The Washington times., 1922-03-19

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The IRON curtain of British cen.
sorship- IL thrust aside by these
documents.
The innermost secrets 70 Brit
ish activities, the designs back Of
the activities and the origin OF
the horrible conditions that have
caused the populations Of those
countries. exceeding five hundred
millions, to turn hostile to British
rule and influence stand revealed.
These documents total more
than six hundred and exceed $780,
900 words in content. They de-
scribe In detail the outstanding
phases Of British maladministra
ton which caused the death Of
tens of thousands of British and
Indian officers and troops during
the past five years. The facts
that follow summarize the docu-
ments.
Five hundred thousand Indian
and 100000 British officers and
soldiers were drafted and sent to
Near East PAGES to fight specifi-
cally to grab the oil resources Of
Mesopotamia. Turkey, Persia and
Paestine. India has had to bear
for number Of years the huge
burden OF Great Britain's extern
sive military ION operations"
Appalling Death List.
There were 1907 cholera
deaths in India from October to
October %. 1921; All from
plague. October 20 to November
rs. 1921: 1.446 from smallpox,
October IS to %, 1921. and 1,011
from cholera, November q to
December 10, 1921
Increasing hostilities in these
countries have caused large in
creases, especially In the air
forces and mobile troops. The
highest number of British and In
dian troops used in these "oil
operations" was In 1918 when,
according to the official figures.
there were 104, 400 British and
s07,740 Indian officers and
soldiers.
Due to what Is officially de-
scribed as a medical debacle."
maladministration, repression and
other shortcomings on the part Of
the India administration. thou
sands Of these British and Indian
troops suffered and perished un-
der horrible conditions.
Inhuman Treatment.
A report by Major Carter. a
British officer In charge Of the
hospital ship Varela at Mesopo-
tamia, IL typical. He describes
conditions surrounding wounded
and sick British and Indian troops
sent to Mesopotamia essentially
for the officially stated purpose
Of protecting "the oil fields, pipe
lines and refineries Of the Anglo
Persian Company" and 'the de-
Tense of oil interests in Arabs
tan and OF the Basro Vilayet."
quote verbatim.
There is but little chance for
recovery of men with severe gun
shot fractures. who lie on the
bare decks of boats and barges
for thirteen days, swept at night
by a wind that dropped nearly to
zero, without any protection
against cold save their clothes
and country blankets, which in
the case Of total cripples were
sodden."
Many of the reports are too
sickening and revolving to quote.
Like Ancient. Slave Ship.
This officer described to a Par
lament committee the arrival Of
one of the British Tigris River
conveys. The following excerpts
will give an idea Of the shocking
conditions:
1T was standing on the bridge in
the evening when the 'Medjidieh'
arrived. As this ship, with two
barges, came UP to us I saw that
she was absolutely packed, and the
barges, too, with men. The stencil
was quite definite we
found q mass of men huddled up
anyhow--some with blankets and
some without
zone had a fractured thigh, per-
forated in five or six places. He
had apparently been writhing
about the deck. Many cases were
almost as bad. There were cases
of terribly bad bed sores. In my
report I described mercilessly to
the Government Of India how