Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-15

poles are enough to supply line through
Its center. telegraph route across the
Sahara has just been surveyed and within
q. short time. the French provinces of the
Soudan will be Joined to Algeria by twenty.
nVe hundred miles of wire.
There are telephones in all the chief cities
Algeria sent more than five million tele.
phone messages last year. and it's long dis
lance conversations were more than one
million. TuniSia has a telephone system
and l can stand in the hotel here and be
connected with the cities for miles around.
l have already spoken of tine rates. They
are far lower than any we have in Amer
lea. | can send a wire from here to France
for cent a word and 1 could do the
same were five hundred miles below in
the Desert of Sahara. If 1 remember cor
rectiy, our telegraph companies charge
about 10 cents a word from New York to
San Francisco. and no message is sent for
less than % cents. Here the minimum
charge per message is 10 cents. and one can
telegraph to Great Britain, Italy. Denmark
or Germany for far less than we can send
a message across our continent. The tele-
phone rates in AlgierS are 3 cents for three
minutes and 8 cents Cor long distance mes
sages outside. The charges in Tunis:a are
about the same.
A Good Postal Service.
Both of these countries have a good pos
tai service. There are post offices in every
town. and, Of late, the mails have been car
ried on camels to many of the GASES of the
destr. The letter rates to Algeria. Tunis
and France are cents, and postal orders
up to 81 may be gotten for cent, and up
to $40 for cents. l can buy a postal order
on America to the amount of 81 for cents.
and the same rate Is given for England,
India Canada and Japan. There are al
most daily mills from here to Europe, and
France can be reached from either Tunis or
Algiers in just twenty-four hours.
The postal business Is ra DidIy growing
There are something like fifty million pack
ages sent through the Algerian mails every
year, and fully half that many through the
post offices of Tunisia.
Money and Banks.
Both of the provinces have excellent
banking facilities. Every town of any size
has its banking establishments. and the cit
les are represented by. the chief banks of
France. l was able to draw money at
Biskra. down in the Sahara, and l have
had no trouble anywhere in getting my let
ter OF credit cashed. The Bank of Algeria.
which is connected with the government
has a capital of s4Go0.00O. and it's paper
notes are exchanged for gold in any part
of these French colonies. The Credit Ly-
onnais has branches in all the Algerian
cities. and the same is true of the Bank of
Tunisia as to the cities of that province.
The money used is French in Algeria and
Tunisian in TuniSia. but it is all on the
French decimal system and there is no
trouble in making change. In addition to
the banks above mentioned there are agri-
cultural banks in both Algeria and Tunisia
which NAVE loans to farmers and settlers,
and Algeria has seven savings banks with
deposits of more than five MILAN dollars.
So far. banking here is in its infancy.
The natives have not been accustomed to
taking care of their money that way. They
. do not like to go to the banks for fear
their friends will think them hard up. and
hat hotr hJ,ciy tc Spy rt~.1
fore. they hide their savings under the raft
crs or build them away in some part Of
their houses Many of them put their sur
plus into jewelry and this is especially so Of
the Bedouins and Kabyles. the richer women
among whom often loaded with gold
and silver
The chief money lenders outside the
banks are the Jews who charge exorbitant
rates Of interest and take notes for much
mere than the amounts loaned. The Jew
comes to the mans house, and makes the
loan there. and at the end often gets both
house and money In the French banks