RAILWAY CONCESSIONS IN TURKEY
Shortly after the overthrow of the despotism in Turkey, the new
government formulated a comprehensive scheme of public improvements
intended to promote the material development of the Ottoman Empire,
which was forbidden for a third of a century by Abdul Hamid, the
late sultan. He seemed to think that progress and prosperity were
inconsistent with the welfare of a nation, or at least a menace to
the authority of an autocrat, and as long as he kept his subjects in
poverty and ignorance, his sceptre was safe in his hands. He adhered
strictly to that policy. He forbade the development of mines or any
other of the natural resources, and reluctantly consented to the
construction of a few lines of railway, which were demanded by foreign
commerce and were built by foreign capital. The Germans always had
the preference in such matters, but there are also English and French
railway lines in Turkey. The sultan would never permit a telephone or
an electric light or a trolley car or any other modern necessity of
commerce and social life, and his subjects were forbidden to travel
from one place to another, even in their own province, without the
permission of the police.
When the present government invited proposals for the construction
of railways through the interior of Turkey in Asia, one of the most
important plans was submitted by Admiral C. M. Chester of the United
States Navy (retired) and his associates, who are organized under the
title of “The Ottoman-American Development Company.” Their proposition
was thoroughly investigated by the Turkish government, approved by the
department of public works and the council of state and only required
the ratification of the Turkish Parliament to be complete. This would
have been done at the session of the Parliament in 1910 but for the
intervention of Baron von Bieberstein, the German ambassador, who
protested on the ground that the concession interfered with the mining
rights of some German subjects and was in violation of a treaty made
between his government and the late sultan guaranteeing that no further
mining concessions would be granted in Turkey without the consent of
the German government.
Baron von Bieberstein’s purpose seems to have been to secure command of
the situation and to obtain additional favours for a company which was
formed several years ago to extend one of the existing railway lines
from its present terminus in the province of Anatolia to the Persian
Gulf. It is suspected also that certain German and Belgian capitalists
would be glad to secure a share of the Chester concession, which is
very comprehensive and involves a variety of interests.
Although the Turkish ministry was exceedingly anxious to close the
arrangement and obtain the credit of promoting such an extensive
scheme of internal improvements, they were afraid of Germany--first,
on account of the controversy with Greece over Crete, and, second, for
fear the kaiser would object to a proposed increase in the Turkish
tariff. This situation was complicated by the fact that the kaiser’s
sister is the wife of the crown prince and the future king of Greece,
and the Turkish administration cannot raise the necessary revenue by
advancing duties on imported goods 5 per cent., as is now proposed,
without the consent of the five European Powers.
The concession involves the construction of about fifteen hundred miles
of track through Armenia, Kurdistan, and Mesopotamia, and the vilayets
of Trebizond, Sivas, Van, Diarbekir and Mossoul. The road begins at
the port of Snedis, on the Mediterranean, at the mouth of the Orontes
River, about sixty miles south of Alexandretta, and about thirty miles
from the ancient town of Antioch. From there it runs eastward through
Aleppo, Urfa, Diarbekir, Bitlis, and other populous cities to Lake
Van and encircles that lake, which is the most important of all the
interior bodies of water in Turkey. From Diarbekir, which is to be a
junction, one branch of the road will run northwest to the city of
Sivas and another southwest to the Persian boundary at Suleimanieh,
crossing the valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers and
bisecting the province of Mesopotamia, which it is proposed to reclaim
to agriculture by the reconstruction of the vast systems of irrigation
which were used by the ancients, and for some mysterious reason have
been allowed to go to waste.
The Turkish government is contemplating the construction of a railroad
from Sivas northward to Samsoun and Trebizond, on the Black Sea,
and intends to extend the existing railroad from Constantinople to
Angora to connect with the tracks of the Chester syndicate at Sivas.
The Russian government is determined to control all of the railway
lines that touch the Black Sea, and has a treaty with Turkey which
prevents any concession being granted to the Chester syndicate or any
other except a Russian or Turkish corporation for a railroad into that
territory. It is entirely probable, however, that some arrangement
might be made for the construction of one and perhaps two lines between
Sivas and the Black Sea by the Turkish government.
