The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-05
Mighty Scheme of Sir William
Willcocks Appears on Road
to Completion.
BY la MARauIsE DE FoNTENoY.

NABLE dispatches announcing the
Inauguration by the Turkish
Governor General OF Bagdad. of
the Hlndieh Dam. or barrage, and tho
diversion of the waters OF the grea,
river Euphrates into their old channel,
past Babylon. would lead to the be-
lief that the mighty scheme of regu-
lation OF the Tigris and of the
Euphrates, devised by Sir William
Willcocks, was on the road TO compile
ton.
1t was a scheme which provided for
tho reconstruction of the completely
ruined network OF canals Of the pre-
Christian era, and for the creation Of
an entirely new system OF irrigation
by means of which all that portion of
Mesopotamia was to be restored to
what it was in ancient times, namely,
the granary OF the world
But this belief is doomed to disap-
pointment, and there is every reason
10 fear that now that the Hindieh bar
rage Is completed, the remainder Of
tho vast project Will be abandoned for
a generation or SO to come, and that
little will have been accomplished be-
You'd reverting the Euphrates into It's
old channel, past Babylon. by tho
waters of which the Jews. hundreds
of years before Christ. mourned their
captivity and wept over the remem-
brance OF their distant Zion
Tho barrage at Hindich was only the
Initial feature of the entire system.
which was TO have cost some SI6.-
100000. The Turkish government In
1909 not only intrusted Sir William
Willcocks. the creator OF the Nile
dams, and Nile Valley irrigation works
with the designing OF q similar sys-
tenn in the Tigris and Euphrates re-
,ri<
OF irrigation to the Sublime Porte
The work was started with enthusiasm,
and as n beginning the building of
the tiindieh barrage was conilded to
the great English contracting firm OF
Sir John Jackson. Limited. by which
the dam in question has now been COM
rleted
But tho chauvinism or the Young
Turk extremist party led to revolu-
tionary outbreaks and insurrectionary
risings In all parts of the Ottoman en-
pire. eliminating in the war in the
Balkans and the consequent disasters
The result has been that all the re-
mainder Of the Willcocks project. be-
You'd tho now completed Hindieh bar
rage has been abandoned for many
years to come, owing to lack OF money,
and that Sir William Willcocks him
self. despairing of the realization OF his
nection with the Ottoman government,
has resigned his Office OF adviser OF
irrigation to the Sublime Porte, and
has returned TO England
Turkish finances are crippled to such
an extent that II is idle to expect that
IL will have any funds available for
any such purposes for twenty or thirty
years hence. and the only way in which
the project could DO carried out in
hn y I,
Sultan were will;>-s to grant a concos-
sion to some English, European or
American syndicate, which would UNI
dertake the cost of construction. re-
coupling itself by tho sale OF water
and of the land restored to cultivation
by irrigation.
The Porte would benefit by so doing
For IL would derive n considerable ac-
cesSion of revenue from the taxation
of these lands restored to aRriculture
and which arc now waste. barren and
unta%able. But international jcalou-
sizes on tho part OF the foreign powers
ana fears by the Sultan that the grant
OF such concession would furnish adj
ditional prcteNts to the foreign nations
for their interference In tho affairs of
his empire. and for the further aliena-
ton OF his territory. will probably
| cause him to delay indefinitely coming
to any decision about the matter.
Whereas In England members OF all
religious denominations. Roman Cath
olics. Prc"bytcrians, Methodists, Bap-
lists. Jews, Moslems and agnostics,
are. taxed by the state for the support
| of the Established Church of England
that Is to say. OF the state church. In
Germany only those arc required to
contribute to the Lutheran state
| church who belong thereto. The re-
suit of this Is that there is an ever
growing number of assertions from tho
state Lutheran Church. prompted by n
desire to evade these church taxes
Tho increase of tho assertions has be-
como SO phenomenal OF late as to give
serious concern to the leaders OF tho
establishment. and particularly to tho
Emperor and Empress.
Ono OF the things OF which" the i'm
pcrial couple until recently were tho
most proud was the fact that since
their accession to tho throne they had