The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1921-09-24
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 40
Mesopotamia, 10 Expected TO
Regain Former Glory.

Washington.-The impending addi-
ton of new member to the fanny Oh
nations-the kingdom Of Irak, to func-
ton under British mandates meh-
toned in recent dispatches from Lon
don. How this new" country Is Ill
reality one Of the oldest and most MS
toric patches Of the earths surface Is
told in the following bulletin from the
Washington headquarters Of the Ma
tional Geographic society:
"Irak has existed as geographical
name for ages" says the bulletin, put
In recent centuries it has had little
more official sanction than Manhattan
for the American metropolis or FITS
CO. for a thriving Pacific port. Yet II
covers more or less indefinitely re-
gion known, and often famous, IN
every age of man from the dawn OF
tradition to the present-the fertile
plain of the Tigris and Euphrates val
leys, where the Garden Of Eden Is sup
posed by many students to have been
situated. Strip Irak of its alias; call
it Babylon acknowledgements,
and it is known to every school child.
A Slice of Turkey.
"The country which it is proposed
to erect into the practically independ-
ent kingdom of LAX 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
MesopOtamia.'
1T Is difficult to 'exaggerate the ag-
ricultural paradise that might be built
I'D in the lower valley of the two riv-
ers, supplemented by the mineral
wealth taken from the regions farther
north, if the country were under a
strong government, were peopled by
alert, educated Inhabitants, and if the
necessary capital and modern ma
chinery were available. Even with
the factors as they are. the British,
who will continue to hold the man.
date, and the Arabians who will be in
immediate charge Of the government,
are counting ON the rise of "a state
which may be compared without disad-
vantage with some Of the great gov
ernments that have occupied the land
In the past.
ITO gain an idea of what wonderful
development can be brought about IN
Mesopotamia one need only look into
the past. At the beginning Of history
the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates
was garden-spot teeming with a we'll
| fed and wealthy people. If there was
grandeur that was Greece and a
glory that was Rome there was as
truly a 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 q
gigantic system of irrigation which
even the most ambitious modern sys-
tens probably have failed in many
ways to surpass.
"Babylon's agricultural Utopia war
not short-lived affair, but continued
| for nearly ten times as long as the
period which has passed since white
men settled In America. The country
4 throve with only minor interruptions
under Babylonians, Assyrians, Chal
deans, Greeks and Romans. But Away!
the settled civilization Of the agricul
turists was threatened by the turbu
lent hill people to the nerth and east
Finally the Parthians captured thu
country and were followed by the Per
| slams. Under these more barbarOu
rulers the. great irrigation systems
/ even then much less efficient than dur