New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-05-27
THE TURKISH MISSION.
WHAT THE PRESENT MINISTER Has poN'
M PROTECT AMERICAN INTERESTS.


mn. ...0..,r,s. have 70 go away from home
~ 1oa,n tbe news OF things happening mere:
fr,en5 has sent me a marked copy OF new ~
rauer containing o budget OF Inior"a"on 49,
wash,noton concerning the character n"c
.na,hods NJ tho Hon o. s. Straus ohl'eu 80
A,inis,er nj the Sublime Porte IL seelh,' ~" ~
ing accepted Office under Presiden' -,
res haen begging for o continuance AZ o'" -
Is~s.,S.nt Harrison. In support OF TINS peUi"on
-. N,.,s more Government pap, we are Voiu
i.ha. he has terrified the American lniSeion
a. Tprley into signing petition IN ''N iasoi,
,,hils ali the time he Is neglecuhg NIB "sr,o'
duties and. IL is added, rather lncohsequen""nS,
=, - hamboozling the missionaries with honeyed
DC y IT, r-oof of these statements their author
go out, that Mr. Straus is Hebrew, and that
= Ala not ask for an Trade for the st. fauis
Ins,,tr+e MI Tarsus as soon as he was authorized
to do so. 49,. oua y,
Ore RIBS ones eyes little over this record OF
.nru;tude, whose echoes have reached washington
before they have struck our ears here III ID uuo
that Mr. Straus is Hebrew, but that Is not
crime under the Civil Service laws OF the oni'eu
c.a,as t. is true also that he did not apply
Cor an Trade for St. Paurs Institute but ula'
WAS because the local managers though IL oesU
IN delay application until they had picked ouV
their site. With these two exceptions, the "hoi0
reetal Of the relations OF the Minister to the his
sionsries and to his own continuance LII oin00
is the sheereSt nonsense The application OIL 'hr'
Straus to be retained, his inducing the mission
aries to support his application, and the pe'i'0"
of the missionaries to the President in LIS Ia'or-
ali these are fabricstons that SAVIOR OF the olS'
amounted candidate The name OF MIR. STRATUS
has not often appeared in your CcnStanuhope
correspondence, and the ignorance shown oy sucn
adverse criticism suggests the propley Oh sone
statement concerning his official career IN turkey
ms explaining his unreasonable popularity aihohs
the missionaries.
Niue-tenths OF the Americans in Turkey are
honnected with the seven American SOCIETIES
which carry on benevolent work IN TINS En- pre-
Probably about the same proportion OF 1he "Ioie
amount of American capital invested IN turkey
Is represented by the educational puphshns'
and other enterprises of these societies American
cjtizens do not forfeit their right TO the ordinary
protection Of their Government by reason OF DC
coming missionaries, Consequently, the oni1ed
Statas Minister to Turkey always has to suher
his time t. be occupied in some degree by ques-
tions arising out of the presence in this country
of this great missionary interest," which the TURK
,sb Government has allowed 20 grow up during
the last sixty years, and which now suspecuhs
that American missions arc too stimulating to
W
IL wishes to limit or exclude.
AT this particular iuncturc the policy OF the
Turkish Government is in transition from careless
soleration TO watchful restriction Of missionary
operations Tie sense of this newly developing
policy has led 10 arbitrary acts on the part OF
oyer-zealous Turkish officials, and to rechmationS
from the missionaries. 1t was in the midst OF
the annoying questions arising out Of this state
of affairs that Mr.. Straus came TO Constananopie
two wears ago. He soon let it be seen by the
Turks that he could be relied on to check
Americans who disregarded the laws or the pro-
prieties, and by the American missionaries that
he would afford them the protection that any
American citizens might claim so long as they
kept within their legui rights. The Turks appre-
ciated his frank honesty, while the Americans
noted with pleasure his patient study OF the
merits of the most vcxed questions. The mission
aries had complaints 10 make Of money losses
I'm their book trade arising from frequent re-
fusals Of officials in the interior to recognize
the authorization given to books by the censor
ship at Corstantpoplc. This difficulty has been
removed, aud books published with the authori-
zation Of tho Government at Constantinople, are
now no longer subject 70 SEIZURE in the interior.
The book agents Of the mission were often arrested
and imprisoned because tie law made no pro-
vision for licensing them, while the police are
under orders to arrest all who have no licenses
Tact and argument on the part Of the Minister put
nm end to this class Of complaints by securing
regulation by which licenses are issued TO the mis-
sion book agents The American Bible Society had
been at great expense in preparing and printing the
bible in Turkish, relying on Government
authorization of some years ago. But the censor
ship condemned the book as Injurious and
the whole investment Of the society was apparently
lost through the categorical refusal OF the censor
ship to respect its own former permission. After
deal of patient effort during the course OF
(which one of the highest officers OF the Govern
mont undertook TO read the Bible through for his
own information, Mr.. Straus succeeded in bring
ing the members OF the Turkish Government 20
see for themselves the narrowneSs involved in a
declaration that the Bible OF ChrStendom is
- Injurious" So the permit for the new edition
of the Bible in Turkish was issued. .
The suspicion with which the local authorities
regard the influence of the schools of the mis-.
ionaries was no less a source of constant trouble
Rspeatedly Mr. Straus obtained the reopeDing OF
American schools that had been closed without
xaEd reason. The missionaries were thrown int
n panic Of apprehension for their educational worn
by the drafting Of a new school law, which con
temphted nothing less than the closing of all Of
their old schools That the proposed law was no
promulgated was largely due TO Mr.. Strauss cleal
grasp of its defects and his action, In common Will
the representatives of other Powers, IN lnslsnns
on the illegality of some of its provisions. TIT
status of the American schools in Turkey is no
yet settled, owing TO the fact that the educanona
system of the missionaries was eStabls befOr
there was any law in Turkey 70 regulate schools
while the law afterward framed is not explici
as TO its intentions toward such schools. But b!
working steadily on the line OF policy initiated b.
Mr Pendleton King, whom Mr. Straus found her
as Charge d'Affaires, he has brought the Porte Z
accept, at least in practice, the principle tina
long-estabiished American schools will be exemp
from interference on condition of their comm
under the Government inspection Of the course
study and the textbooks. He has thus probabl
saved from extinction al educational system whic
is q monument 20 American benevolence, built b.
half &c injury of hard work.
To be Minister of the United States to Turke
implies great expenditure of energy with startlin
pauoity Of large and tangible result from an
effort II is the work OF Sisyphus, and success j
nine tenths Of tina cases handled only brings upo