Show Anarchy and War are Predicted in Egypt if If England Withdraws Mohammedan Religion Religion Eelig- Eelig ion Keeps Country Always Backward By SIR PHILIP GIBBS World Famous War C Correspondent Copyright 1925 by McClure Newspaper Newspaper News News- pap paper r Syndicate If anarchy and and war reign In Egypt once more and the water waterpower waterpower waterpower power Is cut off by hostile f toes foes es or corrupt officials the cotton will be burned in the fields and the wealth of the country will be dried up like the little littre channels which the fellah feUD has dug for the stream to water his patch of ground If England stays in Egypt the worlds world's cotton supply will be largely large large- ly increased and old deserts will wUl become fertile ferUle again Those who know Egypt best are most hopeful of Df the future provided the British protectorate is strongly maintained Not otherwise At the present time the military power of Britain in Egypt has been strengthened After Atter the murder of the sirdar Lord Allenby made a demonstration of military strength from Cairo to Khartoum which gave a shock to the Egyptian naI nationalists nationalists na na- na- na I who were convinced of British weakness I It distressed pacifists in England who pave have no love for the display I of armed force Yet after merely a tourist trip in Egypt one sees that an oriental people cannot be governed by western methods and that self government and a British withdrawal would lead to anarchy and decadence and worse than that thata a a new rising of the Mohammedan world a new conflict of Europ European an powers eager to seize the land of the pharaohs and the gateway of the east France would step In within twenty-four twenty hours On the fhe civil side Great Britain is already withdrawing more rapIdly rapidly rapidly rap- rap Idly than her cautious men think prudent Under the contract with the ithe Ithe Egyptian government British officials had the option to retire aft after r a ap of service which Is Isnow Isnow isnow now ending The majority are making use of ot that option tempted by financial compensation paid by the Egyptian government In ever every branch of the civil administration Egyptian officials are are replacing the British The Egyptian chief of railways Is I am told a brilliant administrator I tor and there Is no falling failing off In InI I efficiency In other offices the work work goes on without apparent hitch but the whole system of Egyptian life lite Is still propped up British foundations of law and or orden order order or- or der den and Justice X There are many pessimists not British only who shake their heads at the thought of ot what may happen when those foundations have been beens s sapped TURKS RUNNING THINGS The ablest men in the Egyptian government are Turks and not Egyptians In spite of their western western west west- em ern education their fluent knowledge knowledge knowledge knowl knowl- edge of ot French and English and the pretty ladles ladies they bring from Paris as wives and mistresses they have the oriental mind which Is slow to move While political Intrigue which despises the welfare of the labor- labor Continued on page 10 10 ANARCHY AND WAR PREDICTED THROUGH EGYPT Continued from page 1 L lag Ing people seeks office for th the pro profIts prof- prof Its derived from a wor world old old d-old system of oriental oriental graft gratt it is Is' Is doubtful whether Egypt would prosper under under un un under der such self It would not be Es Egypt pt for the Egyptians but Egypt for the Turks Egypt for th tax collectors Egypt EgyptI I for corrupt and capricious It Is perhaps the Mohammedan religion which has made Egypt stationary stationary sta sta- through so many centuries after atter the first march of Its early civilization The faith of Islam with its fat fatalism Its fanaticism and its social ethics seems to sterilize all activities of ot the human mind wherever It reaches An And yet In its time of conquest and p power ver it reached great heights of ot splendor In art and architecture as one sees In the mosques mosques' of Mohammed Mohammed Mo Mo- hammed All and Sultan Hassan on the heights of the citadel in Cairo I with their immense walls towering b 1 into the blue sk sky Even now the faith and sincerity of the uneducated Mohammedan rebukes the going easy-going Christian Christian Christian Chris tian who does not believe belleve very j much in the doctrines of his own Church or In any spiritual power ruling his life BETTER THAN MANY The Egyptian and the Arab have more belief beliet In Christ as one of ot the prophets than have many of the tourists who smile when h he ho pr praises Allah or when he bows his his' head to the he ground as the call to prayer is heard from the minaret above the eity or village e. It is in its ts s social ethics ethics' that Mohammedanism MohammedanIsm Mohammedanism Mo Mo- 1 seems to