Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-06-02


have done much good, but that much
more remains to be done before they
can withdraw from the country with
safety to themselves, the Egyptians or
the peace of the world. Ihey declare
that the Egyptians are not yet ready
to take up the task Of government.
Certain it is that the British govern
ment can show many good works as
justification for its apparent breach or
faith in remaining in Egypt.
Taxation has been the burden of the
life of the Oriental since the first day
one man found that he could rule over
others. In Egypt the taxes nave peen
very onerous, and they have oeen
lightened but little under British rule.
The obligations to the money lenders
of Europe, contracted by the reckless
Ismail, must pe paid in full. Inc rel
laheen who till the soil must pay. AL
though the taxes are still heavy they
are not as onerous as they once WERE
The first and one of the most tmpor-
tant reforms initiated by the British
was the institution of the tax receipt.
Formerly the fellah paid his taxes to
the sheikh and trusted to luck that ne
would not have to pay again. II the
sheikh needed money, or II the man
higher up needed it, or If the khedlVe
needed il, the fellah. had to pay again,
The courbash, a dreadful whip made OF
hinpopotamus hide, assisted the tax
gatherer to find the hidden store or
coppers. Since the English came the
peasant pays his taxes and is given a
receipt. So long as he has that bit OF
paper the relocated soldiers of Eng
land stand between him and the tax
! gatherer. 1900.
Furthermore, in the old days, nobody
but the fellaheen and the poorer peo-
Dle paid any taxes at all. The wealthy
evaded payment by currying favor at
court or by bold opposition to author
itv. Under British rule the rich as
we'll as the poor must pay. Under the
! old regime a professional tax was nm
posed upon all persons VINO practlced
one of the learned professions. rms
was always collected from the miser-
able feIlah who could not read or write,
| the government declaring that 1t was
not the states fault that the man had
not educated himself for professional
career, and that therefore, the state
could not be cheated out of its just
| dues.
The English abolished government
| by courbash. Under the RUE OF tuo
! pashas the whip was applied freely TO
enforce the will of the aristocracy.
Men accused of crime were dashed un-
| til they confessed or until they dled.
The courts did not administer justice;
| they only melted out punishment. u
was visited upon innocent and guilty
alike unless the victim could produce
a bride of sufficient attractlVeness 10
| induce the judge to relent.
The universal system of bribery and
official "bakhshish" has been we'll nigh
| stamped out. In the old days 1t was
positively dangerous not to oHer u
| bride to every official one came in con-
tact with. Now it is almost as dan
gerous to offer the bride. Corruption
.+;I1 tn TNoVnt b11t 1T is now the
| exception and not the rule.
The English abolished the "corvee'
| in it's old form. The corVee was that
regulation which held the labor of the
subject to be at the disposal of the
sovereign. The government could call
on any number of men, order them 90
go to any point in the country and
work without pay for as long as 1t
pleased The Suez canal was started
and most of it constructed by this kind
of labor The men were not paid, were
| poorly fed and there was no protee-
ton whatever for their health. The
| pyramids were built by forced labor,
and the corvee had been transmitting
the blood of the Egyptian fellah into
gold for the sovereign for sixty CEN
turtles when Lord Cromer abolished 1t.
The khedives had confiscated and
otherwise obtained possession of more
than a million acres of the best farm
ing lands in Egypt. Under English
rule the greater portion of this vast
estate has been applied to the extfnc-
ton of the public debt, and the land
| itself has been sold in small parcels to
the actual resident farmers.
| England has given Egypt improved
fertility and expanded area by scientific
| irrigation. 1t has blessed Egypt with
a long period of peace and tranquility,
with relief from the fear of the man
! higher up" with the practical aboli-
ton of slavery, with impartial admin
istration of justice for rich and poor,
with improved and cheapened trans
portation, with schools and with
/ emancipation from corruption.
Not even England pretends that the
British have a strictly legal right to
rule in Egypt, but, despite academic
| conclusions, it remains a fact that
England was forced to come to Egypt
by circumstances, and that England's
withdrawal at any time would have
meant anarchy in Egypt and danger to
! the peace of the world. More than
4 that even the Egyptians who are cry
ing out for national independence will
admit that both prince and peasant in
/ Egypt have known a greater prosper
ity under enlightened British rule than
ever before And despite all conten-
ton that England must leave Egypt
| there is every probability that Eng
land is in Egypt to stay.
! Copyright 1909, by Frederic j. Haskin)
TOmorrOw-Twentieth Century Egypt.
". Egypt for the Egyptians.