is due to the conscription of women alongside men. In a country like Syria, whose population density is counted low, no defensive force of any weight can be formed unless its women join with its men in defending it. For this reason I support woman's participation in the forces of national defense within the limits of her capabilities.

Q — In your capacity as honorary president of the "Soldier's Family" association, do you believe that the Syrian woman, as a citizen, is performing her duty toward the army in your era?

A — The answer to this question is almost bound up with the answer to the previous one. The citizen's sense of his national duty depends on his cultural level. There is a by no means small portion of Syrian women citizens who understand this duty and perform it in the best manner. I was moved once when I learned that one of the girls' schools had donated to the armament-support project a sum modest in its value, great in its meaning, because each of the pupils who joined in paying it had given up all the pocket money she possessed, prompted by the patriotic feeling surging in her breast. There are, of course, ignorant women — and ignorant men too — who do not perform their duty as they ought, and this goes back to their weak appreciation of the importance of national

Al-Shishakli shakes hands with the head of the press bureau at the General Staff headquarters, Mr. Qadri Qal'aji; between them, Miss Karam Tanir

defense. I believe, as I have said, that the more a person advances in the field of culture, and the more a people advances in the arena of civilization, the more his sense of his national rights and duties grows.

His Excellency the Colonel bids farewell to the correspondent of The Woman's Voice, wishing the magazine success in carrying out its mission to the Arab woman