Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-16
Suez Canal Anniversary
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

/ supremacy on the seas, and England
holds it today. Under the terms of the
contract between Egypt and the canal
company the canal was to become the
property of Egypt at the expiration of
nlnety-nine years, or in 1868. Within
the past month the British government
and the canal company, which is still
French in name and all but control,
have effected an extension of this con-
tract for forty years, so that there Is
now chance for Egypt, which paid
four prices for the canal, to come into
possession in the good year zoos. In
the meantime the business of Egypt,
flourishing when the commerce of the
east and west had to be rehandled on
Egyptian soil, has decayed. Commerce
now sweeps by Egypt through the
canal and pays toll to British and
French shareholders.
Practically every purpose of the
canal, practically every hope enter
tanned for 1t when 1t was opened, ended
in disappointment. 1t has impover-
ished, politically and financially the
nations 1t was to make great. 1t has
become the chief asset of the nation
1t was to undermine. 1t is to be hoped
that the same may not be said, half
century hence, of the other interoceanic
canal.
But to return to the festival in Cairo
in 1862, Cairo was all but rebuilt in
the preparations for the celebrations.
The marvels of the old myths of Har-
oun-al- -Raschid and Akbar were ma
feriallzed Nothing was too expensive
for Ismall. He had been the guest of
the empress of the French at the opera
in Paris. 1t occurred to him that he
must return the courtesy. Music is
stranger within the gates of Islam, and
there was no opera in Cairo. The splen-
did spendthrift ordered the erection of
an opera house and decreed the
engagement of the best company of
singers to be found in Europe. He en-
ployed the great composer Verdi to
write an opera especially for the occa-
sion, using an Egyptian theme. The
result was the first production of
"Aida"-the most magnificent night of
opera in the annals of music.
Cairo was turned into a fairyland
and money seemed to grow on the
trees. The guests of the khedive were
entertained in palaces built for their
use, and they were given everything
the imagination of an oriental prince
with a Partisan training could suggest.
And all this was to celebrate the open
ing of canal which was constructed
by scooping up sand with human
hands.
The Suez canal was not new in his
tory. Thirty-five centuries before Set
l.
canal through the isthmus of Suez,
connecting the Mediterranean and the
Red seas. But the nation decayed and
the desert sands filed up the canal.
Eight centuries later the Egyptian
Necho attempted to restore the old
canal, and a century after his day the
Persian Darius began to reconstruct
it. Both stopped work at the instance
of magicans. who predicted that the
completion of the canal would spell
disaster to Egypt. Three hundred years
before Christ Ptolemy Philadelphus
built a lock and dam canal across the
isthmus. which was used for many
years. It was allowed to fall into de-
cay and in the day Of Cleopatra be-
came choked with sand. The Roman
engineers later dug it out and used 1t
in navigation. Again II was filled up,
to be again reconstructed by Amrou,
an Arab captain, in A. d. 700. 1t soon
filled up again, and the canal project
slept until Napoleon Bonaparte came
to Egypt He was dissuaded from
attempting the work by the report of
an engineer, who declared that the
level Of the water in one sea was
higher than in the other and connec-
tion would mean a cataclysm. Then
came de Lessons.
The canal as opened in 1869 has been
widened and deepened to accommodate
Ine larger SHIPS VI Nllt piNHSh1 BNiiSia-
ton 1t is of great Importance to the
maritime commerce of the world, al
though it cannot compare with the
Sault ste. Marie canal of the Amer
lean Great Lakes in the tonnage or
value of it's commerce. 1t is politically.
of transcendent Importance, because
IL is the keystone in the arch of the
British empire. If there is great war
in Europe the enemies of England will
strive, first OF all. to seize the canal
and destroy England's rule in Egypt.
And it is for the protection of the canal
that England maintains such a pow
erful fleet in the Mediterranean sea.
Sometime within the coming decade,
probably within five years, the Amer
lean people will celebrate the opening
of the Panama canal and the wedding
of the Pacific and the Atlantic. The
wisest statesmen believe that that
canal will give the United States added
wealth and power But even IL 1t shall
prove a disappointment, the history Of
its construction will be free from the
stains of cruelty and sin and waste
such as no splendid celebration ever
can blot from the story of the Suez
canal.
Tomorrow-NatiOnaI Live stock Show.