The Cordova daily times., 1916-07-26
|S QUIET I IN MIDST OF
 WAR


 marvellously untroubied in the midst of the universal uproar, though its peace is constantly threatened. for there can be no doubt that 1t was long ago marked down by our enemies as one of the prizes of successful war. But the British line in the desert keeps the active and watchful enemy on our eastern frontier in check. The fanati- cal hordes of the Western Desert and Darfour have received lesson which will probably last them at least until the end of the war, and in the interim the real Egypt. the green strip of the Nile valley and the Delta. the Egypt of the peasant cultivator. of the teem- ing fields and the mud-built villages have not been touched by war. It has not heard a shot fired or paid a penny of extra taxation.
 "The European element fin the coun- try has felt the near neighborhood of war. The shortage of tonnage has af- fected businesses in many cases, all though in others business men, in spite of high freights and high prices, are doing better than they ever did before. Many Frenchmen and Ital- ians have been called to the colors in Europe. The Germans, Austrians and Turks have been removed or interned. But the natives are hardly affected at all. They are not asked to serve-I the merest handful of Egyptian reserv- ists have been called up to serve as camel drivers. They have no inter ests in the casualty lists. All that the war means for them is higher prices for their produce and their labor, and a much larger amount of money in circulation among the poorer classes than was ever before the case. In these times of short tonnage and high prices everywhere. 1t is naturally the policy of the army authorities in Egypt to utilize, as far as possible, the produce of the country and to i'm port only what Egypt does not supply or can only supply at excessive prices.
 There is a military Local Resour- ces Board at Cairo, which, with the aid of civilian advisers familiar with the country, systematically collects, transports and utilizes all Egyptian produce, wherever obtainable, that can serve the turn of the army. Natural ly, foodstuffs and especially grain are the first need. All the wheat, maize and barley required is bought in Egypt, and at prices which invariably show a substantial increase on the pre-war prices. Purchases are made in a wholesale fashion. The army, for instance, took the whole of the last maize crop at an abnormal price, and has seen to it that this year there is & larger acreage under cereals than ever before.
 Egypt does not supply the troops with meat--it cannot rival the frozen meat from Australia and New Zea' land, but all the fresh vegetables for the army are bought in Egypt and enormous quantities of fruit are bought by the soldiers on their own account. Oranges. of which this eoun- try is a large producer. fetched un- precedented prices last season. The cultiyator is not slow to observe these things, and Is growing much more gar den stuff than ever before. In par ticular, the very high price of pota- toes last winter has encouraged him to devote more land to growing this indispensable vegetable. There is. in Iact, nothing that nc Cdh bto" sAasa' does not pay him better than in ordi- nary times. The army is a mighty purchaser of cameis and needs vast quantities of fodder, which it buys from the Egyptian farmer. The army has resuscitated the moribund salt in dustry at Damietta. It has created timber industry which never existed before in Egypt. The country is not rich in timber. but large quantities are aeeded, and the army buyers have looked around till they found supplies in various parts of the country.
 The army is also large employer of labor. It is calculated that the military authorities have some 1S.00o native laborers on their payroll, and these men. besides being fed. lodged and clothed, earn higher wages than they did in peace times. when they had to live out of their wages. It | should be noted, too. that although |