The Chester concession is for ninety-nine years, the government
reserving the right to purchase the whole or any part of the property
after a period of sixty years, on the basis of the average gross
receipts for the previous five years. The syndicate agrees to complete
the first third in five years, the second third in six years, and
the entire system in ten years, the total cost being estimated at
$100,000,000. The government reserves the right to regulate charges
for freight and passengers, and the company agrees to transport
mails, soldiers, and military supplies at a certain reduction from
the regular rates. The property is to be exempt from taxation for a
certain period. All materials are to be admitted free of duty, but the
company must employ subjects of Turkey in the operation of the road
as far as possible, and “they must wear the fez and such uniforms as
the government shall direct.” The company is under obligations to give
preference to the government in transportation of troops and supplies
in time of war, or whenever necessary. The funds for paying the cost
of construction are to be raised by an issue of bonds and at least one
half of the total must be offered publicly to Turkish subscribers for a
period of thirty-one days.
There is no subsidy or guarantee of interest or principal, and no
financial obligation whatever on the part of the government, but the
development company, which is organized under the laws of New Jersey,
with the right to form subordinate companies, will have the exclusive
right for ninety-nine years to exploit and work directly, or by leases
to others, all mineral and petroleum deposits, all quarries, mineral
water springs, known or unknown, within an area of twenty kilometres
on both sides of the tracks for the entire distance, a total of
about fifteen hundred miles through the heart of Turkey. It has the
exclusive right to all water-power within twenty kilometres of the
track on both sides for electricity or manufacturing purposes; it is
authorized to furnish light and power to all towns and cities within
a zone of one hundred kilometres on both sides of the track; it has
the exclusive right to operate boats on Lake Van and build and operate
smelters, furnaces, elevators, warehouses, wharves, machine-shops and a
variety of other industries. One of the most important features of the
concession is the right to establish stores to sell such merchandise
as it may deem proper or useful to the public and to its own employés.
The company is authorized to construct and operate telegraph lines for
its own use, but it cannot do a commercial business, because that would
interfere with the government telegraph, which is a part of its postal
service.
The enterprise being of public utility, all property belonging to
individuals can be appropriated whenever necessary for carrying out
the provisions of the concession, and all concessions previously
granted which may interfere with the conditions of the contract are to
be terminated as speedily as possible. The government undertakes to
indemnify the owners.
The resources of Turkey have never been developed. Nothing has ever
been done by the government and very little by individuals, because,
whenever a Turk discovered anything of value or acquired any wealth, he
was robbed, blackmailed, and persecuted, and the government confiscated
whatever it could reach. Abdul Hamid had a personal title to much
valuable property, such as mineral deposits, petroleum wells, stone
quarries, forests, and placed others in the names of his confidential
men. The new government has confiscated all of these properties and the
titles are now in the state. All such property lying along the line of
the proposed road becomes subject to the concession.
The Chester syndicate thus obtains the exclusive right to work certain
coal deposits that have been operated more or less by the government.
They are of unlimited extent, and the quality of the coal is said to be
as fine as that of Cardiff. There is a deposit of copper at Arghana,
which has been worked in a rude way for several thousand years and is
believed to be one of the most valuable in the world. It belongs to the
Turkish government and has been producing about $750,000 worth of ore
a month for the benefit of the sovereign. Several syndicates have been
organized from time to time to get hold of it, but the sultan would
never let it go.
Other extensive copper deposits are known to exist, but they have never
been developed or even explored. There is a very large oil territory in
the neighbourhood of Mosul, in the valley of the Tigris, which has been
known for centuries. So long ago as the reign of Alexander the Great
the people used the seepage for lubricating purposes, for liniments,
and for fuel. There is oil in other localities along the line, and no
end of lead, zinc, and other minerals of greater or less value. The
mountains through which the railway will pass have been the source
of silver supply of the Armenians and the Kurds for twenty or thirty
centuries, but the mines have never been worked by modern processes.
It is believed that the mineral deposits alone represent hundreds
of millions of dollars in the territory covered by the concession,
without regard to other interests of value. The development company,
which will own the concession, proposes to divide and separate these
interests among several subordinate companies--one to build and
operate the railway, another to operate the coal mines, another to
operate the copper mines, another to develop the oil deposits, and
others to undertake the development of the various other interests.
