South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-04-22
PROPERTY OWNERS
IN EGYPT ARE HIT
BY NEW RENT LAW
Statute DEGREES Rent Increase
Must Not Exceed Fifty
Percent.


CAIRO April 21.-The high cost
Of living 10 Egypt. so far as the up
psr and middle classes are concern
cd IS not SO serious a matter as one
uIcht suppose from listening TO
THOSE who know only Egypt. Com
pared with. England, for instance,
80 is possible 20 live here just a
shade more chcaply than at home.
Whisky Cheap.
Certain commodities. such as
Vegetables. are uOticcably cheaper
and sou can buy any quantity Of
whisky lt seven shHlings bottle
auG perfectly good whisky. too The
iist class hotels have rece1tly put
their prices up 10 100 piastrcs day
,about S5.25l, but any one making
g long stay can get full pension, in
Cudur tcrything except afternoon
roa washing and drinks, for $3.50
10 800 ID day Food, including
butter. eggs and sugar, is plentiful.
even if that particular brand or
drv-as-dust chicken, which seems TO
bc brci exclusively for hotels, does
crop up with rather monOtonous
regularity.
Housing accommodations is. n
anything. rather worse 10 find here
than in England. bur prOhteCrins
landlords have receivcd-nOnc too
soou-a nasty setback, thanks to
the law Just passed. which DEGREES
that rents tn future must not exceed
90 percent above whatever was be
ing paid ON Aug. ]. 1914. This has
gou, far 20 allay tho fears of ten
ants, many OF whom where IN a
state Of panic.
Raise Rents
A week before the law was pass
ed blockk of flats changed hands.
and the new landlord promptly
raised AN tho rents from SO to
500. Unfortunately under the new
law existing contracts may cOntin-
ne I'm force. but not longer than the
end Of this year
Where the high cost of living be
comes really serious is i'm its effect
on the submerged millions. 4 few
mornings ago Cairo. witnessed the
novel spectacle of procession OF
women and children of the poorer
classes. protesting against food
prices and those I'm a position to
gauge the state OF the country s.
mind believe that food riots are b.
no means an impOsslbllity IN the
near future.
An EFFORT is being made by we'll
TODD natives to organize COOpcra-
tive societies 10 sell the necessities
OF life TO the poor at moderate rates,
and Il Is hoped that they may sue
coed. but il is notorious that Egyp-
tia"s. however. excellent they may
be at talking. have shown them
selves in the past TO lack the stay
ing power and application necessary
10 make such movements of practi-
cal value.
Immense fortunes have been and
are being made in Egypt. At Zaga-
zig. the great center of the cotton
trade I met two OF the local nov
eaux riches, both rcpUtel GO Zoe mill
HonairCs. Five years ago, one was
a station porter. he other sole fTWt
in the streets Both are quite iguur-
ant men. with certain amount OF
low cunning which they have turned
10 account There are cases OF such
men who have gone out OF their
minds at finding themselves in pos
session of an amount of money
quite beyond their comprehension.
Iaburin% Class.
on the other hand ,hcrc is the
large labor.ng ClasS-Cuc secs them
particularly i'm the towns-who
seem 10 exist on next 10 nothing 4
man earning two or three pounds
a month often has 20 provide for a
family OF six or seven. How they
DO IL is "a mystcry-but as one of
them remarked the other day: We
have less to eat nOWi'
An intelligent Oriental-not an
Fgyptian-has said that there are
two million people in this country
who want the English out of il: the
rest Of the population would, If il
dared express its sentiments. vote for
them 10 stay. The two million have
not failed TO profit froEt the high
food prices To foster discomfort
against the English They deliber-
ateIy spread the impression that
these prices are the fault of the
English. and that once they are
driven out OF the country the old
happy days OF low prices and plenty
VIII return
Discussion of the situation occu-
pies much space i'm the native pa
pers wherein IL has been freely
pointed out that the acceptance Of
bolshevism was brought about by
economic pressure on the poorer
classes in Russia and il Is suggested
that food should be nationalized be-
fore the present state OF things
grows worse