Evening journal., 1915-07-09
ASK NATURALIZATION
OF THE HOLY Land
Present War May Result in
Making Palestine a
World Museum
COUNTRY SMALLER
THAN NEW JERSEY

A demand for the complete neu-
tralization of the Holy Land. which
has been growing in strength since
the entry of Turkey into the war,
and which would take away Palestine
from the domination of the Ottoman
and conserve and develop it as a
shrine and museum for mankind,
lends fresh interest to the observa-
tions upon this center of world pill
grimage, recently prepared by James
Bryce, former British Ambassador to
the United States. for the National
Geographic Society. That Palestine,
after all, would not be so great a
reservation Ter mankind, in point Of
area, appears in the comments Of
Lord Bryce upon its size:
Palestine ie a tiny little country
Though the travellers handbooks pre-
pare him to find il small, u sur
prises him by being smaller than he
expected. Taking it as the region he
tween the Mediterranean on the west
and the Jordan and the Dead Sea
on the east from the spurs Of Leb-
anon and Hermon on the north to
the desert at Reersheba on the south,
II is only 10 miles long ana from
so to 60 miles broad-that is to say.
It is smaller than New Jersey whose
area is 1904 square miles.
"Of this region large parts did not
really belong to Israel. Israel had, in
fact little more than the hill coun-
try, which lay between the Jordan on
the east and the maritime plain on
the west King David, in the days of
his power, looked down from the hill
cities of Ben iamin, just north of Je-
rusalem. upon Philistine enemies only
S5 miles or, on the one side. and
looked across the Jordan TO Moabite
enemies about as far off, on the other.
Nearly all the events in the his
tory of Israel that are recorded in
the Old Testament happened within
a territory no bigger than the State
Of Connecticut, whose area is 4S00
square miles, and into hardly any
other country has there been crowded
from the days Of Abraham I'LL our
own time so much history that is
% say, so MANY events that have been
recorded and deserve TO be recorded
in the annals of mankind"
Nor is the Palestine of today SO
beautiful or so rich a country as was
painted by ihe Jews Just emerging
from the barren, comfortless desert
It's centuries of misgovernment and
warfare have nightly assisted its
somewhat stepmotherly nature in
crushing out development. according
to Lord Bryce; wherefore the present
day proposal that this land at last be
given rest and opportunity by neu-
tralizing it and making it the'care OF
all Hlan nnHr rn.Ia -
is a land of ancient strife and seldom.
interrupted slaughter. Lord Bryce ex
plains, and more than Ia centuries o
sad misrule have done their fata
work upon itg physical appearance.
Palestine s a country poor in an,
natural resources. There are practi
cally no minerals. no coal. no iron. NJ
copper, no silver, though recently
some oil wells have been discovered
in the Jordan Valley Neither are ther,
any large forests. and though the lanC
may have been better wooded in ths
days of Joshua than it is now. ther,
is little reason to think that the woods
we're OF trees sufficiently large TO con
stitute a source Of wealth. com.
pSratively small area is At for tillage
Such wealth as the country hai
consists in its pastures, and the ex
preston, "a land flowing in milk anc
honey appropriately described tn,
best il has TO offer. for sheep an,
goats can thrive on the thin herbag,
that covers The hills. and the numer
Gus aromatic plants furnish plenty o
excellent food for the bees, but II il
nearly all thin pasture, for the lane
Is dry and the soil mostly shallow
The sheep and goats vastly outnum
ber the oxen"
Lord Bryce contrasts the beauty o