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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (July 23, 1919)
THE MORNING OREGOXIAN, "WEDNESDAY, 7TCZ.T. 23. 1010. BIBLE STORIES TRUE AFTER 3000 YEARS Happenings in Egypt Traced - to Laws of Moses. WILDERNESS MAY CHANGE Stream or Justice Runs From Moun t tain on AVhicli Religion AVas t tiiven to AVorld. BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS. (Copyright by the Neu- York Herald Com pany. AH rishts reserved.) MOUNT SINAI. Moses,-after all, and rot Provident Wilson, must be held primarily responsible for the present world upheaval. If he had not enun ciated a new set of laws, divinely sanctioned and now made universally applicable, for the establishment of justice and equity between man and man, we should not at the present time have all the peoples of the earth, small and ereat, in an irrepressible ferment of liberty. That doughty old reformer was ef fecting a creater emancipation than he knew when he liberated his fellows from the bondage of Pharaoh. He started something that has been groing on with increasing momentum and is nowadays bowling over kaisers and tsars, kings and kinglets so rapidly that we can scarcely keep count of them. Surely Moses and his achievement are worth looking into on the spot, even though the spot be so remote and unreal to the average peison that it is well described by the old lady who said, "I always knew these places were in the Bible, but I did not suppose you ' could go to them." Every person who passes through the Suez canal crosses the scene ofthe miracle of the dividing of the waters to permit the escape of the Israelites fleeing from rharaoh. If the traveler be one familiar with the Bible he sees written in the topography the neces sity of the passing through the waters. The Hebrews seemed- caught in a pocket. Jn front of them and on their right were the Libyan mountains. On their left was the Red sea. Behind them was Pharaoh's host, with only a concealing cloud intervening. Once across the waters, in the Sinai wilds, they were reasonably -afe from pur suit. Their leader was an old man learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and with 40 years of experience of Bedouin life on Sinai, so that he knew every mile of the land with the intimacy of a shepherd and the broad vision of a strategist, soldier and statesman. Ripe and ready was this extraordinarily trained man before ever he was called to become the leader of his people. Every third Arab on Sinai appears to be named after Moses. Lift up your voice in a crowd of Arabs and cry "MusaV and a third of them will an ewer. Cry "Mohammed!" and another third will reply. Today Moses, who is accepted as a prophet by Jew, Chris tian and Moslem, is the patron saint of the Sinai region. Most of the outstand ing objects on the peninsula moun tains, wells and peculiar rock forma tions are associated with his name. Moem may have had a hard time with the urgrateful Israelites whom he led, but his monuments are many today. He met the fate of all great reformers while he lived, but history has vindi cated him. Wildernens May Change. Manganese deposits of vast extent and value are now being worked by the British on the Sinai peninsula, where the unsuspecting Hebrews trudged; and the old Kgyptian turquoise and copper - mines nearby, which they knew, may possibly be supplanted by modern Brit ish enterprises, the result of the in spection of the region by engineers. It may be that science and industry will effect changes in this hitherto change less region as new treasures are dis covered in the earth. But for the Israel ites, the problems of the wilderness were lose that exist today water, food and difficult travel. They had to nfliltiply the numbers of wells, even as did the Uerman-led Turks in their at tack upon the Suez canal. Without going into details or techni calities, the Sinai peninsula, as Moses knew it and as the present-day trav eler knows it, may be described as a sandy wastes; as a rocky, flinty wilder ness, covered with stones and shells and the apparent wastage of all crea tion; and as the barren mountains and . their valleys or wadys. As the plain nears the mountains the rocks become huge boulders. Under foot are bits of flint and other stones that make the going far more difHcult than the hot sand. The burning noontide heat was no new experience to the people fleeing from Egypt; but desert nights are colder far than nights along the Nile. C ontrast Is Drawn. Two contrasts stand