Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1919 — When British Took Gurna in 1914, Arabia Was Put on Map by the Operation [ARTICLE]

When British Took Gurna in 1914, Arabia Was Put on Map by the Operation

At the junction of the Tlgrla audl Euphrates rivers—loo miles from the Persian gulf—ls the town of (Turna. The few tourists who, in ante-bellum days, says a writer in Asia Maguzine, sailed past Gurna Were told to look with- reverence a t the spot, for here was the original Garden Of Eden. In'December, 1914, the British took Gurija and Arabia was puhofi-themapi The advance which British arms made in the land of Arab was important in proportion, as the Germans regarded Arabia as important. Arabia" loomed large on the Teutonic horizon because it was the door to “Mattel Europa” and because it is the cradle of Islam.— Since Islam is professed by the majority of the population in Tait- ? key, and 63,000,000 of Indians, andi 20,000,000 of Russians, and 24,000,000 in the East Indies, and 12,000,000 in Egypt, and 8,000,000 in Persia, and 5.000,000 in Afghanistan, and 8,000,000 in China —Islam was considered worthy of an attempt at wedlock, holy or unholy. If you look, at the map of the Mediterranean you. will see that Cyprus seeins to have a great finger which points just to where Asia Minor bends down sharply to form the Syrian coast. Napoleon noticed this more than 100 years ago and suggested that there lay the key to any situation which would Involve that part of the world. Follow the finger and it is significant that the objective of the British campaigns in Palestine and Mesopotamia was Alleppo. Thence draw the line straight across, and you draw with almost uncanny accuracy the northern linguistic boundary of Arabia.