Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-12
E|N|R ABDULL.AH HAS
COURT UNDER CANVAS
BY JUNIUS Is. WOOD
Especial Correspondence of the Chi
cago Daily News Foreign

cago Daily News Foreign
Service)
S. AMMAN, Transjordania.-So few
Arab state stretching from Irak
{Mesopotamia) to Turkey on the
east of the Jordan that the little
village lying between the bases Of
two mountains does not need a no.
tel Those who do come generally
do so on invitation and find a hos
pitable Arab home. whose owner va
Gates his bed and sleeps on the roof
so the stranger can enjoy accustom-
ed comforts. Lacking invitations,
most travellers start back early to
pass the mountain gorgeS and reach
Jerusalem before sunset. The strang-
er who crosses the Jordan may not
rbe looked upon with suspicion, but
). he is strictly scrutinized by the
bridge guard and gets no farther
esgunless his entry into the country
.s1as been approved by telephone from
.as,the capital.
Possibly in the distant cycles be-
!. fore Christ, Arabs drove their cam
els and donkeys along the same
~ 1OdQS, STdZSu lIlSlT 6OdlS eIuo ohCSp
on the parched, unfenced land or
s.cultivated their little fields in the
valleys and on the hillsides. Then
: they carried spears instead of the
serifles which are slung now across
= every mans and boys shoulders.
Protection of life and property is an
individual function in Transjordania
: and the unarmed man is a rarity.
<s,.t Jordan Valley
go When we reached the bridge, the
8 driver Of our car took a rifle aboard.
Jericho had been left behind and any
person who crosses the Jordan val
LEY, radiating heat like hot oven,
a.appreciates the heroism of Joshua
i. in commanding the sun to stand
+Astill, We passed out Of the valley
- and into the hills again on the heels
-ssofs a train Of camels. which SIAM
peded with wild snorts.
Transjordania is under a British
= mandate. A British officer is sta
d toned here, ostensibly to advise
gEmir Abdullah, the ruler, and to
-tserve as liaison officer between him
land the British government. The
:, emir is a shrewd, genial young man,
) in his early thirties. When I saw
him in the tent where he lives and
holds court on a hilltop a couple of
miles outside the village, he said the
British. had assured him that his
country was independent, but that
no issue had yet come up to deter
mine whether the independence was
nominal or real. The Arabs say
that if the French and British man.
dates over Syria and Palestine are
!. confirmed without the emir's raising
an issue before July Is, he will
: cease to be leader Of their cause.
He realizes that. He realizes also
the necessity of both British finan-
cial support and Arab popular sup
= Earlier Times
- In the days of Alexander the
.-4Great, the Greeks were playing the
same role in Transjordania that Eu
ropean powers are playing now. The
ruins of their old citadel with carved
Corinthian columns, marble statues
and great quarried stones cover
many. acres on the hill overlooking
the village. After them came the
Romans, and ruins Of their amphi-
theater whose stone steps seated
4,200 spectators, faces the hill.
Across roadway that is stirred
into clouds of dust by camels, gal,
Bedouins in flying robes and
sserect women with water jars on
their heads, is the little two-room
: government building. the office of
: Rida 'Pasha Arrikabi, former mar
: shall in the Turkish army, civil gov
! ernor of many states and now prime
) minister of Transjordania.
In the center of the village is the
{ old Roman theater, and beyond it
: the ruins Of the mosque which Sal
: adm built.
Goats are stabbed in the galleries
s OF the amphitheater, which once
: were brushed by Roman togas. The
Z squared stones of the theater have
: been torn down to build the little
j houses which crowd around it's for
i MGR stage. The marble columns
!. and slabs are scattered along the
: street benches on which the Bed
] ouins sit and leisurely sip their
! strong coffee and smoke.
The Real Ruler
: Transjordania is one of those nov
elites, called governments, which
have been the outgrowth Of the war.
The British feel that they are the
real rulers, while the Arabs say that
swhenever. occasion requires they will
show that, they are the rulers. Gym
ical gentlemen in red tarboushes
= say that Abdullah is merely chief
I gendarme with the title of ruler,
.gtput there to protect the British man.
ssdate in Palestine from Bedouin at
srtack and to afford an asylum to the
Redouins who harass the French
mandate in Syria.
Influential Syrians whom the
I French have exiled or condemned,
!. and untutored Bedouins who take
4 the law in their own hands, are the
= force in the government. Between
them are the native agricultural and
!. village populations, whose request
: for parliament has been refused by
s Abdullah.
The government has established
; two colleges at Els Sault and Urba
s and fifty-four elementary schools
( just that many more than it had
. under the Turks-and is building
: roads and other improvements. It's
s annual budget is $1,020,O00 and it's
( income 100000. The Bedouins are
= not in the habit of paying taxes.
j The need of British assistance is OBJ
6 vious.
~ IT