The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-08-15
HAIFA IS DESTINED
 ID BE PALESTINE'S
 GREATEST HARBOR
Comparatively Little Devel- Opment Needed-Country at Present Without Ade-
 quate Outlet for Trade
By CLAIR PRICE

Haifa, Palestine, July 2s-(Special) This little port. located almost half way between Ja.fa and Beirut and about 9 miles from the northern boundary of Palestine, has in. it greater com mercial possibilities than any other of the near casts undeveloped seaports. "As this is being written it is impossl- ble to plan it's development, for the peace conference has not yet indi- cated what form of permanent admin istration it will assign to Palestine. In the meantime, however, it is inn possible to refrain from speculating as to the possibilities of Haifi, should the peace conference assign Palestine to a power financially able to develop the country.
 The town of Haifa, with its popula- ton of about 10000. lies on the south side of the bay formed by the jutting out into the sea of the small range known as Mount Carmel. The bay is some 10 miles long-from north-north- east to south-southwest and about three miles in width. Able men who are acquainted with the bay and with the need of this east coast of the Medi- terranean for an adequate port, say that it could easily be dredged to ac- commodate vessels of 30-foot draft along a pier and vessels of a greater draft out in the bay. This would in clude any vessels now plying between eastern Mediterranean ports and prob Q bly, any which might visit these ports for years to come.
 Men who have lived here for many years say that a long breakwater could he put in to break up the southwest seas which are most troublesome along these coasts, that a long deep water pier could be built out into the bay, that coast traffic could be acoommo- dated at a quay wall and that there is ample room between the slopes of Mount Carmel and the sea for railway sidngs, customs sheds, grain eleva- tcrs. docks and all the other equipm ent of a great port. l have asked two or three of them to estimate the cost of such a development of Haifa They agree that the figure would probably he S10.000 900. a sum which would have to be advanced by the power receiving authority from the peace conference to administer Palestine.
 The possibility of Haifa's develop nent-a possibility which is in very large part contingent on the peace ccnference's action-is one of the m ost promising prospects now before Pales- tinians Turkish rule has hardly done more to retard the development of Palestine than has the lack of an ade- quate port Before the war, when there was no railway across the Sinai desert into Egypt and no port but Beirut, Palestine was a blind alley Between the sea and the Jordan, there was no outlet to the south except the annual caravan of camels to Kantara on the Suez canal and there was no outlet to the north except the old Turkish narrow gauge railroad from Haifa to Tiberias and to Damascus. From Da- rascus there was the long, expensive rail route to Aleppo and on by the Ragdad railway to Constantinople, or the steep cog railroad down the Leba- non from Damascus into Beirut. The latter route, which afforded the only reliable sea outlet which Palestine had is not suited for handling a large vol unle of commerce and owing to the na- ture of the country it traverses, never will be suited for heavy commercial use.
 COUNTRY WITHOUT A PORT
 Jaffa was formerly the principa port of Palestine, but her cargo could only be loaded or unloaded across g t'eacher reef and frequently coasta ships had to omit calling at Jaffa be. cause the sea was too high for the reef to be attempted. Palestine has here etofore, been without a port, a mis. fortune which has kept the conner cal 1ifeblood of the world from cours
 
 to make it the anemic, poverty-striker land which the Turks evacuated.
 At present. however, the British army has linked it up with Egypt by railroad and when the Bagdad railway from Aleppo into Constantinople is put into better condition. Palestine will lie on th2 through line between Eastern Europe and Egypt. The problem of a port for Pales- tine still remains to be solved. however The bulk of any countrys exports always have gone and always will go by sea where a sea route is available Railroad transportation is fast and expensive; seG transportation is slow and cheap. Pa1es- tine still needs an adequate port to give it the commercial stimulus which only cheap transportation can give.
 The development of Haifa is absolutely neces cry if Palestine is to shake of the industrial semi-barbar rism which f one of the most painful aspects of tht Holy Land
 At present the two main railroad lines in Palestine, following in general thu routes fixed upon by the Turks, converge on Haifa, These are the line up iron Gaza, now linked up with Egypt by tht British army which drains the territOr,