Show THE GREEKS OF TODAY copyrighted ISM 1696 by frank a carpenter washington D C february H HE E trouble between the greeks and turks may end in the dismemberment mem berment of the durkish empire the loss of 0 crete it has again and again been prophesied would be the beginning of the end crete Is the key to the Darde nelles and the fortifications here could easily com command mandl the eu entrance trance to the black sea and if the greeks hold bold crete etisa it is a question whether they will not hold it for the russians this is what the english feared when they previn prevented ted greece from taking the island in 2869 1869 this was shortly atter after the marriage of king george to a russian princess and the english were afraid that his wife would turn his feelings toward R russia sada this danger exists today queen olga is a russian of the russians she L is you know the cousin ot the present czar she was the niece of alexander II 11 and her daughter not long since married a russian prince I 1 spent some time in athens just before the princess princen alexandra was married and during say may stay had a chance to learn leam much about the royal family I 1 had an interview with the king through our minister to athens and ancl met many friends of queen olga she has practically the die king I 1 am told he has not ado adopted ted the russian religion reli religion fion but by law gis his sons have to be belong ong to the greek church which is you know the chur church ch ot of russia I 1 was in greece on the kings birthday this is a national hoti holiday aday and at such times the king and queen appear at church together they i sit t upon chairs of gold cushioned in wd red velvet while all the rest of the people p e in the church must stand up are queen e n olga is very fine looking she is a blonde with brown hair regular features and a beautiful neck and shoulders she is tall and stately and to in every inch a queen the greeks are very proud of her they admire her when she appears at her hek receptions reception s in gorgeous dresses wea wearing ing many pearls and ind diamonds thy they 1 rove love her also because she does not put on airs often going about the city of athens without even a maid with her the greeks are democrats rather than royalists and they like the queens democratic ways admire her also on account of her character she is a woman of culture speaking ape akine nearly every european As soon as she became luas language mase queen took up the study of greek and she is now the patron Pat of a number of schools for girls which she has found ed it was in an industrial school that the wedding dress of the princess was made and the work was alexandra Ale zandra done by young greek girls I 1 found that the king was very for far among the people my audience with I 1 him was arranged by our minister to greece his majesty received me in hu hk palace and from the democratic way in fa which he be treated me I 1 could see why be is so much liked by the greeks he shoot eimy hand band as I 1 was presented with a jocob deal more cordiality than I 1 have from a president of the ever gotten united states he looked however much more dignified than any president ever did he was dressed in a uniform not unlike the undress uniform of otone one generals his cost coat was of our army to the neck and there was a buttoned up site little j sold agold braid on his collar he is I 1 beli believe eie about five feet ten inches tall but he stood I 1 so straight that he seemed tie he over six six he is a very to me m to handsome man his lace face is blonde his hair is ot of a light color and a blonde mustache shows out over a strong well cut jtb I 1 was surprised when he greeted edme me in the best of english he spoke it as well as I 1 did and our conversation was carried on in that language he asked me a number of questions about things in america and grew enthusiastic as he fie talked of the future of greece he told me that the greeks were a very patriotic people and said that they had an abebe the bravery and force of the greeks of W the past he fie referred to the railroad dael development which was going on in the chuia country and said that athens would be nuan greater city than it had ever bien been in the die past throughout it hout the whole interview I 1 could see t that at he was very proud r ud of the greeks he has a right wat to 0 be so go for it is largely due to him that greece is in such a good condition today very little is known about the modern modem greeks they are the yankees of the far tereasa te et they are shrewd speculators and are the money makers of the mediterranean IM i arm M the biggest business houses of egypt are owned by greeks I 1 found greeks selling goo goods in n jerusalem and they have tar large e establishments b ish ments in smyrna and constantinople co stantin op e they are so much brighter brig r than th the t h e turks that a common saying among the latter is from the greeks of athens from the jews of kalonika Sal and from the armenians Armen ians elery everywhere where good lord deliver us it is is said in the far east that one greek is equal to at least feast two jews and the he jews have long since given up coming to athens as they can make no money there the greeks pride themselves on their democracy they