In 1901 a favorable report by a German technical commission on Mesopotamian petroleum resources stated that the region was a veritable “lake of petroleum” of almost inexhaustible supply. It would be advisable, it was pointed out, to develop these oilfields if for no other purpose than to break the grip of the “omnipotent Standard,” which, in combination with Russian interests, might speedily monopolize the world’s supply.[10] Shortly afterward, Dr. Paul Rohrbach, a celebrated German publicist, visited the Mesopotamian valley and wrote that the district seemed to be “virtually soaked with bitumen, naphtha, and gaseous hydrocarbons.” He was of the opinion that the oil resources of the region offered far greater opportunity for profitable development than had the Russian Transcaucasian fields.[11] In 1904 the _Deutsche Bank_, of Berlin, promoters of the Bagdad Railway, obtained the privilege of making a thorough survey of the oilfields of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, with the option within one year of entering into a contract with the Ottoman Government for their exploitation.[12] Shortly thereafter Rear Admiral Colby M. Chester, of the United States Navy, became interested in the development of the oil industry in Asiatic Turkey.[13] The Near East possesses not only mineral wealth but potential agricultural wealth as well. Mesopotamia, for example, gives promise of becoming one of the world’s chief cotton-growing regions. In antiquity the Land of the Two Rivers was an important center of cotton production, and recent experiments have held out great inducements for a revival of cotton culture there. The climate of Mesopotamia is ideal for such a purpose. The length of the summer season is from six to seven months, with a constantly rising temperature, as contrasted with a shorter season and variable temperatures in America and Egypt. Frost is almost unknown. Rainfall is plentiful during the early part of the year and scarce, as it should be, during the growing period. The soil contains a good percentage of the essential phosphorus, potash, and nitrogen. It is believed that Mesopotamia can grow cotton as good as the best Egyptian and better than the best American product and at a considerably higher yield per acre.[14]