The Washington herald., 1913-05-09
Copyright. 1913. By A. D. jacobson,

SOKyI18nt, iSio, o a. u. J9corDOn.D
Rumors of Lord Hardinge's probable
retirement from the viceroyalty of India,
and the possibility of Lord Kitchener be
ing his successor there, give special in
terest to the review of the work which
the latter has done since his appoint
ment as British agent in Egypt in the
autumn of 1911. It is no exaggeration to
say that the possibility Of Lord Kitch-
ener leaving Egypt just now would be
regarded with dismay by most of those
who know the present state of the coun-
try and can compare it with what it was
three years ago. During the eighteen
months that he has been in the Nile
country. he has completely changed the
face of things. Three years ago. at
the time of the ASA fascination of Bourros
Pasha GhaH, the prime minister. and
before the memorable visit of Mr.. Roose-
welt, life In Egypt. especially for Brit
| ish government officials, was, II not I'M
safe, at least very unpleasant. Faced
with the rampant hostility Of the Ma
| tionaIist party land most everybody was
nationalist they could not even COM
| fort themselves with the reflection that
everything was really being done for the
good of the country.
ener, all this is changed; but to remove
| his extraordinary personal influence now,
when his work is only really begun,
| probably would mean plunging Egypt
| into worse state than that from which
| he rescued it. He has restored the pres
| tige of the representative Of the "occu-
plying power not only in the large cities.
| but also throughout the provinces, till
now every little town band in the dis
1 triat ri h.
as well or as badly as ii does the Khe-
| divial Anthem; and he gives them &C.
| aston to practice it pretty frequently,
! for nc misses no opportunity Of seeing
| for himself what is going on in the
provinces. Wherever he goes, too, other
! Improvements are to be seen. Roads are
| made or repaired into something like a
civilized condition for vehicular traffic.
| Until two years ago there practically
| was not good road in all Egypt, out
| side of the large towns.
| Cairo, Alexandria, and Port Said were
only approachable by rail or water.
| The agricultural roads throughout the
country were mere earthen banks, dusty
! in summer and muddy in winter, unfit
| for anything but camels and donkeys.
Now the road from Cairo to Alexandria
has been repaired. parts of it are macad-
amized. finger sign posts are erected.
and automobiles can do the journey of
about 40 miles in six hours. To these
who know from experience what motor
| ing in the Nile Delta was like even a
year ago, that fact will speak for itself.
The Nationalist party has practically
ceased to exist. 1t is not fashionable
now to be "anti-Englsh,' as 1t was
three years ago. Lord Kitchener has
kept the peace in Egypt through two
wars in which Turkey was engaged, with
far less excitement among the natives
than was caused by the Akaba frontier
dispute in 1906, and without a Den
shawl" He has maintained the neutral
! ity of Egypt through these wars. TIC
realize what that means, ii must be re-
membered that Egypt belongs to Tur-
key to which she phys an annual tribute
of ESQ 900 turkish pound, and that un-
der the Firmans Egypt is bound to pro-
vide an army of 1900 men to assist the
Sultan In any war in which he may be
engaged Instead. Egypt was declared
neutral which meant that so far as
receiving assistance, Turkey was actual
| " forbidden to pass her own troops
through Egypt to Tripoli. though that
was the only road open to her. which
| may have been fine diplomacy, but an
evident breach of treaty.
| Lord Kitchener is not only merely ap-
proachable TO all, native and foreigner
but he knows how to approach them
himself His main line of policy, II one
NAV Judge il by the trend of his re-
| forms, is to secure the prosperity oi
| the "feIlah," the agricultural peasant
who is as he always has been. the back
bone of Egypt. In the first place. he SCI
himself to master the problem of the
cotton crop. which has reen bone OF
, OIL ten.Ion in Egypt sincs the crop dis
aster of 1909 Having decided upon VIVA
The believed to be thu true remedy. M
went straight TO- it. and within fort
right of his arrival, plans were beinf
discussed ard surveys made for the
g,cantic drainage schemes in the North
ern Delta which are now under way
| He also tackled the whole problem oil
the agricultural methods of the fellah
which are more to be revered on account
OF their antiquity than admired for theil
| efficiency. Cotton-worm campaigns, seec
| distribution, over-watering-every one o.
! their difficulties or weaknesses he pu
his finger upon and the cure followed, a:
far as IL was possible for efficiency and
hard work to produce it. He has siver
his approval and encouragement to the
| movement for scientific production Of
good cottonseed from pure strains, ane
he has brought the producers into toucf
| with the consumers as they never were
before by the visit of the international
Federation of Cotton Spinners, last DC
tober.
But Lord Kitchener has not stopped
short of making it possible for the Eel
l. ah to grow good cotton. He knows how
the small producer is exploited by thu
money-lender the itinerant cotton buyer
the seed merchant. and all the rest; ant
he is determined to save him from al
these. In the first place. he has caused
| 70 he set up "halaqas." or local cotton
| markets, in every district, where the fel