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Show Burden-Bearing Olves Womon Queenly Carriage. H tPiuDared br tha Ni.tlona.1 Oaorraohla So- I nt inr fmtm nf mfni-aatntlnn t.. eH clety, Wiihlnt ton, D. C.) Though France Is chiefly occupied with tho Ruhr nt present occasional dispatches mentioning friction in Syria recall that that country, too, Is proving something of a problem In French administration. ad-ministration. Franco was given a mandato over the country following tho World war. But besides Indicating Indicat-ing the French mandate, "Syria" has a wider historic and geographic significance. sig-nificance. In this larger sense It Includes In-cludes Palestine represents, In short, the whole Mediterranean front of the Arabian peninsula. ,The future of greater Syria depends largely upon the development of Its ports nnd upon who controls these strategic centers of politics and commerce. com-merce. Alexandretta and Haifa will ittaln new Importance If the Dardanelles Darda-nelles aro Internationalized and free passuge, open to all nations, cuts icross what Germany was forging as a Berlln-to-Bagdad route. All but S00 miles of this road, between Nislfln and rekrlt a few mllea above Snmarra, Is sow complete. The new Uno of traffic from Alex-uidretta Alex-uidretta past Aleppo to tho Euphrates river at Jerablus, connecting the oldest routes of International commerce, also icparates two Important lingual groups, for Turkish Is generally spoken to tho north of the railway and Arabic to the south. Whatever political adjustment Is mudo between England nnd France, Italy and Greece, Arabia and Syria, conservative Mecca and liberal Beirut, Zionist and Greek Orthodox, Christian and Moslem, Moonlto and Druso, tho line of division between tho Turkish and Arabic tongues will be significant, for language differences ns well as thoso of raco exort a profound effect on political Ufo In tho Lovant The nalfa railway separates the northern part of Greater Syria, or "French Syria," from tho southern part, Palestine, Haifa Is of Importance Impor-tance because It Is the southernmost Syrian harbor capable of largo development devel-opment and is the terminus of tho rail-way rail-way which Is becoming the key to Jerusalem Je-rusalem as well as the mora Important Impor-tant Uno to Damascus and Mesopotamia. Mesopo-tamia. It Is tho real prize of the Near East, for onco It Is to become tho ireatest port of tho eastern Mediterranean Med-iterranean littoral, as It was when It served as the chief landing place of the Crusaders and transshipment ?olnt of the Venetian, PIsan, and Qenoeso trade from argosy to caravan. Syria Is tho hub of tho Afro-Eurasian continents, nnd with ovory ntllJ way that reaches out to Bremen, Baku, Bokhara, Burma, or Bloemfon-teln Bloemfon-teln the central region of the world's rreatcst land-mass achieves now slg-llflcnnca slg-llflcnnca Aside from Its Importance as a trade route, Syria will And Its greatest future fu-ture as an agricultural nation, and has ixtenslvo regions which enn be made to produce large crops. Many Races Intermingled. The population of Syria numbers about three and a half millions, of Semitic Se-mitic origin, speaking the Arabic lan-piage, lan-piage, and yet with so many races Intermingled In-termingled through tho centuries of the various conquests nnd occupations that the people cannot claim any ono race as their own. Greek, Roman and European crusader cru-sader havo all blended with tho ancient an-cient Semitic stock to produce tho Byrlnns of today, whom Lord Cromer, In his memoirs, termed "tho cream Df the East" In Syria wao the ono green spot of prewar Turkey the Lcbonon mountains. moun-tains. In ancient times tho mountains were everywhere covered with forests. The cedars of Lebanon not only fujC nlshed timber for the building of Solomon's Solo-mon's temple In Jerusalem, but tho kings of Egypt annually floated large rafts of logs from the Syrian coast to supply the demands of the cities of the Nile, This constant demand from Dwelgu lands, together with, tha lack practically denuded the mountains of H tho whole land. H Once more to cover tho mountains H nnd hills with pine and cedar and oak H would be a simple task If carried on H systematically. H In I860, because of massacres, the H European powers Insisted that thost H mountains be mndo nutonomous. And H following thnt date tills llttlo district became a living demonstration of what H good government will produce and of H what the people of the land are capa- Hi bio of becoming. HI The steep mountain sides were ter- HI raced to a height of 4,000 feet anl HI planted to olives, flgs and vines. Taxes HI were low, safety to persons and prop- II crty secure, good roads built and kept HI In repair. Tho people constructed HI more comfortable homes and sent their II sous to schools nnd college. II The story of the achievements of II the Lebnnon during the 00 years of II autonomy would bo a thrilling nam- II tire Itself. I Nestling at the base of the Lebanon H In Beirut, a many-tinted city pushed H out Into tho setting sun by the H pressure of this famous mountain II range. This range, Just east of the H city and robbing It of the early mom- II Ing light, towers to 8,500 feet In a W beautiful peak, whose snowy heights II form the crystal screen upon which Is II projected tho rose glow of some of II the world's most colorful sunsets. II Names Long Forgotten. I The bnckbone of tho city strctchei II to the west from a low alluvial plain II which almost makes Beirut an Island. II The wharves are to the north, look- HI ing away from the more famous but II Inferior ports of Tyro and Sldon to II tbo south, vand toward tho other Phot- II nlclan ports of Tripoli and Alex- II andretta and Saleuclu, all of which I havo old Phoenician names long since HI forgotten by the Inhabitants Berytoi lu was the name of Beirut I Tho streets are narrow and full ot life. The buildings are knlsomlned in various hues, ugly near at hand, bat truly Turneresque from a distance, From the harbor there rises a cef- wheol railway which connects the an- clent city of Damascus to the sea cost It was this French railway and the French harbor which gave Beirut W prominence as a port and few Indeed are tho Palestinian tourists who dt not passed over this road while 1T' ing tho world's oldest city, n green oasis In tho midst of tho tawny desej and tho Cyclopean ruins of Baalbek, to return to the ship for home. The mountains offer various ran- mer resorts for tho city of Beirut anJ the green mosses of the foothills re B dotted with pretty Lebanon villa" from which thousands of Syrians bare h set out across the sea as did Phoenicians from the same port, ow to land In America Instead of besme pj the chalk cliffs of Albion, where tu B wsb obtained In ancient times. Tho population of Beirut is bm and the holidays many. Some of w pj churches are wealthy though uw H mosques nro generally small. During the war whole sections w p the city were razed to make way i H new roads and thoroughfares ana i oj center of tho city Is becoming less sn H less picturesque as the days go by. J seller of sweetmeats, W " swaying tray on his head and hu ru gj tripod on his arm, no longer w JBJ look up like n dying Gaul W . M ancing his load In the midst of m lngs whose awnings and bnieow m strove to rob him of his """t, H "What your tout aeslre." f , H as he tries to work up PPel,,cs(O0j. H buying point, and the 1 M Ing drmks with a great bal of m on snow stuck above his his. ored bottle dinks two brass boi gether In a way that Is more new wm related to tho sound of clln1Dnflver. In a cocktail mixer than any w H tlsomont for alcklsh Byrups M right to bo. 9 |