Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-04-18
ENGLISH FIGHT
FOR GRAIN SUPPLY
Mesopotamia Campaign Waged
on Hope of Obtaining
Food

Chicago, April I;.-Possession of a
source of wheat supply, capable of
feeding the entire world, is one of the
stakes at issue in the fighting in Me-
sopotamia and on the adjoining
fronts, asserts Professor John Adams
Scott, of the Northwestern University,
Chicago, who is an international au-
thortty on the Oriental countries.
In describing the commercial and
military possibilities in the country
beyond Bagdad, Prof. Scott said:
There is no doubt that the English
are now trying to close the door by
which any new troops can reach Me-
sopotamia. 1t is computed that an
cient Babylonia and the territory un-
der its control covered only about
one-flfth of Mesopotamia, yet the soil
was so fertile and free from defects
which produce famine that it support
ed in wealth a population greater
than the State of New York now
possesses. When Darius was defeated
by Alexander. there was found in the
vaults of Darius gold and silver to the
value of $650,000, 600.
Need One Government
IF all Mesopotamia can come un-
der the control of one great nation so
that there can be comprehensive
and unified development of reservoirs
and irrigation. it is safe to say that it
will be the richest land on earth, since
no other land has soil made in alluvial
deposits and which contains fifteen
per cent of lime. 1t is this lime be-
yond all else which makes this coun-
try so valuable, and which makes
rust, mildew and kindred evils impoS-
sible. Two harvests can be garnered
each year, one from rain and one
from irrigation. The one from rain is
the only harvest now.
THE movement from Egypt is in
tended to shut off all access from Eu-
rope by land, since the Russians are
now in control of Armenia and the
overland pass, so that the Turks are
forced to send troops through the Is
suS pass, or by the Alexandretta gulf.
This is the route of the Bagdad Rail-
road. Asia Minor has a double series
of most difficult mountain ranges,
Taurus and Anti-Taurus, so that ar
mics must skirt them to the north
or to the south. Russia now closes the
route to the north so that if England
can close the one to the south, she
will be as secure in Mesopotamia as
she is in South Africa, since there is
no avenue by which an army could
come. The great difficult in COM
ing or or out of Egypt has been
the intense heat of the desert south
and west of GAIA, but the papers
speak of a railroad having been built
across this desert. This desert is cool
at night, so that trains need run
through it only by night, since the
distance it not great.
The English already have naval
base at Cyprus, so that they control
the sea and can thus assist the army
moving by land. The English are
about 400 miles from their goal and
must cross the high mountains OF
Lebanon or swing to the east where
railroad has already been built
through Damascus. If they swing to
the east they will withdraw from the
protection of the feet. They may
have so completely demoralized the
Turks that this protection is not nee
essary.
This seems to me the board on
which the game of the war is being
played. Already Germany is helpless
| in Armenia and Mesopotamia and if
English forces can get Aleppo then
the power and influence of England
will have been doubled by this wal
and the immense resources of Egypt
and the entire valley of the Euphrates
| and Tigris will fall into her lap. This
will mean u railroad from Capetown
to Bombay and a future for the world
which has never entered into the
mind of the most enthusiastic dream
err"
incidentally, 1t is pointed out that
the British forces in their northward
march through Palestine toward the
ancient pass of Issus must cross the
supposed field of Armageddon.