Reminiscences of Travel in Australia, America, and Egypt Part 9

An American manufacturer speaking to me of a visit he had paid to the Exhibition in company with his foreman, told me how astonished the latter was at the excellence of the European exhibits. He said he had no idea they could make the things half so well, "for," he said, "they are almost as good as ours," and, I added, "only one half the cost."

The agricultural machinery was exhibited in a separate building erected specially for its reception, and here the Americans were unmistakably far ahead of all compet.i.tors.

At the time of our visit several consignments of calicoes had been made to England and to various British markets, and sold at prices considerably below what they could be produced at by English manufacturers. This incursion occasioned great disquietude in England until the cause was manifested-viz., overproduction. On this point I read an article in a New York Protectionist paper intended as an answer to the Free Trade argument, that Protection increased the price of goods.

The article stated that this was not so: and to prove its position said that the tendency of Protection was to induce people to go into manufacturing who know little or nothing of the processes they were undertaking, but who fancy that with the tariff of from 40 per cent. to 80 per cent. upon foreign goods, there must necessarily be a sufficient margin to compensate for mistakes caused by their inexperience. "And so it happens," continues the writer, "that there is great over-production, ruinous compet.i.tion among American manufacturers, frequent failures, and consequently large stocks of goods are forced on the markets at a great loss, the public getting cheap supplies in consequence." Adam Smith would scarcely have quoted this as one of the methods of adding to the wealth of nations. But if the people at large obtain their cotton goods cheaper through this system of over-production, it is clear that the millowners are not the only sufferers, for it appears from a speech delivered by Mr. Shearman of New York, at the Cobden Club dinner in the present year (1883), that the wages of the factory operatives are twenty per cent. less than in Lancashire, while their hours of labour are from eighteen to twenty per cent. longer.

During the late Fair Trade agitation its advocates were never tired of telling the English working-cla.s.ses that under Protection their brethren in America were prospering in a remarkable degree, but in the speech to which I have referred Mr. Shearman shows that the average wages in protected trades are actually less than in 1860, the last year of comparative Free Trade, and that while in the ten years previous, wages were constantly increasing, during the succeeding twenty years (18601880) there was no appreciable advance, while during the past three years they have been steadily declining; so that here we have one of the staple trades of the country requiring longer hours of labour from the operatives, at considerably lower wages than for the same cla.s.s in England, while the cost of living is much higher than in this country, and the climate much more trying from the extremes of heat and cold.

Nor is this all, for the American operatives have very much less relaxation than the same cla.s.s in England, their holidays being very much fewer. Last year my workpeople, in addition to fifty-two Sat.u.r.day afternoons, had nineteen whole days, although there was abundance of work for them, and the necessities of the business only required six days closing of the works. The English artisan loves to have a deal of liberty, and his earnings enable him to indulge his desire in that respect.

As may be supposed, the ranks of the operatives in the cotton mills of America receive no accession from England, but only from Germany and Scandinavia, where wages are low, and the oppressive military systems drive people from their native countries.

During the last seven years of depression in trade in England it is well known that, taken as a whole, the working cla.s.ses have suffered comparatively little, the loss falling mainly upon manufacturers, whose profits have been greatly lessened. But how would the working-cla.s.ses have fared if, in addition to the loss of home trade involved in the failure of the crops for so many years, the same causes were in operation which make it impossible for America to have a great foreign trade?

It is manifest that so long as Protection exists in the United States exports must necessarily be confined almost entirely to such commodities as other countries cannot produce. Until recently the home demand has kept the manufacturers in the States well employed; but compet.i.tion has now become exceedingly fierce, and they are beginning to tread upon each other's heels. It is this state of things which is destined to exert the most potent influence upon the fate of Protection. The very cla.s.s which has. .h.i.therto been loudest in demanding prohibitory duties upon imports, will soon, from sheer necessity, be found demanding their removal.

It is worthy of note, too, that while under Protection the earnings of the producing cla.s.s have been steadily declining, colossal fortunes, amounting in one case to twenty or thirty millions sterling, have been built up by individual monopolists. On the other hand, during the same period and under Free Trade, there has been a wider distribution of material comfort in England, and, as shown by the official returns, a decided decrease in the number of millionaires.

