The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1917-05-31
NATIONAL EDITORIAL SERVICE OF THE WHEELING II
POLITICS OF PETROLEUM
The Oil Fields of Mesopotama Unmenoned Goal of the War
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS
nu
Traveller and Publicist.

! exclusive sphere were inmraSurablE
enhanced BY the priceless pr!Ze oI
Persian oil. Those great gray-brown
tanks at Mohammerah symbolic DO
miniun.
Since Germany wanted oil as much
aS britain needed il. we saw the des'
, perate diplomatic struggle over the
Bardad railway, which Berlin desired
10 carry down 10 the gulf. Britain
made her Persian agreement win
Russia. which secured for her the con
troll Of the southern half Of that
troubled country. She also won the
support OF the sheiks of the. native
municipalities along the Persian gulf,
whose allegiance TO ConstRntinople
has always been a tcnuous thing.
There is Il practical and elemental
quality 10 the sort OF diplomacy that
! deals with these primitive peoples !;
how primitive are these Arabs OF
lower MrsopOIamia is scarcely real
lzcd by those who get their ideas OF
the Bcdouin from Bayard Taylor S
"BrdUuin Love Song Not having
travelled in equatorial Africa, | have
never seen men who went publicly
about their work in Il state Of COM
plrte nudity, except among the Marsh
Arabs" along the Tigris river.
In a somewhat vague fashion. it has
come tn be understood that Germany's
real goal in the was is the East.
Her grand objective has not been Con-
Slanlinnpl" o. the Mediterranean, but
BaGtfad and beyond. the ancient Baby
ionia that once Graded civilizations;
the waste that once was 4 wonderland,
and may again be the garden and
SorehOuSe of an empire. Specifically,
the unknown port Of MOhammrrah,
With all that IL SymboiZrs Of treas
urcs OF oil is one of the prizes most
clearly in the eyes OF Berlin. Control
mere would carry dominance Of the
Persian gulf. which. in turn, would
mean, ultimately, the nverlordship OF
India.
| have not mentioned The oil fields
further up The Tigris valley, where, As
| have seen. the oil fairly seepS
through the soil and becomes Il scum
on the river These are Il part Of the
grand objective indicated. Small
Arabic workings of he oil fields with
rCtOrts mad" OF old Standard Oil tins,
| have examined. These produce a
very inferior quality OF oil for use
in BPdouin tents and in the huts Of
the kurdS and IozidiS and Chaldeans.
fields were we'll known 10 ancient his
Tory: from them Noah got the pitch
fol his ark. and Ncbgchadrezzar the
asphalt with which lie covered the
bricks on The floor OF his thronc-roOm
al Babylon: where ii still may be
seen. 1t was hereabouts that the
Bible located the Garden OF Eden:
and one authority. which An uncX-
ceIlCd tlrSt-hand knowledge Of the re-
cinn. assured me that the angels with
the flaming swords AT the gateway Of
the Garden Of Eden were nothing
moro nor less than blazing bi,umcn
pits!
An exhaustive study of what might
be termed the "politirS Of Petroleum"
would carry one from Noah's Ark
down 10 the latest oil-burnnC battle
ship of Britain. with many and
startling excursions into lands old and
new. So il is not altogether incon.
gruouS that the prize OF petroleum, in
romantic setting. should be one Of
the goals Of the present great war.