Numerous propositions have already been received from syndicates and
individuals, who are aware of valuable mineral, timber, and other
resources along the proposed line, and have been trying in vain to
obtain concessions from the Turkish government to develop them.
Mr. W. W. Masterson, American consul at Harpoot, who has served in this
part of the world for many years and knows Turkey thoroughly, made a
horseback journey of 800 miles over the proposed routes of railways
and reported to the secretary of state that he found no serious
difficulties of construction. The chief line proposed, he says, would
follow the Euphrates River almost its entire length without a heavier
grade than one foot to the mile, and there are no great engineering
difficulties to the other lines.
“The valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and the coves bordering
on Lake Van, are cultivated to a degree,” Mr. Masterson says, “and
enough is raised with their primitive farming implements to feed
the people in that region. But little is exported because of the
difficulties and cost of transportation. With an outlet to market,
proper methods of cultivation, and modern farming implements, the
land is capable of producing many times more than is now raised. For
example, take the Mush Plain, through which the Euphrates winds its
sluggish course. While the plain is wonderfully productive and well
fitted in soil and climate for raising crops of all kinds, and every
acre is fit for cultivation, yet not more than one third is cultivated.
The land is so abundant that a field is cultivated one year, and the
next year, possibly for several years, it is left fallow. The method
used for breaking up new ground is slow, laborious, and unsatisfactory.
A wooden plow on wheels is used, to which often eight or ten yoke of
oxen or buffalo are hitched, with a man sitting on the yoke of each
team, and a man behind to guide the plow. Each furrow is turned so
slowly that the amount plowed each day would not equal a few hours’
work with an up-to-date plow and a strong team of horses, while the
furrows are never over six inches deep.
“In the neighbourhood of many of the villages around the shores of Lake
Van is a considerable quantity of Circassian walnut timber, some of
the trunks being of enormous size, upon which are knotty growths that
would make them of great value if they could be shipped to market. Some
little business is done in this line with Marseilles, but in the most
unsatisfactory and wasteful manner, so that the returns are small.
“Lake Van is an unusually beautiful body of water,” continued Mr.
Masterson, “about sixty miles long and thirty miles wide. The water is
impregnated with a potash of some kind and has a soft, soapy feeling.
The natives use it for washing their clothing without soap. Around
the lake is much tilled land of great richness, and many villages, in
addition to the thriving city of Van, are located upon its shores.
There are a number of sailing boats, but they are so unwieldly that
they can only go before the wind and frequently are compelled to wait
a week or ten days for favourable weather. A boat run by steam power
would be a paying investment, and some years ago the local government
ordered a forty horse-power motor-boat from the United States through
an American missionary, but it was delayed in the custom-house of
Trebizond for more than a year and a half, and only reached Van last
fall.
“It is the mineral wealth of the country, however,” continued Mr.
Masterson, “that is destined to make it prosperous. While I could not
investigate for myself, I was told by thoroughly reliable persons of
rich deposits of coal, iron, and copper, which have been worked more or
less at long intervals for many centuries, but only for local supply.
An Armenian bishop told me of a vein of coal eight feet in thickness,
which juts out of a mountain; a German told me that he knew of a bed
of iron ore of such richness and purity that the blacksmiths of the
villages in that neighbourhood have been using it for years in their
work without having it smelted. There are beds of coal of excellent
quality near the city of Van and every indication of petroleum. During
the insurrection two years ago the revolutionists secured all their
bullets from some wonderfully rich lead deposits in the neighbourhood
of Van. While I was at Bitlas the governor-general showed me some fine
specimens that looked like American anthracite and he told me of a
sulphur mine near that city. Two days out from Bitlas I came across
immense deposits of marble jutting out of the mountain, not only white,
but dark red, green, and black.
“There is an extensive deposit of copper half way between Diarbekir
and Harpoot that is being worked to some extent in three places, one
by private individuals and two by the government. A smelter near the
mine is operated with wood fuel, which is a very scarce and expensive
commodity in this country, although the western branch of the Tigris
River, a mountain torrent with a tremendous fall, passes only a few
feet from the smelter and might easily develop enough electrical energy
for all that country.