In pa.s.sing through America on my return from Australia in 1876, I expressed the opinion that Free Trade there would be by no means an unmixed blessing for English manufacturers, for whereas at the present time a vessel going to Australia from the United States with a cargo of goods has to come back in ballast, doubling the cost of freight, under Free Trade it would take back a cargo of wool, and the Americans would consequently become our compet.i.tors both in buying and selling.

With the single exception of having higher wages-and this advantage is more than balanced by the extra cost of living-I have failed to find that American artisans are in any way better off than the English, while, as I have already shown, their hours of labour are longer and the effect of the climate much more exhausting.

A very striking feature to be met with in most American cities and towns is the large number of tolerably respectable-looking men loafing about and doing nothing. In England such men, only in shabbier dress, would be called "cadgers." I am told there are large numbers who prefer any shifty mode of obtaining a living so long as they can wear a black coat and avoid honest labour. In the villages along the banks of the Hudson I saw more children without shoes and stockings than are to be met with in any part of England in a similar area. They go to school shoeless, and a woman told me that when shoes were put on their feet on Sundays they complained loudly. A land of freedom for tongue and foot!

During the Southern rebellion fears were expressed that the result of emanc.i.p.ation would be to flood the markets of the North with negro labour, but this does not appear to have been the case. As long as slavery existed the North was attractive to the negro as the land of freedom, but when freedom was proclaimed throughout the States the negro naturally elected to remain where he had always been-the climate and surroundings being well suited to him. The head waiter at our hotel at West Point was a slave in Richmond until the middle of the war, when he escaped to Washington. I asked him how he got there. "Oh, by the underground railway," said he. It took him a week to travel the hundred miles, and he had many narrow escapes, but was fortunate enough to come out all right and to get a situation to wait upon one of Abraham Lincoln's sons. He told me his owner, a lady, taught him to read and write in face of the certainty of being sent to jail in case of being discovered. His father was sold away down south sixteen years before, but since that day they had again met at Richmond. "Well," I said, "neither Jeff. Davis nor any of his crew will ever play you such pranks again." "No Sir," said he.

The regulation of the liquor traffic in the American cities appears to present as many difficulties as it does in England, especially as regards the Sunday traffic. The Sunday before we left New York the police made a raid upon the liquor dealers in the city, and arrested a number of them for selling during prohibited hours. Their organs threatened all sorts of reprisals at the coming election, and a meeting of the trade was called to condemn the action of the authorities. Most of the requisitionists-judging by their names-were either German or Irish. At the time appointed some hundreds of liquor dealers a.s.sembled, and presently a gentleman came on the platform and began to address them.

Soon, however, it began to dawn upon the trade that they had been somewhat considerably sold, for the speaker gave them a regular teetotal lecture, enlarging upon the evils the dealers were responsible for, and warning them to forsake their wicked ways. The audience could not stand this, and threatened the orator that if he didn't "make tracks right away" they would give him "something hot," upon which he quietly retired, having given them the first temperance lecture they had ever heard.

Our visit to America was brought to a fitting termination by another glorious excursion on the Hudson: after which it was with great pleasure and satisfaction that we went on board one of the splendid White Star Liners, soon to land again on the sh.o.r.es of dear old England.

CHAPTER X.

We arrived off Suez about four o'clock on the morning of the 1st of March, having travelled from Australia in the magnificent steamship "Orient." After saying farewell to our friends, at seven o'clock we set out for the sh.o.r.e, our boat being manned by a picturesque party of Arabs.

We had about four miles to go, the latter portion of the journey being through water so shallow that the men had to propel the boat by nimbly running forward and placing one end of the oar in the mud and pushing against the other with the shoulder; singing a monotonous song all the while. On arriving at our landing-place opposite the Custom House, a motley crowd rushed forward, some dressed in night-shirts, some in towels, others in their own black skins only. When we stopped, a score of them dashed into the water and began to seize our luggage, seeing which our boatmen called to us to beat them on the head with our umbrellas, and to kick them off; but we managed to defend our property by loud words, which broke no bones. Then we were carried ash.o.r.e amidst such shrieking, hustling, jostling, and shouting as I had never heard or seen before.

The luggage was set down in the middle of the square to await the arrival of an official from the Custom House.

