The Coolidge examiner., 1932-09-02

two donkeys cannot pass. Once
Turkish soldiers tried to move ar
tillery through Baghdad. The streets
were so narrow the horses had to
be unhitched, and men moved the
guns by hand.
A great wall encircles Baghdad,
with guarded gateways, as in
medieval days. Flat-roOfed, hud-
died Moorish houses, many almost
windowlesS and each surrounding
its own open court, are distinct
feature of the older parts of Bagh-
dad. On these fat roofs Arabs
spend the summer nights with tom
toms, flutes, water-pipes. and dane
ing women. Facing the river, re-
moved from the Arab town, are
built the imposing foreign consul
ates, mercantile offices, and the
sumptuous homes of rich Jews, Ar
menians, Greeks and Syrians-the
men who make new Baghdad.
Oio SllJ hOSltJ III RNi''S'
But the Baghdad of Ali Baba's
day, with the splendOr of Aladdin's
enchanted age, is gone forever. The
palaces, the mosques, and minarets
are mostly in ruins. Even the tomb
of lovely Lady Zobeida, favorite
wife of Harun-al-Rashid, is tumbled
down and decayed. 1t is into mod
ern monuments to New Baghdad-
into roads, bridges, public build
ings, irrigation works, army organ
ization, dredging the Tigris, etc
that the Young Turks put their
money.
Modern Baghdad is in safer
hands; no dissipated royalty guards
it's gates. Sober, clear-headed men,
drilled in the best schools of mod
ern Europe, able to hold their own
anywhere, administer it's affairs. AS
late as 1880 the Tigris overfowed
it's banks, swept through Baghdad,
and drowned $1,000 people in one
night.
Till lately Baghdad, more than
any other city in the Near East,
has been slow to yield to Europe's
influence. For centuries Baghdad
kept close to the Bedouin life, un-
der the sway of nomad customs.
Even now Baghdads famous ba-
n
other ways, are conducted as they
were a thousand years ago. These
Arab trading places have changed
not one whit since Abraham's time.
Here is barter and sale as Marco
Polo found it, as it was in the days
of the Three Wise Men who brought
gifts for Bethlehem.
Basra is situated on the Shatt-el-
Arab, a river formed by the union
of the Tigris and Euphrates. Small
er centers of Importance, such as
Kut and Amara, follow each other
at intervals the entire length of the
valley. Most of the inhabitants
are Mohammedan Arabs, though in
the cities are many Jews, while in
the mountainous north are settle
ments of HISTORIAN Christians dat
ing from very early times.
Arabs Who Work in Factories.
City Arabs have taken readily to
the ways Of civilization and seem
glad for the chance to work in ice
and cotton cloth factories, and upon
engineering and public works. Much
agricultural land has been re-
claimed, the date palm, of which
more than sixty varieties are known.
being the chief product. Wheat,
barley and rice are also grown, and
experiments with cotton are being
made. Flowers, pumpkins and veg
etables are planted in the date or
chards where the palms protect ten
der leaves below from the scOrching
summer sun. These green spots are
still chiefly confined to the regions
of the river banks. The rest of the
lower valley is swamp or treeless
plain.
In the spring months when SHOWS
are melting on nearby mountain
ranges the Tigris and Euphrates be-
come swollen torrents and often
overflow their banks and inundate
the surrounding country, just as
they did in the days of Noah. The
new regime is taking active steps
in flood prevention by strengthen
ing river banks in low places and
damming up the flow at headwaters.
There has been no serious flood
since 1919 when the Tigris rose to
within a foot of the level of Bagh-
dad and the lower valley became
one vast lake wherein man and
beast vainly sought for safety.