The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-05-07

Some years ago there was 5devel- oped in Berlin 9 plan looking to the construction of railroad from the capital of the Teuton empire to the Persian Gulf. This road was planned to pass through Asia Minor, thence across the Euphrates to the Tigrfs, pass Niniveh and Bagdad to the Per- sian Gulf at Bassorahs This road was sto form an alI-rail route from the Bal
 tic Sea, to the Persian arm of the In dian Ocean. It was to open up South
 eastern Asia for Germany as India had long before been opened up by
 England and Northern Asia by Rus-
 sia
 their astupendou scheme. which was the first effort eyer made to open up | this vast territory, they immediately found themselves running counter to
 the wishes and purposes of other na- ftfons, and the result was a long series isof diplomatic inter-changes which
 finally led the Gernans to abandon
 their purpose of building through to the Gulf sof Persia and to accept Bag.
 dad as the siatic terminus of the
 German road.
 The first steps in the evolution of
 the German Bagdad railway were l taken in 1888, when a group of Ger
 man financiers, backed by the ! Deutsche Bank, sought and obtained a concession from Turkey for the S8T
 to Angora, Isrnidt a port on Marmora. Sea aand Angora a trade center in the I heart Of Asia Minor. This was to be
 the first link in the great railway system which was to open the riches 1 of the East to industrial .s Germany
 German diplomacy in the years fol- lowing this first concession was. sue lcessfuI in establishing the most. cor KdiaI relations between Wilhelmstrasse land the Sublime Porte.
 teThe railway to Angora was next
 extended by a branch to Konia, in |southeastern Asia Minor, which I stretch was to become a trunk line in the Bagdad railway. In 1899, fol- l lowing a second visit of the Kaiser I to 1Constantinop1e. Germany obtained l the concession for extending the rai1- way from Konia. to the Persian Gulf.
 This was the year of the official birth of the tBagdadbahn,s and the begin I ming of an intensified British German l,sfruggIe of diplomacy in the near I East The firnan constituting the I iBagdad railway company was ob- l tained in sos. InhnediateIy negotia- t lions were. begun by other interested i1 nations for a share inkthe construce
 ton of the line through Mesepotania. Germany made no strong effort to 4 withstand international particip patton.
 "In 1911, the original 9concession T was modified by a Series of neg gotia- il tions. British diplomacy succeeded in blocking the German railway from I the Persian Gulf by persuading Sheik I Mobarek, practically Independent rul- l CT over his small domain, to refuse the Bagdad railway a terminus at Ko- ] welt. So, in the 1911 agreements, the S company renounced its right to build beyond Bagdad, stipnIating solely thai it should have an equal share in any ,I future extension to the gulf. Some other sessions of it's original rights
 were made. and, in return, the com H pany was given the right to build a
 branch line to FAIexandre a rising
 Asia Minor Mediterranean port The
 l-vaIue of trade passing through this si port in 1911 was $10.0O0 .00O.s Work toward the completion of the projec1 : was going steadily. forward before the war broke out
 ssThe Berlin-Bagdad railway was te : be a strong factor in aiding Germany to "a dominant position in trade witt 7 The railway was to have a Mediterra, Asia, Minor. the Mesopotamianv valley and Persia and north eastern India z t3nean terminus. that might serve as z 2 naval base, at Alexandria, but eigh hours steaning from Cyprus anc thirty-six hours from the Suez Canal 2 It was to carry endless trains fel Fl freight between countries. with a su lperab dance of / natural resource, and an empire over-rich in industria : organization.s'