[Picture: A Dragoman]

After a very slight examination we were permitted to pa.s.s, and then began another battle for the luggage; but we selected as our dragoman a tall, stout fellow named Ha.s.san, who quickly routed the others; and then a file of these half-naked Arabs marched off to the hotel with the luggage on their backs. The Suez Hotel is a very comfortable establishment, with large, clean, and airy rooms, and bright and attentive native servants.

After breakfast we went for a stroll through the town. The streets are very narrow, and the tiny shops are filled with vegetables and other garden produce, oils, simple metal wares, etc. In one street the Bedouin Arabs have stalls for the sale of charcoal, brought by them from the desert; a very sullen, repulsive set of fellows they appear to be. There are few European buildings, and what there are were built for the French officials during the construction of the Ca.n.a.l. These were all vacated during the Franco-German war, and very few French have since returned, consequently the houses are in a very dilapidated condition.

Before leaving England we had arranged for a party of our friends to meet us at Suez, and on returning from our stroll in the town, we walked for a while in the large inner court of the hotel, when presently we saw our friends entering, they having landed just three hours after our arrival from Australia.

After lunch, nine of us took donkeys and had a ride round the town and neighbourhood. Not being a.s.sured of my riding ability, I asked my companions to keep near me, which they promised to do, and which they doubtless would have done if they could; but alas! their n.o.ble brutes dashed off at full speed, and I was left alone. At every street corner stood a mob of darkies shouting, laughing, and begging, and calling out the names of the various donkeys, "Mrs. Langtry," "Mrs. Cornwallis West"

(this was mine), "Mr. Spurgeon," etc. On getting back to the hotel gates there was a crowd of about fifty donkeys, all their fifty drivers wanting us to engage them for our next ride, and it required a vigorous use of Ha.s.san's stick to clear a pa.s.sage for us.

On the following morning we left for Cairo by train, and in due time Ha.s.san appeared with about a dozen men and a shaky old wagon to take our luggage to the station, and truly it was a formidable lot-a lady and gentleman from Australia having no less than nine trunks.

[Picture: An Egyptian Donkey-Boy]

At the hotel gate stood the usual fifty donkeys, their drivers all shrieking out to you to take their donkeys. "My donkey good donkey, sah; his name, Mrs. Langtry." "'Dis donkey, Sir Roggar (_sic_) Tichborne, sah; he go gentle." You have to push through the crowd of men and animals as you best can. The never-ceasing word _backsheesh_, or its abbreviation _'sheesh_, hissing in your ear all the way. On suddenly turning a corner you may come upon a lot of children or grown-up people engaged in play or other occupation, but they are always ready. Their hands are immediately stretched out, and the cry is on their lips, _'sheesh_! _'sheesh_! nor do they seem surprised if you fail to respond.

Sometimes I vary it by putting out my own hand, with temporary success as far as checking their begging goes, but they are soon equal to the occasion, and with mock gravity will offer a quarter piastre-about a halfpenny-and then you laugh and they laugh.

I had often read, that properly to understand Biblical allusions it is necessary to travel in the East. This constant extending of the hand for _backsheesh_ gave me an entirely new appreciation of the pa.s.sage, "Ethiopia shall yet stretch forth her hand."

After much excitement the train at last starts, and a mob accompanied it as far as they can keep up by running, hoping against hope that you will at length relent and throw them some money. Once I offered a beggar a new penny, but he handed it back very gravely, saying "No good-piastre"

(meaning that he wanted a piastre); but I pretended to be offended, and did not give him anything.

Every little station on the road is infested with crowds of natives hoping for _backsheesh_, and it is wonderful what vast numbers of people there are who have nothing to do. At most stations you will see an ill-favoured fellow with a goat-skin across his back, filled with water, but I should have to be very thirsty indeed before I could drink from it.

An hour after leaving Suez we saw our old friend the s.s. Orient in the Ca.n.a.l close alongside, having taken twenty-four hours to accomplish this distance.

[Picture: The S.S. "Orient."]