out in the mind of a wilderness wayfarer. One is the difference between this waterless, food less waste and the fat Land of Goshen. The grumbling Israelites judge their new experiences by their life jn Egypt. J'lenty to eat, even with, servitude, looked better than this life of liberty with hunger. The other contrast is between Sinia and Canaan; as compared with this desolate region of sterile sands and hare mountains, the Land of Promise trjly seemed "flowing with milk and honey" milk and honey being prized r-roducts of the wild bees and the domestic flocks, staple to the diet of the region. These Hebrews thought in term: of the simple menus of all other Bedouin. Our water supply, aside from indi vicfual canteens, was carried in two steel cylinders, each about the size of a soda-water tank. These were the standard equipment of the Egyptian camel corps, and we owed them, as also our tents and escort, to the courtesy "t tile Egyptian frontier administra tion. Our Arabs carried their store of water in skins, after the desert fashion of thousands of years, and -when on the march one man's water was nearly all lost the incident created consid erable excitement. The person who ha never done desert traveling Tannoi know the prrciousness of a swallow ot warm water at midday. When we drew near a stream or a spring in Wady Hebran one or more of the Arabs would run ahead to be first to drink of the water. Camels and men together drank with their beads in the water, and those lower down seemed in no wise troubled that the commotion, above thetn mud died the water. Usually we filled our canteens to assure a clean supply. Ylit Im Impressive As a confirmation of the historicity of the .Mosaic record of the wanderings of the children of Israel a. visit to Sinai is impressive. Nobody can read the Ex odus story amid this wilderness with out being convinced that the man who wrote it knew this region. The land fits the record; the record fits the land. .V modern city man misses the "local oolor" of the inspired pages; there is nothing in his experience to interpret . this migration of a primitve and ssen- tally nomadic people. On tile other band, a sojourner in Sinai perceives not only the rationale of the Exodus story, luut he also tees how that supreme ex perience colored much of the subsequent literature of the Old Testament. Barefooted Israelites found their feet cut by this flinty wilderness even as did our horny-soled guide. They were over come and overawed by the difficulty ot the mountain passes, with their thick strewn boulders impeding the way and seeming ready to fall upon the traveler. Most of all. the mountains themselves steep, sheer, stern and seamed must have filled the souls of these people from the flat lands of the Nile with an awe amounting to terror. Those gigan tic red peaks, with outjutting craigs and rocks of every conceivable forma tion, have no parallel in all the world. They seem peopled with strange shapes an; objects of granite giants and gnomes, beasts and birds and, to our fancy, airplanes, guns, tanks, forts and symbols. For a long time we viewed a huge cross in the face of a cliff at the head of a wady, admiring the bold imagination of th8 hermits who doubt less carved it only to learn, with the help of field glasses, that it was formed or natural seams. One mammoth rock stands apart as an open-Jawed hippopo tamus; another is lil.e a carved camel: another almost Duplicated the Sphinx. It is a weird world, striking fear to su perstitious hearts. I have seen many mountain ranges, as In the Caucacus and Kurdistan, where the little hills seemed to nestle cosily against the sides of the mother moun tains like lambs with their ewes at evening; but there is nothing of this soft and intimate aspect about Sinai. Sublime, impressive and moving the spirit to reverent wonder are these seamed and furrowed mountain faces; they call forth thoughts of the thunder ous judgments of the supernatural. "High places" of worship are placed here naturally; but lovers would never hold tryst on these pinnacles. This is a world apart a piece of dread revela tion. Nature set the stage fittingly for the giving of the law. Uw la Horn to World. A stone chapel, the floor of which is strewn with fragrant herbs to keep the insects from books and pictures and vestments, and a rude stone mosque crown the height of Jebel Musa. Here also is shown the very cave in the rock where, tradition says, Moses hid him self when Jehovah appeared. It mat ters' not about the particular