“The copper ore is very rich. There is a spring of water at the
outcropping which is so strongly impregnated that a French prospector
offered the government $25,000 a year for the privilege of converting
the solution into solid copper, but the offer was refused and the
overflow of that spring is still carrying its load of mineral into the
Tigris River.”
Russia has already acquired about one third of Armenia by conquest, and
has been pushing its southern boundary line farther and farther into
Turkey and Persia every time there is a war. And now Turkey has given
the Russians the exclusive right to construct railway lines from the
ports of Asia Minor and Armenia on the Black Sea. Several short lines
will doubtless be built. They will belong to the Russian government,
and the next time an excuse is offered for hostilities the cars will
be loaded with Russian troops and arms and ammunition, brought across
the Black Sea from Sebastopol on Russian ships. The Turks have thus
furnished their most dangerous and aggressive enemy the facilities for
an easy and irresistible invasion of their own territory. In addition
to its military importance, the Russians have obtained a commercial
advantage of the greatest value. The country along the southern coast
of the Black Sea is very rich and produces abundant crops, but the
people of the interior have no means except camel caravans of getting
their produce to market. The Russians are to furnish them the necessary
facilities and will have the benefit of the results.
Furthermore, the mountains which skirt the coast are rich in minerals,
but have never been developed or even explored, because the sultan of
Turkey has always forbidden it. A French company has a concession for
working a coal mine near the city of Kastamuni (you can find it on the
map about thirty miles inland from the coast of the Black Sea), but
they have no harbour and no railway and it costs as much to get the
coal over that thirty miles to the coast as it does to bring it from
England. If a railway could be built and a harbour provided, the mines
would be a very profitable source of revenue. The coal is of excellent
quality. It is easily worked and the nearest competition is Cardiff and
Newcastle in England. The sultan has always opposed the development
of these resources, but the new government is favourable. Russia and
France are allies in all that concerns the East and it may be assumed
that the Russians will not only encourage but assist the French
concessionaires for this coal industry.
Although the Chester concession had been approved and signed by every
authority of the executive branch of the government whose signature was
necessary, and had been formally approved by a unanimous vote of the
council of state, the grand vizier refused to submit it to the Chamber
of Deputies whose ratification was necessary to make it complete. When
pressed to do so by the American ambassador, he explained that it
would first be necessary to make some modifications in the treaty of
amity and commerce which has been standing for nearly a hundred years,
in order that the officials and employés of the proposed railroad,
and the adventurers it would attract to the country, might be placed
under the jurisdiction of the Turkish courts. At present, as in all
semi-civilized countries, citizens of the United States residing in
Turkey are tried before the American consul on the theory that they
cannot secure justice in the local courts. This is called the doctrine
of extra-territoriality, and is also adhered to by European Powers.
While there has been considerable improvement in the judiciary of
Turkey, the government is not yet sufficiently secure and the laws have
not yet been sufficiently modernized to justify the United States or
the European governments in submitting the personal and property rights
of their subjects in Turkey to such jurisdiction, and neither the
merchants nor the missionaries now in the Ottoman Empire would consider
themselves safe under such an arrangement.
The grand vizier also raised the objection suggested by the German
ambassador, that the Chester concession interfered with the mining
rights of a certain German subject, and with an agreement with the late
sultan that no mining concessions would be granted in Turkey without
the consent of the German government. But the real reason for the
refusal to submit the concession for the ratification of the Chamber
of Deputies appeared in January, 1911, when a secret arrangement
entered into between Russia and Germany as to the future policy to be
pursued by those two governments in Persia and Turkey became known.
This agreement practically apportions the Turkish provinces in Asia and
the northern provinces of Persia between those two governments, so far
as transportation facilities are concerned, without even consulting the
governments of Turkey or Persia. It is as follows:
“Article I.--The Imperial Russian government declares its willingness
not to oppose the realization of the Bagdad Railway project, and agrees
not to oppose any obstacle to the participation of foreign capitalists
in this enterprise, it being understood that no sacrifice of a monetary
or economic nature will be asked from Russia.