rt respect the king burthey but othey they dont think that he is any better than themselves and they say that they believe so much in equality strong among greeks that they prefer to have a foreigner rule over them the kings rule however is only a limited one every greek thinks himself a statesman and to hear them talk you would imagine they were running all europe their country is you know I 1 only about as large as west virginia or about half the size of the state of new york and its population is not more than though there are about as many more greeks scattered throughout the other countries of the mediterranean there is more political discussion in athens than there is in washington while this trouble with crete goes on business will probably be given up tor for the time and the people will do little else than talk about the situation the chief places for such gossip are the cates cafes of which there are hundreds in athens here every afternoon and evening thousands of people come together to drink coffee coff ee and talk politics the newsboys bring round the political papers of which there are halt hall a dozen in athens and each man has his paper and his coalee these papers are printed in the same characters which you find in the greek classics and the modem greek language is much the same as the old greek I 1 found that I 1 could get along with a little phrase book and could even read some of the jokes in the greek comic comic papers the greeks of today are as great stump speakers as their forefathers were there is much shrewd electioneering electioneer ing done and the wives of the grecian candidates help their husbands quite as much as our american wives do theirs some of the women even electioneer for their husbands and I 1 was told of one greek woman who seeing that her husband would probably be defeated went to some of the villages in the district and said that every one who voted the right way would have nave a free railroad ticket to athens and a ticket to the theater the greeks are crazy for amusements and this bid gave her husband a seat in the parliament every man in greece has the right to vote the members of parliament are elected much like our congressmen their terms are for four years and they receive salaries ua laries of about four hundred dollars dollar a session they have more power than our members of congress and it is they in reality who govern greece it is they who will decide as to wars ware with turkey and it is from them that the appropriations must come the king has the right to veto but he would not dare to exercise it against a large majority he is just as anxious to be popular with his people as the president is as anxious to be popular here and he is pretty sure to do as the people want A political political oli campaign in greece is very mug much like a political campaign in america the greeks are fond of good speakers and the man who can make a good stump speech stands a chance of ian an election there is much buncombe of course but the modern greeks are intelligent and the poorest of them consider themselves on an equality with the richest the waiters at the cale cafes and the drivers on the streetcars street cars will talk politics with you and the politician has to do the same handshaking in greece that he does in the united states all of the elections are held upon sun day and curiously enough the polls are in the churches in athens you have to go to the cathedral to do your voting the voters are all registered and the elections are watched much more carefully in greece than they are here every candidate watches his own box for there is a ballot box for each candidate he does not do it in person but has a judge appointed in each district his place the ballot boxes are arranged in a row along one side of the church they are so fixed that only one man can pass through at one time each box is about a foot square in its top there is a pipe the hole in which is just large enough to admit the arm of a man th this I 1 s pipe runs down through the middle of if the box until it meets a partition which divides the box in half one side of the box is for affirmative ballots and the other for negative the ballots are buckshot and the voter having put his hand down into the pipe drops his bis ballot for or against the candidate as he pleases without the possibility of anyone any one knowing how he voted each voter is given only as many buckshot as there are candidates and each judge can see that he has but one ballot in his hand before he puts it in the box there are lew few election frauds in greece it is almost impossible to stuff a ballot boy and in case the bullets in the boxes do not correspond with the registration at the entrances the whole vote is thrown out when I 1 started for greece I 1 expected to find there a nation gone to seed I 1 changed my mind when I 1 reached athens the athens of today is a modern city it has wide streets paved with cobblestones and its houses are much like the three and four story flats of some parts of paris its people dress as we do there are carriages with liveried coachmen and there is as much style in athens as in any part of europe the better classes of the modern greeks have as good homes as people of the same class in the united states they are well dressed and