g SUNDAY, APHIL 2. IM3 MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEPFORP. OREGON . .
Conditions in Yemen Said Most Primitive in Middle East Area
'
(Editor'! net: In Yemen.
Mm currency it 10 heay
that it ilk thtM man to
carry 5500. But il's not
much of a problam to tho
natiTOf for this is ona ot
iha poortit countriaa In iba
world. Thii Is anotbar oi
1 b a profiles of countriaa
written by United Preii In
tarnation raportera living
or working in them.)
official figurues but it prob
ably is no higher than 15 per
cent, if that
There is virtually no in
dustry and the country's
economy is based almost en
tirely on agriculture. Despite
a fine climate with a tem-
PMMITIVE COUNTRY A land "being Middle East. Here, a rocket launcher is set
dragged kicking and screaming into the up outside an ancient fort (top) as victorious
ISth century" Is how British diplomat rebels hunt for pro-royaliat groups In March
summed up Yemen a few years ago. Yemen's this year. The bottom picture ahows vege-
hereditary rulers have kept the country at table gardens In sn old part of Sana'a.
the most primitive level of any in the (UPI)
By RAYMOND J. MOLONEY
United Press International
Sana'a, Yeman - 0JPD - A
visit to Yemen Is a visit back
in time. A British diplomat
newly posted to the country
a few years ago summed it
up neatly when he wrote
home that he found himself
in a land "being dragged
kicking and screaming into
the 15th Century.
This Is an agricultural
country of 73,000 square miles
in which some 4.5 million
people - no one knows just
how many because there's
never been a census - live
under the most primitive con
ditions left in the Middle
East. Its backwardness is no
accident. The country was
kept deliberately in Its prim
itive state by its hereditary
rulers, the Imamas who
claimed to trace their ances
try back directly to the Him
yarite dynasty founded in the
2nd Century, B.C.
Now simethlng new is be
ing tried in Yemen. Last Sep
tember a group of young
army officers, fired by the
winds of change blowing
through Arabia from Abdel
Gamal Nasser's Cairo, revolt
ed and sent the Imam fleeing.
Their battle is not yet won
for the imam rallied loyal
tribesmen as he fled and he
still fights in the eastern hills.
No Great Prise
Yemen is no great prize ex
cept perhaps in the battle
of ideas. If your eye moved
too quickly over the map you
would miss this little country
nestled just above the cen
tral eastern coast of Africa
and south of Saudi Arabia.
This is a land with no uni
versity and few schools ex
cept for religious classes con
ducted in the Moslem mos
ques. Literacy can only be
guessed at for there are no
Summer Session
Set at Ashland's
Lincoln School
Ashland - Southern Oregon
college will again conduct a
six week's summer session
elementary school for students
in southern Oregon June 24
to Aug. 2 at the Lincoln school
in Ashland.
Hours will be from 9 a.m.
to noon Monday through Fri
day. Children from kinder
garten age through the sixth
grade are eligible to attend.
Some of the features of this
summer's school program in
clude a non-graded organiza
tion based on the theory of
continuous pupil progress
rather than grade level
achievement standards; some
team teaching; youngsters will
be placed in reading and
mathematics achievement lev
els according to their needs
and abilities; social science
will be organized around prob
lem areas of challenge and
Interest tn all youngsters re
gardless of age and education
al background; and a limited
number of opportunities will
be provided for youngsters
with particular abilities to
pursue advanced independent
study projects in science and
mathematics.
Children enrolling in sum
mer school are expected to
attend regularly and accept
ance for enrollment is based
on the assumption that they
will attend the entire six
weeks. No transportation or
insurance is provided by the
school and the only expense
involved Is a small fee charg
ed for mid-morning snacks for
the kindergarten group. Addi
tional information may be ob
tained from Southern Oregon
college.
j perate summer, cool winters
and an adequate rainfall, it
is a poor agriculture, depend
' ent mainly on two crops, cof
j fee and qat. Qat is a bush
i whose leaves and green shoots
are chewed by virtually ev
ery Yemeni male from the
age of six upwards for the
mildly narcotic effect. Even
these crops arc fading.
The country's income from
all sources was estimated in
1960 (there are no later fig
ures) about $4 million.
