Under Control?

From Cairo and London last week came cautiously worded hints that Field Marshal Rommel's thrust into Egypt, if it went far enough, might meet an active fifth column of disgruntled natives. Singapore, Burma, India and Pearl Harbor have been revealing examples of what might happen. Censorship and a hope-for-the-best attitude cloud the picture in Egypt.

> Wrote one U.S. newsman from Cairo: "Probably not until the end of this war will Americans know how the people of Egypt's cities are deporting themselves now."

> Present fears and old sores caused increasingly bitter criticism of the Government in the Egyptian Chamber of Deputies. One deputy waved a gun but didn't shoot. The Wafd Party secretary was removed from office.

> In London the sober Economist admitted that "political considerations, not technical convenience [U.S. & British Lend-Lease materials] will decide how the Moslem world reacts to a British defeat. It is useless to pretend that the political omens are very favorable."

Chafing under British rule, a palace clique is suspected of pro-Axis, particularly pro-Italian, sympathies. Parts of the effendi class like to listen to Axis promises of advancement and power. Peasants have been propagandized with wild tales of hoarding and looting by British troops. With bomb blasts shaking Alexandria, the time for anti-British action is ripe.

But there are cogent reasons for the Egyptians and British to stick together. The easygoing Egyptians have only to look at what has happened to other conquered countries to learn what will happen to their foodstuffs, money and personal liberties if the Nazis succeed. Prime Minister Mustafa El Nahas Pasha's pro-British Government is more stable, has wider popular support than the Government a year ago. The anti-British ex-Prime Minister Aly Maher Pasha has been jailed. Within recent weeks 200 other possible quislings have been arrested, a padlock put on the Cairo Royal Automobile Club, which since the war has been a spark plug of pro-Axis intrigue.

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