The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-28

dressed in a uniform not unlike the I'M
dress uniform of one of our army gen
erals. His coat was buttoned up to
the neck and there was a little gold
braid on his collar. He is, l believe,
about five feet ten inches tall,
but he stood so straight that he seemed
to me to be over six. He is a very
handsome man. His face is blonde; his
hair is of a light color and a blonde
mustache shows out over strong, we'll
cut mouth. l was surprised when he
greeted me in the best of English. He
spoke it as well as l did and our con-
VerSation was carried on in that Ian
guage. He asked me a number of QueS-
ticnS about things in America and grew
enthusiastic as he talked of the future
of Greece. He told me that the Greeks
were a very patriotic people, and said
that they had all the bravery and force
of the Greeks of the. past. He referred
to the railroad development which was
going on in the country, and said that
Athens would be a. much greater city
than it had ever been in the past.
Throughout the whole interview l could
see that he was very proud of the
Greeks He has a right to be so, for
it is largely due to him that Greece is
in such a good condition today.
THE GREEKS OF 1897.
very HUE 10 hLOWH IUOul I1IC illCN-
| ern Greeks. They are the Yankees of
the far East. They are shrewd specu-
| lato.s and are the money makers OF
| the Mediterranean. The biggest bust
ness houses of Egypt are owned by
| Greeks. l found Greeks selling goods
| in Jerusalem and they have large
| establishments in Smyrna and Con-
stantinople. They are so much bright
| er than the Turks that common
saying among the latter is: From the
! Greeks Of Athens. from the Jews of
Salonika and from the Armenians
everywhere good Lord deliver US. 1t
is said in the far East that one Greek
is equal to at least two Jews, and the
Jews have long since given up coming
| to Athens as they can make no money
| there. The Greeks pride themselves
| on their democracy. They respect the
| king, but they don't think that he is
any better than themselves, and they
say that they believe so much IN equal
ity 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,
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 100000, though there are
about as many more Greeks scattered
throughout the other countries of the
| Mediterranean.
A NATION OF POLITICIANS.
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 for
the time, and the people will do little
else than talk about the situation. The
chief places for such gossip are the
cafes, of which there are hundreds in
Athens Here every afternoon and
evening thousands of people come to-
gether to drink coffee and talk politics.
The newsboys bring round the poiit-
ical papers, of which there are half d
dozen in Athens, and each man has
his paper and his coffee. These papers
are printed. in the same characters
which you find in the Greek classics,
and the modern Greek language is
much the same as the old Greek. l
found that I could get along with a lit
tie phrase book, and could even. read
some of the jokes in the Greek comic
+ papers. - z:8s .s-;-le. IS ..l.s7
POLITICAL BOOMS IN GREECE.
The Greeks Of today are as great