work for evil especially In its Insistence onI on onI I the inferiority of women and the I j virtues of of polygamy Every day lr in Cairo one sees a native marriage and It seems Joyous joyous joyous Joy joy- ous and gay as the bride t takes kes her garments and household l goods to to toi i the house louse of ot the bridegroom sur stir I rounded rounded by groups of ot friends and relatives relatIves- accompanied by music driven in a modern motor m tor car through the narrow streets of ot old i Cairo The wedding lasts three days with music and but it is often otten the tragedy oil of oPa a year old bride who becomes the domestic drudge of a man who wh may beather beat beather beather her divorce her by word of mouth and anil maltreat her in the tho foulest way without fear of or punishment und under r Mohammedan law I. I There Chere is very little education In Egypt It It- ItIs is thought by foreign critics to be the severest indictment against British rule that so little has been done to teach the mass massof massof massof I of the people to re read d and write STRONG FRENCH INFLUENCE I In Cairo the Influence of ot French and Italian thought bought and language Is la I Ivery very strong because of the schools I founded by their religious orders Many newspapers are in French many of the advertisements and shop signs And yet my dragoman Abdul Arty who could neither read nor write lad had ad much knowledge and real wisdom and perhaps we western folk are apt to exaggerate the the- value i of an education which exults in the reading of snippy bl bits bit's s and the latest murder stories in sensational papers apers There is another another kind of education education education tion which Is learned under the stars In the quiet fields among animals and birds and In human I intercourse where the elder of the village or the Bedouin sheik or the craftsmen In their little shops tell traditional tales discuss the problems lems and mysteries of ot life and perpetuate perpetuate perpetuate per per- the wonders of history The American tourists with whom I traveled were aghast at the poverty poverty pov pov- erty the of-the Egyptian people at the dirt it and and squalor In which they lived I doubt whether the Egyptian tian lian people would appreciate a change to modern life with Its c n- n and n lab r saving devices Their philosophy of life Ute is differ ditter- ent Their measure of happiness is not the same Their appearance of poverty is exaggerated They are not even so dirty as the Americans think Sun and air are cleansing life lite giving Joy giving They laugh more than the people of Pittsburg or Sheffield They are more contented Their nerve strain Is not sp great Their desires are simpler more natural more easily satisfied Perhaps Ps we make a fetish of that word progress in the presence of at Oriental people who would rather I die than become industrialized It Is only the university student in Cairo and Alexandria ra t who envies the western world its knowledge of bombs and poison gas and destructive destructive tive machinery its pleasures In casinos casinos ca casinos ca- ca sinos and cabarets and moving pic ture shows its opportunities of great wealth concentrated Into the h hands of a rich and ruling class I It is they who make the trouble In Egypt and not the fellaheen In the fields fIelde or the craftsmen In the vii vii- vil laces lages It seems to me that Sir SIt Lee Stack the murdered sirdar held up the only possible ideal in his last manifesto mani mani- festo TV when hen he described the object of his government as being to leave administration in the hands of ot the native authorities wherever they ex exist exIst ex- ex and by y guidance advice and correction where required to as assimilate as- as traditional usage to the re requIrements re- re of equity and g good od government government government gov gov- That has been the British way In India and elsewhere faithfully pursued The line of least resist resist- ance ante would be to withdraw from Egypt and Mesopotamia and Pales Pales- tine It would save the British taxpayers taxpayer's taxpayers taxpayer's tax tax- payers payer's pocket for a time ONLY UNTIL ANOTHER WAR But not for long Only until an another another an- an other war happened between other powers greedy for an Im Oriental Oi her her- h heri rl I tage tape or when there was anar anarchy hy I and stagnation of trade along the 1 eastern routes or when the Mohammedan rac races S In India Afghanistan j Persia Arabia Syria Palestine and along the Mediterranean shore be believed be- be themselves ready to challenge the white P peoples oples who had relinquished relinquished relin relin- their pres prestige Ige and their power We have seen what happened in in Turkey In recent history They gave I a a a. blow to British prestige throughout through through- out the Mohammedan But they did not act wisely Isely in their hour of ot