The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-07-30
THE NEW ROAD
ACROSS ASIA
IT Is SOON TO BE BUILT BY GER.
MAN CAPITAL.
From Berlin to the Persian Gulf, 1000
Miles, and From the Gulf Thru
Persia, Afgllanistan and China to
the Pacific Coast, 5000 Miles More.
Brooklyn Eagle.

Berlin to the point on the Persian
gulf will be more than 1000 miles,
and from there on the Grand Trunk
line thru Persia, Afghanistan and
China will be 5000 miles more, max
ing total of more than 10000 miles
from the German capital to the Pacific
coast. The length of the road now
under construction-from Ismid to
the Persian gulf-will be 1852 miles.
The commercial possibilities of the
railway seem to be enormous. So
thoroly does the sultan of Turkey be-
lieve in them that he has purchased
immense tracts of land on the lower
stretches Of the Tigris for the purpose
Of specializing on it's expected rise in
value. In the upper part of Mesopo-
tamia, and also In the neighboring re-
gions of Syria, cotton is even now,
when transportation is of the most
primitive kind, cultivated to great
extent. From this portion of the
country there are annually placed on
the market 100000 pounds of cot
ton thread. When the Bagdad rail-
road is in operation vast quantities
of cotton will be raised for export.
One of the plans Of the German syn
dictate is to organize several agricul-
tural companies, which will obtain
from the Ottoman government great
districts Of land on long leases, which
will be sublet to small farmers, or
worked by natives under the direction
of the company. In this manner it is
proposed that Germany will draw her
chief cotton supplies from Mesopo-
tamia instead of from America, as
now. AS an evidence Of the great
trade that the United States carries
on with Germany at the present time
In this line it may be mentioned that
last year this country exported to
Germany 957,546,88S pounds of raw
cotton, worth ss4,S24,284.
But Germany has her eye turned in
other commercial directions also. The
ancient prosperity of Anatolia was in
its cornfields. Germany proposes to
revive this ancient source of wealth
lonia and Asia Minor the yearly rain
fall is sufficient to bring forth rich
harvests; in other parts irrigation is
necessary. Anatolia, northern Syria,
Mesopotamia and the Irak altogether
are capable of exporting as much corn
as Russia exports today. The popu-
latiOn Of these countries is now about
10000 When the Bagdad railroad
is opened and the resources Of the
that the popu1ation viii soon grow to
the 100000 that lived and prospered
under the reign Of the famous
Haroun-al-Raschid. If Germany gets
her corn from her new fields the
United States will suffer in this di-
rection, as they will suffer in the mat
ter of cotton, for in 1908 this country
exported 12,17s,S03 bushels of corn to
Germany, at a valuation of $e,642,2e7.
Altho the final articles of the con-
vention for building the Bagdad rail.
way thru Turkey were signed a short
time ago, the road is by no means a
new project. The Germans made
their first move for constructing the
great system sixteen years ago. AT
that time the Deutsche Bank, at Ber-
lin, backed by a big syndicate which
nople, began making plans to get con
cessions from the pashas. The plans
Of the syndicate were kept close
secret. There was one little stretch
Of railroad running from Scutari to
Ismfd, which was owned by the Eng
lish as a relic of the Crimean war
This road the syndicate desired to be
used as a. link in the great line from
Constantinople. to the Persian gulf
The English shares were bought UP
quietly and the Germans were in COM
plete control before the Englishmen
knew that they had lost the road
Then England seemed to wake up
concessions for the extension of the
Smyrna railway, with the view
Of pushing it down to the Persian
gulf, but the Germans, backed by their
government, .outwitted the British and
obtained concessions from the Porte
to extend the Scutari-Isrnid line. Then
the Germans played a big game. They
started out to capture the Smyrna
Cassaba and the Smyrna-Aidin rail-
roads for fear they might become
rivals. With the aid of the French
shareholders they did get control OF
the former line and came very nearly
capturing the other.
Many clever plans were formed and
executed, however, before the Bagdad
railroad reached it's present status. AS
the plan progressed the syndicate
used each advancement to bring about
other concessions. The proposition OF
connecting the Mediterranean and the
Persian gulf was by no means a new
one, the Turkish government itself
having had such a scheme in mind
before the breaking out of the Cri-
mean war. but 1t was held back for
soon after the treaty Of Paris was
signed-the sultan planned to con.
struct network of railways covering
his empire. He employed for this pur-
pose an Austrian engineer, who had
laid out on paper 1000 miles of rail-
way for Turkey Fifty-nine miles
We're actually built in pursuance OF
this PLAN from Haidar Pasha to Ismid
but this line was subsequently sold to
the German syndicate. which obtained
g concession to extend it to Angora, a
distance Of $40 miles, and afterward
obtained permission to build a branch
road from Eskisheber, distance OF