At Ismailia we stopped some time, and a lad wanted to clean my boots which, however, did not require cleaning, so I told him to black the bare feet of a brown boy who was standing by. This he proceeded to do in the presence of a crowd of grinning spectators of all colours-yellow, brown, coffee-coloured, and jet black. The lad whose feet were blacked seemed to enjoy the fun very much, and when it was over appeared to think he was ent.i.tled to a half piastre as well as the operator, so he got it. The s...o...b..ack then brought an ebony Nubian, whose skin was already a shining black. He asked me if he might do his feet, but I made him understand it was quite unnecessary. A grave-looking Turk observing the proceedings gave a look which seemed to say, "Mad English again."

At Zagazig we stayed two hours for luncheon, and were much interested with the infinite variety of costume and feature among the crowds thronging the station. About half an hour before reaching Cairo, on looking through the window, we had our first view of the Pyramids. On our arrival at Cairo we were greeted with a chorus of the usual kind, but having "wired" to the hotel a porter was awaiting us with an omnibus, and we were soon comfortably located in the new Grand Hotel.

A walk to the Nile Bridge gave us a good view of the river. The road to the Pyramids pa.s.ses for some distance through a fine avenue of trees, and the river having encroached on the soil too near to the roots, we saw for the first time a phase of Egyptian life which is not pleasant-viz., forced labour. About 1,500 men were engaged in piling up earth against the roots, forming a thick, deep embankment against the river. The soil is carried in baskets, and from the elevation where we stood the men looked like a swarm of ants. These men are provided by the Sheiks of the villages on the demand of the Government, who pay nothing whatever for the labour. The men receive neither wages nor food, but each village looks after the families of its absentees, and attends to their work until their return. The men certainly seemed to labour with a will.

The Nile begins to rise about the end of June, reaching its greatest height about the end of September, continuing for about fifteen days at twenty-four feet above low-water level. If the rise be thirty feet great damage is done, and if it fail to reach eighteen feet famine ensues.

We rode for some distance along the valley of the Nile, which varies from two to twelve miles in width. It is very fertile, the soil being more than forty feet deep. It is only needful to sow the seed immediately after the inundation, and in about four months the harvest is ready to be gathered. The plough in use is a very primitive article; but the looseness of the soil renders stronger ploughs unnecessary. In many places as we went along we saw the natives irrigating by means of the bucket and pole, with a counterbalance at the end (_shadouf_), raising water from the Nile and sending it along the channels over the fields.

In one field we saw agriculture being carried on as Adam would have done before the Fall, had it been necessary, the men being quite naked, and digging the earth with their hands.

Returning to the city we took a walk through old Cairo, along the narrow streets, pa.s.sing many little workshops where various trades were being carried on, the owners appearing pleased at our noticing them at work.

In one place some men were grinding beans with a huge pestle and mortar, and showed us some of the meal. In a secluded corner we saw about a dozen old fellows in every variety of costume sitting on the ground listening to a very animated story being told by one of the party. They appeared to be greatly interested, every now and then lifting up their hands in amazement. These professional story-tellers are a great inst.i.tution in Cairo.

Pa.s.sing down one of the narrow streets our attention was arrested by the busy hum of children's' voices, which we found proceeded from an upper room, the cas.e.m.e.nt of which was open. Our guide told us it was a school, and that the children were repeating pa.s.sages from the Koran.

[Picture: The Schoolmaster "Abroad"]

One of our party, who had not forgotten the pranks of his boyhood, threw a number of new threepenny pieces into the midst of the boys, causing great excitement and confusion. Presently an old man, with a fringe of white hair encircling his dark face, and wearing a huge pair of bra.s.s-framed spectacles, appeared at the open window brandishing his cane at us, but in a moment his whole att.i.tude changed, and holding out his hand he uttered the familiar cry of-_backsheesh_.

[Picture: A "Peep"]

Our walk took us through one of the bazaars, which consist of very narrow lanes full of shops, with dealers in every variety of goods, most of which are made in the open. We were particularly struck with the beautiful embroideries of gold and silver thread, and the expeditious way in which the workmen executed the various designs. All were very anxious we should buy, and I overheard one old rascal offer our Coptic guide ten per cent. commission on our purchases. We, however, made none. In pa.s.sing the carpet bazaar we saw an English party buying dingy carpets.

The most interesting part of our day's experiences was spent in the manufacturing quarter. There are no large factories in Cairo, and I question if more than half a dozen people are employed at any one place.

The work is carried on in the most primitive fashion in the little shops facing the street.

[Picture: "Bery Cheap, Sah!"]