Syria: An Economic Survey 



dents and no drunkenness. Fire insurance is also profitable, as 

 there are rarely any fires, the houses being built of stone. The 

 Arabs are too fatalistic by nature and religion to resort to insur- 

 ance, particularly life insurance. Most of the business is done 

 with Europeans. 



The insurance of live stock has not been introduced by com- 

 panies, but has been attempted in the Jewish colonies on a co- 

 operative basis. 



Foreign insurance companies are subject to government in- 

 spection, in accordance with a law passed in 1914. 



VIII. Commercial Schools. 



The commercial schools of Syria are : (1) The Commercial 

 School of the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut, opened in 1900, 

 which had 66 pupils in 1913-1914; (2) Two Jewish commercial 

 schools in Jerusalem with about 60 pupils (one supported by 

 American Jews, the other by the Hilfsverein der Deutschen 

 Juden) ; and a government school in Beirut. The following pro- 

 gram has been used by the commercial schools in Jerusalem: 



Number of Eecitations per Week 



Subject IV* III II I 



Hebrew 9 7 6 6 



German 6 6 6 6 



Arabic 4 5 5 5 



English 3 3 3 3 



Turkish 3 2 2 2 



French 3 3 3 



History 2 { 2 2 



Geography 2 j 2 2 



Mathematics 5 2 3 3 



Zoology and Botany 2 2 2 I 



Physics 1 1 1 1 



Chemistry 1 1 1 1 



Physical Training 2 2 2 2 



Drawing 2 2 2 2 



Singing 1 2 2 2 



Arts and Crafts 3 2 3 3 



Stenography 1 



Bookkeeping 2 3 



Typewriting 1 



Total 47 46 45 48 



* Lowest. 



71 



