Interesting and pleasant as is the record of Egypt's pros-
perity, the most important portion of the Report is that which deals with the attempt which Lord Cromer has made to cope with the indebtedness of the fellaheen. In every Oriental country, and above all in India, the European ruler is distracted by the fact that the peasant cultivators—i.e., the chief part of the population—are overburdened with debts, debts which would be bearable at a moderate rate of interest, but are crushing when the rate is 40 or 50 per cent. But though the Indian Government has been deploring the fact for a century, it has as yet been unable to find a remedy. Lord Cromer, however, really seems to have hit on a device which promises a solution. He has not attacked the question from the legal point of view—i.e., by the use of an equitable jurisdiction, and the forbidding of improvident bargains —but from the economic side, and by substituting a legitimate banking transaction for a usurious contract. The Government, through the Egyptian Bank, has tried the experiment of lending small sums of money to the peasants at reasonable interest with the best results,—i.e., the money lent in the spring was repaid in the autumn. Lord Cromer, however, refuses to regard the matter as yet out of the experimental stage, and notes very properly the danger that Cie peasant may abuse the advantage of cheap loans by borrowing to excess. He does not, however, seem himself to think that the plan will be ruined by such wanton thriftless- ness, and points out that the evidence yet available points the other way. In any case, Lord Cromer means to do the wise and statesmanlike thing,—i.e., proceed steadily and cautiously along lines that have already answered well, and so give the system a really thorough trial. All politicians will watch the experiment with great interest, for it is con- ceivable that in it may be found a solution of one of the greatest of social and economic problems,—the ruin of the peasant by the usurer.
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