Omaha daily bee., 1891-03-01
MISSIONARY WORK In SYRIA,
A Native Of That Country Tells Of the Pro-
gress of Chris. SANITY,
PR0HIB lTION QUESTION IN DAK0TA
The itCSubmisSioniSts Confident of
Winning Their Eight A Rem
inisCcuCC OF the Black Hills
in Pioneer Days.
PROHIBITION QUESTION IN DMOTA

! u u
*. MoEhabgab, a bright, intelligent young
man who registered at the Hotel Casey last
night
''To look at mo YOU would suppose that |
am an American, but am not My home is
at Bcyrout, syria, which is in Turkey in
| Asia | was born aud reared in that country
and was educated at the Pres,
| byterau college in Bcyrout aud
afterwards engaged in the missionary cause
until Il few months ago when with my wife |
allied for this country to remain one year
after which shall return and engage in
teaching
idea Of Syria, am anxious tospeako of my
| country and people, The country is tho
finest in the world Along the coast it is
very warm, but in the interior the climate is
| simply superb, being an eternal spring In
the north it is much the same as here,
| fancy, though snow IS seldom ccpt in
the vicinity of Mount lie cbanou.
"Thc products OF the country consist OF
wheat, oats. corn and barley. great many
| cattle, horses ana sheep are raised by the
| pcas&n 6, who follow farming as an occupa.
tion In the matter of internal improve.
ments we are far behind the United States,
| though we have one railroad in operation
running from Iaf1a to Jerusalem, a distance
| of thirty miles, aud thence TO Damascus, a
dlstan nce of $50 miles, This road is owned
10y by, American Brush ana native cap
gines and cars of American manu- fac.
ture The construction of this road marks
the era of progress in syria. as many other
roads are contemplated, and ! predict that in
twenty five years IA network of raj roads will
spread ont over Syria as they do over the
| United States today. The building of this
road has caused marked Improvement
throughout the country, as along the line,
towns have sprung up as by magic and an
air OF prosperity and enterprise prevails.
| The school are enterprises of which we feel
| proud. FIFTY years ago there was not
| Christian within the borders of our fair land,
f.Ntt lsatn NtgutgNr
| l'rcsby yterian churches of the United States
were sent among our people and from the
beginning their influence was felt They
established schools and churches and made
such an inward upon the religion of that
country the government took hold
| of the cause of education and
established schools in all of
the charger cities, though they were libcls on
| the name as only the children of the rich
were allowed to attend. The mission aries
continued the good work on which they had
started, and today in the missionary schools
there are not less than 1000 children who
| are being taught the common branches and
| the Christian religion. Our little college
would be credit to an Older country. as
! there young men are educated for the minis
| try and the other Callngs of life. In CON
| nectiOn with it we have "A medical depart
Gncnt from which physicians GRADUATED
every wear. In the two schools we give me
| pOyment to thlrtyfour teachers, twenty
males and fourteen females, the most of
they were the children of the pains,
ignorant and wicked as the say
| ing goes, out they have been
trans formed into grand men and women.
You ask how we support these schools and
| this college! 1t is not by a tax levied upon
the people as the government is u ot in direct
| sympathy with our work. The money. or a
large portion of it, comes from the United
| States, being con tribute by the people who
| attend church on Sundays. 1t passes mtS
the hands of the missionary board and by the
| mbcrS is forwarded to the representatives
whO look after the welfare of our in stitu tions
Our expenses are not as great as those OF the
| people of this country, as we do not have to
dress in the height of fashion.
I Again, our diet is very plain and mex
pensiVc an q taking everything IN o con slider
alton, | know that a man and his wife can
live i'll very good style upon salary of 800
per year which would also include house
rent, providing he did not own his dwelllng'
IN my opinion the people of South Dakota
are petty II ear through with prohl Oition, and
if am not mistaken, Il law to reSubmit the
question to the people will pass the legisla-
ture and be signed by the governor within
the neXtten days, - said c. T. WnSOra promi-
uent attorney of Sioux Falls, as he res ted at
the Paxton last night.
"PrOhibitiOa would have been well enough
in Dakota if it had been en- forced, but as it
is today, and as it has been for two years il
has been a rank failure and Il blot upon our
fair land, Besides this it has driven hun
| With the open saloon these same young men
would have grown up and become olna mcntS
| to the state and society, but the II OleS in the
walls, the speak casieS and boot-lcgging plans
have been their ruin, In my town, Whicn,by
the way, is the largest in the state an effort
! was made to cniorce the law, and the
fanatics even said that the sale of liquor
was prohi bcd, but ! know that this
is not true. as aside from the drug stores
there are forty-seVen places where liquors are
sold, and w hat vile stuff it is If you have the
pass word, which you can easily obtain you
will visit one Of these places and call for
elixir 'cOt1in vamiSh,' on Dakota fiz,' you
will be furnished with as much whisky AS
you want, provided you have the money to
pay for the same. Now and then the police
raid these places. and while the officials are
| going in at the front door, the proprietor is
passing out the back door with his stock in
trade securely packed in a basket. Thus the
business is carried on. 1t Is not only so in
Sioux Falls, but in Pierre Huron, Aberdeen,
| WatertOwu and all OF the larger towns.
There is not county in the state where
the trade has not been carried on in the same
manner and not cent of reVen uc has been
derived from the sale The loss to the coun-
ties has been enormous, as with II high
license law well enforced, theS g
same saloon men would have paid
, fully S5OOOOO into the treasures
of the counties of the state, which would
have gone a long way towards supportu 4
the public schools of the state, The farmers
+ | of the Legislature are not slow toscc this
point, and as they are all men who are anN-
iOuS to cut down expenses, there is but ttl {
don bt that the people willhavcac chmcc tOyoto
upon the question next fall. Should they be
accorded this privilege you will observe that
after ncXt November prohibition Will be Il
very dead duck in South Dakota. and | fancy
that il win he killed by Il larger maiCrty Y
than Nebraska rolled up against tlaSt fall. .
'Thosc We're gay old days we had in the
Black Hills during the early gold excitement