The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-10
sent any formidable problem Of trans

sent any formidable problem Of trans
portation until the land Is watered.
Only in the southern, equatorial part ID
there sufficient rainfall for crops; but
even in the north i'm the regions desert
to the eye. bare and brown, 1t Is. says
Mr.. Low, desert that neeCs only water
| to make 1t bloom with verdurc; the
soil IL all right. And the only obstacle
In the, way of irrigation is the prior
claim of Egypt upon the Nile waters.
| When the hydraulic engineers have fin
ished their miracle working In Egypt
and her permanent supply is assured
the Sudan will have It's chance: always
| the future tense!
| The labor problem, too. is a big one:
prolific though the Arabs and the Su-
danese may he. 1t will take many years
for the natural increase to make up for
the depopulation Of the closing decades
Of the nineteenth century. a population
of $500, 900, reduced by the Mahdia to
|. 800 90, in 1905. had passed the
400, 900 mark on its way to
recovery In 1910. Egypt suggests
itself as natural source Of sup
ply: 1t is near by climatic conditions
are fairly similar, and In the rough way
that distant populations are bulked In
the popular imagination It seems as
| though the two peoples ought to get
along well together. But II Is only as
trader or official that the Egyptian
| cares to migrate into the more south
| erly territory. The fellaheen are not
mobile: and with the reclamation Of
| new districts along the great river
| there will be increasing demand for
| their services at home. The author
| looks To India to come To the rescue;
she could spare "a few million" Mo-
hammedans. "and it might be worth
while for the Indian and Sudan govern
ments tn consider whether concerted
measures might not he devised To pro-
mote moderate migration from re-
gion where agricultural humanity IL
rather too thick upon the ground to
one where 1t Is too sparse and scat
tered" II ought to work better than
! n South Africa.
with commendable frankness Mr..
Low describes the situation Of the
British in Egypt; feared 10y some, re-
spected by some, really liked by few, and
certainly not commonly credited by
Egyptians with full measure of recog-
alton of the Importance of what Eng
land has done for Egypt. The English
colonial agent wins the respect and
even the affection Of primitive or semi
barbarous peoples: the Sudanese are
enthusiastically for" him, but the Flu
ropeanized Egyptian turns rather to
the Continent of Europe than to the
insuar heart OF the empire under
whose tutc.age his lot has fallen.
Natlonalism benefited 10y the urge given
to the whole Oriental world by Japan :
victory over Russo. its appeal Is nat
urally strongest To- the old governing
element. eager for "A revival of its in
fluencc The Turk regrets his lost power
and yearns fV Interference from Com
stantinople. fondly believing that with
drawal of the Occupation would restore
him to rule. The young Turks would
not make him boss but he thinks
they would: and - he frets and chafes
and plots, The peasantry, the fella-
heen, ought to bc grateful to the Eng
.iSh bencfaCtors who have improved
their financial standing and made agri-
! culture stable: but they do. not recog-
nze the dcc'slN" part IN these reforms
played 10y the English--it j. al, the
Will of Allah. AMI forgetting older and
far worse grievances, the kurbash and
the Cnrvec. they resent and grumblc az
minor difficulties. Fortunately The dis
coutrntt fomentcd 10y agitators are
. least provocative among the most ar
t!cuiatc sections of Tho population. the
( middle classes and profcssio men OF
the towns
The fate Of Egypt is bound up with
> IN. fare ,r Islam and Mr. Low he.
. licves the Muhammedan world to he
= now further IMAM ever removed IRON
~. 49,,
p slyly:
i