CAIRO TO KISUMU The English cabinet got wind of the matter, and at the same time the French minister at Cairo telegraphed Paris that “unless France buys the Egyptian shares to-morrow, they will be purchased by England/' At that time Parliament was not in session, but Lord Beaconsfield and one or two others took the responsibility of making the trade. Borrowing twenty million dollars from the Rothschilds, they had the whole of Ismail's stock in the British treasury and John Bull had the control before the world outside had any idea that the bargain was even pending. He had not, it is true, fifty-one per cent, of the entire capital stock, but the other holdings were so scattered that the seven sixteenths which he owned gave him the whip hand, and that he has held ever since.

Now, no large block of common stock appears to be held by any individual, corporation, or other government.

Indeed, at a meeting some years ago the largest shareholder outside of Great Britain was a Frenchman, who had a little more than fifteen hundred shares.

That twenty million dollars was one of the best invest¬ ments John Bull has ever made, his holdings to-day being worth many times what he paid for them. He has already received from it many millions of dollars in dividends, and by his control of the canal has enormously increased his power and prestige among the nations of the world. His money gain, however, is not quite as great as that of the original stockholders. They paid only about one hundred dollars per share while he paid a little more than one hundred and thirteen dollars.

I know the Panama Canal well. I visited it when it was in the hands of the French, and I have spent several weeks there during American control. I went over 212