“Article II.--In order to meet the wishes of the German government to
connect the Bagdad Railway with the system of railways to be built
in Persia at a future date, the Russian government agrees, when this
system has been constructed, to proceed with the building of a line
to join, on the Turco-Persian frontier, the railway from Sadje to
Khanikin, when this branch of the Bagdad Railway, together with the
line from Koniah to Bagdad, shall have been completed. The Russian
government reserves the right to determine, at a time to suit itself,
the definite route of the line, which is to join up at Khanikin. Both
governments will facilitate the international traffic on the Khanikin
line, and will avoid all measures that might tend to hinder it; for
instance, the establishment of a transit time or the application of
differential treatment.
“Article III.--The German government agrees not to construct any
railway lines in any other zone than that of the Bagdad line and the
Turco-Persian frontier to the north of Khanikin, and not to lend its
material or diplomatic support to any undertakings of this nature in
the said zone.
“Article IV.--The German government once more declares that it has no
political interests in Persia, and that it is only pursuing commercial
aims there. It recognizes, on the other hand, that Russia has special
interests in northern Persia, from a political, strategic, and
economical point of view.
“The German government also declares that it has no intention of
seeking, for its own profit, or of supporting in any way, either for
its own subjects or for those of other nations, any concessions for
railways, roads, steamship routes, telegraphs, or other concessions of
a territorial nature to the north of the line beginning at Kasrihin,
crossing Ispahan, Jezd, and Khakh, and ending at the Afghan frontier
at the latitude of Ghasik. If the German government seeks such
concessions, it must first of all come to an agreement with the Russian
government.
“On the other hand, the Russian government will consent to recognize,
with regard to German trade in Persia, the principle of absolute
equality of treatment.”
The publication of this agreement naturally created a decided sensation
in Turkey and Persia, and the grand vizier was questioned about it on
the floor of the Chamber of Deputies at Constantinople. He had very
little to say and was evidently very much embarrassed. He explained
that the arrangement was made without preliminary conferences with his
government, but assurances had been received from both Germany and
Russia that the interests of Turkey would be completely protected.
As the plans for transportation lines disclosed by this arrangement
interfere directly with the rights granted to the Chester syndicate,
it will be necessary for the government of the United States to take
part in whatever negotiations may follow, or withdraw entirely from
participation in the development of the material resources of Turkey.
What is known as the Bagdad Railway is one of the greatest projects
decided upon by the Turkish government. The concession has already
been granted. The work of construction has already begun; two hundred
kilometres of track have been laid from Konia toward Adana, and the
company has received $80,000 a mile for what has cost it less than
$50,000. Now that the expensive part of the line has been reached,
through the Anti-Taurus Mountains, the managers are holding up and
making excuses for not continuing work. They want to change the route.
They have already made between $5,000,000 and $6,000,000 profit, which
has been divided among the concessionaires, and have thus gotten into
bad habits. They are reluctant to undertake work that will cost every
dollar they will get for it, and perhaps more, although the concession
was accepted as a whole and not in parts. Instead of crossing the
mountains where the road is needed they have asked the government to
permit them to follow the coast line, where there will be little or no
grade and where the track can be laid for less than one half of the
guarantee per mile. If you will take a map of the Turkish Empire you
can easily see the situation.
What is known as the Anatolian Railway begins at Haidar-Pasha, on
the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, opposite Constantinople, and runs
eastward, following a sort of zigzag course, to the city of Angora, in
Asia Minor. A branch runs down to Murad, where it connects with a line
from Smyrna, and a little farther south, at Alshehr, it connects with
a line from Aidin. Both Smyrna and Aidin are on the Ægean Sea and are
very important ports.
The railways I have described have been in operation for several years.
They owe their existence to British enterprise and were built with
British capital, but have passed into the control of the International
Syndicate, which holds the concession for the Bagdad Railway, and are
to be a part of that system. In other words, the present Anatolian
Railway is to be extended through Asia Minor and Mesopotamia via Bagdad
to the Persian Gulf, and there connect with a projected line across
Persia and Afghanistan to join the railway system of India at Quetta
or some other convenient place. This will connect the Mediterranean
and the Black Seas with the Persian Gulf, and, in the growing railway
transportation system of Asia, will correspond to the Sunset line of
the Southern Pacific in the United States, in the same way as the
Great Siberian road corresponds to the Northern Pacific and the Great
Northern, and the Central Asia Railway to the Union and Central Pacific
route. Already 640 kilometres, or about four hundred and fifty miles,
have been completed and about one thousand miles remain to be built.
