Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1919-03-26
ALLENBY is THE
IDOL OF PALESTINE.
Jews and Christians Hail General
As Redeemer.
By Marion Weinstein.

ed Palestine and Syria, had just
come from Cilicia, which military ne
cessity is adding to the enemy terri
tory under his administration from
the frontiers of Egypt to the village
of Adana. Il wished to kiss Gen. AL
lenby's intelligent forehead" an Arab
chief wrote recently in an apprecia-
ton of the supreme strategist that
wrested the Holy Land from the Turk.
But it is the commanders eye of
clearest blue that gives the first hint
of his master mind. Their gaze
comes steady and direct from under
shaggy, gray-black brows. But they
are unreliable eyes, the eyes of a
man who keeps his own counsel, sub
| ject to his own iron will. Kindli-
ness and humor play over his other
strong features, but his eyes remain
ever inscrutable. I am told they can
flash with the CLINT of cold steel
Streets Named After Him.
Gen. Allenby is continually cover
ing Oeta, as his occupied enemy terri
tory administration is abbreviated, in
tireless trips from his headquarters
at Halfa; as in war time, he is no
behind the lines" executive. Every
where he is hailed with enthusiasm,
for his powerful figure commands at
tention, even when he would avoid a
triumphal entry. The moslems insist
his name spelled backward means
| The Son of Allah. Jews and Chris
tians speak of him with the deepest
| feeling Halfa and Jaffa and other
settlements have renamed streets in
| his honor.
| PnnonCn nf hic int IN 1ynnu1 0d cr0
of the country, I asked Gen. Allenby
| his impressions of Palestine.
''It is a country with a future" he
replied. "The terraced hills show
that even they were once cultivated.
Our Australian troops have been so
impressed with it that many of them
are interested in obtaining land here"
Answers Always Terse.
What of the Jewish colonies?" I
pressed on. For the commander in
chief is not man of many words
He answers without the slightest
hesitation.
"The Jewish colonies are prosper
ous," he told me, "but those who
would develop the country must pre-
pare to spend great deal of money,
with little return for some time to
COulCO OSG DIS AuCI I'D ulu Ill 1dudu1ds
The greatest difficulty is fever. When
we were not fighting the Turk here
we were fighting fever. 1t is wide
spread and during enc war it grew
malignant"
Jewish BattaliOns in Action.
Rumors may reach the United
States that the Jewish battali0ns in
Palestine never saw action. These
Gen. Allenby denies. The 38th and
Both battalions did good service in
the Jordan valley, he said, although
comparatively unframed troops. Be-
sides, he considers that their influence
upon the moral of Jewry, not only in
the Holy Land but Throughout the
world, was profound. When these
Jewish soldiers now in Egypt and
Palestine, will be demobilized their
commander could not say.
The commander-in-chief is fond of
INVITING Americans about our coun-
try's relations with Turkey "Let me
see," he will jest, you are not at war
with Turkey yet, are your" I asked
him during one of these passes if he
is Zionist.
81 have no politics." he smiled. "I
am just military man."
Has Fourteen Decorations.
Stretched across the whole broad
width of his khaki tunic are three
rows of colored ribbon strips that
testify how much of military man he
is. Very patiently and almost shyly
he enumerated the various orders
these decorations represent. There
are fourteen in all, seven British, two
French, two Belgian, one Greek, one
Serbian and one Egyptian. His career
dates back to 1882, when he joined
the Inniskilling Dragons. He serv-
ed with these dragons in the BOer
war as major in 1899, when he was
awarded the G. B. At the outbreak
of the war he commanded a British
cavalry regiment and was soon ap-
pointed to the command of the Fifth
Army corps. 1t was in 1917 that he
became general, the same year he
was appointed to head the Egyptian
eXpeditionary force. 1t was then, too
that his only son, 10, fell in France
fighting in the Horse artillery.
FavOrs Nations League.
Perhaps it is because he knows all
there is to be known about war that
Cen. Allenby favors a league of ma
lions as an attempt to secure perma-
nent peace.
THE engines of war are getting
rather too much for u.s." he said
Man will soon have reason to fear
his own deadly inventions and de-
stroy all machines of destruction"
Before | left Palestine's redeemer
| inquired about his own future. The
! COMMUNICATIVE had come into
the golden sunshine to see me to the
driveway. In no Englishman have I
seen the British officers chivalry
more patent.
and what next?" I asked of his
plans.
He answered with his characteris-
| tic humor:
All my life I have been a soldier.
| shall go on soldiering-as long as
they keep me.