THE COMMERCIAL FUTURE
OF BAGHDAD
The proclamation of General Sir Stanley Maude, the victor of Baghdad, to the people of that ancient city of the East is certain to make a profound impression. He points out to the Arabs that the British troops have come, not as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators, who will help the people to restore their land, so long made desolate by their oppressors, the Turks, to something like its old-time prosperity and splendour.
An important statement on the future of Mesopotamia and the splendid trade prospect that has now opened out before, not only the people of that land, but the merchants of the world, has been made by Lieut.-Col. Sir Mark Sykes, a member of the British House of Commons, who has devoted much study to racial and political problems of the Near East.
He is convinced that with the removal of the paralysing hand of the Turk, who has for so long kept a strangle-hold on the development of the fertile land and its peoples, will come a great and steady improvement in its fortunes.
