Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-28
FOUNDATIONS LAID FOR FUTURE
PROSPERITY OF THE HOLY LAND
Progress in Education, Industry and Agriculture
Made Possible by Investments of 3O,OOO,OOO
During Past Five Years.

| dan Valley. 1t is some nine miles
| broad, between the range of Mount
Carmel and the hills of Samaria in
the south and the hills Of Gallilee
about Nazareth and Mount Tabor in
the north.
when first saw ii in 1920 it was
desolatiOn. Four or five small and
squalid Arab villages, long distances
apart from one another could be seen
on the SUBMITS of low hills here and
there. For the rest the country was
uninhabited. There was not a house,
not a tree. Along a branch of the
IlijaZ Railway an occasional train
stopped at deserted stations. A great
part of the soil was in the owner
ship of absentee Syrian landlords.
The River Kishon. which flows
through the valley, and the many
springs which feed it from the hill
sides, had been allowed to form a
series of swamps and marshes, and,
as "A consequence, the country was
infested with malaria. Besides, pub
lie security had been so bad under
the former regime that any settled
agriculture was in any case almost
impossible
"By an expenditure of nearly c 9Oo.-
600 about 81 square miles Of the val
ley have now been purchased by the
Jewish national fund and other or
ganiZations; 20 villages have been
founded. with a population number
ing at present about $500 nearly
5000 donums (about 700 acres) have
been afforested. Twenty schools have
been opened. There is an agricul-
tural training college for women in
one village and hospital in another.
All the swamps and marshes within
the area that has been coloniZed have
been drained. and cases of malaria
are proportionately rare.
Active Trade Grown Up.
AN active trade in dairy produce
has sprung up, mostly finding a mar
ket, by means of the railways, in
Haifa. The whole aspect of the val
ley has been changed. The wooden
huts of the villages, gradually giving
place to red rooted cottages, are dot
ted along the slopes; the plantations
of rapidly growing eucalyptus trees
already begin to give a new character
to the landscape in the Spring the
fields of vegetables or of cereals cover
many miles of the land, and what five
years ago was little better than a
wilderness is being transformed be-
fore our eyes into a smiling country
side"
More space has been given to the
agricultural side than to industry, but
industrial developments are SO far
more important. There is a great
plan for a new harbor at Haifa,. which
may ultimately make this town the
most important commercial center In
the middle east north of Alexandria.
Tel-Aviv. near Jaffa, has seen 20
Jewish manufacturing plants built
and put into operation during the
last four years.
Tel-AViv. the only all Jewish town
in the world, runs all its machinery
by electric power supplied by the
upper waters of the Jordan. was
not able to visit Tel-AViV. but am
told that its prosperity continues ana
that the restoration Of peace in Syria
will open up markets for its industries
not only in Syria, but beyond in
Mesopotamia and Persia, SO that with
in a few years it hopes to enjoy a
boom"
Since the war $50 industrial enter
priSes have been founded in Palestine.
with Sc ,000, 900 invested In them, all
but $500,000 of this Jewish money.
OF course, Palestines prosperity and
economic development depends very
largely on the Jewish money, most
of It American. which has been
pumped into the country. British
administrators are the first 10 admit
this.
Copyright. 1920 by North American News
Alliance }