| Show v fr afe deen c t I 1 0 o inturre In tl 4 c e a second wife who becomes becom 17 the household drudge for tier her A keep only but polygamy in turkey Is fast disappearing lu in tile lio bestic heat classes lasses as the educated turkish of today will not mot marry a roan who nit already eady has one or more wives nor will slie she con consent gent to share bhare her husband of course turks still refer j to their harem hut when they dos dorothey do othey rarely if f ever leali mean ak 44 Z Q what the american understands by the words harem ri 1 means tind a turk related am r foxx 1 hy speaking of his fits harem includes ins ilis cassador bas kaus the and ills hla cousins S nother and anil and sisters american represent ns as well as his fits wife or wives the part of the house set alive at constana aside for their apse use Is called the harem lini eni and far from being nople to a per fl furnished with oriental correspondent luxuriance ns as most people imagine ingine In it not infrequently con contains grand band rapids furniture uncomfortable chairs pt pianos phonographs I 1 is it and nd the by HENRY N HALL other appurtenances of an average in the new york world amerlan american flat R au ad yem theaters healers there in iii are constantinople n number or of BRAM BRAINI 1 I ELKUS ambassador extraordinary tra und and minister plenipotentiary tent iary lary of the united states to tile the sublime porte Is the only man in this flits country today who by firsthand knowledge can tell of things as they are in tile the land of mhd alie turk stricken with the dread dreaded ed typhus lie lay at the point of death when obeying the mandate of germany the lie imperial Ot ottoman tonian government broke off diploma tic relations with the united St stated atel 1 mr elkus personality imd had so impressed tile the turks that the sultans governments govern menti insisted upon his remaining in ili constantinople until 1 his health was thoroughly restored rei and lie he could without danger of a relapse undertaker undertake the long and journey to america mr elkus con untied tile excellent lent impression created by ills his predecessor pre decess or tj thi il lion ilon glenry and by lily his IM clency annu iti d kindness lind had done more than make himself popular in turkey lie ho lins lias made the united state stat popular W without phout atly any diplomatic training the plain american lawyer who until then had been distinguished only by ills his philanthropy made an excellent record in ili nn an extremely tre niely difficult diplo diplomatic nit itic post and while engaged upon nn errand of mercy visiting it a red cross soup kitchen contracted ill the e infection which so AO nearly cost illin him his life armenia wits was uppermost in my thoughts as I 1 talked with ambassador elkus peaceful in Aust lu silou rious intelligent armenia rill an intellectual people clever in practical affairs and of lofty idealism when turkey entered the war there were eie two million lon aran armenians Armen ians but the atrocities of 1915 and 1916 very greatly reduced their number systematic butchery and wholesale slaughter of these people by the turks makes tins flits one of the most terrible crimes in the history of mankind why has germany allowed these things to lo be done the atrocities committed by the turks in armenia tire are perhaps no worse than those of which the germans themselves have been guilty in belgium land and france hut but there is something peculiarly horrible la in the cold blooded extermination of a brave and cultured people what in merest lerest lind germany ln in allowing this flits thing to be done the only explanation that can be offered Is that germany wanted the armenians Armen ians exterminated because tie cause it suited the purposes of her commercial mer clat greed the armenians Armen ians Inns tire the tanners the molders the ifie blacksmiths the tailors the carpenters the clay workers the ni weavers eavers the shoemakers the beai jewelers elers the pharmacists the doctors the lawyers of asia minor and of the turkish empire they are at heart a conservative people and for hundreds of years their trade has been done with france and england they to do not take kindly to german goods therefore p germany closed her eyes while turkey was exterminating them the presence of mhd armenian was a menace or at least threatened to retard the pan gernian german development of mittel europa sympathy for tho united states there Is throughout the levant and tile the balkans a real and deep rooted sympathy for the united states the leading bulgarian statesmen in en are graduates of american schools and colleges the turkish government has taken a graduate of the american college for girls in constantinople and placed tier her in charge of tile the organization of turkish schools in syria I 1 it t is especially among the middle and the lower classes that the united states staten Is genuinely po pop P war migrants emigrants E who have returned tourists who have traveled all air agree that america stands for democratic principles eliat 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 tele graph nies messenger boy in Adria nople turkey broke oft off diplomatic relations with tile the united states two weeks after the declaration of a war with germany the exact date was april 20 0 ambassador elkus was informed hy by a prominent member of the turkish government that the pressure exerted by germany upon the ibe sublime porte to break oft off relations ions with america was vas daily growing stronger it Is significant that the note announcing we the rupture of relations was dated friday which Is the turkish Sab sabbath bilth yet on the day when al all I 1 public offices are closed the turkish cabinet held a meeting find the note was dra drafted eted signed and dispatched to everyone in constantinople this denoted that the utmost pr pressure es auld been brought to bear upon the sultans I 1 government by ills his teutonic all ally v when tile war broke out there was only POO worth of paper money in turkey ever everything was paid for in hard cash find gold and diliver f silver adre idre we re the currency almost exclusively used iu in tile the dally daily transactions of the people