El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-09-17

/ q
be fool to remain on the throne
believe however, that God put. man
itno' the world for a purpose other than
pleasure. 1t is duty that is mans CHIEF
end. I am trying to do what 1 can for
my country and people and 1 am hap
pest when I am working the hardest
These words were uttered after the
! english had taken hold of the Egyptian
| situation. AS you will remember, they
| came in at the end of ARABIA Pasha S
| rebellion, and after they had put down
the revolution of the Mahdi. Tewfik
| was ground between the upper and
! neither miIlstones of the rebels and
the English and his bed was never one
| of roses
It is different with the present khe-
/ dive. He has practically nothing to
! do with the actual government and
the English relieve him from most OF
the troubles of the ordinary ruler.
4IOhammedan Rulers.
| Both Tewfik and Abbas have IphelG
the principles of Mohammedanism. Dur
ing my talk with Tewffk cigarets were
brought in and I was offered a smoke
| Observing that his highness did not
/ take a cigaret I refused and moment
| later 1 asked the khedive if he did not
| smoke He replied that he neither
l smoked nor drank, and that ne did not
, drink because it was against the laws
! of life as laid down in the Koran.
understand that the present khedive
! never touches tobacco or intoxicat ting
! liquors, and that he is almost as good
| a Mohammedan as was his father. He
has recently gained great favor with
! his subjects, not only in Egypt but in
the Sudan, by making a pilgrimage to
! Mecca, and the fact that he has in
creased the size Of his harem will prob
| ably be another point in his favor.
AS to Tewfik Pasha, he told me that
he could recite the Koran backward
! from beginning 20 end. He knew the
whole book by heart, and could COM
mence at any place and recite back
and forth. He said that he thought
every man should be faithful to the
beliefs Of his fathers, and that he was
ia favor Of religious liberation. He
wen- TO mosque regularly, and urged
the pushing of the Mohammedan reli-
gion. Abbas is also regular in his
mosque attendance. but doubt whether
he is doing anything outside that and
his pilgrimage.
The Khedivev I'm 1910.
As 1 was thinking of these things a
stately Official in dark clothes and red
fez cap entered and told me his high
ness was ready TO see me. He then led
hall into another parlor, which was
, equally large. AS we entered
straight, stout youAg man, with fair
face and blond mVstache, came for
ward and offered me his hand. Tt was
the young khedive, whom had met
when I was in Egypt four years ago.
He greeted me with welcome back to
Egypt, saying that he considered 1t
compliment TO the country that the
who ,-io ~
turned. His highness led the way TO a
sofa near the window, and motioned me
to a chair at his side. When he sat
down himself he put one foot under
/ him and sat upon that. 1 remembered
that his father had sat the same way
The khedive maintained this position
during the half hour of our audience.
As we talked had an excellent op-
portunity to study the man. His high
ness is about five feet eight tall, and
he weights perhaps 10 pounds. He is
as straight as an arrow, and the red
fez cap which he invariably wears
makes him look taller.
Many Americans think all of the peo-
pie Of this part of the world have dark
compilations. That of the khedive is
fair, and his bronze cheeks are rosy.
He wore today a black frock suit a
fashionable necktie, and with the ex-
ception of his fez his costume would
not have been out of place in any
American club. Our conversation was
carried on in English, which his high
ness speaks with a slight German ac-
cent probably from the German pro-
fessors who taught him that language.
He was, you know, educated in Vienna,
and 1t is said that he speaks French.
German, English, Turkish and Arabic
with great f1uency. while he is con-
VerSant with 10
Talk About Farming.
Before going to the palace had been
warned that his highness would not
discuss politics, and I therefore turned
the conversation to farming. The khe-
dive is one of the largest farmers Of
the Nile valley. He has stock ranches,
cotton plantations and grain fields
galore He is successful developer
Of real estate propositions. He takes
up cheap lands and by means of irri-
cation and drainage makes them double
and treble in value. He says that
drainage is quite as important for
Egypt as irrigation, and that there are
vast territories here which proper
drainage might bring into use. This is
so OF some lakes near Alexandria
There is just as much danger from an
oversupply as from an undersupply of
the Nile waters. The floods contain a
certain amount of salts of one kind or
another, which are injurious TO the
crops II the water lies too long upon
the land, and this. has to be removed.
During my talk with his higness, I
asked him as to his farming and
whether he really gave it his personal
attention. He replied that he dfi So
and that he was in telephone connec-
ton with each of his estates and re-
ceived daily reports from all of them.
We talked of the fertilization of the
Nile valley. The khedive said that the
land was exceedingly rich, but that it
could be improved by adding phos-
pilates and other artificial manures. He
told me that farming was improving
throughout Egypt. and that the agri-
cultural department is teaching the
people the value of good seed and of
Intensive cultivation
l asked him what would be the effect
OF the raising of the dam at Assouan.
He answered that it would double the
quantity of water that is now being
held back, and that it will add millions
OF acres to cultivated Egypt He says
that the government has other schemes
under way which will materially in
crease the farming possibilities of his