Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 182, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1919 — Abyssinians Claim Recognition. [ARTICLE]

Abyssinians Claim Recognition.

A delegation from Abyssinia bearing rich gifts of ivory and silks for the announced purpose of congratulating France on her recent victory, appeared at the peace conference in Paris. This is in strict accordance with the ancient oriental procedure. The real purpose of a visit is not disclosed until preliminary ceremonies are concluded. These native Africans —whose rulers claim descent from Solomon and the queen of Sheba —wished to be in on the carving up of the world, for they have interests which seem vital to them, although little known to the rest of the world. Seated in that natural bastion of Africa, the Abyssinians imve lived in greater or less security /or unknown centuries. They are not negroes. but a mixture of Hamitic and Semitic races, with a culture of their own and professing the Christian religion, being a branch of the Coptic church of Egypt. Until recently they have been unmolested save by native tribes.