Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 121, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1913 — IRON HAND IN EGYPT [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IRON HAND IN EGYPT

Lord Kitchener’s Sway in Nile Country Is MasterfuL Speaking of Education of Youths, "We Don’t Want Them to Get Their Hands Soft,” He Says—-Holds Some Unique Views. Cairo, Egypt.—No explanation of the government of Egypt is adequate without the presentation of the name of Lord Kitchener, who since his appointment as British agent in October of 1911 has been increasingly the unique and dynamic force behind all the government agencies, alike the protector of imperial English interests and the humanitarian regenerator of the land he loves, writes Clayton Sedgwick Cooper in a letter from Cairo to the Christian Science Monitor. He came to Egypt to assist in the completion of the splendid work of regeneration commenced by Lord Cromer. He himself had before contributed to the problem as the soldier leader in Khartum, the conqueror of the Khalifa, sweeping out of the Sudan the fanatical dervishes, nor did he arrive one moment too soon to arrest the tide that was surely carrying Egypt backward from the high and superb statesmanship of Lord Cromer’s regime. The presence of an iron hand was needed and not a few of Egypt’s leaders were unconsciously turning in their minds toward Kitchener. As the conversation of a certain Egyptian officer who commanded a brigade at Omdurman Infers: “Lord Kitchener is a soldier. He is a man of iron. He made a clean sweep of the Sudan. He is just, but he is not to be trifled with. There is not a nationalist in Egypt who would not bury himself in the sand if Lord Kitchener came to Cairo. He is the man for the job." After an interview with Lord Kitchener in Cairo I realized that he was

"the man for the job.” I also realized why the people of the Nile country, when asked why the nationalists were quiet, why the schools of agriculture and commerce were thriving, why thousands of acres of rich Egyptian land were being reclaimed by new systems of irrigation and drainage, why the European timeserver is unceremoniously disappearing, why the journals of the agitators have been going out of business at the rate of one' each day, why thousands of fellaheen were beginning to have a growing confidence in the government as evidenced by their trust in the postal savings bank, or why Turkey did not send its soldiers across Egypt in its war with Tripoli—yes, and why even Downing street see&ed affected with a new confidence —always gave the same answer —Lord Kitchener. It is said that without bayonets behind or before, moral force cannot exist. Egypt sees in the soldier who drove out the mad Mahdi hosts the spirit of command, which seems to be the only attitude deeply respected by

Orientals, especially in certain stages of their development As Lord Kitchener sat and. talked and questioned in the British residency with its beautiful tropical gardens sloping down to the Nile; as he spoke in short, crisp phrases his gospel, the new plans for the fellaheen, telling us of his ideals for the practical rather than the theoretical education of Egyptian youth—"We don’t want them to get their hands soft"—l was inclined to agree with the Egyptian opinion. It is to be hoped that this efficient official who commands an army to whom the name “Kitchener" is an incentive similar to that of the name “Napoleon" to the old guard, and who in a comparatively brief time has gained the confidence of the Egyptians who have most at heart the country’s good, will receive the unstinted support of the home government in the progressive and highly, utilitarian measures which he iq now promulgating for the new Egypt.

Kitchener of Khartoum.