PART TWO. 



THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF SYRIA AND THE VALUE 

 OF ITS PRODUCE. 



Syria is emphatically an agricultural country. The vast ma- 

 jority of the population lives by husbandry, that is to say, by its 

 three main branches, agriculture properly speaking, arboriculture, 

 and cattle-raising. Mining plays a small role, and both silvi- 

 culture and fishery bring inconsiderable returns. 



The industry of Syria consists of three more or less important 

 branches: (1) silk-spinning in the Lebanon and vicinity; (2) 

 weaving and dyeing of silk, cotton and wool in the Lebanon and in 

 Damascus, Horns, Hama, and Aleppo; and (3) the production of 

 olive oil and soap in Palestine, Tripoli, and Antioch. Other 

 industries such as tanning (Beirut, Zahleh, Horns, Aintab), rope 

 making (Damascus, Aleppo), manufacture of religious articles 

 (Jerusalem, Bethlehem), craftsmanship in copper and wood 

 (Damascus), cigarette-making (Damascus and the Lebanon), the 

 making and repairing of machinery, and the manufacture of wood, 

 building stones and tiles of cement are relatively unimportant. 

 The majority of artisans working for the local trade are shoe- 

 makers, saddlers, smiths, joiners, and tinkers. Traffic enterprises, 

 with the exception of the harbor of Beirut and the railroads, are 

 limited to electrical plants for the tramways and lighting purposes 

 in Damascus and Beirut, a gas plant in Beirut, a horse car service 

 in Tripoli, and a number of water-works. 



The commerce of Syria consists in providing the country with 

 European commodities (especially dry groceries, sugar, dress ma- 

 terials, coal, kerosene, timber, hardware, cement) and with the 

 sale within and without the country of the agricultural and the 

 few industrial products (export of silk, oranges, grain, sesame, 

 domestic dress materials, soap, raisins, wine). 



The lack of reliable data makes it difficult to give an exact 

 estimate of the value of the annual produce of Syria and of the 

 sums sent into the country as benefactions. 



I. 'Husbandry \ Husbandry in Syria has developed in two 

 directions : grain tillage (in which the^ c two year crop rotation 

 system is used, the field being allowed to lie fallow one year or 

 else planted with sesame, durrha or legumes, and planted with 



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