The greatest difficulty in carrying out the scheme has been politics.
The financial aspects are clear, but the political interests at
stake are widespread and complicated. Five of the great Powers of
Europe are involved in the undertaking. Great Britain acquiesced
only upon the condition that it should be allowed to control that
portion of the route between Bagdad and the Persian Gulf. The
company is incorporated in Switzerland. The incorporators represent
the Anatolian Railway Company of Constantinople, which, as I have
already explained, is the first link in the line; the Deutsche Bank
of Berlin, the Credit-Mobilier of Paris, the Imperial Ottoman Bank of
Constantinople, the Weiner Bank Verein of Vienna, the Banca Commerciale
Italiana of Milan, the Swiss Creditanstadt, and several British and
Belgian interests. The Deutsche Bank of Berlin, through its branch
at Constantinople, has immediate management, and by manipulation has
obtained practically absolute control, so that, with the exception of
the unbuilt but proposed section from Bagdad to the Persian Gulf, which
may not be constructed for years, it is practically a German enterprise.
Although the other powers are involved, as I have explained, their
representatives have taken no active participation in the work and
have simply been content to have their names appear in the articles
of incorporation, and to encourage their capitalists to invest in the
stocks and bonds. With the exception of the Germans, therefore, the
international representation which has been insisted upon from the
beginning by Turkey, and by the Powers also, is merely theoretical.
In case of war or any aggressive demonstration on the part of Turkey,
it is likely to assume a practical character, however, and therefore,
Austria, Italy, and especially England are contented to allow the
Germans to do the work so long as they have a voice in controlling the
politics of the road.
As you will see by looking at the map, the city of Adana, Turkey,
is some distance in the interior; but it is connected with the
Mediterranean by a short line of railway to the port of Mersina on
the southern coast of Asia Minor. At present, Mersina is only an open
roadstead and offers no shelter to vessels, but the situation is such
that a harbour will not cost a large sum of money and the engineering
features are not difficult. The railway from Mersina to Adana was
constructed by a British company in 1886, but has since passed under
the control of the Germans and is doing a good business. The country
back of Adana, known as the Cilician Plain, is very favourable to
cotton culture, and a considerable quantity of that staple is already
produced there. Under the encouragement of the new government the
industry will doubtless develop rapidly, but so long as Abdul Hamid
was in control of affairs it was scarcely worth while for anybody to
develop profitable enterprises, because they would invariably tempt the
cormorants who surrounded the sultan to spoliation.
The Bagdad Railway has now reached the town of Bulgurlu, beyond Eregli,
in the foothills of the Anti-Taurus Mountains, and about fifty miles
from Adana; but, as I have said, it is the most expensive piece of
construction on the road and the German managers hesitate to undertake
it. After they reach Adana there is another stretch of a hundred
miles or more which is also very heavy and expensive work, requiring
many cuts, embankments, rockwork, and tunnels. The managers have put
in an application for a change of route along the coast by way of
Alexandretta and Antioch and from there approach the valley of the
Euphrates by way of Aleppo. This route would be a great advantage as
a measure of economy, but as the Turkish military authorities have
pointed out, it exposes the railway to any foreign fleet that may
enter the Gulf of Iskanderoon, on which Alexandretta is located. If
the track lay back in the mountains, it would be more difficult to
interfere with traffic in time of war.
The Bagdad Railway is expected to follow the valley of the Euphrates
or that of the Tigris, the two great historic rivers which encircle
that mysterious country known as Mesopotamia, where, according to the
Scriptures, was the cradle of mankind, and the first inhabited section
of the earth’s surface. Mesopotamia was formerly dotted with prosperous
cities and supported a large population, but it is now practically
uninhabited. The cities are in ruins, the population has perished,
and the entire area has become a desert because of the destruction of
irrigation systems which were built before the birth of Abraham. The
government has already undertaken a scheme of reclamation at a cost of
$10,000,000. Sir William Willcocks, who built the Assouan dam on the
Nile, made the survey and furnished the estimates. He declares that
there is no difficulty in the reclamation of the entire area between
the Euphrates and the Tigris that money cannot remove.
