Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 223, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1917 — What's Been Happening In Turkey [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

What's Been Happening In Turkey

As related by Ambassador Elkus, the .American representative at Constantinople, to a newspaper

By HENRY N. HALL,

in the New York World.

BRAM I. ELKUS, ambassador exjfl traordlnary and minister plenlpoA/B tentiary of the United States to the IMf ■ Sublime Porte, "is the only man in /Gleaafl this country today who by firsthand knowledge can tell of things as they are in the land of the Turk. ZkMrA Stricken with the dreaded typhus, he lay at the~pulnt of when, obeying the mandate of Germany, ~ ‘ 1 the imperial Ottoman government broke off diplomatic relations with the United States. Mr. Elkus’ personality had so impressed the Turks that the sultan’s government insisted upon his remaining in Constantinople until his health was thoroughly restored and he could, without dahger of a relapse, undertake the long and arduous journey to America. Mr. Elkus continued the excellent impression created by his predecessor, the Hon. Henry Morgenthau, and by his efficiency and kindness had done more than make himself popular in Turkey; 2 ie has made the United States popular. "Without any diplomatic training, the plain American lawyer who until then had been distinguished only by his philanthropy made an excellent record tn an extremely difficult diplomatic post, and' while engaged upon an errand of mercy, visiting a Red Cross soup kitchen, contracted the infection which s* nearly cost him< his life. Armenia was uppermost in my thoughts as I talked with Ambassador Elkus. Peaceful, industrious, intelligent Armenia, an Intellectual people, clever in practical affairs and of lofty Idealism. When Turkey entered the war there were two million Armenians, but the atrocities of 1915 and 1916 very greatly reduced their number. Systematic butchery and wholesale slaughter of these people by the Turks makes this one of the most terrible crimes in the history of mankind. Why has Germany Allowed these things to- be done? The atrocities committed by the Turks in Armenia are perhaps no worse than those of which the Germans themselves have been guilty in Belgium and France, byt there is something peculiarly horrible In the cold-blooded extermination of a brave and cultured people. What Interest had Germany in allowing this thing to be done? The only explanation that can be offered is that Germany wanted the Armenians exterminated because it suited the purposes of her commercial greed. i The Armenians are the taiffiers, the molders, the .blacksmiths, the tailors, the carpenters, the clay-workers, th'e weavers, the shoemakers, the jewelers, the pharmacists, the doctors, the lawyers of Asia Minor and of the Turkish empiie. They are at heart a conservative people and for hundreds of years their trade has been done with France and England. They do not take kindly to German goods. Therefore Germany closed her eyes while Turkey was exterminating them.' The presence of the Armenian was a menace, or at least threatened to retard the Pan-Gferman development of Mittel-Europa. Sympathy for the United States. There is throughout the Levant and the Balkans a real and deep-rooted sympathy for the United 1 * States. The lending Bulgarian statesmen are graduates of American schools and colleges; The Turkish government has taken a graduate of the American -College for Girls In Constantinople and placed he? in charge of the Organization of Turkish schools in Syria. It Is especially among the middle and the lower classes that the United States is genuinely popular. Emigrants who have returned, tourists who have traveled, all agree that America stands for democratic principles—that is, .for liberty and equality of opportunity for all, rich and poor alike, without class distinctions. The present grand vizier of Turkey started in life as a telegraph messenger boy in Adrianople. Turkey broke off diplomatic relations with the United States two weeks after the declaration of war with Germany. The. exact date was April 20. Ambassador Elkus was Informed by a prominent member of the Turkish government that the pressure exerted by Germany upon the Sublime Porte to break off relations with America was dally growing stronger. It is significant that the note announcing the rupture of relations was dated Friday, which is the Turkish Sabbath. Yet on the day when all.public offices are closed, the Turkish cabinet held a meeting and the note was drafted, signed and dispatched. To everyone In Constantinople this denoted that the utmost pressure had been brought to bear upon the sultan’s government by his Teutonic ally. When the war broke out there was only $4,000,000 worth of paper money in Turkey. Everything was paid for in hard cash, and gold and silver were the currency almost exclusively used in the daily transactions of the people. Everything was on cash basis. There is in Turkey today—after 33 months of war—more than $350,000,000 of paper money, the authorized emissions having reached a total of nearly 90,000.000 pounds.

