The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1914-03-13

warn. COCCOn ndQ Deeu SCdICc
throughout the southern states that
year, and high prices proved bonan-
"a to growers in the belt. But over
in Lancashire, which supplies the fin
ished goods for three parts Of the
world, spindles stood idle, for no man
ufacturer could afford to pay the cur
rent price of the staple. Misery and
restitution stalked through the homes
of the workers.
Nikolai had been reading the ex-
change reports; at last he threw down
the newspaper.
1T seems essential of modern civ
ilization," he said, that the success
of one must be based upon the failure
of another. Here we have a case in
point. South Carolina farmers are 60
ing in for automobiles while Lanca-
shire lacks bread. And l am ruined
while the Chicago spectators are
making millions. Do you believe that
there is providence that interferes
arbitrarily with human destinies,
Summers
"Possibly-but only through the
slow working out of cosmic forcess,"
l answered.
But men can sometimes play Provi-
dence," he answered. Cotton is at
twenty-five today-twelve points above
the normal. Two days ago | sold Sep
TENDER cotton at twenty-five on the
London exchange, thinking that the
pool would break up and prices tum-
BILE. They have fortnightly settling
day here, and in twelve days / shall
have to deliver. And l shall have to
buy in at about twenty-eight and be
ruined"
Prices were rising almost hourly.
There was hardly the remotest pros
pect of fall. Every financial paper
foretold that cotton would be up to
twenty-eight, if not to thirty, by the
next settling day on Change"
ct is fortunate that the United
States has the monopoly of cotton pro-
duction." i unused.
1T has not" interrupted my COM
panion, Algeria, India, and Egypt.
The latter is, however, the only coun-
try that can compete seriously with
America. If Egypt produces bumper
crop. prices fall. Yet today the fields
of the Carolinas are white with the
bursting pods, while Egypt is desert,
until the British government gives the
signal to transform it into a garden"
will they not let the plants be put
la xae grou ld?" l queried.
''The plants are in the ground" said
Nikolai bitterly. BUS they will not
grow without water. Do you know
that Egypt is the Nile-that every
year, when the Nile overfiows it's
banks, the wilderness is transformed?
Formerly nature produced this phe-
nomenon unassisted. But now-well
have you not heard of the new dam
at Assousan?"
Completed last year to store the
waters until the government decides
to open the sluices?"
Nii:olai nodded And ten days aft.
erwaId Egypt is a granary and a cot
ton store. If the gates were opened
today prices would go tumbling. Cot
ton would fall to nearly normal, and
/ should be able to buy in at fifteen
and clear substantial profit. Imag-
Inc it, Summers; seven hundred miles
of cotton fields, bursting into bloom.
And all hinges upon the governments
hydraulic gates!
do you know how they built this
DAM" Nikolai resumed. There was
but one spot where it could be done,
and they submerged temple, half ex-
plored, that gave promise of treasure
greater than any dug from the Phara-
obs graves. Summers, it was whis-
pered that half million pounds in
gold lay buried nine feet below the
surface of the floods. Why should not
we dig out this treasure and thus re-
coup ourselves?"
ct is impossible!" l cried
Not at this season." Nikolai re-
joined. when the floods are swollen
to the limit of the capacity of the dam
1t is impossible. but now the upper por-
ton of the temple is disclosed. l was
there before the dam was built; the
excavators had begun to cut stair
way into the heart of sphinx which
was supposed to guard the gold The
government stopped the works, fear
ing that the construction would be un-
dermined. So great is the pressure of
the floods that a very little weakening
would loose some stones in the ma
sonry; then the waters would break
through and sweep over the face of
Egypt"
The idea began to grip me. In vain
my reason forbade participation in
Nikolai's enterprise; three days later
we had reached Brindisi by the Over
land Mail, crossed the Mediterranean
and chartered a vessel for Assouan.
The tourist season was normally end
ed. for the heat had become in
tense; but travelling Americans, as we
were considered, are proverbially &C.
centric, and our voyage to the region
of the dam was not regarded with any
suspicion by the authorities. Indeed,
antiquities along each shore called
forth archaeologists during all times
and seasons. We developed an lnsa-
table thirst for sarcophagi during the
first day of our sojourn, and, having
pitched tent as near the great dam
as was permitted. wandered freely in
Its neighborhood.
1t was, indeed, marvel of engineer
ing work. OF solid masonry, thirty
feet thick and fifty high, built in q
slightly convex configuration, it
stretched away on either side of us.
connecting highland with highland. In