In January, 1911, Nazim Pasha, governor-general of Bagdad, on behalf
of the Turkish government, signed a contract with Sir John Jackson,
of Westminster, London, for the erection of a dam at the head of the
Hindia branch of the Euphrates, as the first step in carrying out these
recommendations, and the work is to be pushed forward as rapidly as
possible.
Mesopotamia is that portion of Turkey lying between the Euphrates and
the Tigris Rivers--an area about three hundred miles long and varying
from fifty to two hundred miles in width. Within the oval, according to
the estimates of the engineers, are about 12,000,000 acres, of which
9,000,000 is desert and 2,500,000 fresh-water swamp, and they estimate
that 6,000,000 acres can be reclaimed. There are several large, shallow
lakes fed by the annual overflow of the Euphrates and Tigris. Both are
large rivers having their sources in the lakes and mountains of Armenia
and emptying into the Persian Gulf about fifty miles below the town of
Kurna, where they join their waters and become one.
Between those rivers are the oldest habitations of men; the birthplace
of the human race; the supposed site of the Garden of Eden, and
the ruins of the capitals and commercial cities of a dozen extinct
civilizations. It is the most interesting field for archæologists on
the earth’s surface and exploring parties from American, British,
German, and French universities and scientific societies have been
constantly at work for half a century or more uncovering the remains
of the imperial magnificence of Babylon, Nineveh, Palmyra, and other
cities.
Sir William Willcocks has contributed some interesting theories in
connection with Biblical history and archæology, in addition to his
recommendations for an irrigation system. He locates the Garden of Eden
at Hairlah, a lovely and flourishing oasis in a delta of the Euphrates,
about two hundred miles northwest of the city of Bagdad. At this point
the four rivers of Eden mentioned in the book of Genesis have been
identified by him, and other topographical features which he believes
to be indisputable.
Sir William also gives us an interesting theory concerning the deluge,
which he believes was merely the flooding of the plain between the
Euphrates and the Tigris by the overflow of those rivers, which is
caused by the sudden melting of the snows and the heavy rainfalls in
the latter part of March and the first of April. These floods occur
annually, and on the particular occasion referred to in the book of
Genesis, Sir William believes an unusual volume of water came down
because of a sudden “spell” of hot weather and an unusually heavy
rainfall.
Sir William thinks Noah was inspired to build the ark in anticipation
of such a flood, and floated around in it until he ran aground, not on
the mountain of Ararat, but near the town of Ur of the Chaldees, in the
province of Ararat and a part of Armenia. He believes that a careful
reading of the Scripture story of the flood will justify this theory,
which, indeed, is not new. Many Biblical scholars reject the tradition
that the ark landed on a mountain and hold that the word “Ararat” in
the book of Genesis refers to the province and not to the peaks of that
name.
He declares that if Noah had been a hydraulic engineer he would have
done much better by cutting a channel for the escape of the waters
through the bed of the river Pison, for he might thus have saved the
entire population. The Pison is one of the four rivers of Eden, the
Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates being the others. All of them are really
branches of the Euphrates and form a delta in which the Garden of Eden
is believed to have been situated.
Nearly the entire area of Mesopotamia was once under irrigation, and
the first known dams and canals were built by Nimrod of the Bible, who
is identified as the Hammurabi of the inscriptions that are frequently
found among the ruins. Cyrus the Great and Alexander the Great saw
Mesopotamia in its greatest prosperity. The decay of the country began
with the invasion of Genghis Khan and his Mongol horde and Timour
the Tartar, who destroyed the dams and the ditches and plundered the
people of all their wealth so that they had no means to restore the
irrigation system. Hundreds of miles of the ancient canals can be
easily identified, and Sir William testifies to the remarkable degree
of genius shown by the engineers who designed and constructed them. In
his report to the Turkish government he recommends that the old canals
be restored as far as possible, which can be done at half the cost of
constructing new ones.
The Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, and
Caliphs added to the number of reservoirs and extended the canals
that were built by the patriarchs of the Scriptures. The fabulous
wealth of Babylon, Nineveh, Palmyra, Nippur, Kufa, and other great
cities of ancient times was largely derived from agriculture, in a
territory that is now a desert; from the cultivation of soil which for
thousands of years has been celebrated for its extreme fertility. Sir
William Willcocks declares that the greater part of the valleys of the
Euphrates and the Tigris and of the area between these rivers is as
rich as the valley of the Nile. In his report he says:
“Of all the regions of the earth none is more favoured by nature for
the production of cereals than the valley of the Tigris. Cotton,
sugar-cane, Indian corn, and all the summer cereals, leguminous plants,
Egyptian clover, opium, and tobacco will find themselves at home as
they do in Egypt.”
