The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-05-22
HOLY LAND

HOLf LAND Yankee ingenuity
and commercial in
WAKING UP. dustry are doing
wonderful things in
! the holy land. Until few years ago If the
Psalm1st or one of the prophets had re-
turned to the scenes of his earthly actiyi-
Ties, he would have had no difficulty in
recognizing them. The hills and valleys
OF old Judea and of Samaria have not
changed with the changing wears and the
villages and towns, as if under the SMELL
! OF the magician's wand had taken no note
OF the hight of centuries. But the prog-
ress Of year in these latter times is
more marked than the progress of a cen
| tury in the days of old. Palestine and
Syria have been made to feel the i'm
pulse OF modern thought. and slowly.
though surely, they are donning the ha-
billments of civilization The railway
from Jaffa to Jerusalem. at first an ex-
pertinent, has been placed upon a paving
| basis, and other lines, which will CONNECT
II with points Of interest up and down
the valley Of the Jordan, on both sides.
have been projected or are actually in the
course Of building. In Jerusalem tbe
! city Of the Great King" there are now
electric street and house lights. tele-
phones, monographs, sanitary plumbing.
modern stores, modern homes. and many
highly civilized life. Trolley lines are
being talked of which will connect it with
Bethany, Bethlehem, the lake of GaliIee.
Samaria, Jericho, Nazareth and other
places made familiar through Bible his
tory and exploited in song and story
since the days Of Herod the king. All
these things, and others, are being noted
in official reports to the American state
department. Somebody will yet put up
T. nd ba -,
of Olives, and establish a panorama on
Golgotha, and with the introduction of
| these and other evidences of modern life
and activity, important and unimportant
dull and gay, the Palestine of the old
days will pass away, like a tale that is
told.
II may not be important, but 1t GER
tainly is Of interest, that an American
travelling salesman recently went to Je-
rusalem and Beirut and in single day
sold American merchandise of a strictly
up-to-date type to the amount of S3,SO0
Commission houses for the handling of
American goods have been opened in
every city and town of Importance in
Palestine and Syria, and in many in
! stances they are being conducted by wide
awake American business men. In a
single month this year. one of these
houses imported American leather to the
lished market for American -four. and
predicts that in very few years the peo-
/ pie of the holy land will be heavy and re-
liable consumers of this article. Ameri-
can watches are in demand, and have been
sold to scores Of natives, who regard them
with increasing favor
/ More than 200 Columbian monographs
were recently imported one half going. to
Damascus, the rest to Jerusalem and near
by places. The best customers for this
class of goods it is said, are the Moslems
Of Beirut, Jerusalem and Damascus, who
buy them for their harems. On the au-
thority Of G. Bic Ravndal, American con-
| sui at Beirut, one commission house has
bought a $3.50 wind mill from an Illinois
| firm, and will erect it in the Bekaa plain
| This house is confident that there is to
be an important future for the wind mill
trade in Palestine and Syria, and for ir-
rigation machinery of all sorts. Wealthy
foreigners are figuring TO secure control
of some of the once fertile valleys Of the
country, and should they succeed there
will be an attempt again to make the land
Continued on Saeoud Pare