TERRIFIC STRUGGLE IN THE WEST

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 48, 1 February 1916, Page 5

TERRIFIC STRUGGLE IN THE WEST

LOSSES IN THE ATLANTIC

America for the Americans

Wilson and Roosevelt on the Stump

PARTICULARS OF PARIS RAIDS

CURRENT WAR TOPICS.

The report that Persia is joining the Allies directs attention to this interesting country of the ancients. In those times Persia was a small district of Asia, bounded on the south-west by the Persian Gulf, coinciding with the modern provinces of Farsistan and Laristnn. On the north modern Persia borders , on TransCaucasia at the Araxes River and is separated from Transcaspia by the Elburz range. The boundary towards Asiatic Turkey has never been accurately defined, and the Afghan frontier has not been defined in some parts, and in others is not precisely delimited. On the north the chain of 1 Elburz runs eastward from the Armenian plateau, skirting the southern shore of tho Caspian Sea. Farther east, the main range is flanked by the Kopet-Dagh in Russian territory.

Persia is fairly supplied with minerals, and some mines have been worked for centuries in a desultory manner. The, climate is very variable. As a rule it is hot in the plains, especially on .the, strip of low land along the Persian Gulf. The rainfall is small and irregular, in Teheran being from 91 to 11 inches in the year. The rivers are small, and many ot them dry up in the summer. In tho south the Kanin is a fine river, and the only one in Persia that offers facilities for navigation; it flows into Jhe ' Shat-el-AraL' There is one large lake the Urmia, in Azerhanijan, he- | ing 48 miles long by from 20 to 30 miles broad.

Besides Persians proper, there are many tribes of different orig a living within the kingdom, which are classed roughly as Turks of the Tartar stock, Arabs, Balucris, and Leks. Turkoman tribes live in the north-east and Turkis predominate in Azerhanijan. The Persians proper are Mohammedans of the Shiite sect, the Kurds and many of the Arab and Turki tribes are Sumutes, and the Lurs, who are closely related and the Kurds, are nominally Mohammedans, having neither priests nor mosques. Baiism, a revolt against the tyranny of the Koran has made great progress.

The exports in 1909-10 were of the value of £6,781,980, and consisted chiefly of opium, carpets, cotton ami silk, rice, gums, fish, bullion, wool, fruits, and pearls; the imports amounted to £8,076,270. The ports of Enzeli and Meshed-i-Ser are reserved for trade with Russia, winch country has a monopoly of navigation on the Caspian Sea. On the Persian Gulf the principal ports are Buslure, Bender Abbas, and Lingah. Goods are also exported by land to Trebizond, and to Bagdad and Basra. There are a few miles of railway in the neighborhood of Teheran. The route of the projected railway from the Russian system at the Caspian to the British India system would cross Persia. In 1908, Persia was divided into 26 provinces and 9 dependencies, administered by governors-gencral. Area, 628,000 square miles. Population about 10,000,000.

A paragraph from the “Times of India,” written .some weeks ago, shows the view tuat was taken of the position by well-informed people prior to tho Russian march on Kermanshah. “There will be universal .satisfaction,’ ’ it said, “at the news that the Russians have fallen on these budmashes and smitten them hip and thigh. Wo heard some weeks ago that a- foicc, presumably composed of Russians and the Russian-officered gendarmerie which has been a powerful factor in maintaining order in the northern provinces, had left to deal with the raiders. How impudent these had grown is apparent from the strength of tho force which had been gathered. It is described as consisting of five hundred ot the insurgent gendarmerie, infantry and cavalry, and twelve hundred Germans and Turkish mercenaries, the latter assembled by the promise of loot, with two gnus. This considerable force was entrenened on the Sultan Bulak Pass, and had been fortifying the position for a fortnight. But it fled in complete disorder from the Russian attack, leaving great numbers of killed and wounded; the Russians, according to the latest advices, are vigorously pursuing the defeated raiders. •’■rr*

The physical effect of thi s victory must be very great indeed. The road to Hamadan is now open, and if we know anything of the Russians they will give the defeated enemy no rest. The moral effect, will be still greater. In Persia, as in all unsettled Oriental countries, nothing succeeds like success. The German emissaries succeeded in gathering the considerable number of scallywags who assembled under their motley banner because they stood ’ for the strongest force in western Persia They have now bunted against a stronger, and we shall be very much surprised if the non-gendarmerie section of the crowd does not largely melt away. But there will be no peace in Western Persia, and no chance for the central Government to insure respect for its authority until .the German agents are turned out of Kermanshah. That is the head centre of their intrigues.”

Many of tho countries at war will come out far worse off than they went in, says Harper’s Weekly. Many of them, on the question who wins, can echo the question we quoted some time ago: “Who won the San Francisco earthquake?” But, is there any country that stands in a more absurd position than Hungary? i It Germany wins, the domination of the Teuton elements in the dual monarchy will he, greater than ever. If the Allies win, Hungary gets “a severe surgical operation. Meantime she has lost hundreds of thousands of ablebodied men, and she is an agricultural country.' So short is she of men that, even before the w.ai\ Russian .peasants used to come over to help harvest the crops. And yet it was the combination in which Hungary is a partner that set the conflagration raging.