Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1919 — RACIAL BLENDINGS IN SYRIA [ARTICLE]

RACIAL BLENDINGS IN SYRIA

So Many Nations Have Overrun the Country That No One Race Can Claim Pre-eminence. Syria, the region extending from the Taurus mountains to Egypt and from the'desqjt to “the great sea." is the land of the patriarchs and prophets and apostles—“the Holy Land." Its population numbers about three and one-half million of Semitic origin, speaking the Arabic language, and yet with so many races intermingled through the centuries of the various conquests and loccupations that the people cannot claim any one race as their own. Greek, Roman and European crusader, all have blended* with the aclent Semitic stock to produce the Syrians of today. In Syria was the one green spot of Turkey—the Lebanon mountains. In 1800, because of the massacres, the European powers Insisted that these mountains be made autonomous. And since that date this little district has been a living demonstration of what the people of the land are capable of becoming. The steep mountain sides have been terraced to a height of 4,000 feet and planted to olives, figs and vines. Taxes have been low, safety to person and property secured, good roads built and kept in repair. The people have constructed more comfortable homes and have sent their sons to schools and colleges. The story of the achievements of the Lebanon and Its sons during these 60 years of autonomy would be a thrilling narrative In itself.