The Government was sincere in its determination that the railway should become a powerful instrument in the economic development of the backward provinces of the empire. A significant clause specified that the section between Bagdad and Basra should not be placed in operation before the section between Konia and Bagdad should have been opened to traffic, although immediate operation of trains on the former section would have enabled the Company to compete with the valuable trade of the Lynch Brothers on the Tigris. The traffic between Bagdad and Basra would have been profitable and would thus have decreased by a considerable figure the total subsidies the Treasury might be obliged to pay for railway operation. It was of more immediate concern to the Turkish Government, however, that southern Mesopotamia should be connected by an economic and political link with the rest of the Sultan’s dominions. Elaborate regulations were laid down regarding a minimum train service which the Company was required to supply, and it was specified in this connection that Turkish mails, together with postal employees and officials, should be transported without charge and under such other conditions as the Government might stipulate. To forestall discriminatory treatment of passengers and shippers maximum rates were prescribed for all classes of traffic, including express, insurance, and similar supplementary services; it was decreed that “all rates, whether they be general, special, proportional, or differential, are applicable to all travelers and consignors without distinction”; the concessionaires were “formally prohibited from entering into any special contract with the object of granting reductions of the charges specified in its tariffs.”[57] This last provision was of the utmost importance, as it enabled Germans and Turks alike to point to the railway as an outstanding example of the economic “open door.” One of the chief interests of the Turkish Government in the construction of the Bagdad Railway was the possibility of its utilization for military purposes. In time of peace for purposes of maneuvers or the suppression of rebellion, in time of war for purposes of mobilization, the Company was required, upon requisition of the military authorities, to place at the disposal of the Government its “entire rolling stock, or such as might be necessary, for the transportation of officers and men of the army, navy, police or gendarmerie, together with any or all equipment.” The Government undertook to maintain order along the line and to construct such fortifications as it might consider necessary to defend the railway against invading armies, and the Company was obliged to expend, under the direction of the Minister of War, a total of four million francs for the construction of military stations. To give effect to all of these provisions, a special military convention was to be drawn up and approved by the Company and the Minister of War.[58]