Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-10

Of the war, whose limits may hence
forth be considered - boundlssA
Dispatches dat .
Campaign In Athens. asth ultimo.
$780, announce tha T.:
nesopotemlA Two offensive
forces. one in Macedonia. the other In
Mesopotamia, are gradually closing In
The Mesopotamia expedition 10 ap-
preaching nearer to Bagdad and from
Sulva- Bay- Gaba-Tepe an attack on
Constantinople may begin ut any mo-
ment." A dispatch from Constantinople
dated 9th ultimo on the contrary as
serts that the British forces marching
on Bagdad had been defeated.
A dispatch dated London. 18th ulti-
dispatch. NJ. Chamberlain. secretary of
state for India, speaking in the house
Of commons, said: THE Turks were
In full retreat on Bagdad. Fighting
had been going on for some time near
Euphrates. This junction Is about $50
miles southeast Of Bagdad."
1t should be added that July 20 It
was announced in London that lighting
Gen. Nixon. commanding two British
brigades, had successfully attacked the
Turkish army. carrying its position by
assault.
Mesopotamia, word that signifies be-
tween rivers (the Euphrates west and
the Tigris east). Is a land Of ancient
splendor. Its ancient divisions under
Asia were Asia Minor. Armenia, Par
thia, Babylonia or Chaldea, Assyria.
Syria, Colchide, Arabia, Persia, India,
Asia, Siberia and Caucasus. China, ia
pan. Turkey in Asia, Arabia, Persia,
Arghanistan, Belouchistan, Turkestan.
Hindustan, etc.
England. 1t il scarcely a political Sc
cret. aspires to the acquisition Of Meso-
square miles containing petroleum beds
extending $50 miles in length and as
miles in width, which England would
subject to organisation. colonization
irrigation, and thus retaining vast
desert lands create anew a land the
wonderful fertility of which Herodotus
declared he did not speak for fear of
being taxed with exaggeration."
England undertook the active exploi-
tation Of Mesopotamia in 1902 by send
ing prospector geologist, nominally
the delegate of private financial syn
dictate" of London. to determine the
value OF the petroleum deposits in the
It was known since long time that
the natives captured the oil that flowed
freely from the rocks and transported
1t In goatskins. The report Of the Brit
fsh delegate of the financial syndicate
was astounding-the value of the un-
derta king explains the hesitation of
Herodotus.
It may serve the government at
Washington to remark that the "fnan-
cial syndicate" was in reality the British
foreign office. which almost always masks
its doubtful enterprises under a prI-
vate corporation. The comedy Of the
'Burlesque Rescue Of Emin" was en-
acted under the mantle Of the British
East East Af sis As,s'Hciation whose presi-
scribed 100000 to pay Emin for aban-
dontng Uganda an Egyptian province.
to Stanley. British subject. who for
the occaston-the popularization Of the
rescue business-was made to mas
querade as a bona flde American citi-
zen. That comedy. clumsy, as it was,
succeeded. and will doubtless pass into
history as a legitimate undertaking Of
the British East Africa Association"
The faithless Emin. It may be added,
To conceal his chagrin over the decep-
ton he scurried back to Uganda,
where. captured by an Arab merchant
on account Of an old score. Emin paid
the forfeit with his head.
concessions in Persia, Sir Mortimer Du-
rand, British plenipotentiary at Tehe-
ran, despite the Russians, then enemies
and rivals. demanded and received for
the aforementioned financial syndicate.
In consideration of the sum Of $4,000,
q most valuable concession from the
Shah Mozafrer-ed- Din. At the same
time alike concession was sought at
but Abd-el-Hamid re-
fused. A.,. s
r X
The 0nonei,1 ~y1df,,<. o,-ot,<>S a.
its agent NJ. wilcox, distinguished en-
gineer, whose expe-
Improving rience in hydraulic
Tgris Valley. valley had attracted
attention. Furnished with firman Of
authorization accorded by the shah. M
Wilcox began work in the lower re-
gions of the Tigris and the Karoun.
and the valleys and affluents, the Kerk-
hah (ancient Gynde). the Chaour IAN
Client Choaspes) and the Die. He worked
at leveling, photographic and topo-
graphic surveys. plans of irrigation on
Persian territory which would be Joined
to those on Ottoman territory in the
valley Of the Euphrates. M Wilcox
was there during several years. the ex-
cessive heat rendering continuous work
from March 20 to Novem-
Der 20.
One may have some idea of the mass
of water which may be employed from
the three great rivers. two of which are
Tigrts and the karoun
with fiat-bottom boats and lighters
because of sand shoals The Tigris at
certain seasons has a mean debit, by
second, of 800 to $500 meters cube. the
Euphrates from $50 to 5000 meters. and
the Karoun from 500 to $500 meters,
without mention of their aff1uents. The
plan of the engineer estimated the ex-
pense at 800, 900, 900, sum, needless to
add, far beyond the capacity of the FER
sian government, whose impecuniosity
is traditional.
Between the years 1s03-1so4 there
at Kasr-Chirin. The OBJ
stacle was the lack of laborers. The
Europeans imported from Galicta and
Rumanfa were untitled because OF the
Of their acclimatization.
The temperature was excessive and the
country devoid of vegetation. Prussian
!aborers were brought from the petrol
cum nelds Of Bakou. but these soon
decided they were Indispensable ana
demanded higher wages. and this un-
expected obstacle renoered the immeoi-
ate exploitation impossible.
It was found necessary to defer the
until some means could
he discovered to supply labor, which
could not be found among the natives
rhe first condition was to render the
country habitable for the European;
How could that be done? First OF an
oy means of irrigation. water being In
his country the question that out
weighs all others and constitutes the
,rfncipal even the only, value OF the