The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-17

"N HE British seizure ana occupation or
 Basra, the Turkish port on the
 Persian Gulf, puts England prac- tically in possession of the site of the Garden of Eden.
 There can be no doubt that the region described in the Book of Genesis as the Garden of Eden is in Mesopotamia "the country lying between the rivers" These rivers are the Tigris, Euphrates and their tributaries.
 The town of Basra is situated on the outlet of Mesopotamia. upon the ocean. It lies within few miles of the biblical Gar den of Eden. A large force of British and Indian soldiers from India, supported by warships, attacked and occupied Basra They advanced successfully into the in lerior and it is probable that by this time British troops have encamped on the scene where Eve first tempted Adam, and where many of the.most interesting events In the early history of the human race occurred
 Tn making this movement, the British are aiming to settle one of the great questions that lies at the root of the present world war.
 In their quest for a larger field for their race the Germans have gained tremen- dous influence in Turkey, and have many enterprises in Asiatic Turkey including the Mesopotamian region.
 The Germans have built the Bagdad Rail- way, which has been described as a rail way leading to nowhere. Bagdad IS now the chief city of Mesopotamia. If this railway were completed, its natural term1- nus would be Basra, which gives access to the Indian Ocean. But such a develop ment would be a menace to British power in India.
 In the meanwhile British subjects have long had important interests in Mesopo- tama Sir William Willcocks, the British engineer who was formerly director of irri- gation in Egypt has constructed system of dams on the Euphrates River that has already added 5,000000 acres of cuitivable land to Mesopotama, and aims to do for that country what the Assouan dam has done for Egypt
 The British plan is to make the Garden of Eden what it evidently was in biblical times a land famed throughout the world for it's fertility. Through neglect and long series of disastrous floods and droughts it has become practically desert.
 If the German ambition to coqtroi Fur key, and her Asiatic territories were to be accomplished, it is evident that the British engineers and promoters would be driven out of Mesopotamia, or the Garden of Eden, to express it more poetically. If the Brit sh schemes had been successful before the war, they would have connected Meso- potamia by railway with the Mediterranean and with Basra making it independent of the German Bagdad Railway. Now, if the British win in the war, it IS assured that the Germans will be turned out of Meso potamia altogether, and that they will lose the vast sums of money they have invested there.
 Thus We witness the extraordinary spec tacle of a sanguinary conflict between the two great forces into which the world is divided, for the possession of the ancient Garden of Eden.
 It is hardly necessary to say that this region is the cradle of civilization which all Europeans and Americans have inherit ed. Here was the Empire of Babylonia and the City of Babylon, the mightiest city of the ancient world. This region passed under the sway of Assurbanipal, Nebuchad- nezzar, Balshazzar Cyrus and Darius.
 Here the prophet Daniei and many of the greatest figures of the Bible passed their lives in the days of the Babylonian captivity.
 In later days, when the Arabs rose to the height of their power, another great city, Bagdad, grew up in Mesopotamia. This was the capital of the romantic Caliph Harun-al-Rashid, made immortal by the Arabian Nights" It has been suggested that the result of the war may be to re- store Arabia as nation. The Arabs have long been rebellious to Turkish rule.
 Ingenious arguments have been advanced advocating various locations for the Garden of Eden, considered simply as the place of origin of the human race, but if we are