Omaha daily bee., 1920-03-14
ATM0SPH HERE
OF PORT SAID
is Chan GED
BY W0RLD.WAR
Wicked Egyptian City Is
Found Much Cleaner, But
Less Picturesque by
TOURISTS
BY PERCIVAL PHILLIPS,
Staff Correspondents Of tho international
Service and the London
Daily Exuress

Daily Express.
Port Said, March l3.-Old travel
ers come ashore and smile sadly.
New travellers plunge into the
stronghold of curio merchants with
surprise and disappointment. Port
Said, like the rest yof the world, has
been changed by the war. Port said,
to be quite frank, has been cleaned
up.
Time was when a brief saunter
through the ramshackle bazaar
meant terrific battle with touts.
Shady gentlemen of all nationali-
ties, most of them known to the
police of two continents, piled their
disreputable trades with impunity.
An incredible amount of rubbish
was carted away by tourists in
memory Of few hours stay. Muir
der was pastime after dark, and
many sinister stories were told in
the smoking rooms of departing
liners, OF Port Said's wicked in
habitants.
Now this gateway to the east is
as safe and nearly respectable. The
hand of the A. P. M. has been laid
In no uncertain manner on the un-
derworld which was the real Port
Said. Deportations eased the town
oil. its international rogues and
vagabonds. A passport control sec
ond to none in effectiveness Seeps
tight grip on the polyglot pc 2ula-
which was staple industry on
steamer days, is discouraged by the
representative of British rule.
No Piracy and Pillage.
Gone, too, is the atmosphere of
piracy and pillage maintained by
brazen guides and other varieties of
profteers. They were wont to seize
on amiabfe and inquisitive tourists
with the persistence of leech. They
would extract money by entreaties,
argument, threats, even violence.
Now the touts and trinket sellers
and ragged, bootblacks approach
their preyt with marked diffidence.
"A single sharp refusal usually suffi-
ces to turn them off. They drop the
trail Immediately they see that no
business is to be done.
"They never know" said cynical
English resident, "when they are
likely tol run against an Australian
in multi"
The Australians; it appears, dis
couraged their attentions in a simple,
direct fashion characteristic of the
breed. A blow squarely on the point
of the law usually followed the third
application for aims or a refusal to
"buzz off" Broken heads were
plentiful in Port Said until the ma
tive parasite and his Levantine
brother learned wisdom.
The lesson sticks in their minds.
Achmed will plead for patronage
for his harboE boats; Mohammed
trots beside you with plaintive
appeal to be allowed to SHOW you
all the city," the little Achmeds and
Mohammeds still race through the
dust-meanwhile adroitly scattering
it on your boots-with shrill offers
to "shine 'em up, all bright" but
they keep wary eye on walking
sticks. and soon drop away
More Dingy Than Ever.
Port Said is even dingier, more
ldown-at-heel than when l last saw
it before the war. The dingy, un-
painted wooden buildings sprawling
against each other, their verandas
Uttered with every variety of rub
bish, give its principal street the
appearance of a .third-rate Earl's
Court at the end of hard winter
Shops crammed with tawhry wares,
calculated to catch the inexperienced
eye, still fill it from end to end. Fat
Leveantines peep furtivcly through
half-open doors, ready to pounce on
the first traveller who hesitates be-
fore the window.
The Hotels on the water front
house an ever-changing, ever-gloorly
horde of travellers. They come from
Cairo and beyond, hunting for a
berth n>over-crowded ships. They
! wait the pleasure of dirty little
coastwise cargo boats, in which they
are to be carried up to Syria. They
learn the value of patience and the
unwisdom of trusting any prophecy
as to the date of their departure.
Life in Port Said is just one post
ponement after another.
A few soldiers wander about the
streets; occasionally two mounted
police in khaki ride along the har7
Dor front. Officers who~see stepped
in a gentle pessimism give each
other tea outside the Eastern
Lounge, and talk of being "detnob-
bed" No one seems particularly
cheerful. Reformed and chastened
as it is, Port Said cannot be called
an ideal spot. The men who must
stay here look enviously at the
happy travellers who pass through
day after day homeward bound.