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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



seas and made Sidon and Tyre the world 

 centers for commerce. The Greeks, put- 

 ting out from their islands near by the 

 Asia Minor shore and from Ephesus and 

 other cities of the mainland, were the 

 great carriers and traders of ancient times. 

 We read that King Solomon, taking ad- 

 vantage of his location beween Egypt and 

 Assyria, carried on a great business of 

 mercantile exchange between these em- 

 pires and became a merchant prince, 

 whose renown spread to the corners of 

 the earth. Following in the footsteps of 

 their ancestors, the people of those lands, 

 the Syrians and Greeks and Armenians, 

 have established a reputation as traders 

 the world over. 



The great trunk lines of commerce be- 

 tween the north and the south and the 

 east and the west should pass across this 

 country. In years gone by all the nations 

 of Europe maintained commercial repre- 

 sentatives and warehouses in the city of 

 Aleppo. This center was the mart of ex- 

 change between Europe and the eastern 

 lands. That position could easily be re- 

 covered and surpassed, for the city lies 

 at the natural point of meeting of the 

 great world trade routes. 



SPLENDID NATURAE HARBORS 



There are natural harbors which with 

 little engineering could become suitable 

 terminals for the land routes. In con- 

 structing the Bagdad Railway Germany 

 had obtained a concession to construct a 

 harbor and stores at the city of Alexan- 

 dretta, near to the place where Alexander 

 defeated Darius, King of Persia. Ger- 

 many was also to have the privilege of 

 policing this port with her own subjects. 



The importance of Beirut, Tripoli, and 

 Smyrna as ports has already been recog- 

 nized and they are destined to increase. 

 Constantinople is perhaps the finest 'har- 

 bor in the world, and at this point must 

 pass most of the trade between Europe 

 and Asia. 



Asia Minor has been and still should 

 be not the bankrupt nation, but the 

 banker nation of three continents. 



With each of the topics here presented 

 there has always been an 'if" or an 

 "ought to be" or "might become." Turn- 

 ing the pages of history, one reads what 

 this country has been. Reading the daily 



papers, one knows what the country is. 

 Letting imagination dwell upon the re- 

 sources provided by nature and the capa- 

 bilities of the people, one can form a 

 vision of the country's future if only one 

 great change can be brought about. 



In 1453 Mohammed the Conqueror 

 surrounded the city of Constantinople 

 and finally caused the downfall of that 

 city, which had stood for eight centuries 

 as the eastern outpost of Christendom. 

 In 1 5 17 the city of Jerusalem and the 

 land of Egypt also fell. 



The succeeding 400 years have wit- 

 nessed the gradual degradation of the 

 land. The cotton and corn fields of Mes- 

 opotamia are now deserts and swamps. 

 The mines once worked have been aban- 

 doned. The cities, once busy with the 

 trade of the world, are today but bazaars 

 for petty bargains and deceit. The peo- 

 ple, with the history of a great past and 

 with capacities second to none, are by in- 

 justice and persecution driven from their 

 homes to foreign lands or subjected to a 

 determined plan of extermination by de- 

 portation, massacre, and famine. 



The one change that must precede all 

 others, therefore, in order to take the first 

 steps toward realizing the possibilities of 

 which this land and these people are ca- 

 pable is to rid the country of its present 

 rulers. It is not merely to "drive the 

 Turk out of Europe," for that has prac- 

 tically been done already, but to deprive 

 him of every vestige of authority. Not 

 only have the Christian races suffered at 

 his hand, but the common Turkish people 

 themselves have suffered almost equal 

 wrongs. Before all bars of judgment, 

 because of his incapacity, his inefficiency, 

 and his atrocities, he has forfeited every 

 right to rule. 



THE PARABLE OE THE UNPROFITABLE 

 SERVANT 



The parable tells of the servant who, 

 having failed to develop the one talent 

 entrusted to him, had this judgment 

 passed upon him : "From him that hath 

 not shall be taken away even that which 

 he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable 

 servant into outer darkness." And there 

 is no longer one judgment for individuals 

 and another for governments. 



