of the Nile out
side the river bottom, and also bv
draining the treat lakes about Alexan-
dria and In other parts of the lower
delta.
EGYPT'S COrro>- CROP.
AS 1t is now, Egypt is fast taking a
high place among the cotton countries |
OF the world. The United States stands |
first. She produces about 10000 900 !