WHAT BAGDAD MEANS TO GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3026, 13 March 1917, Page 5

WHAT BAGDAD MEANS TO GERMANY

LOSS OF A FAMOUS RAILWAY

IMMINENT 5

Demote cause of the war

Writers on remote causes of the war 5n Europe have made occasional refortences to tho Bagdad railway conceßsion granted several years ago by Turkey to Germany. The subject is sot forth by ii writer in the "Wall Street Journal." ißy this railroad Constantinople would be counectcd with the Gulf of Persia and with Egypt. Originally it was believed in England that the enterpriso . was a privato ono, but moro recently St has come to be regarded as a Prussian State enterpriso. The Cleaning (of tho concession in economic and military advantages to Germany and its ' weaning to the future of Asiatic Tnr- ■ hey, and especially to tho valley pf the Jiuphrates, arc set forth in tho. article: Without command of the sea, in a great war like the present Germany resembles a besieged city. But in the Bagdad concession Germany could sec b future storehouse of food-products, petroleum, copper, fibres, and other necessary raw materials. Before the present Empire was welded together ■with "blood and 'iron" a Prussian Strategist connected with tho Turkish lAnny saw the military advantage of a Xailwav along the line of march traversed by Alexander the Great. Perhaps the concession was evolved from the vision. Certain it is that in 187.5 German engineers were authorised to build for the Turkish Government a short railroad from Haidar Pasha, opposite Constantinople,.to Ismidt. This little line was dignified with the name of_ the "Anatolian Railway," Anatolia being practically synonymous with Asia Minor. Thirteen years after this a German company, whose angel was the Deutsche Bank, was given tho privilege of exploiting this line, and it was expended into northern Anatolia as far Cast as Angora, in the province of that .name south of the Black Sea. Had ■this line been extended farther east, paralleling tho Russian border, it would have proved of incalculable valui to tho Turks in their _ Caucasian campaign fcgainst Russia in tie present yar. Tentaoles of the Optinus, , "In 1896 another extension from Is;taidt. was projected south-easterly to Eonia- (wliich the historian will remember as Iconiura), in the Turkish province of Adana, which borders on the Mediterranean. Meliemet Ali onco said 1 this province was worth more than f.ll Egypt. Good) cotton is now produced Sn its Oicilian plains, a fact of no tmall importance to Germany. Twcnty-thros years after the building of tho first section of the Anatolian railway, or in 1898, the German Kaiser visited at Constantinople.- Apparently tho visit was mutually agreeable. William proclaimed himself as Abdul's 'only friend in Europe,' and Abdul gav© William a. concession for the construction of » railway to connect. Constantinople with the Persian Gulf hv way rf Ikgdad, which ooncession was turned orer to a German syndicate. This was tho beginning of the Bagdad railway, probably one oE tho several indirect causes of a war-drama whose stage is three continents and' half the world lis actors.

"Several years of negotiating followed this concession. In the Hid the isyndioato was given the authorisation for the BagdacT railway, the cr.nstruction and operation to he niidter a. lrilo- . metric guaranty. This guaranty ,was a '.thrifty one for the promoters, but if Turkey was Fatisfiedl perhaps the rest <jT . the world had 1 no occasion to complain. The capital valuation of the road was fixed at_ 64,000,000 francs per section '.mf 200 kilometres (about .130 miles). It' was expected,that, with branches, there ■■would be twelve such factions. But, as a matter' of fact, the total mile-age now projected will considerably exceed 'this estimate. Before beginning work Lion any section the Turkish Govornmcn t |was to issue its bonds-to tlie syndicate i'to an amount equalling the capital •value of that, section. The sale of these bonds by tbs syndicate was to jprovide it with- capital for construc"tion purposes. Also, an annuity v.as i guaranteed for maintenance, and another for operation, the two together ■oggregating 15,500 francs per kilometre. It is now estimated that, when ! the road is fully completed, tins .Manual ! fcharge to the Turkish Government will (be 31,000,000 francs. '* ' s Reaching Into Syria. ' "About 100 miles in. the ict-erior is 'Aleppo, the roadhouse of ci'iavan routes and the emporium of ■northern ' Syria._ For centuries it, lias ■ been 111© •receiving and distributing p-int for the export and import trade of Ak>:an- . Situated.in the midst of a rich, agricultural district, it is also t-1.0 cen,tre of manufactures carpets and 1 ' rugs, cotton and wool, silk f-nd leather '.goods. It has long been thought that when the, time came for the Turks to ,]eavo Europe this city would to selected for their new capital. Aleppo, there-' fore, could not bo ignored. As now be- 1 ing built, the road runs south-cast ficm Konia, negotiates th© Taurus Mountains, and connects with Aleppo. K branch line connects this city with ■'Alexandretta, thus bringing the Bagdad railway to tlio open sea 011 the west, in spito of tho policy of thosir.iling Abdul.

"After tho 'Aleppo councotion the line turns north-east and crosses northern Syria. Bridging the Euphrates, it then runs almost directly cast to the city of Mosul, on tho Tigris, in Mesopotamia. Here, too, js a (land where cotton can be produced. Infleed, Mosul was once famous for its beautiful cotton fabrics, to which it gave the name of 'mosuiines,' or muslins. Three hundred miles south of Mosul is the city of Bagdad, formerly tho saat of ths Saracen, 'califate, around which there clusters so much of romance and story. Calif Almansur built this city about a.d. 763, find ill tho ninth century it was enlarged by our old-time friend, Harun-al-Raschild. In the tenth century this Mesopotamiau metropolis boasted a population about equal to that of Cliicago at this time. Mosul, Bagdad, and such ancient cities as Nineveh and Babylon are assurances of the potential wealth of Mesopotamia and promises of what tho land might bo again under the stimulus of European enterprise and capital.

"The drifting sands of centuries have been allowed to choko the ancient irrigation works, and millions of acres of tho earth's fattest soil now lio waste for want of water. Engineers say the Tigris and Euphrates might be made to support art irrigation system far more extensive than that employed in the proud days of Nebuchaduczzar: when the land sustained a great population. It wag for tho Bagdad district that Sir William Willcocks, of Assuandam fame, planned a great irrigation system. Through the ports of Bagdad and Bassorah in Mesopotamia, and Aloxandrotta in Syria, already go in limited quantities such important products as wheat, corn, t'icc, barley, fruits, nuts, vegetables, tobacco, cotton, wool, mohair, raw silk, horses, cattle, sheep, hides, and skins. In 3PTO" a million crates of oranges went from tha littlo port of Jaffa alone. Oacital aijd enterprise could make this whole land a great producer of'' foodstuffs and Taw materials for manufacturing."

Woods' Great Peppermint Cnre For Coughs and C0I4?, nem fails.*