The record-union., 1897-04-20
GREEK AND TURKISH FORCES.

The military expert of the 'Politi-
ken of Copenhagen says that the
Turkish army in Macedonia is not by
any means an effective force. He says:
The cavalry and artillery are short
of horses. The new guns purchased
from Krupp some years ago are rust
ing away in Constantincple, and the
men in the provinces do not know how
to handle them. How to transport the
necessary ammunition, even if the guns
are sent. is another problem. or the
new Mauser rifles, 200, 0O0 of which
We're imported some years ago, only
80 per company are forthcoming
Knowing that they win be badly fed
and clothed, the Turkish reserves are
in no hurry to join their regiments.
Most of them do not appear at all,
and many desert 'afterward. The ig-
norance of the officers is frightful.
More than half of the Turkish officers
cannot write or read.
This does not agree with the more
recent accounts. And it is to be re-
membered, also, that much the same
was said of the Ottoman forces when
Turkey last engaged in war with
Russia. But the soldiers of the Porte
in that conflict gave a good account
of themselves.
On the other hand. Rear Admiral
Werner writes in the Berlin 'Gegen-
wart" of the Greeks. saying:
ANY one acquainted with the Greeks
is aware that they are a totally de-
prsaved race. and that morality and
Justice fare hardly better in Greece than
in Turkey. Among the French person
of very low character is called a
Greek. It is very doubtful if peace
would reign in Crete If Greece had pos
session of the island. That the Greek
Government hardly deserves better
name than the individual Greek is
shown by the attempt to repudiate the
foreign debt The very army, such as
it is and the fleet were built with the
loans on which Greece will not pay
even the interest now. 1t is not inn
possible that the Powers will be forced
to appoint g. receiver for Greece.
We shall very soon learn just
what the mettle of these opposing peo-
pies is. From all we can learn of the
condition of the two forces now array
ed on the borders of Macedonia we
are inclined to believe that the war
efficiency of both has been much under
rated. and that we will hear of some
of the most desperate fighting of the
century within the next few weeks
That the Turks will display the greater
generalship may be taken as certain
They have German officers in plenty
and the story is that the army has re-
Gently been under the tutelage of a
foremost German military man. who
has almost revolutioned the system I'M
der which it has heretofore been or
ganized.
The Greeks. on the other hand, have
at their head young man who has
never seen a pitched battle, and whose
military knowledge is confined to what
he has been taught in the very indif-
ferent military schools OF his country
We must make up our minds to one
thing, namely. that in the war now or
we shall hear OF cruelties that viii
make humanity blush. Neither Turk
nor Greek are merciful. The latter dis
likes to take prisoners and keep then
alive, and the other enslaves such
captives as he does not dispatch. There
Is not a considerable Turkish city il
European Turkey in which there arr
not found descendants of Greeks whom
Turks have made slaves after having
heen taken captive in battle We dc
not express a mere fanciful idea wheT
we say that if the Greek-Turkish wal
continues a month, the world will b'
shocked by stories of awful barbara
ties committed on both sides. 1t is t
be a war, we fear, in which but few
of the rules of civilized warfare vii
obtain.