The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-06-11
pEsoLATIoN OF pALEsTlNE.
4 Traveller Tells What Turkish kuls Is
Doing for the Holy Land- -

4 Traveller Tells What Turkish kuls is
Doing for the Holy Land
= Rev. w. j. Starcey writes 10 the Lon
don Times of the deplorable condition
of the Holy Land, which he has recently
visited. He says;
"Nothing can well exceed the desc
lateness of much of II. Treeless il Is for
twenty or thirty miles together. forests
which did exist thirty years ago (e. g., on
Mount Carmel and Mount Tabor fast
disappearing; rich plains of the FIN
est garden soil asking 10 be cultivated,
at best but scratched up a few inches
deep in patches, with no hedges or
boundaries: mountain terraces, natural
or artificially formed, ready to be plant
ed with vines, as the German colony is
dong at the foot of Mount Carmel; the
villages nothing but mud huts, dust, dirt
and SqualOr; the inhabitants with scarce
clothes enough for decency, their houses
ovens; large tracts without horse or
cow, sheep or dog; no preieDce at roads,
except from Jaffa TO Jerusalem, and this
like IA cart road over plowed field, the
rest, at best, like sheep walks on the
Downs of Sussex, but for the
most part like the dry bed OF
the most rocky river, where. amid
blocks of stone, each makes his way at
foot-pace as best he can, or on smooth,
sloping rocks, or over loose stones
thrown down from the old walls on
either side, which no one offers finger
to remove; nothing upon wheels, not so
much as barrow, to be met with in a
ride of over 300 miles. Everything is
taxed; every fruit tree, so none now are
planted; every COW or horse, etc, every
vegetable sold out OF private garden.
Every eighth egg is not taxed but
taken by the government. Nothing
like a small farm house is TO be found
| far or near. Ii there were, the owner
| is liable to have soldiers or revenue
officers quartered upon him, TO be
boarded and lodged al his expense. The
towns are filthy in the extreme. None
more so than Jerusalem itself where,
however taxes are levied upon every
house for lighting and cleaning the
| streets, where a sprained ankle or Il
| splash into a hole of blacklist dirt is
sure 10 be the result OF momentary care
| lessness. Nothing is done for the good
| or improvement Of the people or the
land by the government Not only so,
but every offer. and / have heard of
several made by private individuals, or
by companies, is at once refused. or re-
| fused unless a bride be first given to the
authorities.
"This is picture, | believe, in no way
overdrawn, of that land which was once
flowing with milk and honey What
might it not become again. with fair
| usage aud good government? But there
is no hope for Palestine while it remains
in the hands of the present rulers. Pal
estine is worthless to the Turkish govern
ment. The whole revenue is stated to
amount only to flS0,000 or 100000 per
annum Capitalize this at per cent,
and II comes TO but four millions of
money. If il were six or even ten mil
lions, what would that he for Europe TO
raise for the purchase of Palestine? A
sum sure to be repaid thOusand-fold in
IA few years time And what would NOT
| $10,000O00 in hard cash be TO the Turk.
ish government ut this moment.