Delmar.] Z4D [Oct. 2, 



may, however, be due to other i-easons than mere physical infirmity. The 

 immediate labor of about 15 persons out of every 100 in the United States 

 produces more than enough food for all ; whereas in Egypt the same result 

 calls for the immediate labor of at least three times as many persons ; 

 while the result itself is greatly inferior in quantity, quality and variety. 



That this great comparative inefficiency of Egyptian labor is due less 

 to natural inaptitude than to poor food, rude implements and other cir- 

 cumstances over which he has no control, is manifest from the recorded 

 observations of very intelligent persons. 



Says MacGreggor, waiting of Egypt, " The Arabs, if brought yoirng to 

 the cotton factories are of quick intellect and easily learn any branch of 

 the trade." * * * "They show considerable dexterity." 



Says Dr. Rlippel : "The young Egyptians show great skill and often 

 surpass their masters in cleverness. ' ' 



Taxation. 



The tax system of Egypt is contrived to keep its unhappy people pre- 

 cisely at the point where it is a matter of the utmost unconcern to them 

 whether they live or die. It is impossible to ascertain what this burden 

 amounts to in money, but substantially, it deprives the population of all 

 the fruits of their industry, leaving them but a bare and most wretched 

 subsistence, without lands, homes, clothing, secimty, justice, or education 

 — and, but for dates and dourra, even without food. The peasant's home 

 is far less comfortable than that of some wild animals — for instance, the 

 beaver. It is of the same character as the latter — a mud hut — -and teems 

 with vermin. Great numbers of the people live in the ancient tombs, 

 with darkness and the bats. — Stephens' Travels 1837. The dress of the 

 people hereabouts (at the First Cataract, the confines of Egypt proper and 

 Nubia) consists of a piece of leather about six inches wide, cut in strings 

 and- tied about their loins. I bought one from a young girl of 16, whose 

 sweet mild face and exquisitely charming figure the finest lady might 

 have envied. — Ibid. 



Men are seized in the streets, the bazaars, anywhere, "the iron bands 

 put around their wrists, the iron collars around their necks," and forced 

 to work for the Pasha. — Ibid. 



"People are taken away in gangs from their own ground to do work 

 for powerful land-owners, which in no wise benefits their districts." 

 — British Consul Stanley, 1873. "A man was convicted of stealing an 

 amber mouth-piece from Abbas Agga. His punishment was to be bound 

 to a cannon and blown to atoms. The same official pressed 600 fellahs 

 into his service to dig him a canal ; made them work 12 hours a day ; 

 lashed them unmercifully, and did not pay them a single para."— Dr. 

 Holioyd's Travels, 1837. The Koran is the only book in the land and 

 that it is considered sacrilegious to print. Those few who can read and 

 write are called fickees or saints. — Ibid. The people are strictly temper- 

 ate, exceedingly docile and naturally intelligent. 



