Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-06-13
BY FRANK H. SIM0NDs.

downright. 1915. the New York Tribune.)
For the moment. at least. Linden
burg has made "westerners' of us I'LL,
despite the fact hat he was the most
confirmed of all the Fasteners until
quite recently. But. granted that the
world now recognizes that the future
Will be decided upon the battlefields
OF Iicardy and Flanders and hat the
long debate between the two schools
of thought, n seeking a decision i'm
The east, the other in the west, must
be adjourned. there still remains "a
measure of interest i'm the announce
ment that the near eastern campaign
OF 1918 is at AN end and that the an
rival OF the summer heat in Mesopo-
tamia ard Palestine has halted the
British advance.
These two operations. the one IN the
Holy Land. the other in the region of
the garden of Eden. are in reality but
parts of a single campaign hich has
for it's purpose defending Egypt and
India by the occupation of Syria. as
we'll as the upper reaches of the Tigris
and the middle course of the Eu-
pirates. General Marshall. with his
army based upon Baedad. and General
Allenby. with his force based upon
Jerusalem, are looking forward to the
hour when they may meet at Aleppo.
and il that hour does come the whole
course of history i'm the near east will
be changed.
A year ago. when General Maude en-
tered Ragdad. there was a momcn
when ii seemed as If the Turk might
be swept clean ont OF the lands he has
long held--Arab lands from Mosul and
Aleppo down to Mecca and Medina.
Armenian lands from Alana above the
Gulf OF AleNandretta to I.r:erum and
greater Armenia, on either side Of the
Russian frontier. Already Russian
troops coming soutl, through Persia
had Joined hands with he British
moving out of Bagdad and along the
caravan route from Mesopotamia to
Persia. when the Russian revolution
changed everything and left the Brit
fish in Bagdad in an exceedingly peril
Gus position. The dream of a con-
verging Anglo-Russian thrust to the
Mediterranean through Mosul was
abolished. like so many other dreams,
by the sudden utburst of anarchy
in Petrograd.
Strengthen Hold On Bagdad.
Since they had reached Rasdad the
British determined to stay there. but
for many months their hold was re-
garded as slight. and the return Of the
Turks. led by some German general.
was freely predicted in London all last
winter. But the Turk did not come
ard presently the British. under their
new communicating brilliant Maude
GaNlstS NiGo oit wv S'oobA SLiSi biAs' 81 ~
achie.ement-began To wrestle with
the problems of the Basdad occupa-
ton. The pressing problem was that
OF transportation. II was necessary
1r"t OF all to increase the number of
steamers or the river. and. second. to
construct a railroad from Basra, at the
head of ocean going navigation. below
the point where Tho E%uphrates and the
Tigris meet. 20 Bagdad. that there
might be no more difficulties such as
river navigation always brings. That
railroad is finished from Basra to Bag
dad, and now from Bagdad three other
lines radiate: nortEWard toward Mo-
sui. westward up the E,upllrates and
eastward toward the Persian frontier.
Roughly speaking, the British have
pushed up 100 miles 10 the north to-
ward Mosul. some 80 miles to the east
toward Persia and nearly 200 miles to
the northwest toward Aleppo. But the
Aleppo operation is the most import
ami. n it as at Aleppo that the Ger
man commander in chief of the FUR
ish armies has his headquarters. At
Aleppo. some time in the distant fut-
ure. .ae world travellers may change
cars. leaving the train which brought
then: from Calai or Boulogne to take
a train waiting in Aleppo station, will
India as it's destination. or another
which will carry them to Cape Town
without change.
But the advance of I'll. British to-
ward AleDpo by the lIurphrates valley
is conditioned upon the + of the
other British army, which has already
passed Jerusalem and is moving north
toward Aleppo With Damascus as it's
immediate objective. These two opera
uons. that from Palestine and that
from Mesopota1nia, based the one on
Egypt and the other on India. repre-
sent Il conception of appealing magni-
yCUo. fCr nv those yVn fhVllSfS BRITAIN
is seeking 20 change the whole situa-
ton in tho near east. d
IL tho two British armies meet al
Aleppo n push north the short dis
lance necessary to open the road to
the Gulf OF AleXandretta. there will be
restored = situation which existed in
the days Of the greatest of the
Pharaohs. Syria, which has over cen
turtles beyond number been the prize
of the strong nation established in
Anatolia or along the Nile. will pass
from the northern to the southern
from the Arabian world. and the old
priniacy OF Cairo in the lands be-
tween Persia and the Desert of Sa-
hara restored.
Already the British armies which
have pushed up to and beyond Jerusa-
lem have opened the way for n rail
o between Cairo and Jerusalem,
and you may go by train from the
Nile almost to the Jordan. well be-
yond the holy city. Further han this,
pushing across the Jordan beyond
Jericho. the British have cut the He'd
JAZZ railroad. which bound Medina and
Mecca with Damascus n Aleppo
and enabled the Osmanli Turks to
maintain possession of the holy cities
of the Mahometan world. Both these
cities are in the possession of an Arab
sheriff. q rebel to the Turk. and as
surcG OF the aid and support of both
the British and French governments,