The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1907-05-03

fording speedy and direct routes to
the holy city of Mecca
The Germans are anxious TO have
the Bagdad railway speedily finished
20 open up new commerce for Ger
many with the 80OOOO,00O population
of British India. The proposed rail.
way system would cover a large part
Of the distance on the direct road 20
India. When once completed from
Constantinople through Asia Minor to
the Persian gulf the line with its Eu-
ropean connections. would enable the
kaiser's imperial train 20 make an
unbroken journey from Berlin to Bag
dad and the Persian gulf as well as to
ancient cities of Palestine
The first section OF 200 hlometers
from Konia to Eregh least of Con-
stantinOple), has been completed. and
it is now proposed to begin work on
three sections Of the line of 200 kilo-
meters each. It is estimated that the
cost Of each section viii average
about s1O,OOO,OOO
Notwithstanding Germany's failures
sometimes in colonial policy as re-
CARDS Turkey and Asia Minor the
kaiser certainly achieved a brilliant
commercial policy. In ten years her
commerce in Asia Minor has in-
creased more than teniold by her
Bagdad concessions Germany has ac-
quired a vast strip of country through
Asia Minor It is about $500 kil0-
meters long by 40 broad, for the con
cession gives her rights Of mineral
and other developments for 20 kilo-
meters on each side Of the line. Ger
many looks forward in the future to
the development of the bituminOus
and petroleum yielding lands at Ker-
kuk. about Babylon and the Tigris and
Euphrates Valley. known TO be able
10 furnish a supply ten times that of
the Baku oil fields. She calculates
that Anatolia. Syria. Mesopotamia and
Irak can, when developed. produce
more corn than the whole 0f Russia
Already the German emperor has
studied the carefully devised plans Of
the famous German engineer Sieges-
mund Schneider for spanning the Bos-
phorus with a bridge uniting Europe
with Asia The sultan has seen the
plans and approved them, and the
mere question Of raising the neces-
sary money to complete the work
along the railroad line will not keep
the great monarchs awake o. nights
TO any extent
Down in those vast plateaus and
valleys along the Tigris and Euphrates
are inexhaustble quantities OF petrol
cum and coal. The road viii awaken
the echoes Of the ancient world which
built the greatest cities of history.
among them Babylon and Nineveh.
where vast armies overran the earth
and palaces arose on every hand.
The idea of such an enterprise
bringing TO life an ancient civilization
IS Inspiring Leaving Hamburg or
Berlin, the passenger soon arrives at |
Vienna and takes his way down the
continent through Budapest, passing |
Austria. Hungary, Sorvia, |
down 10 the north Of Greece. |
Constantinople, across the /
thence toward the Persian /
gulf, going a little to the north of the /
ancient city Of Troy and to Che south /
Of Armenia. called "the cradle Of the /
world" Mount Ararat and the Persian |
capital, passing the branch lines lead /
ing to Damascus and the Holy Land. |
with Jerusalem on the one hand and
Mecca on the other. until Bagdad is
reached. Thence a short run takes
the train to the seaporis on the Per
sian gulf.