The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1917-01-24

Since Turkey entered the war have
talked with a considerable number OF
men who are personally familiar with
the geography and conditions Of that
unhappy land. Several of these men
are recently out of the Ottoman EN-,
pire. and possessed Of a flrst-hand
knowledge of war conditions there.
With all of these experts upon Turkey
have discussed one particular point
of strategy, and find that every one OF
them had already given 1t cons1dera.
! ton, and that it has been a matter OF
common conversation among neutrals
and natives within Turkey. Yet. de-
spite the obviousnesS OF this oppor'
lunity for attack by the allies, they
have not availed themselves Of it un.
til recent days, when aeroplanes tried
out" the spot.
Before Indicating what seems to
many Of US who are more or less IA
nliliar with local conditions, the one
most vulnerable point in the entire
Teutonic line, it is Necessity to glance
at a few facts. The East Is Germany s
goal and prize in the present struggle,
Had it not been for the great oDJec.
tiyes Of trade and territory and oil and
coal and cotton and wheat and pres
tige comprehended within the Berlin
TO Bagdad railway scheme, she would
never have gone to war. Her prizes
and her hope Of victory, and her most
spectacular triumphs, have all been
east of the Austrian frontier. Many
authorities have been saying TOT more
than a year that the war will be lost
From Constantinople to Kuet Ell
Amarra, all the Turco-Teutonlc forces
are supplied by single Of communl-
cations. These include the armies
GENERATING in the Caucasus, at Suez
and in the Tigris-Euphrates valley
with all the operations and stations
incident to these campaigns. An In
stant's contemplation shows what an
amazing feat this Is. Civilized war
fare has no parallel for It.. Every
rifle, every big gun, every bullet
every shell, every ounce OF powder
every wheel Of transport, every pair
OF shoes, every coat and pair of trous-
ers, every fountain pen In an officers
blouse as we'll as every iron cross on
his breast, and every ounce OF medl-
cal supplies, has to be conveyed by a
single line Of transport all the way
from Germany and Austria through
the Balkans into Turkey, and in most
cases, through a greater part Of the
Turkish empire. one IS ldUly stag
gered by the fact that the Bagdad
army is utterly dependent upon Ber-
lin, half a world away, for its military
supplies. After the war is over we
shall learn the wonder Of all this. and
the praise Of German efficiency. In the
face Of notorious Turkish slackness,
will be on the pens Of all fair his
torians.
OF course, that line should have
been broken in the Balkans early In
the war. There Is no need to re-
hearse the diplomatic and military
failures and blunders Of the allies in
that matter. The present condition
is that the line is open uninter-
ruptedly, save for one recent Incl
dent, straight from Berlin to Bagdad,
The two gaps in railway construction
in the famous Bagdad line, along the
entire length between Constantinople
and the present end Of construction,
which is at Ras ell Ain, in the desert
above Mosul. near the Tlgris river,
are at the Amanus and Taurus noun
tains, near the head of the Mediter,
ranean. While these tunnels are being
completed, fine new roads are being
used by motor trucks and ox-carts.