The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1911-12-08

toothpick market; but the natives
have a natural toothpick, a thorn,
which they might profitably export.
Others wish to sell electrical appl1-
ances, when Bagdad Is rejoicing over
the Introduction of oil lamps. In a
word, the backwardness and barren
ness of life in this part of the world
is beyond the imagination Of the west
erner. Nor do they reckon the worth
of the consul's time. On man wrote
from America for postage stamps and
list of the edible fish in the Tigris
river. Mr.. Levack courteously sent
him few stamps-and then got an
angry reply for not sending that list
of fish!
For agricultural machinery; for a
strong, simple oil-engine pump, to take
the place of the antiquated water
lifts. for irrigation purposes; for a
windmill that will work and stand
rough usage; for tools and simple
articles of household convenience,
America may find a market here, in
exchange for the oriental rugs, hides.
wool and dates which Bagdad ships to
America In large quantities.
Successive American consuls have
resigned this post because unable to
live on the salary, which is less than
a fifth of what the British resident
gets. The post is a hard one from the
climatic standpoint. In summer the
people live underground in "serdabs,"
which are nothing less than furnished
cellars, where the punkah flaps to agi-
tate the oppressive heat The German
invasion has made the little company
of less than half hundred Britons
work hard for their not very princely
livelihoods, so that there is compare
lively little diversion to this exile.
One of the interesting places IL
Bagdad is the antiquated Jewish syna
gogue, which is so old that the rabbit
do not know its age. 1t looks 1t. Ano
it is not magnificent ruin, but q
squalid, dirty old place, uttered with
torn mating and rugs, with a more
respectable court adjoining in which
some of the rabbis live. Che meanest
of synagogues In America is inner
than this. And it Is probably des-
tined to be succeeded by a better, for
the chief rabbi told me with pride Of
the success of the young Jews who
have gone to America, ana Of the in
creased prosperity that IL coming to
the Bagdad Jews. He says that he
does not believe in a colonization Of
the Jews In Palestine or Mesopota-
mia; let them 60 to America or Great
Britain, the real promised land. He
also told me that two thousand of the
young men of his community are
learning to speak English, for that is
to be the language of their new life.
None the less, the Jews in France
have helped to build two large schools
for the boys and girls of their faith In
this city, and the school buildings are
the finest in Bagdad.
The Jews In Bagdad have been
very poor. and people suffering
ahliction. They have been In igno'
rance, in consequence, and even the
rabbis are not very learned. I had
conference with several as to the
identity of the Jews up and down
Mesopotamia, who must number sew
eral thousand, II not millions. There
are from sixty to hundred thousand
In Bagdad alone. The old men agreed
that all the twelve tribes, from both
the early captivities of the children OF
Israel, have remained to this day In
these regions where they were once
taken captive. There are also great
numbers across the border in Persia.
Thus the mystery Of the lost ten
tribes" ceases to be a mystery: the
Jews are still here, and now aharinl
In the new awakening Of this oldest
corner Of the world. .s S +
Copyright. 1911, b. Joseph b DeWal