near the
ancient town of Babylon, under the direction of a famous Anglo-Indian
engineer, Sir William Willcocks. When finished it was to cost
$105,000,000, and was expected to reclaim some 2,800,000 acres of land
of great productibility. It will, therefore, be seen that Britain had
some considerable stake in the country. In addition to this, the British
Government, shortly before the war, invested $10,000,000 in acquiring
control of the Anglo-Persian oil fields, which is the principal source
of supply for oil fuel for their navy. By this means they avoided the
risk of great American corporations cornering the supply of oil fuel and
holding up their navy. John Bull upon occasion shows some gleamings of
shrewdness. This deal is on a par with their purchase of sufficient
shares to control the Suez Canal. The Anglo-Persian oil fields are
situated across the border in Persia, and the oil is led in pipes down
the Karam River valley, a tributary of the combined Tigris and Euphrates
rivers. The native tribes in the neighborhood were subsidized to protect
the pipe-line, or, rather, to leave it alone.

[Sidenote: Russia and Great Britain in Persia.]

[Sidenote: German railways must end at Bagdad.]

During recent years Persia has fallen into decay. Politically she is
more sick than "the sick man of the East." The people have a religion of
their own and worship the sun, although quite a number of Moslems have
settled in their midst. Being cognizant of German designs to create a
great Eastern empire in Mesopotamia and Persia, which would threaten
India, Egypt, and the Russian East, Britain and Russia came together and
formed a kind of Monroe Doctrine of their own. They said, in effect,
northern Persia shall be Russia's sphere of influence, and southern
Persia shall be Britain's sphere of influence. They both recognized that
a great military power, like Germany, permanently established at
Bagdad, with aggressive tendencies, would imperil their Eastern
dominions, and both were prepared to make it a _casus belli_--Britain,
further, a few years ago informed Germany that the area from Bagdad to
the head of the Gulf was her "Garden of Eden," and any attempt to carry
German railways south of Bagdad would bring on war. The Emperor William
apparently did not mind this opposition by Britain and Russia to his
Oriental ambition, provided he could find a passage through the Balkans.

[Sidenote: Persian gendarmes officered by Swedes.]

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