There is a passage in Herodotus, written more than 2,000 years
previous, about this same country, which sounds very much like the
Willcocks report:
“This is of all lands with which we are acquainted, by far the best
for the growth of corn. It is so fruitful in the produce of corn that
it yields continually two hundred-fold, and when it produces its best
it yields even three hundred-fold. The blades of wheat and barley grow
there to full four fingers in breadth, and though I well know to what a
height millet and sesame grow, I shall not mention it.”
The proposed reclamation, according to the Willcocks report, can
be completed for $40,000,000, and bring under irrigation more
than 3,000,000 acres, which he estimates would be worth at least
$100,000,000, or $30 an acre. The Assouan dam system, which he has
recently completed, cost the Egyptian government $25,000,000, and only
about half the area was reclaimed.
Sir William proposes, by dams and canals, to store the floods that are
brought down from the mountains in the spring, in enormous reservoirs
for use during the summer, and has indicated locations for at least
five, which will, he believes, answer every purpose. At least two of
these locations were used as reservoirs by the Babylonians and probably
by previous civilizations, and Sir William will adapt to modern use
the same canals that were then used to distribute the water over the
plains. Several dry river beds can also be made available and thus
economize the cost.
After the 3,000,000 acres that will be first reclaimed have been sold
and settled, the area available for agriculture can be doubled by the
expenditure of $15,000,000 additional, and ultimately the gain would
be 6,000,000 acres capable of producing annually, according to his
estimates, 2,000,000 tons of wheat, 4,000,000 hundred-weight of cotton
and fabulous quantities of other exportable products, in addition to
whatever food will be necessary to support a population of a million
people.
In addition to the agricultural products, he promises pasturage for
millions of sheep and goats and hundreds of thousands of cattle in
the delta, and he would build a railway from Bagdad to Damascus with
branches here and there to tap the harvest fields. The total length of
this road would be about five hundred and fifty miles and, according
to his estimates, it could be constructed for between ten and eleven
million dollars.
The high price of cotton has caused the manufacturers of Manchester
and other mill districts of England to seek new sources of supply. The
attempts to extend the volume of the products of Egypt have not been
successful, notwithstanding the investment of $25,000,000 in irrigation
plants. The trouble is chiefly the lack of labour, and the indifference
and indolence of the fellahs or peasant farmers in the valley of the
Nile. Nor can the product of Egypt be increased to any considerable
degree without the importation of labour. Several planters have tried
American negroes but they wilt under the climate of Egypt and soon
acquire the habits of the peasants around them.
The experimental plantations on the west coast of Africa have also
been a disappointment for similar reasons. In the British possessions
on both coasts of Africa are millions of available acres for planting
cotton, but they lie idle because there are no hands to cultivate them.
The native African will not work. He and his ancestors have managed to
survive until the present day without labour, and it is difficult to
persuade him that the curse pronounced upon our common father applies
to him as it does to other human beings. Nature has supplied him with
sufficient food thus far and he cannot be induced to go into the cotton
fields to earn money that he has no use for.
These facts, which have given the manufacturers of Manchester great
concern, are the reasons for the interest they are taking in the
development of Mesopotamia, and several schemes have been proposed
for colonizing there the excess of human life in Italy that has been
going to the United States and the Argentine Republic. It has also been
suggested that the Jews, who are not wanted in Russia and Roumania,
might also be induced to settle in Mesopotamia. These plans, however,
will not be realized for the present. The members of the Turkish
cabinet are so timid about granting concessions for more necessary
public works that it seems scarcely worth while to seek their approval
of such a comprehensive plan as Sir William Willcocks has offered. So
long as they cannot be induced to give concessions for telephones,
electric lights, electric cars, and other public conveniences in their
own capital, it is not likely that they would authorize the expenditure
of $40,000,000 in reclaiming an uninhabited desert.