The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-11
WAR ECHOES

fuDllC l<tuStT. ottdhS progress of the allied fleets through the Dardaneles brings the fall of Constan- tinop1e well within the scope of immediate possibilities. Considered purely as d naval expedition headed for the Golden Horn is, perhaps, the most spectacular demonstration the allies have made since the war began.
 There is no discounting the poetic jus tice to be meted by the redemption of Constantinope, upon which all the Slavs are figuring and which a good many intel ligent observers believe imminent. Nor is there any disposition to minimize the inn portance of a campaign intended to clear both Dardanelles and Bosphorus- of hostile strength, and so open way for the trans- port of Russian grain, by Mediterranean route, to France and England.
 But important as these ends may be, they do not seem to cover the deepest motive behind the naval activity off Bly, zantium. The trend to the east has been a basic policy of Teutonic state craft for more than a generation. The German influence in Turkey is an old story. and the German control of the railroads leading from central Europe to Constantinople is an accepted financial fact.
 But beyond Constantnople, Germany has planned a great strategic line, the Bagdad railway, to run from the Bos- phorus to the Persian gulf, and to em- brace in it's system branch lines covering Asia Minor, Palestine and even Arabia aIi t-it vt fo Maopa SnpH vast system would not only give Ger many commercial control of the near east, but it would open the way for German colonization of Mesopotamia, potentially one of the most fruitful tracts on the globe and would put German termini within 12 hours of Egypt on the west and within four days of India on the east. Even the newly formed English and Rus sian spheres of influence in Persia would feel the potential menace.
 With successful issue to the allied at- tack on Turkeys rear, another German vision of Weltpolitik would be dissipated. The elevation of the cross over Saint Sopha must in evitably mean the lower- ing of the Prussian eagles along the Tig- ris and the Euphrates. And that seems to be the great significance of the cam paign against Constantinople.
 Cleveland Plain Dealer: At Vladivos- tok, the Pacific port of Siberia, the Rus sian cruiser Askold was on easy duty at the beginning of last August. Vladives- tok Is far north: in winter it is icebound; in August it is a pleasant enough place. The men and officers of the Askold had little to do, and probably enjoyed it.
 The war came, and there was the Ask old, thousands of miles away from the scene of hostilities No one thought of the Askold again until the dispatches an- nounced that she had joined the Anglo French fleet which is battering the forts of the Dardanelles
 The Askold is small and old ship. She was built in 1897. and her tonnage is only which are hammering their way through the Dardanelles this little sister cannot be of noticeable usefulness
 Yet the appearance of the Askold at the Dardanelles and in the news dis patches is one of the interesting events of the war Her voyage from Vladivostok is a remarkable naval achievement, com parable with the voyage of our own Ore- gon around the Horn at the beginning of the Spanish-American war.
 Through the Sea of Japan, through the China sea, through the narrow Malacca straits, across the broad Indian ocean, up through the Red sea and the Suez canal, this insignificant naval unit has pursued her solitary way. There was, to be sure, little. danger of attack, for even the Elm den, that German terror of the eastern seas, was outclassed by the Askold. But the voyage of the Oregon was similarly safe from real danger. In such case the possibilities of so great voyage, rather than any substantial perils, appeal to the imag agination.
 Since the Aslkold has joined the Darda- nelles force the fleet which is driving it's way to the heart of Turkey has become representative of the three powers of the entente. Thus the one little wandering cruiser assumes a real importance. Her guns will batter down no Turkish forts, but her presence will add largely to Rus- sian prestige.