The poor in Turkey find it hard to keep themselves alive. The only reason many of them do manage to live in the cities is because the government allows each inhabitant half a pound of bread a day, for which the rqgipient has to pay two cents. Somehow or other they all manage to get their 'two cents a day. Then there are soup kitchens run by the American Red Cross, the Turkish Red Crescent, the Jewish Charities commission, the Greek-Patriarch, and other societies. Some soup kitchens give food free; others sell at cost price. There are now no Mogs in the streets of Constantlnople. Time was when they acted as scavengers, but now there is no surplus left around to eat. The people save their last crust. There are no bones. The dogs were not shot or used for military service, they were sent off to a semidesert island in the sea of Marmora and have undisputed sway of its barren shores. The government makes free distribution of beans, cheese and olives to the families of soldiers, but this support is doled out In driblets. Destitute families among the civilian population nisn get supplies free from some of the charitable organizations, but before the war yne never heard of men and women dropping dead from starvation in the streets. Even now it is comparatively rare, but deaths from malnutrition and lack of resistance to even mild diseases are not uncommon. People weakened by lack of food fall easy prey to ailments which in normal times would not be serious. The aspect of Constantinople has changed considerably since the outbreak of the war. Curiously enough, it has Immensely improved, and from a cause which is entirely unrelated to war or political conditions. It happened that during the first year of the war an unusually capable and honest man was mayor of Constantinople— Djemif Pasha, the foremost surgeon in Turkey. He went to work on the city as if it had been a diseased human being and performed surgery on’ the streets. He cut out and removed unhealthy slums and widened and relaid streets ; he paved streets and cleaned streets and made parks and open breathing places. He got the telephone system completed and the street car system electrified. In 1915 he resigned because of trouble with the government and went to Switzerland, where he had been educated. Later he made his peace with the powers that be and is now’ back in Constantinople. Germany Dominates Turkey. feow far Germany seeks to dominate Turkey, not only in military but also in civil matters, may best be shown by the fact that Berlin insisted, as part of the recent treaty with the Sublime Porte, upon the reorganization of the court system and the abolition of the religious tribunals. This means a profound, modification of the Mohammedan political and civic system along German lines. The U. S. S. Scorpion is Interned in Constantinople for the duration of the war. There are only three officers rind sixty men on board. Perihlssion for shore leave under proper restrictions is not denied by the Turkish authorities. The wonder of wonclfers In Constantinople Is that women are beginning to be seen. Woman’s first step toward emancipation through work in Turkey was brought about by an American Invention —the telephone. “Hello girls” w’ere first employed. Then the city got permission to use women as street sweepers—if they could sweep the houses, why couldn’t they sweep the streets? Then the post office went short of men and a few women were used as letter, sorters. There are also Turkish women employed as hospital nurses and in the soup kitchen. Although Turkey is virtually dominated by Germany in military matters, the Turks do not love the Germans. In the estimation of the gentle Turk, the German lacks tact and delicacy. Teutonic ability, energy. Initiative and capacity are admired and genuinely respected, but the Turk and the German do not mix any more than oil and water. Yet Germans are everywhere in Turkey, and are almost falling over themselves in Constantinople. There are German officers, German military experts, German civil advisers, German educators —for Germany is paying particular attention to the education of the rising generation of young Turks. Even the Germans put in a military officer as adviser to the Turkish police headquarters. The Turks somewhat resented that. —_ = . The Turkish police system is about the best organized thing they have In Turkey. Here the Oriental love of intrigue can give Itself full play, and as for astuteness and “finesse,” the Turkish secret service .is not to be beat. It has more weird* and curious devices, more strange and secret methods than the mathematical mind of German efficiency eyer dreamed of. Tfie legal limit for Mohammedans is four wives. As a matter of fact, most of them get along with one. There are, of course, some old-fashioned reactionaries who insist upon their legal matrimonial complement and a few poor men who want a servant and cannot afford one. These marry

a second wife, who becomes the household drudge for her keep oply. But polygamy la Turkey Is fast disappearing in the best classes, asthe educated Turkish woman of today will- not marry a man who already has one or more wives, nor will she consent to share her husband afterward. Of course Turks still refer to their harem, but when they do so they randy if ever mean what the American understands by the word. Harem means womanfolk, and a Turk speaking of his harem Inclndes his mother and sisters and his cousins and his aunts as well as his wife or wives. The part of the house set aside for their use is called the harem, and far from being furnished with Oriental luxuriance, as most people imagine, it not infrequently contains Grand Rapids furniture, uncomfortable chairs, pianos, phonographs and the other appurtenances of an average American fiat. There are a number of theaters in Constantinople, or

structures that go by that delusive name, but one rarely sees anything even approaching a decent show. The moving picture houses are legion, and when the staff of the American embassy left Constantinople they were showing, in weekly installments, a wonder film called “Mysteries of New York,” which is jsaid to have cost a million dollars. Every title and “cut-in” bore the added remark. “Captured in Roumania.” French films, however, are rarely seen, sometimes a few TtaTranonrs.but usually the “Mester” films “made in Germany” are shown. There is, of course, a weekly war film, but invariably the Austrian war films are more popular than the German. Nothing but' victories lire ever shown. Constantinople has had little to fear from air raids, apd the streets have remained brightly lighted at night. One unexpected effect of the war has been the rapid spread of the installation of electric light'to all classes of buildings, despite the exorbitant cost of wiring and of electric light fixtures. The reason is that petroleum oil, formerly used for lllnminating,~Tiowcosts $5 gold a gallon, and the high-proof gasoline cannot be had for love or money. All the fuel for automobiles is under military control,