Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 313, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1919 — Constantinople Today [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Constantinople Today

COMPARED with other capitals. Constantinople has for centuries occupied a unique position. and because of the peculiar set of circumstances vital to very existence as the capital of the Ottoman empire, the war affected her In a manner peculiar to hdtsel?. When war broke out practically atyf\he essential services of the country” in the hands of foreigners, German, French or British, and not only were there large colonies of these nationals 'n the country, but in the capital itself, the ruling race were* in the minority”, Jews, Greeks and Armenians forming the bulk of the population. I styall not attempt to discuss Turkish participation in the war, nor the- vast problems •which are now presented by the collapse of the empire, says a writer in the Sphere. Suffice it to say that when the Goeben arrogantly steamed up the Dardanelles, and alter displaying her magnificence as far north as Herafin dropped anchor off Seraglio Point, the die was cast, GerBian policy in Turkey had reached its and one after the other, Turkey, Bulgaria, Rounjania and Greece were dragged into 1 the vortex of war. What has been said will serve to prepare the reader for what changes to expect in the Constantinople he used to know. In many ways, since outside support is as necessary as ever to the town, changes are at first not so apparent, and the crumbling of the empire is as yet but faintly echo&l in its cosmopolitan capital. Streets are as crowded as ever, shops in the Grande Rue as artistically dressed. Prices have soared, but the exchange is so heavily against the piastre that foreigners are but little affected. Turkish women, who before the war were coming out of their seclusion and discarding the veil, are new to be seen everywhere in public, unveiled and gayly dressed. Homespun Broussa silk- is the ctyief, material employed, cotton goods having been all but unobtainable during the war. The majority, of the women are unusually well shod, and no Parisienne wears higher .heels. Their shoes seem always new. ' It seems they are Ger-man-made of paper, and seldom wear for more than a fortnight! Teaching Courtesy to Women. Male manners take long to accustom themselves to such changes in the ways of their womenfolk, and it never enters their heads to give up a tram seat to a lady, whereby hangs a tale. 'One evening a British soldier entered a tram and saw six men sitting and six ladies standing. He was indignant; he had dined. With the solemnity of a London policeman he approached each man in turn, and summoning his one word of Turkish, “Eide- (outside), Johnny!” and turning to’ a lady, “Madam, sit down.” This till all six.were seated. , - ' The anchorage is as crowded as ever wish shipping, only the German flag, once predominant, is absent, and pie American. flag" previously unknown, now -quite common. . Warships of all the allies ride majestically at anchor, and once when two British ships were engaged in battle practice in the Sea of Marmora, the inhabitants of Stamboul ran hither and thither wringing their hands and declaring' that the British were shelling Stamboul for some inspired crime. Peace day with Its flags and salutes produced a curious effect. All Turkish men-of-war are penned up behind Galata bridge, ancf a British yeoman of signals sends up the hoists on Galata tower. Everywhere are'allied soldiers. British, French, Italian, .Greek, a few Americans, Russians and Serbs. Prob-., ably -these strike the greatest change of all. The military school at Harbie houses British G. HvQ., and the smart Highland sentries at , the gate put the shambling Turkish sentries at Taxi me barracks (half of which has been renamed Caserne Macmahon, and- is occupied by French troops) to shame. The attitude of the Turks toward she English during the war is difficult

to understand. Side by side witb the studied cruelty to prisoners of war is a quite reasonable treatment of British residents within the empire. The British embassy was inviolate —how different to Berlin!—now the German embassy has gone into retirement and the fine carved eagles on the roof are mournfully wrapped round with sacking. Undoubtedly the Turks now want to be friends'Avith the British, but it is beyond the scope of this article to discuss mandates and the like The Turk knows he has been beaten, and i§ trying to prove that if was not liis*-fault. Be this as it may, it is curious to note that in a conspicuous place in the armory of St. Irene, now opeped to the public at certain times without special permission, is a large quiltlike sheet* bearing the replicas of the flags of all the allies, and serving as a background for four large and well-executed portraits of Miv Lloyd George, M. Clemenceau, Marshal Foch and President Wilson. Can anyone imagine even a beaten England displaying portraits of Hindenburg, BethmannHollWeg, or Rantzau in the Tower of London? Racial Feuds Not Lessened.

With tlfe Greeks and the Armenians the age-long feud continues, embittered by the war, and in no way improved by current rumors as to favors to be accorded to these countries at the expense of Turkey. Only the presence of other allied troops and warships prevents a recrudescence of horrors only too common during the war. Although a Britisher can go unmolested into San Sophia, a Greek hardly dare show- himself in the neighborhood, and Turkish troops are quartered inside the mosque with the admitted intention of keeping the Greeks out. Life among the Turks themselves is little Yildiz Kiosk still hatches plots, governments 'rise and -fall, the sultan himself lives in the , greatest seclusion,. AP d n o allied subject is allowed to be, present at the weekly passage to the Selamlik. When in the middle of Ramazan he went to pay his annual vows in San Sophia, his yacht surrounded by his household in little motorboats, the procession was headed by a pinnace bearing the White Ensign. Otherwise Turks only were present. There are no striking changes in the appearance of the town. Fires have tak<?n larger toll than usual, and would have taken more were it not for two British motor fire engines, which, however, have the disadvantage of exhausting the available water supply far sooner than a score of the antiquated hand-pumps on whitjh the safety of the town previously defended. Everywhere German interests and influence are being eliminated. The Deutsche bank and Wienebank Verein have put up their shuttersthe erstwhile German club is now the British officer's’ resthouse. A gymkhana club has been opened at Mashlak, and golf and tennis are in full swing, while polo is played regularly by British officers 'at Biyukdere and in the Valley of the Sweet Waters, the hills around bedecked with all the paraphernalia of British military camps". Trying to Enforce Sanitation.

The scavenging- dogs have disappeared : the horrors of their end are well known. Two English lady doctors charged with the sanitation of the town now force unwilling municipal •authorities to remove garbage from the streets, apd on tl*e whole are fairly successful, though the task is far from being an easy ope. , The sounds taost characteristic of night in the Turkish capital are still heard: thetap.-itap, tap, of the night watchman’s heavy staff, the cries of the fireguards, the muezzin’s call. Outwardly there is little change, but deep down are the mutterings of unrest and uncertainty, and l»e is an" Unusually bold man who attempts to predict what will be the fate of the town which for 16 centuries at least has played so essential a part in the history of mankind? which has been in its tine the heart of a great empire.

David Street, Inside the Jaffa Gate.