Document describing Charles Crane's fourth conversation with King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, 1 March 1922

              FOURTH CONVERSATION WITH THS KISO
Sunday # I'arch 1.
This conversation took place at the Palace from 1CU30 &..m* to
noon. The King was unattended, while Sir. Crane was accompanied by
Mr. AntoniuB, who translated,
Mr. Crane informed the King that he had just come away,from
a visit to the Saudiya school, and that he had noticed with pleasure
Ma marked improvement in comparison with his former visits.  He
regretted that time had not permitted of his staying to hear some
of the school songs, and he hoped to he able before hie departure to
pay the boys another visit to hear their songs. He believed that
school songs had great educational vajue. One feature which had particularly pleased him in that school was that the traditions of the
country were being kept up. He had noticed definite progress, and he
was glad that the improvement had not been achieved at the expense
of traditions, because he held that traditions were a very valuable
thing and that progress was of no real value if it led to the destruct
ion of traditions.
The King said that he was very gratified to hear those views
which tallied with his own. He was also glad to wee that ^ir. Crane
looked below the surface and observed what was going on there, unlike
so many others who carried away misleading notions, either because
they were superficial observers or because they mistook what they saw
in their travels in other countries, such as&pgypt, for a picture of
real Arab life and traditions. That was not necessarily the case.
^Sgypt had much in common with Arabia, but there were a great many
things in the life of the modern Egyptians which revealed a radical
departure from what he meant by Arab traditions. The King went on to
say that, in his belief, the soundest progress was that which moved
cautiously without attempting to outpace the natural growth of the
traditional life of the country.
&r. Crane expressed hi a agreement and instanced the case of i
China and Japan. The Chinese, thanks to their inborn wisdom, had had
the sense to go slow and now, having emerged from a period of civil
war and disturbance, were settling down to the proper government of
China by the Chinese, and were forging ahead. Japan, on^the other
hand, was an example of the contrary process. Sixty or seventy years
ago, the Japanese made up their minds that they were going to be sn
advanced nation, and they set themselves to the task without heed of
the damage they were doing to their old traditions and institutions.
The result was that, although they had made astonishing progress in
material conditions, they were now faced with the serious danger of
a downward movement. The same note was to be observed in Russia. The
policy of the rulers of present-day Russia aimed at the destruction
of|all traces of traditional and religious life in the country. It
had taken the Chinese a long time to grasp that fact, but at last
they had realised it and realised that Russia was really in the grip
of Jews and foreigners and that no good was to be expected from them
either to Russia or to any country who had any dealings with them.
So the Chinese made a determined effort and drove out all the emissaries of the Soviets, including a very able Jew named Borodin, and
were now running the country with a purely national government.
The King expressed deep interest in this picture of conditions
in the Far East, and added that he had realised for some time that
the Jews were powerful in Russia.  The persecution of religion which
went on there was nothing short of criminal. He had had information
to show that already some 3000 mosques and madrasas in the Foslem
province under Soviet rule had been closed,and this fact caused him
much concern. I
ttr. Crane then said that, having at the first meeting had an
instructive statement from the King on his policy in Nejd, he would
like to get a picture of the policy which His Majesty was adopting
in the Hejaz. Before getting on to that subject, however, he would ask
the King to allow him to dispose of a few points which he had in his
J.
mm
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