The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-06-18
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUR AL
TREpER1c J. HAsK1N. ptrscteR.
wAahtngt0n, .. C.
HEJAZ.
Haahtngt@,. .. C.


of the most interesting of the half
dozen or more new nations, to which
the war gave birth, is the Kingdom
of Hejaz, bordering on the Red Sea
in the Arabian peninsula.
Hejaz has been recognized as an
independent Arabian kingdom by the
great powers Of Europe, inasmuch as
Prince Faisal, third son OF King Hus-
sien, has been admitted as a delegate
to the peace conference at Faris;
This establishment of an Arabian
kingdom may be regarded as the.
latest Towering of a political ideal
thirteen centuries old; for tie Ara
bia for the Arabians" movement was
started by the prophet Mohamet and
has been kept alive by his followers
and descendants ever since. King
Hussien claims to be a lineal descend
ant of the prophet.
There was an Arabian nation long
before Mahomet,- one OF the first
been the beautiful Queen Sheba,"
who visited and captivated Solomon.
Some of the Jews in HejaZ are said to
trace the arrival of their ancestors
in Arabia back to the time of that
famous monarch.
1t was Mahomet who first unified
Arabia. After his death, various dy-
nasties rose and fell in this ancient
land, and it finally came under the
power of the Ottoman empire, which
Turkish rule was never accepted by
the Arabians, and was especially re-
pugnant to the wild desert tribes of
the Bedouins, who have always been
: free and unconquered people.
In 1915 Sharif Hussien, Emir of
Mecca, declared the independence of
Hejaz and took the title of king. He
joined his forces to those of the allies,
! and helped England defeat the Turks
in Asia Minor. In return for this
service England recognized the indie
pendence of Hejaz and the British
| delegates were largely responsible for
the admission of a delegate from
| Hejaz to the peace conference.
Before the war. members OF the
Hussien family, while having the
honorable title of Sharif, were prac-
| tically held as hostages in Mecca by
the Turks. Mecca and a few of the
other large towns were the only parts
of the country which the Turks really
controlled.
Senator Reed, in his famous speech
in which he tried to shock southern
Democrats by proving that the black
| races" would control the league Of
nations, put-Hejaz in the black class
! This was hardly fair. as the majority
| of the inhabitants of HejaZ are of
| Semitic stock, no darker than most
Italians and Spanfards, and not of
negro blood. They belong to a race
which built some of the first civiliza-
! ton. They had a philosophy and
| literature when the natives of the
British Isles were savages, and they
are one of the few peoples in the
world which the Romans failed to
| conquer But Hejaz is undeniably a
very primitive country today, largely
| due to it's arid climate and remote
| situation. It's future as kingdom
| will be watched with, interest rather
than assurance. ~
Senator Reed said, without quoting
/ his authority, that there are only
100000 people in Hejaz. "One hum
! bred and fifty thousand of these :"
he added, ARE the wild Bedouins of
the desert, wanderers on the face of
| the earth, creatures who follow the
| camels and sleep under the skies. who
live as their fathers lived ten thou
1 sand years ago, and who have not
| accumulated an idea, since, except
that they have adopted Mohamme-
danism."
| Friends of the new kingdom claim
| that it has a population of a million.
| Part of these people live a settled life
| in the few fertile valleys of the Hejaz,
| which is mostly desert and mountain;
| part live in the towns, of which Mecca
! is the largest, with somewhere be-
| tween fifty and a hundred. thousand
people. and the rest are wandering
Bedouins, as the senator says.
l. But these Bedouins are in many re-
! spects the best people of the country.
| 1t is they who have kept. salive the
| love of freedom. and they still cherish
| the ancient virtues which gave the
| early Arabian Kingdoms their strength.
| Altho nomads, the Bedouins are
nomads of a high type, and it must be
! remembered that they live in a coun-
| try which will not support any but a
| nomad die existence. They are forced to
| FOIl I'D TaIn 20 n nj o
| in search of grass and water. Their
tents are said to be the most complete
| and comfortable portable homes in the
| world, and they have carried the
| domestication, of the camel to Won
derful perfection. When rains cover
the deserts with grass, they live for
many days at stretch without water,
the milk of the cauels taking its
place, not only as human food and
drink, but also as drink for their fine
Arabian horses.
The masterpiece of Bedouin animal
husbandry is the riding camelI a
| special variety, which is without doubt
the finest beast of burden in the world.
Not only can these animals travel for
days without water, but they are
| capable of carrying a man a hundred
miles a day for several days in sue
cession. Unfortunately these riding
camels will not live anywhere except
in the interior of the Arabian PEN
insula.
The government of the Bedouin
| tribes, and also that of the settled
agricultural peoples of Hejaz, is tribal
in form, with the tribal elders holding
most of the power. There is also a
popular assembly in which any man
] of the community may take part and
have his say. In this respect, the or
ganization is similar in principle to
fa< "a y
assemblies also act as courts and de-
eide disputes. In case of murder, the
murderer may pay damages to the
relatives OF the dead man. provided
they are willing to accept But they
may demand life for a life. and this
fact has given rise to feuds which
often last for several generations
= The people of Mecca, the principal