The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-11-23
KEEPS TROOPS BUSY
IN GARDEN OF EDEN
BRITAIN is COMPELLED TO
RUSH FORCES TO MESOPO-
TAMIA, LAND OF ADAM AND
EVE. BECAUSE OF UPRISING.

WASHINGTON, D. C.-"Mesopota-
mia, Upper and Lower vies with
Egypt in claiming the honor of being
the home of ancient civilization" says
a bulletin of the national geographic
society, quoting from several commu-
nications concerning the land of Adam
and Eve, where the British are rush
ing more troops because of native up
risings.
"Mesopotamia comprises the valleys
of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Here flourished the Chaldean, Baby
lonian and Assyrian empires. The
city of Bagdad with all its glamor
of mystery and magic, is in the heart
of Mesopotamia.
"This was the richest land in the
world, the granary of the ancients;
vet in spite of all that it has been 1T
today lies largely waste, the desert
sands have encroached upon the fertile
fields, while the clogged canals have
turned other portions into swamps
and marshes.
."What population there is-not
more than 1,000,000-is of Arab ORR
gin and the Arabic language is spok-
en- throughout There is, in fact, a
very distinct dividing line between the
Arabic and the Turkish-speaking por-
tions of the Ottoman empire. This
boundary corresponds with the line
of the Bagdad railway from the Medl-
terranean to the Persian gulf. 1t is
for the exploitation of this rich land
of Mesopotamia that the famous Bag
dad line was built
Land Is Fertile.
Syria closes the east end of the
Mediterranean and is bounded on the
north by the Taurus Mountains. The
Syrian and Arabian deserts limit fur
Their settlement to the east and south.
But in connection with world COM
merce it has always been closely re-
lated to the fertile valley of the Nile
and the twin Mesopotamian rivers,
and its commercial life of tomorrow
cannot be divorced from that of Meso- !
potamia.
"Mesopotamia is as fertile today as
when it was the birthplace of human
history and when the civilization that
developed there - only the Nile val
ley as a competitive field. But like
many parts of the earth once populOus
and now almost deserted MesOpota-
mia is no halfway land. Such regions
must either be the uncultivated roam
ing places of nomadic tribes or the
seats of settled government and a
centralized state. The inhabitants
bile enough to seek through migra-
ton the food upon which their flocks
depend or stable enough to keep in
repair vast irrigation systems which
cause heavy crops to follow one an
other with assuring regularity,
Various factors delayed the inevi-
table reopening of the historic trade
route across Syria and Mesopotamia.
The advance of the Turk threw Eu-
rope back upon itself to develop in
ternally, and the discovery Of America
turned the attention of its peoples
away from the spices and wealth of
the east to the boundless resources
and rich prizes of the west The dis
covery of the sea route around Africa
made available safer passage to opu-
lent India.
Vast Irrigation System.
Nowhere did trade follow the rail-
way to a greater extent than along the
Bagdad line, and in the spring of 1914
Aleppo was a thriving commercial
center of German trade. At the no
tells engineers and merchants crowded
the dining rooms and talked of a |
mighty future in Mesopotamia. That
summer war came, and the burning
question of styles was rapidly succeed
ed by one of food enough to keep body |
and soul together.
"Just south of the Hittite ruins at