Evening star., 1932-01-10

are often the means Of advertising
American products. A wealthy Amer1-
can philanthropist, Charles r. Crane
of New York, whose interest In the
Anticipating countries OF the Near
East Is well known, made trip 10 the
Hedjaz a few years back. After ne
had left King Ibn Saud sent him
present of pedigreed Arab horse. Mr..
Crane in return presented his majesty
with an American motor car with an
air-cooled engine. Water is scarce be-
tween Jedda and the Persian Gulf.
The Arab steeds of the desert chief
tains were fleet of foot but not fast
enough to keep up with the King, so
they too invested in motor cars and
hired drivers. Now, when 1bn Saud
travels In state there may be 80 or 40
motor cars in his train, stretched out
across the desert in a long line OF
limousines, fivvers and light trucks.
This energetic ruler, Ibn Saud,
wishes to develop the resources OF his
country and make 1t more self-sup-
porting and less dependent upon reye-
nues from the pilgrim traffic. He has
in mind the rebuilding Of the Damas-
cus-Al Medina Railway, the construc-
tion of highways to the holy cities
and OF new port and harbor at Jedda.
In spots there is water under the
desert that he would like to bring to
the surface. Evidences of gold, mica,
petroleum and other mineral products
have been found And SO he decided
to employ a foreign engineer as a
technical and mining adviser to assist
IN a.
tives at Jedda Of five European coun-
tries-including Soviet Russia-offered
him the services of their nationals on
advantageous terms. But, although We
had no officials in the Hedjaz, an
American was offered the job. And
thereby hangs tale.
Four years ago Mr.. Crane, whose
hobby Is travelling to corners Of the
world off the beaten trails of COM
merce and tourists, made trip on
muleback accompanied only by an
interpreter and guide, from Hodeida
to Sana, the capital of Yemen. He
was the first American on record to
visit this walled city, where the Queen
of Sheba once lived and ruled, 5000
feet high and five days distant over
rocky trails from the Rea Sea. The
Imam wanted to build a highway to
connect MS capital WIN Cne sea. he
agreed to furnish the money and the
labor II his American visitor would
promise to send him machinery and
an engineer to do the job.
On his return to America he found
by chance the man he needed in X. s.
Twitchell, an American civil engineer
just returned from job In Abyssinia.
And so this engineer. with American
road machinery, put the Yemeni hill
men to work cutting through and
around mountains for his 150-mile
highway to Sana, now practically COM
pleted and ready for motor traffic, and
which certainly will increase the
registration figures of year ago
10 cars for population OF more than
100000.
The Wahabi leader soon learned of
what his royal rival to the south of
his dominions was doing. In 1881 Ibn
Saud invited the American engineer to
visit the Hedjaz and gave him pernis-
sion to go where and how he pleased,
except to Mecca and Medina. After
wandering about by camel, horse and
f1ivver for 500 miles in all directions,
Mr.. Twitcbell returned to Jedda and
told the King what he had found and
where. Within a week Mr.. Twitchell
was on his way TO New York. He
carried with him an offer Of three