success or justify their victory and their claim to progress progress ress The ev evacuation of Asia Minor by py y the Greeks and Armenians was wasa a damnable outrage I It was also a I Turkish folly OJ Recently In Constantinople I noticed no- no that the women were unveiled but there was iwas no other sign of progress progress ress rather rathel outward and Visible signs of a creeping paralysis In 1 trade and activity So Sq It is In Smyrna and other parts pads I of ot Asia Minor I am told though I have not been there since the Greeks I were expelled The European quarter quarter quarter ter of Pera is a desolate place except except ex ex- when American liners put their passengers ashore f for far r a day or two j eX-j In the bazars a young Jew wearIng wearing wearing wear wear- ing the Turkish fez told me that there was nothing doing in Constantinople Constantinople Con Con- I 1 now that the Turks have ousted th the foreign communities and the allied occupation has come to toan toan toan an end In Palestine there Is another for British administrations j another cause of future conflict It I is the Zionist movement encouraged I by th the th-e. British gov government and by I American Jews who give their wealth to it Sentimentally there Is a great deal to be said for the return of ot the Jews to Palestine Even practically there is a good deal in Its favor for these Jewish families families' settled around Haifa and Nazareth and the Sea of ot Galilee and tire the holy city of Jerusalem bring Western methods and machines machines' to their work of agriculture on on n Ia land lard d' d which the Arab only scratched in places with a wooden plow I But this Zionist occupation n r raises a point of j Justice justice- which cannot be Ignored without future peril perU and without loss of honor In regard to the Arab Ara race I I The Arabs Arabs' have been In possession possession posses- posses sion slon of the land for 1300 years It I Is theirs by legal right as well as j in n moral equity I 1 I To dispossess them Is not accordIng accord accord ing to the principles of British Justice justice justice Jus jus- tice or world Justice It is an In InIquity Iniquity iniquity In- In which the Arab resents with passionate anger leading him now flow and then to active or arm armed d as as- as sault If the Zionist movement Is not checked there will be trouble among the Arabs Already in all parts of th the East the Arab race and the Mohammedan l people are seethIng seething seething seeth seeth- ing with political grievances and the spirit of revolt Spain has hag never ever yet conquer conquered the Arabs in her h er sphere of ot ence Spanish troops have had to to retreat before Moorish bands STORING lP UP TROUBLE France Franc is storing up trouble for herself by raising an Arab army equipped with the latest weapons and trained d to use use them The British people le are holding an immense Oriental empire with only small forces Looking at these problems of the East with only a tourists tourist's eye as I ha have e lat lately lately late late- ly done It is clear that the OrIental Oriental Oriental Ori OrI- peoples cannot be ignored treated unfairly or held by weakness weakness weak weak- ness The Egyptians have years of history behind them but they have a future as well as a past and every the everywhere where the East stirs uneasily un un- easily These old ld peoples cannot ac acquire acquire acquire ac- ac quire independence in a year or two or r a century or two Only by a very slow process of education will they be capable of f self government and equal l to the greater difficulty pf pt controlling races not so far advanced as themselves themselves themselves them them- selves like the Sudanese and the Nubians with Justice an 1 fair fairdealing dealing I For the peace of the world and and i the security of primitive folk E England England En- En gl gland nd must go on n with her Job of policing the East Irrigating administering administering ad ad- ministering Justice maintaining order or order order or- or der guiding native officials preventing preventing preventing pre pre- venting corruption as asfar far as possible possible ble checking cruelty It It Is an Imperialism which is not In favor with the democracies of the West Vest or with the British taxpayer taxpayer taxpayer tax tax- payer in the back streets of English cities WAR IF ENGLAND QUITS But if It the English now abandon policy polley of imperialism out of weakness as weakness as the n Romans mans eventually eventually eventually ally tired of their colonies and and withdrew under the pressure of po political political po- po and financial troubles troubles there there i would be the devil to pay J It would be the devil of flaming I war and bloody anarchy from the i Mediterranean to the Indian i ocean The map of ot the world I would be changed again by a new j i convulsion of races and powers I |