The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-18
BY RAIL TO MECCA Approaching Completion of the Railroad Across the Arabian
 Deserts. GREAT ENGINEERING FEAT The Advantages of the Line 10 'iie
 Ottoman Rulers and
 Others.

these were laid in the single l"eNe month ended September 1, lsos' tnere is ground for believing the asser 'ioii that Medina will be reached belore tiie end of the present year The uas' then, is not distant when the railway q will reach Mecca itself.
 The construction of this road, trav- ersing as it does deserts of sand or rock and requiring in some sectiohs extensive tunnels and lnnumeraoie stone bridges, is the greatest engineer ing feat ever performed in Moham- medan country. The fact that unuef difficult conditions, not the least oi which is the want of water, whlch has to be brought many miles on the backs of camels, Turkish and syrian soldiers have succeeded in laying two and three-quarter miles of rail In one day represents an achievement superb or to the best performances or Russian troops on the Siberian line. Accord ing to a Cairo correspondent of the London Times who has made per sonal examination of the work, the masonry compares favorably with that on the Sudan railway which, 1t may be recalled, was constructed under British supervision. That there has been no embezzlement, such as notori- ously is practiced by officials of the Ottoman empire, is evident from the circumstance that in many sections the cost of the road, including the purchase of rolling stock, has not ex- ceeded $12500 a mile The knowl- edge that the railway is in a sense a religious work, undertaken for the purpose of facilitating the visit of pill grims to the holy cities, seems to have deterred even those Moslems who are habitually corrupt from seeking illicit gains. In this particular also the He'd ia2 Railway offers a sharp contrast to the Siberian line
 There is no doubt that by this rail- road, contributions to the cost of which have come from all parts of the Moslem world, the Sultan Abdul Ham, i'd has materially strengthened his position as heir of the Abbassid Cali phate and spiritual head of Islam. The enhancement of his caliphal prestige should in some measure compensate for the decline of his power as a temporal ruler. It Is said, indeed, that when the line reaches Mecca he in- tends himself to preside over the cele- bration of the completion of the wofk which is expected to take place some two years hence. His appearance on such an occasion would be certain to cause not only his own subjects but exterior Moslem communities to regard with sympathy and enthusiasm the resent commander of the Faithful.
 Nor is this the only advantage de- rivable by the Ottoman ruler from the execution of a project which he was one of the first to look upon as prac- ticabie When the line is connected with the Anatolian Railway and with road running to Bagdad 1t will be a strategical factor of prime import ance for by means of if Turkish troops can be transported quickly to the Arabian peninsula. where Abdul Hanid has encountered so much trou- ble from rebels in Yemen, from dis affection in the Holy Cities and from the insubordinatlon of the Bedouin tribes. For political reasons, there fore the railway was we'll worth building. even should 1t prove of doubtful value from a commercial point of view.
 That non Moslem travellers will, even after the completion of the line, be permitted to visit Medina and Mec- co is improbable For some time to come the Turkish authorities are like- ly to discourage journeys thither on the part of any except Mohammedan pilgrims, for the presence of Chris tian would be taken as an affront by the inhabitants of the Holy Cities On the other 'hand, the non Moslem will undoubtedly be at liberty to traverse all that great part of the road which stretches southward from Damascus to Rabigh, which. instead of Jeddah, is to be the Red Sea entrepot of the line. Damascus itself has played a memorable part in the history of the ANedT EJdSl TUT Spiilt lHIbG t0OuSdllQ u years. and was the seat of the Om- meyad Caliphate To reach Rabigh the passenger must go through Syria. Pal estine and Idumea. and thread those sinuous defiles through which the suc- cessors of the Prophet led their hosts of fanatical followers to the conquest of western Asia. He must also before reaching the arm of the Red Sea which for the present at least must be his terminus. traverse the wilderness so well known in Biblical history as that in which the Israelites wandered for forty years. That same waste of sand and stone, which is at once the gate and the barrier of Egypt, played a great part in the incursions of war like Pharaohs onto Syria, and in the retaliatory invasions of the Nile land by Assyria and Persia
 There is still another point of view from which the Damascus Mecca rail- way may be considered. Undoubtedly it would enable the Turkish sovereign or 8 Christian conqueror of his domin- ions to threaten by quick concentra- ton of troops the British occupation of Egypt. But that is danger which if it ever occurs, will belong to a re- mote future-New York Sun.
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