The Detroit times., 1913-03-07
."ON BOARD THE GOOD SHIP EARTH"
vHERBERr rouICK


Ccopyright. 1919 by Herbert Quick)
one OF the most splendid works erected by
men for making efficient Of the earth is the great
dam at Assouan. Egypt 1t is built to hold back the
Hood waters of the River Nile for purposes rrga-
tion, Our great Reclamation Service has created
nothing finer than this great engineering project.
which spreads over whole provinces the waters from
the Abyssinan mountains. giving the crops of the
poor Egyptian fellahs both food and drink
But do the fellahs get the benefit? Let us see.
The water from the dam is furnished principally 70
Middle and Lower Egypt and the Province of Fayum.
In these regions since the water has been available
for the crops the land has paid increased taxation
of about $b000000 annually. The OF the works
up to the time mentioned was about S52, 90 900 IL
Will be that the taxation collected because OF the
values created by the dam amount about per cent
interest on the investment.
And most people will say that the government has
done well in the transaction--for It is collecting
enough to pay the interest and perhaps sinking fund
and the cost of operation But let us look deeper.
The land In the provinces affected has increased in
value because of the irrigation, from $s77500o00 to
2,43S, 10000, and the aggregate rent has grown
from ssl $50 900 annually to $lSS75O 900 All these
figures approximations only. but they correct
proportions and show clearly that the British man
agement OF Egypt has, by the building OF this dam.
liberated from the desert latent values In the dry
deck room of the good ship Earth amounting to over
a hundred millions year. for which II gets back In
taxation only five millions. AS for the feahs they
better of. They must still pay for the OF
the deck room on their old airship They may be
glad the in the number of jobs the general
progress Of the nation may bring them pleasures
known before. o moral benefts-or II may not: but
this is the point am making. The only people who
receive money benefit from the AssuOn Dam are the
owners OF the lands-who may live in London or New
York. or Constantnople Cairo; may these huge
profits add attractions to harems or buy titled
husbands for eligible daughters repair ancestral
castles indulge in motor cars yachts The fellahs
are better of while working on the new irrigation
blocks than they when laboring on the old Nile
flood plain All the fellah gets. anyhow. Is mere
living
The water OF the Nile drawn UP from the
by the ownerless blown by the free winds
lands and lowered to the valley by the ever
lasting hills The water did not belong TO the land
lords Of Egypt The dam built by the govern
ment (Which in morals belongs to the fellahs much
as to an equal number OF Pashas) by the expenditure
of money raised the credit Of the labor power of
the fellahs The dam. then. cannot belong to the
landlords Egypt And when by the use Of the peo-
pies money Gods and wind and the hills whence
cometh the help not OF landlords but Of men. hun
dred millions annually are created by government
il not of the most iniquous sort IL the land
lords OF Egypt allowed to collect and keep the
hundred millions? Think what that sum would do
for the fellaheen II II turned into the public
treasury in good morals 1t should be. 1t would
lift them out their ignorance by means OF schools
II would construct public baths and theaters 1t
would install easy and cheap transportation facilities