Little Egypt

In the valley of a great and ancient river lie the cities of Cairo, Delta, Thebes, Karnak. They are prosperous and flourishing communities. Their inhabitants move briskly about in Fords, listen in on radio concerts, attend movies, use electric refrigerators and high-grade plumbing, eat trademarked breakfast foods. The river is not the Nile, but the Mississippi. The district is "Little Egypt," sunny farming district in southwest Illinois. "Little Egypt," as such, got national publicity last fortnight when Editor Allen T. Spivey of the East St. Louis (Ill.) Daily Journal, loaded his Congressional ambitions and campaign speeches into an airplane labelled The Spirit of Egypt and, instead of merely running for office, flew for it, to Cairo, Delta, Thebes, Karnak.