The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1922-06-23
EGYPT OF TODAY
is LITTLE KNOWN
World at Large More Familiar
With Civilization of the Days
OF the Pharaohs.
PEOPLE ARE MUCH THE SAME
Peasant Of Today Might Have Stepped
From Ancient carvino-Now
Has First King Since the
PtoIemaic Regime.

Nttho
When Great Britain abandoned its
prOtectorate over Egypt, and the Sui
tan OF the Nile country changed his
title To king he became the first king
Of Egypt since the Ptolemaic regime"
says Al bulletin issued from the Wash
ngton, ID. c.. headquarters of the
National Geographic society.
The old Egypt OF millennlums ago
Is In many ways more familiar To the
world at large than the Egypt of to-
day" continues the bulletin. Pictures
OF its great pyramids and sphinxes, its
columned temples and rock-hewn
tombs fill histories and encyclopedias {;
and inevitably the readers attention
is conferred. not on the problems Of
today. but rather on the evidences OF
a dead civilization.
but aside from the fact that num-
my hunting was for many years one
Of the leading private industries OF
the country; and that now convicts.
instead Of building roads, excavate
tOmbs and temples for the govern
ment. the old monuments are merely
Il background for a life hard enough
10 center local thoughts mostly on
daily bread-winnlng.
specifically Egypt seems large
country. The eye sees it's color spread
over a considerable Part of the north
eastern quarter OF the map of Africa,
and statistics credit il with an area
of more than 10000 square miles But
he real Egypt-the habltable parts
like a cord with frayed end: the mar
low valley and fiaring delta of the
Nile. Except few scattered GASES
most OF the rest of the nominal Egypt
Is parched desert sand, gravel and
rocky hills. OF its more than A third
If Il million square miles of territory
about 1900 are estimated to he ca
pable of cultivation. and considerable
part of this has not yet been titled.
Peasant Like Figure From Carvings.
I'm comparing the Egypt of today
with that of the dawn Of history one
is divided between wonder ar the
marked changes on the surface and
the lack of change in some funda-
mentals. The Egyptian of today does
not speak his old tongue but instead
Arabic; his old gods are forgotten,
nd he has-with the exception of Fl
7nall minOrity-adOpted the religion
II MOhammcd. But In spite of numer-
Gus invasions. the blood Of the great
majority of the population has been
altered hardly at all. Practically the
fellaheen. or peasants. might have
stepped from the ancient carvings:
they are hut fresh generation Of
the men who dragged the great blocks
If stone into place 90 bHild the artl-
fetal mountains of the piTaraohs.
Egypt ; resources are almost wholly
scheme the millions of fellaheen are
the ultimate units. They WORK .ong
hours scratching the soil with Grade
implements, or tedlOGsly raising water
i'm skin buckets attached To pivOted
poles that the thin stream may save
their plants from parcn.ng. Taxes
are heavy, and il is the lowly fella-
heen who keep the treasury supplied
There is little cause To marvel al
Egypt cheC kered history. y simple
reason is that she began early. Her,
Is one of the earliest places in which
man lived an ordered life and lefl
records Of his activities.
AFTER the long reign of the Phar
aohS Egypt had its Grecian and
Roman regimes which brought bat few
changes. Then in oil y. ID. came the
invasion of the Saracens. from which
time began Egypt's MOhammedan
history. For time the country was
province of the Arabian Caliphs
later il was independent. though still
Mohammedan. under the MameiukeS
and finally. in 1916, it became IA
province of Turkey. which controlled
il first through governor and later
through sort of hereditary vicerOy
or khedive. r.
khedIve- Sultsn-king.
"For the third time Europe took a
hand in the affairs of Egypt in 179S
when Napoleon won his battle of the
Pyramids. The British drove the
French out in 1901 and turned the
country back To Turkey. In 1850 came
the building of the Suez canal by De
LessepS.. which has given Europe al
ever-growing interest in Egyptian If
fairs. To protect European bond
holders France and Great Britain
made joint intervention in 1879 ant
for 4 while controlled finances. The
uprising Of 1882 against the klIedivc
was suppressed by the British alone
and after that they controlled finance.
without assistance The government:
was in effect Egyptian with British rs
Sistance and with the nominal suzer
aintv Of Turkey acknowledged
when the World war j., an Gre.
Britain established protectOrai,
abolished Turkey Suzerainty. depuSt
he Germanophile khedive. anu "a.
point I another rr q uf the family
be sultan. The British protectora.
is now being Withdrawn. bat inStr
~ the former Turkish interest be-
res. ored Egypt j. set up as u. indie
pendent kingdom"