A GERMAN ROUTE TO INDIA 



Every move of Russia toward India is watched and studied the 

 workl over. But another power is aiming eastward, unnoticed — not 

 urged by an ambition for territor}^, but impelled by a desire for com- 

 mercial supremacy. 



For ten years the German Emperor has puzzled Christian nations 

 by his evidences of brotherly love for the Sultan of Turkey ; but 

 graduall}^ German commerce has invaded the Turkish Empire; Ger- 

 man commercial agents are favored everywhere ; German capital 

 obtains first concessions from the government in mining, for factories, 

 in every industry. German bankers have acquired control of the 

 main railway lines in Asia Minor, arranged for direct trains daily from 

 Berlin to Constantinople, and then sought the right to extend the 

 Smyrna-Konieh Railroad to the Persian Gulf. The concession has 

 been granted, the route carefully surveyed, and the company guaran- 

 tees that the road will be completed within eight years.. 



When the railwa}^ is constructed Berlin will be within five days of 

 the Persian Gulf. German merchandise can then be sent without 

 change in freight cars from Berlin across the Bosphorus, through Asia 

 Minor to Busra, whence steamers can reach Karachi and the mouth 

 of the Indus in 48 hours. 



In a political sense a railwa}^ through Asia Minor will not be of 

 great immediate importance to German}^ but the building of the road 

 by her capital and under her patronage may end in her acquiring a 

 commercial port at some point on the Gulf. Probably the main result 

 Avill be the strengthening of the alliance between the Emj^eror and the 

 Sultan. The purpose of this political friendship is still an enigma, 

 but evidently the Eni[)eror aims to obtain for Germany a route to. 

 India distinct from either the English or the Russian route. The 

 construction of a railwa}'' through Asia INIinor is an important step in 

 this direction. 



The Ottoman P]mi)ire will naturally prolit fi-om a lino connecting 

 its capital with its richest and most i)ro(lucti\'e i)r()vinces. The organ- 

 ization of its military forces will l)e facilitated, as the larger propor- 

 tion of the Turkish soldiers come from the interior provinces. While 

 the new railway will not follow the direction preferred by tlic Sultan, 

 namely, toward Armenia and the Caucasus — a route that would 