Earns $20 Per Month
A skilled Yemeni worker
today earns between S15 and
$20 a month. One of the first
acts of the new republican
regime last fall was to raise
the pay of army privates
from S5 to $15 a month. The
incomes of farmers struggling
with their poor crops, raised
by methods little changed in
centuries, is even lower.
The currency of Yemen is
another of its anachronisms.
It is still the old Maria Ther
esa thaler (worthy roughly
B0 cents U.S.) dating back to
the time of the Austro-Hun-
garian empire at the close of
the 18th Century.
The coins, with their orig
inal 1780 date, are still mint
ed in Europe especially for
the Yemeni market. They
make banking something to
see. The only bank in Yemen
still is - of necessity - a
Saudi Arabian one. It became
established under the imams
and continues to operate even
though the new Yemen re
gime is bitterly involved with
Saudi Arabia which it accuses
I of backing supporters of the
imam in the continuing civil
j war.
Has Two Capitals
Yemen has two capitals -Sana'a
and Taiz - but few
telephones, one weak radio
station, no railways and only
four real roads. One of the
roads, built with a loan
from Red China, is a tarred
surface one running 200
miles from the port of Ho
deida to Sana'a. The port it
self, on the Red Sea, is the
work of Soviet engineers. In
a fine demonstration of posi
tive neutrality, two other of
Yemen's roads are the work
of U.S. engineers under an
j outright American foreign aid
gift. These run 313 miles
from the port of Mocha to
Taiz, and then on up to
Sana'a. The fourth road joins
Taiz and Aden.
The American engineers
made the Yemenis most un
happy when they insisted the
roads they were building
would have a gravel surface.
The Yeminis wanted a tar
surface matching the Chinese
made road that was completed
two years ago. But now the
Chinese road already is be
coming daily more scarred
with pot-holes and the Yem-
I ems are Beginning lu ininK
i the Americans may have been
right after all.
I
WILL TRADE!
Klamath Falls Home for
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Anti-Semitism Question Considered
By WERNER ZWICK
United Press International
Frankfurt, Germany - (11B
The young American business
man, a third generation de
scendant of German fore
bears, had been traveling In
West Germany for a month,
"sizing up the situation."
"I've been offered a splen
did job here with exciting fu
ture prospects," he said. "But
I am engaged to a Jewish girl
from California and she is
timid about us making our
home in Germany. She need
ed convincing that anti-semi-tlsm
no longer exists. I came
over here to prove It to my
self, too."
The American smiled wry
ly, sighed a little, and gave
his verdict: "I'm not taking
the Job. I won't bring her
here."
Why?
The American had no firm
answer. "I can't put It into
words for you.
Be Uncemforiable
"I just knew she'd be un
comfortable, and so would I.
for her sake. It's not any
thing you really can put your
finger on. Nobody here
German or otherwise has
said to me he doesn't like
Jews or has anything against
them. In fact everyone pro
tests just the opposite.
How had he gone about
"sizing up the situation
That was a little hard to ex
plain, too. "But one thing 1
did was sometimes, in stores
and places like that, I'd give
a very Jewish sounding
name. I'd get that look, some
times. You know. Nothing
said. No real change in the
manner. Just something. Any
way. I know 1 don't want to
bring her here. Too bad. It
would have been a good
chance for us."
German Embarrassed
The American was embar
rassed, talking about It. As
embarrassed, possibly, as Ger
mans themselves when the
subject comes up. German
embarrassment often comes to
the surface.
In a noisy Frankfurt beer
stube one recent evening
there was suddenly heard,
above the oom pah pah of
the band, an angry voice say
ing, "You damn Jew!"
Man Arrested on
Josephine Warrant
Medford city police Thurs
day arrested David L e r o y
Wlnans, 48, In a downtown
hotel on a felony warrant
from the Josephine county
sheriffs office
Wlnans, who was lodged in
Jackson county jail, is charg
ed with obtaining money un
der false pretenses.
Immediately all conversa
tion dropped oft. At every
table the customers, gay and
lively a moment before, sat
quietly looking uneasily at
one another. In the silence
even the band seemed
muted the offender, slight
ly drunk, called for his
check and, avoiding stares,
marched swiftly out. In a few
minutes things were back to
normal.
From Berlin to Brcmerha-
ven the reaction is much the
same when the national clos
et is opened and the skeleton
of anti-Semitism in Germany
la exposed.
