Syria: An Economic Survey 



ally speaking, it is better that a small enterprise be under native 

 management and a large one under European management; 



(8.) The needs and desires of the consumer should be care- 

 fully studied. 



These observations may be illustrated by several examples: 

 The manufacture of glass flourished on the Syrian coast 

 from the Phoenician period to the time of the Crusaders. Now 

 it has practically disappeared. In 1890 Baron Rothschild built 

 a large, up-to-date glass factory in Tanturah, thirty miles south 

 of Haifa, where bottles were to be made for the wine produced 

 in the Jewish colonies. This factory had to be shut down because 

 the sand proved unsuitable for the manufacture of bottles. Another 

 attempt was made in 1910 to establish a glass factory in Damascus; 

 this failed because the capital was not sufficient to tide it over the 

 beginning. 



About ten years ago a Russian Jewish limited liability com- 

 pany, "Atid," established two factories in Haifa and Lydda respec- 

 tively for the chemical extraction of oil from the residue (jift) of 

 the olives remaining in the Arabian oil presses. The factories oper- 

 ated several years, at a considerable loss to the company. A similar 

 factory in Motsah (near Jerusalem) failed also, whereas an Arab 

 factory in Tripoli succeeded, the reason being that the latter was 

 larger and had a smaller outlay in proportion. 



The manufacture of rose oil was carried on twenty years ago 

 in the Jewish colonies on the Sea of Merom, with the help of 

 Baron Rothschild, but it proved unremunerative because of the 

 high cost of the rose plantations and had to be discontinued. A 

 silk spinning establishment in Rosh Pinah had the same fate, prob- 

 ably because the lack of transportation facilities made the securing 

 of cocoons and of coal very expensive. 



IV. Industrial Training. 



Among the trade schools in Syria mention should be made 

 (a) of the Ecole Professionnelle, founded in Jerusalem thirty years 

 ago by the Alliance Israelite TJniverselle, for smiths, carpenters, 

 weavers, etc. This school had 200 pupils before the war; (b) of the 

 Arts and Crafts School Bezalel, where thirty pupils are instructed 

 in drawing, painting, modelling, and wood and metal work; (c) of 

 the Syrian Orphanage in Jerusalem with departments for the in- 

 struction of the blind, etc. The Turkish government has recently 

 founded two trade schools in Damascus and Aleppo, where the 

 pupils are clothed and fed gratis. 



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