The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-04-13

Prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington. ID. c.
Though France is chiefly occupied
dispatches mentioning friction in Syria
recall that that country, too, is Lowing
something Of u problem in French adj
ministration. France was given Il
mandate over the country following
the World war. But besides indicat-
ing the French mandate, Syria" has
a wider historic and geographic sig
niiicance. In this larger sense it in
cludes Neutrality-suspicious., in short,
the whole Mediterranean front Of the
Arabian peninsula.
The future of greater Syria depends
largely upon the development of its
ports and upon who controls these
strategic centers Of politics and com
merCe. AleXandretta and Haifa Will
attain new importance il the Darda-
nelles are intcrnatiOnalized and free
passage, open TO all nations, cuts
across what Germany was forging as
a Berlin-tO-Bagdad route. All but 300
miles of this road, between Nisiin and
Tekrit, q few miles above Samarra, Is
now completes.
The new line of traffic from Alex
andretta past Aleppo to the Euphrates
river at Jerablus, connecting the Oldest
routes of international commerce, also
separates two important llngual
groups, for Turkish is generally spoken
to the north Of the railway and Arabic
to the south.
Whatever political adjustment is
made between England and France,
Italy and Greece, Arabia and Syria,
conservative Mecca and liberal Beirut,
Zionist and Greek Orthodox, Christian
and MOsIem, MarOnite and Druse, the
line of division between the Turkish
and Arabic tongues will be significant,
for language differences as well as
those Of race exert q profound effect
on political life I'm the Levant.
The Haifa railway separates the
northern part Of Greater Syria, or
'French Syria from the southern
part, Palestine. Haifa is of impor-
lance because it is the sOuthernmOst
Syrian harbor capable OF large devel-
Opment and is the terminus Of the rail-
way which is becoming the key to Je-
rusalem as we'll rs the more impor.
tant line to Damascus and Mesopo-
tamia. 1t is the real prize Of the Near
East, for once il is to become the
greatest port Of the eastern Med
iterranean l%ittoral, as it was when 1t
served as the chief landing place Of
the Crusaders and transshipment
point of the Venetian. Pisan, and
Genoese trade from argOsy to caravan.
Syria Is the huh Of the Afro-Eu-
rasian continents, and with every riifA
way that reaches out to Bremen,
Baku, Bokhara. Burma. OF Bloemfon-
tein the central region OF the worlds
greatest land mass achieves new sig
n;fcance.
Aside from its Importance rs a trade
route. Syria will find its greatest IN.
ture as an agricultural nation. and Inns
extensive regions which al be made
tn produce large crops.
Many Races l~nterminoIed.
The population Of Syria numbers
about three and Il half millions. Of Sc
mitic origin. speaking the Arabic Ian
guage, and yet with so many C in
termingied through the centuries of
the various c%onquests and occupations
that the people cannot CLAIM, any one
race as their own.
Greek, Roman and European cru
yader have all blended with the an
cicEt Semitic stock to produce the
Syrians OF today, whom Lord Cromer,
In his memoirs, termed "the cream
Of the East"
In Syria was the one green spot OF
prewar Turkey-the Lebanon noun
ta.ns. In ancient times the mountains
were everywhere covered with forests.
Tie cedars If Lebanon not only fur
nisied timber for the building Of Solo
mems temple In Jerusalem, but the
kings of Egypt annually loated large
rats OF logs from the Syrian coast 10
supply the demands of the cities Of
the Nile. This constant demand from
forc-n lands. together with the lacl;