everything cash basis there Is in ili turkey ans ona today toda Y after afie r 33 norths 0 of nar war more than of paper ili money oney the authorized emissions na reached a total of t nearly mari m ari baa S the poor in turkey find it hard to k keep ep themselves alive the only reason many of them do manage to live in the cities Is because the government allows each inhabitant halt half a pound of braai hi end a day for which the reel recipient plent has to puy pay two cents somehow or other they nil all manage to get their two cents a day then there are soup kitchens run by the american red choss brosi the turkish bed R ed crescent the jewish charities Chaill lea commission the greek Patr patriarch larch and other s societies some soup kitchens give food fr tree othora sell nt at cost price there e are now no dogs in the streets of constantinople stantin ople time was when they acted as scavengers but now there Is no surplus left around to ao eat the people save sae their last crust there ore are no hones the dogs were not shot or used for military service they wera were sent eni off to a semi desert island in the sea of af Marm marmora ofa and have undisputed sway of its barren banen shores the government makes free distribution of beans cheese and olives to the families of soldiers but this flits support is doled out in drib driblets lets destitute falli fai niles Meg among tile civilian population also get supplies free from some of of the chari charitable charitan tab le organizations but auf before the war one never neer heard of men and women dropping dead from aiom starvation in ili the streets even now it Is comparatively rare but deaths from malnutrition and lack of resistance si to even mild diseases are not uncommon people weakened by lack of food fall easy prey to ailments which in normal would not b be e serious the aspect of constantinople has changed considerably sider ably 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 wits was mayor maor of constantinople djemil pasha the foremost surgeon in turley turkey lie he went to work on the city as aa it it had been a diseased human abeln being and performed surgery on the streets lie he cut out and removed unhealthy slums and widened and streets he paved and cleaned streets and made parks and open breathing places he got the telephone oystein completed and the street car system electrified tri fied in 1015 he resigned because of trouble with the government go eminent and went to switzerland where he had been educated later lie he made ills peace with the he po powars nv rs that flint he be and la Is now back in constantinople germany dominates turkeys how 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 ent 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 chic system along german lines the U S S scorpion Is interned in constwnti nople for the duration of tho the war there are only three officers and sixty men on board permission for shore leave under proper restrictions Is not denied by the turkish authorities the wonder of wonders in constantinople Is that women corkers vor kers are beg beginning inning to be seen womans comans first step toward emancipation through work in turkey was brought about by an american invention the telephone hello girls were first employed then the city got permission to use women as street sweepers sleepers it if they could sweep the houses why they sweep tho the streets then the post office went short of men and a few women were used ns as letter sorters there tire are also turkish women bome n employed as hospital nurses an and in ili the soup kl kitchen ichen although turkey Is virtually dominated by ger ninny in military matters the turks do cotlove not love the germans in the estimation of the gentle turk the german lacks tac tact tand and delicacy teutonic ability energy initiative and capacity are admired and genuinely respected but the turk tind and the german do not mix tiny any more than oil and water yet germans are everywhere in turkey and are almost falling over themselves in in constantinople there are german officers german military ex experts perti german civil advisers german educators for Gerni germany any Is paying payin 9 particular attention to fo the education of the rising generation of young turks even the ahe germans put in a military officer as ild to the turkish police headquarters the turks somewhat resented that flint 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 sen ice la Is not to be beat it has more weird and curious devices more strange and secret methods than the mathematical mind of german efficiency ever dreamed of the legal lega I 1 limit for 11 1 1 0 bamm 1 edans edons Is four wives As a matter of fact most ot them get along with one there are of course coure some old fashioned reactionaries who insist upon their legal matrimonial complement and a few poor men who want a servant and cannot af afford one these marry structures ires that go by that delusive name but orie one rarely sees even approaching a decent show tile moving houses are legion and when the staff of the american embassy left coasin constantinople i nople they were showing in weekly installments stall ments menis a wonder film called Alj mysteries sterl of new ne w york which Is said to have cost a million dollars every title and cutin cut in bore bare the added re maik captured in Ilou manla anta french films however are anre rarely seen sometimes a few italian ones but usually the lie cr flims films made Imade ili germany are shown there Is of course a weekly wai war film but invariably tile the austrian war films tire are more popular than the Ger german lilan noth trig ing but victories are ever shown constantinople has had little to fear from air raids and the streets have remained brightly lighted at night one unexpected effect affect of the war has been the rapid spread of the Install installation atlon of electric light to nil all classes of buildings despite the exorbitant cost of wiring and of electric light fixtures the reason Is that I 1 petroleum oil formerly u used sed for illuminating now costs 5 gad a gallon and the hagli proof gasoline cannot be had for love or money all the fuel for automobiles Is under tinder military control |
