The Colorado statesman., 1921-09-03
Supposed Site of Garden OF Eden
Included in Territory Of
Kingdom of lrak.
SLICE TAKEN FROM TURKEY
Under British Mandate and Arabian
> Rule the Section, Better Known as
Mesopotamia, is Expected to
Regain Former Glory.


I WaShington.-Th impending addi-
tion of IA new member to the family ol
natlons-the kingdom Of Irak, to func-
tidn under IA British mundute-is men
tiOned in recent dispatches from Lon
Ton. How this new" country Is III
eality one of the oldest and most his
'ufic patches of the earth's surface Is
told In the following bulletin from the
Washington headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic society:
'Irak has existed as II geographical
name for ages" says the bulletin, but
IN recent centuries 1t has had llttle
more official sanction than Manhattan
for the American metropolis or 'Fris-
co for thriving Pacific port. Yet II
covers more or less indefinitely re-
glon known, and often famous, In
every age of man from the dawn OF
tradition TO the present-the fertlie
plain of the Tigris and Euphrates val
Ieys, where the Garden of Eden Is sup
posed by many students to have been
situated Strip Irnk of It's alias; call
II Babylon - Nineveh-MesOpOtam
ana IL Is KNOWN 10 every S'hoOt tihN'
A Slice of Turkey.
The country which 1t is proposed
to erect into the practically independ-
eLt kingdom of Irak was placed under
the mandate of Great Britain on the
breaking up of the Turkish empire fol-
lowing the World war, and was gen
orally spoken of as the mandate for
Mesopotumia.'
"it is difficult to eXuggerate the ag-
ricultural paradise that might be built
up in the lower valley of the two riv-
ers, supplemented by the mineral
wealth taken from the regions farther
north, If the country We're under a
strong government, were peoped by
ulert, educated Inhabitants, and If the
necessary capital and modern ma
hinery were available. Even with
he factors as they are. the British,
ho will continue to hold the man
date, and the ArabianS who will be in
imple.ilate charge of the government,
are counting on the rise of state
which may be compared without disad-
vantage with some of the greut gov
crnr.ents that have occupied the land
in tlp past
"1u gain an idea of what wonderful!
deve opment can be brought about in
MesdpCtamia one need only look into
the Ius.L. AT the beginning of history
the 'u'n of the Tigris and EuphruteS
was l. gurden-spot teeming with II we'll
fed and wealthy people. If there was
"a grandeur that was Greece and
glory tl,at was Rome there was as
truly splendor that was Babylon.
And the splendor of Babylon was made
possible 5000 years ago largely by the
wealth that sprang from the intensive
cultivation of the river plain under II
gigantic system of irrigation which
even the most ambitious modern sys-
TENS probably have failed in many
ways to surpass.
"Babylon's agricultural Utopia was
not short-ived affair, but continued
for nearly ten times as long as the
period which has passed since white
men settled in America. The country
throve with only minor interruptions
under Babylonians, Assyrians. Chal-
deans, Greeks and Romans But always
the settled civilization of the agricul-
turists was threatened by the turbu-
lent hill people to the north and east.
Finally the Purthians captured the
country and were followed by the Per-
slams Under these more barburous
rulers the great irrigation systems,
even then much less efficient than dur