Not Many Jews Left
There aren't many Jews in
Germany and more. From
700,000 before Hitler, there
are today some 25,000 to 30,
000 left. Most of them are old
er generation, roughly two
thirds over age ot 45. Scarcely
4,000 are under 21. A low
birth rate and emigration con
tinue to shrink the figures.
A German Jewish leader,
Rabbi Hans Grunewald, has
said Hitler's plan for a Jew
less Germany may be fulfilled
in another 20 years.
Practically all observers
agree that, excepting only the
rare fanatic or crackpot, there
is no active anti-semitlsm In
Germany. When Hitler's l,
000-year Reich crumbled 12
years after Its birth, most
Germans were genuinely
shocked by the full revela
tions of the murderous pro
grams and the extermination
camp horrors. The iiHtional
revulsion led West Germany
when it regained self-govern
ment In 1949 to make it a
crime even to utter an anti
Jewish remark. It has been
said It Is safe to attack any
thing in West Germany to
day except a Jew.
Go To Prisons
Two young Germans wrnl
to prison when they smeared
swastikas on a Cologne syna
gogue on Christmas eve 1959.
Arnold Strunk, 25, and Paul
Schoenen, .12, also went to
prison for painting swastikas
on a synagogue. Elementary
school teacher Ludwig Zind
fled to Cairo after an arrest
warrant was Issued for him
for publicly calling a man "a
Jewish pig."
A pathetic incident .involv
ing a Jewish woman patient
at West Berlin's Behring hos
pital stirred the country un
happily Her supper came
with a knife and fork bearing
swastika emblems and under
the shock oi seeing the dread
symbols she suffered a heart
attack. An investigation
showed that 62 of the hos
pital's 5,500 sets of silver
ware still bore markings o(
the Third Reich. The admin
istrator was tired
The few extremist right
wing groups in West Germa
ny have either been banned or
stripped of influence at the
ballot boxes. The West Ger
man government in a special
report last year said antl
semltism was practically non
existent. In a recent state
ment Interior Minister Her
mann Hoecherl told the coun
try that "ultra-natlonnll
dead" and "undercover exist
ence of anti-semltism Is meaningless."
Jewish leaders agree that
overt anti-semitlsm, allowing
always for the occasional
twisted individual, is gone.
Dr. Henrlk George Van Dam,
the Jewish community's sec
retary general, reported this
year that anti-semltism and
neo-Nazlsrn are no longer
problems In Germany.
Why then, the continuing
self - questioning? Why the
fears of one American about
bringing a Jewish wife to live
here?
It is not the sort of thing
that can be accurately polled.
Surveys can at best come up
with answers in generalities.
One leading West German
editor, asked to state his view,
said helplessly:
"Who knows if anti-semitlsm
is dead in Germany?
Who knows if it is dead anywhere?"
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Be Careful!
MAY IS AMERICAN
BIKE MONTH
Sliissssal
mmm t-HM i V
mm
Quickie Quiz For Safe Cycling
Safety il l eatery doci. and before reaching tht doing itage, KNOWINS
HOW ii molt important. Ai today'i 55 million cyclilti gear up (or Spring
nd Summer tilt fun. a quick quit to felt their lafsty procedurei knowledge
might pay handiome dividend!. Hera then are 10 true or falie queitioni de
aignad to rait your bilts IQ-
Publiihed in Cooperation Witt) Crater Lake Poit l33. Veterena of
Foreign Wan to Adonca Hio fine Work of Thte Orgeniaation in the
F,eW ot licycht Salary
Medford.
Tribune
A bike ihould be ridden on the left ude of the road, facing traffic.
"Jumping" a curb will not damage a properly inflated tire.
The hand lignali for atopping or turning a hike an the ume ji for cars.
Riding two oa a bike it all right for an tiperienced rider.
When palling a alow-moving car, paei on the right.
4. The cyeliit hai the right of way over pedeitriana.
7. Riding "ne handa" ia lafe on a imooth, ttraight road.
.'.T' .hjaalin, dovice. deiigned for ths
autont da not apply to the cyeliit.
A level, atrarght highway ia a good place for a bike race.
A cyeliit ihould itop. look and liiten at ALL Isl Ilssl
Anrweri:
The eycl.it who .n,., it,,,, , , ,h, ,., hti
better nay home unt.1 he learm the nilei of the road.