foot of ground; it was on one of these peaks, within our view as we look around, that the Word, which is still the world's most needed law, came to the Fit Man. Part of the Jebel Musa cluster to Rases Safsafeh, with' its triple peaks, rising sheer from the one great plain within the Sinai mountains whereon the entire company of Israelites could have encamped. There can be no pos sibility of doubt about this site. Here the Law was first proclaimed. Upon one of the neighboring hills Aaron set up the golden calf. Every condition of the exodus narrative is met. This is the scene of the transaction which settled forever that man must worship one God; and that his God demands obedience to a moral law which makes for the highest welfare of humanity. Here our religion began. From this mountain has run a stream of justice and morality that is conterminus with civilization. Thenceforth there was to be one God for all, and one set of divinely-given standards by which man's relations with his Creator, and with his fellow man, are to be de termined. Changeless as Sinai's own rocks that law stands. It is for na tions and for individuals. Jealous guardian of itsits Jehovah above, ex acting justice and displaying mercy. Society will never be right until it squares with Sinai; the place that was more pivotal to present history than is Versailles. Here, amid stateliness sur passing man's devising, was held the first peace conference. ZONING MEETING CALLED East Side Folk Asked lo Pass on Plan on Restrictions. Future establishment of undertakirg parlors, industries of various kinds, as well as retail businesses in the di'rivt bounded by East Twenty-eighth and Forty-eighth streets from Halsey to Fremont streets, will be determined at a property owners' meeting," called by the city planning commission. The meeting will be held tonight at 8 o'clock in the Episcopal church at Broadway and East Forty-third street. A committee appointed by the com mission has formulated a report cov ering recommendations for the district which will be read at the meeting, and placed for a vote of approval or rejec tion. All property owners within the district are entitled to a voice in the meeting, according to J. P. Newell, president of the commission. VIENNA MUCH INCENSED Surrender of Milcb Cows to Other Nations Protested. t"rr:T" 1 t i . i no u .. 1 . ..... . ..... v-uj- Asso ciated Press.) Vienna is much in censed over tne stipulation In the arti cles of the peace treaty handed to the Austrian delegates Sunday that thou sands of milch cows be surrendered to Italy, Serbia and Roumania. It is declared the American food mis sion knows that hundreds of children are sick from the scarcity of milk and that many deaths have occurred among them from the same cause. Aircraft Company Files Articles. SALEM, Or., July 22. (Special.) The Medford Aircraft company has filed articles of incorporation here. The incorporators are V. P. Farrell, Seeley Hall and Floyd Hart, and the offices of the concern will be located in Med lord. The capital stock is J3000. It is the plan of the company to manu facture, letf-e and operate airplanes on a commercial basip. 'The drink WHERE THE DIFFERENCE -'"""" BEGINS The ordinary ins a re done nia kin c Blitz. sive Blitz process (rives you ALL. malt, hops and barley. It s the hmkj ri;v JIMKo C.OOD. QUENCHES Everywhere THIRST SATISFIES YOU n the Northwest you In Bottle THC FORTUXD BREWI6 CO. T Z'.ef ":'if """r difference Is m-jp, " i LBl S5S3SSL brewand that". .rfev? SENATE COMMITTEE REFUSES PRESIDENT Treaty Provisions Not to Be Met Till Ratification. McNARY SUPPORTS LEAGUE Oregon Junior Solon, In Strong Ad dress, Voices Sentiment for League Ratification. WASHINGTON". July 22. An em phatic negative was given by the senate foreign relations 'committee today to President Wilson's request that it ap prove provisional appointment of an American representative on "the inter national reparations commission, with out awaiting ratification of the peace treaty. While the president was renewing his talks with republican senators at the White House, and the senate was be ginning another day of speechmaking on the treaty, the committee adopted a resolution declaring "no power ex ists" to execute provisions of the treaty in advance of its ratification. This was interpreted not only as refus ing assent to the plan, but declaring the president would exceed his author ity should he act independently. What the president might do in view of the committee action had not been revealed tonight, but