The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1920-04-29

, Wnlcn marbles are unknown; Lne Olu
err boys do nothing. We are just or.
ganizing basket ball teams; l think
they are going to take to it very
quickly. And next fall we expect tc
get them started on football We
have no place here big enough to at
tempt base ball. 1t is difficult to
play base ball on the side of a noun
tain, especially when on that noun
tain are accumulated about IS per
cent of all the stones and rocks in
! the world. l never imagined that
there were as many rocks in the
whole Of Asia as there are right
; here in Chair and along the road up
from the seashore.
/ "A word about the political situa-
,,:tion.4 It, is very difficult to know
what is going to happen. Under an
agreement with the British made
some time during the war, the French
are nominally in charge of the west
ern part Of Syria along the Mediter-
ranean sea and east as far as Damas-
Gus. The Syrians do not take at all
kindly to this arrangement; they want
either the Americans or British.
About two weeks ago, at Damus-
Gus, Emir Feisal, an exceedingly able
and fine Arab chief was crowned king
of Syria and Palestine and the French
We're ordered to Immediately evacuate
Syrian territory. The French do not
recognize him or his order; and what
will come Of this no one can tell. In
the meantime the whole country up as
far as Aleppo in in an unsettled con-
l;%;op roiIc m cp,o11 vii
lagos are made by Arab bands, the
villages burned and many people Kill
ed. The Relief Committee is called to
help the unfortunates. Up at Adana
some time ago, two Y. M. c A. Sc
cretaries were attacked as they We're
driving in Ford, robbed and killed.
They we're Americans. What the U.
S. is going to do about it we here
are wondering Then in Marash the
French and Turks are disputing as
to who is in authority. The Turks
have driven out the French and mas
sacred 10000 Armenians in the city.
Five of our relief committee, all wo-
men, came out of Marash with the
last of the French army. We still
have aboutNa dozen missionaries and
relief workers who refused to leave.
All of the women-about 100, in the
Rescue Home which we were running
there women who had been taken out
of Turkish harems since the British oc
cupation,-were massacred, and the
Home burned down. The French
claim they are going to drive out the
Turks, but at present have done moth
ing. They seem to be making a first
class mess of the whole situation. And
in the meanwhile, things do not look
particularly encouraging for the fu-
'ture. The Peace Treaty is beng held
up by the political Juggling going on
in Washington, congress seeming to
consider politics more important than
peace. Americans are laughing
stock out here; politically we promise
SO much, and we.do SO little. A COM
mission was out here some time ago
from Washington, appointed by the
president, to ascertain what the Sy-
rians wanted. This commission claim
ed to be authorized to say that that
nation would have the mandatory over
Syria which, the people by vote Sc
lected. They were encouraged to ex-
press themselves. Their choice was not
the French But the French are here,
and expect to rmain here; and natur-
ally, knowing that the people do not
want them there are not particularly
friendly to them. Whether that
commission ever made report back
in Washington no one knows here. All
we know out here is that the promises
which were made have not material
lied in anyway. And everyone knows
now that these promises will not be
kept. No, we Americans are not par
popular out here, except a
mong these who are getting some
thing from US. And we have our
selves to blame. An unkept promise
pretty effectively destroys confidence.
Time to stop if l am going to get
this to Beirut for the next mail. Cut
out whatever you cannot use. Re-
CARDS to all my friends. Havn't had
a word from Valley City for weeks
from any Of them. Would appre-
ciate letters more than you think. !
L. G. MOULTRIE.
nm a~vv