well educated the most of them speak half bait a dozen different languages abou though ch french is the society language of we greek capital I 1 had cab drivers who could speak english french and greek and at one of the theaters during my stay they were playing I 1 i an italian play there is an A athens t ens university v erdity which has nearly 2000 students and which has ninety eight professors here the young greek gets a thorough classical education and he can it he wishes add to it a course in law medicine theology or philosophy there are in addition to this thirty three other colleges gitl ia greece containing nearly students the kingdom has a system of common schools at which attendance is compulsory there are also a number of private schools and in athens I 1 found a fine polytechnic institute and ao an academy of sconce science several good libraries and a large national museum there was also a girl girls girlis Is college which contained students and there are girls schools in many parts of greece I 1 rode from athens down to the sea toast coast on a steam tramway and I 1 took excursions out into the country on street vars cars it seemed strange to me in corn com ing to athens by carriage from the sea passing over the road upon which solon and aesop perhaps walked to be turned out of the way by a steam stone crusher which was macadamizing macada mizing the road I 1 telephoned a number of times during my stay in athens and at night as I 1 walked about under the electric lights I 1 wondered how diogenes would look if with his lantern he should again here seek for an honest man the greeks have as good a postal service as you will find anywhere there are many book stores and the displays of goods in the store windows are quite as fine as those of any american city of the same size As for the business of the people the pure greek does not take to agriculture there are fewers farmers among the greek nation than among any other the most of the people are in mercantile business in the professions or in ship shipping they are natural sailors and greece probably has more ships in proportion to her size than any other nation in the world they have quite a good little navy some of the vessels being armed with krupp guns they have seventeen each over eighty six feet in length a dozen gun boats three first class cruisers and other vessels enough to make them quite a formidable enemy for turkey in addition to these greece has about three thousand sailing vessels and six thousand coasting vessels which trade with all parts of the mediterranean brince george the second son 0 ot the king ha has i s shown remarkable skill as a sailor bailor he has frightened his bis men a number of times by his daring ways of moving naval vessels about not long ago he was in command of a gunboat which was coming into the piraeus As the boat neared the harbor it was found that there was a large fleet of fishing vessels at anchor there it is usual under such circumstances to slow down down to half speed but prince george insist ed on going ahead as fast as the ship I 1 would go he took the wheel himself and with the utmost dexterity guided the gunboat through the narrow pass ages between the vessels without even touting bouling a cable while the officers and men looked on with mingled alarm and admiration prince george is now twenty seven years old heis more than six feet in height and is brave to 10 the extreme lt it is probable that he would like nothing better than a naval battle with the turks and the probability is that fat he would come out ahead king george has done a great deal to restore the old ruins rains of greece some excavations were made at the parthenon during my visit and the king aided I 1 in i n washing oft some of the marble statues which were found he is interested now in having the parthenon repaired and the day may yet come when we will be able to look upon this great structure as it 4 was in the time of socrates it seemed to me however most impressive in its ruins it stands you know on the top of the acropolis the acropolis is on the very edge of the new athens the modern modem houses ot of the city climb up from the base of its sides it is a steep rocky hill which rises straight up from the plain on which athens is built to a height of about feet it looks much like a great rock of rosy red marble with here and there a bit ol of grass or a blood red poppy peeping out of its crevices the plateau upon the top ot of the acropolis contains cents ins I 1 judge about ten acres and upon it is the parthenon you have seen pictures of it they do not give you much idea of its beauty imagine a forest of great marble columns standing upon a round marble floor the area of which is almost an acre let each column be as big around as the largest cart wheel you have ever seen and let it rise upwards for thirty three feet in a beautifully symmetrical form let it be fluted and let its capital rich in its plain doric grace uphold a wall of marble around which runs a frieze of the most wonderful sculpture of the world and you have the skeleton of the building the interior contains other columns and even in its ruins the building as a whole has a wonderful beauty you see it tor for miles around athens and it stands out before you as you come into the harbor at |