most of his ad visers predicted there would be no ap pointment for the present. Mcarr Supporta League. In a speech supporting the league. Senator McNary, republican. Oregon, said he would oppose amendments which would send the covenant back for renegotiation, though he could see no objection to explanatory reserva tions designed to clarify its provisions. He asserted that article 10 must be re tained as "the pillar of the league." The republicans who saw President Wilson during the day were Senators Edge. New Jeisey: Calder, New York, and Cummins, Iowa. Senator Johnson declared that the United States, by refusing to join the league of nations, not only would en danger its own safety. But would break with its associates in the war. senator Edge, republican, of New Jersey, after his conference with the president, said he had not changed his opinion that the senate could clarify the treaty. "I believe the covenant can be so clarified," he said, "as to further pro tect us and at the same time permit us to contribute our full share' to the w-orld in the days of peace, as we cer tainly did under a similar policy in the days of war. I do not favor isolation, or an extreme selfish nationalism, but I am representing America first." Aorrl StayK Away. Senator Norris of Nebraska, one of the senators invited to the White House yesterday, declined the invitation. A new suggestion for senate reserva tions in ratifying the league of nations covenant developed at the conferences. Senator Calder, republican. New York, asked President Wilson what his atti tude would be on a proposal that the covenant be ratified with a reservation that article 10, guaranteeing nations against "external aggression," remain in effect only until 1921. President Wilson urged that the treaty bo ratified without reservations and said that such' a reservation as suggested would necessarily bj' in terpreted abroad as showing that the United States was willing to assist the other nations for only two years. In discussing the Shangtung settle ment with Senator Calder. President Wilson explained that while it was possible for him to give senators de tails he did not think it was advisable to make them public at this time. Clackamas Commissioner Named. OREGON CITY. Or., July 22. (Spe cial.) At a meeting of the Clackamas county court today H. C. Compton, who has been working for the state high way commission, was chnsen county road commissioner to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of J. W. Roots. Mr. Compton has had much experience as an engineer, and for several years was employed "by Mult nomah county. Sightseeing Plane Readies Medford. MEDFORD. Or., July 22. (Special.) Medford's aeroplane with Roy Hart as pilot and Seely Hall as mechanic ar rived in Medford today, after a two days' llight from Sacramento. A great crowd was gathered at Gore field when the plane alighted, and everyone eagerly inspected what is believed to be the first commercial flying plane In Med ford. Sight seeing and advertising flights will begin tomorrow. Lebanon Chautauqua Closes. LEBANON, Or.. July E2. (Special.) The Lebanon Chautauqua session held here for the last six days closed last night with an historical pageant put on by the school children of Lebanon. The session was better attended than any of the other five meetings held here A session is assured for next year, as 107 persons have guaranteed the sale of at least 440 season tickets at not less than i- each. ways of brew awa v The witti in .O'v-'CjI ( lr-..3iB-?. s in the --r--yX--tt that's find on sale COOLS YOU . j;J.Vi O. Draught I . C OK I 'H K MEIER & FRANK COMPANY 8 I I orreace 5 000 High .45 2 for Corded and Woven Madras, Rep., Poplin AGAIN WE SAY GREATEST SHIRT The- Quality" Store st in BEGINS TODAY AT PROMPTLY Men's Grade DIVIDED INTO 3 GREAT UNDERPRICED GROUPS $2.75 Cords, Silk Striped and Woven Madras or - Portland Hello! Hello! Have You Heard the Good News? hirt own MEIER & FRANK'S AT 9 A. M. New for 85.50 All THESE ARE THE VALUES IN TOWN MEItCHANDISI NG mastery again! 5000 new high-ffrade first quality shirts for men and young mei at underselling prices. Every pattern and color that good taste would select. Sale will be held in The Store for Men, Main Floor, just inside Morrison Street entrance. Lots of selling" space. Lots of salespeople See Morrison Street window. Meier & Frank's: The Store for Men. I ! ! Sale Shirts Perfect 2 for $8.50 Finest Heavy Fiber Silks See Also Back Page This Paper Main Floor. (Mail Ordcrj Fill ) J.L