Germans To Add To African Empire.

New York Times 100 years ago today, May 19, 1913:
"Compensation" Accorded by England for Yielding Persian Gulf Port.
PLAN VAST TRAFFIC SYSTEM
Germany to Absorb the Bulk of the Portuguese Possessions and Part of the Congo.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    BERLIN, May 18.— According to reports in circulation in well-informed political quarters Germany is about to obtain a free hand, to expand her colonial empire in Central Africa as the price of surrendering her rights in the Persian Gulf section of the Bagdad Railway. This is said to be the "compensation" which the German Government is demanding of England in return for consenting to the pending Anglo-Turkish Convention whereby Great Britain acquires control of the terminal of the Bagdad Road and practical possession of the strategic harbor of Koweit on the Persian Gulf.
    Germany is to be permitted, if these reports are accurate, forthwith to negotiate with Belgium and Portugal for the creation of a vast traffic system in Central Africa wherein the voice of the German Government shall be paramount. This is a euphonious way of putting the fact that the Kaiser is to be allowed to realize his long-cherished ambition to absorb the bulk of Portuguese Africa and acquire a large slice of the Belgian Congo without opposition by Great Britain.
    A settlement on these terms, of which the German press and public are not yet generally aware, would probably be considered a square deal with Great Britain, although the abandonment of the German terminal of the Bagdad Railway is a sore blow to Teutonic pride. |
    The press is filled with anxiety lest the deal with England, when finally made known, should prove to provide inadequate "compensation" for the sacrifice Germany is called upon to make. The Neueste Nachrichten regrets that this Anglo-German bargaining cannot be handled by a Bismarck, which would insure Germany's driving a hard bargain. The Vossische Zeitung hopes that it will be found that Germany has received something more substantial than mere protestations of British friendship.
    The fact that the Kaiser has decided to extend to King George a pompous military welcome when he arrives in Berlin on Wednesday is interpreted as certain evidence that the visit of the English King is an event of political magnitude. Another version is to the effect that the consummation of the Anglo-German agreement is to be the crowning political feature of the Kaiser's forthcoming silver jubilee.