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Crittenden, Charmian. Ethics of the Bhagavad Gita and of Buddhism. I........

Ethics of the Bhagavad Gita and of Buddhism. II...
Everett, Laura Bell. The Dredger......

Fairclough, H. R. Some Aspects of the Adriatic Problem.
Flagg, Isaac. A Tale of Wanderings....

Grinnell, Joseph. The Principle of Rapid Peering, in Birds.
Hart, Walter Morris. The Spirit of Scholarship..
Holmes, S. J. Present Tendencies in Evolutionary Theory.
Jones, Howard Mumford. Keddra (A Play in One Act).
Lawson, Andrew C. Climate in Geological Time...

The Sierra Nevada....

Lehman, B. H. Research Viewed in Relation to Criticism..
Lipman, Charles B. Financial Support for Our Universities.

The "Nemesis of Mediocrity".

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Loewenberg, J. Philosophy and Humanism.....

Lowden, Frank Orren. Fundamental Principles...

Lyman, Jack. Seeking.....

McCann, Grace L. Greek and Gael Go Voyaging.

Merrill, W. A. The Government of Universities..

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Michaud, Régis. A French Friend and Inspirer of Emerson.

The Student and the Scholar.....

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Plehn, Carl C. The Probable Course of Prices. A Sketch of Inflation and Deflation...

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Ryder, Arthur W. The Way of Peace....

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Tatlock, John S. P. The Intellectual Interests of Undergraduates..
Vaile, Roland S. Mesopotamia and Persia and England...
Winslow, Anne Goodwin. Poems by Pastonchi (translated).

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A true statement of the present political conditions in Mesopotamia and Persia is impossible from this distance. England seems to dominate the situation for the moment, but conditions are apt to change with the same kaleidoscopic rapidity that has characterized recent events in Poland and in Russia. He is a bold prophet, indeed, who attempts to outline the developments and affiliations which the next few years may see consummated.

The present physical condition of these countriesindustrial and agricultural-may be much more accurately stated. Where transportation depends in large measure upon camel caravans and where current history is more often learned from the spoken than the written word, fundamental or even significant economic changes come slowly. A prophecy of the future of industry and agriculture is a somewhat possible thing; for while the political groupings and the quality of international sympathy will in large measure determine the rate and order of developments, yet no political intrigue can be imagined that will permanently distort the heritage of an agricultural environment and a deposit of oils and minerals. The surge and press of world population will some day demand full development of all resources, no matter * This article was submitted October 1, 1920.

what the political power at the moment, for mass economics is stronger than written government. Thus there is much that may be pictured for these countries. without going beyond the suggestion of present experi

ences.

Mesopotamia is destined to become a great factor in world production of food and clothing. The country may be likened to an enormous "Imperial Valley,"" watered by two rivers instead of one (and the Tigris River in the fall of 1918 was carrying a greater tonnage of freight than any other river in the world); with no less than five million acres of irrigable land, and water for it; with a climate that grows crops twelve months in the year; and with potential water and rail transportation to any market in the world. The rich silt of the valley floor may well become the world's greatest cotton field, while the fertile foothills of the Pusht-i-Kuh Mountains that separate Mesopotamia from Persia are by nature intended for the support of sheep.

Cotton and wool have long been powers in a competitive world. At the present moment the two island empires, England and Japan, are moving to insure their future supplies of raw materials. Japan proposes to stock Siberia, as well as her own hills, with wool bearing sheep; Japan proposes to encourage cotton production in China; both of these to the end that she may become

1 A further word of description should be added for those unfortunates who are not familiar with California geography. The Mesopotamian valley is an extremely fertile, alluvial-silt plain, extending for about 1000 miles northward from the head of the Gulf of Persia. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which join a few miles before reaching the Gulf, traverse the entire length of the valley to their sources close together in the Kurdish Mountains. The distance between the two rivers varies greatly, being less than thirty miles in the vicinity of Bagdad and old Babylon, while it is nearly one hundred miles at Amara, halfway between Bagdad and the Gulf, and two hundred miles at Mosul, farther north. The valley is flanked on the east by the Pusht-i-Kuh Mountains, from which many tributaries flow into the Tigris, while to the west it merges gradually into the Arabian desert. The climate away from the Gulf is very dry and extremely hot. Native vegetation is sparse, and often wholly lacking except for a short period in the spring. In all of its physical aspects, Mesopotamia is strikingly similar to the territory lying north from the Gulf of California and traversed by the Colorado River.

the greatest textile power in the world. A member of the Imperial Department of Agriculture of Japan told the writer that he confidently looked forward to the time when one third of the world's wool supply would be produced at the door of Japan, and that Japan would then be the greatest textile manufacturing nation in the world.

Against these dreams of Japan the spindles and looms of England are set in competition, for the employment and comfort of her people are in considerable part dependent upon her mills. As fast as the world's ability to purchase is increased, England will increase her output. As with Japan, most of her raw material comes from abroad. But the large shipments from India are being rapidly reduced, for the mills of Bombay and Calcutta and Madras are becoming strong forces in the production of finished goods of all sorts; indeed, during the war the large stocks of textiles of every kind that were available at the Bombay mills were suggestively interesting.

The stage is thus set for the English "exploitation" of Mesopotamia to the extent of purchasing all the raw wool and cotton that the two and one-half million inhabitants can be persuaded to produce.

As an essential part of this "exploitation" the British have opened civil hospitals that are a credit to any country; far surpassing any operated under Turkish régime. The names of such men as Dr. Galt, at Kut-alAmarah, and Dr. Evans, at Bagdad, should be recorded with those of the strongest medical missionaries. Treatment of individual ailments has been a large part of their work, but it has by no means prevented forward steps in general sanitation among the native inhabitants. One has but to walk through a village with his nose open to sense the change which these men have wrought.

Along with the hospitals have come schools, the best the country has ever known. Under the Turks the

meager instruction was given in the Turkish language, and in consequence comparatively few of the Arabs took advantage of it. As early as 1918, just following British occupation, Arabic was substituted as the tongue to be used in the schools. This in itself will doubtless have a tendency to nationalize the Arab and give him a selfrespect and a self-reliance heretofore undeveloped.

Then, too, land courts were found essential to determine with some little measure of fairness the real ownership of land, in order that it might be farmed. The British and the Arab jurists worked side by side with a patience that seemed typical of the country where once Job dwelt. In all cases previous rights and customs have been recognized whenever they could be ascertained.

As a further step, every effort has been made to take advantage of local production. For instance, raw wool could not well be exported during the war, but large quantities of it were purchased, spun, and woven into blankets which the British army not only bought but used. As another illustration, there are over 10,000 acres of date gardens in the Bagdad villayet and an even greater acreage in Basra. The housewives of America perhaps have realized that, for the first two years of the war, exports of these dates were greatly curtailed, but in the fall of 1918, shortly after British occupation, sufficient transport was released from urgent war duty to move the entire crop.

All these things have been spoken of as British propaganda; certainly they are designed to win the good will and confidence of the native population, and likely they will serve as a foundation for English trade in wool and cotton. The English labor leaders have urged that the government abandon Mesopotamia, and use the several million pounds now being spent there annually to pay better wages to coal miners, but the government prefers to continue the constructive propaganda in order that English mills may run in years to come.

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