Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-03-14

The most bizarre OF all the coups
OF Nikolai occurred during the year Of
the great cotton famine, which was
ended so spectacularly. Cotton had
mOu0polizcd the interest even of the
daily newspapers. \ ring of spec
ulaJors in Chicago had formed a COT
ner and prices went rOckcting sky
ward Cotton had been scarce
throughout the southern states that
year and high prices proved a bouaH-
10 20 growers in jhe belt. But over
in Lancashire, when supplies the fin
ished goods for three parts of the
world, spmdles stood idle, Tor no man
U.acturer could afford to pay the cur
rent price of the staple. Misery and
restitution stalked through the homes
OF tine workers.
NikoIai had been reading the OK
change reports; at last he threw down
the newspaper.
1t seems essential of modern civ
ilizatiou." he said, that the success
of one must be- based upon the failure
of another Here we have q case III
point South Carolina farmers are 90
ing in for automobiles while Lance
shire lacks bread And / am ruined
while the Chicago spectators are
making millions. DO you believe that
there is a providence that interferes
arbitrarily with human destiuies,
Summers? ~
'Possibiy-but only through the
slow working out Of cosmic forcess,
| answered
But men can sometimes play Provi-
dence," he answered. Cotton is at
twenty-five today-twelye 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 a fortnightly settling
day here. aud in twelve days | shall
have 70 deliver. And / 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 a fall. Every financial paper
twenty-eight, if not to thirty, by the
next settling day on Change
1T is fortunate that the United
States has the monopoly OF cotton pro-
duction." l 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 a bumper
crop. prices TAIL. Yet today the fields
OF the Car0linas are white with the
bursting pods, while Egypt is a desert,
until the British government gives the
signal TO transform it into a garden"
VIII they not let the plants be put
in the ground?' / queried.
The plants are in the ground" said
Nikolai bitterly. But they will not
grow without water. Do you know
that Egypt is the Nile-that every
year, when the Nile oVerfows its
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?'
Nikolai nodded. And ten days aft
erward Egypt is a granary and 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 a 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 a million pounds in
gold lay buried nine feet below the
surface of the floods. Why should not
we dig ont this treasure and thus re-
coup ourselves?"
1t 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
il is impossible. but now the upper por-
ton of the temple is disclosed. ! was
there before the dam was built; the
excayators 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 I'M
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
ofsthe dam was not regarded with any
- l.. IvNI