The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-24
The Powers and Turkey.

a'spdtCli Says tnat the
uihisl foreign minister has notified the
powers that his master the Sultan has
agreed to adopt the scheme for reform,
IN Macedonia. The joint note of the
powers however, does not expressly desie-
nate Macedonia, bat, in effect. demands
reforms for every Christian, cc,,,,,,,;+
IN european Turkey, according to. the re-
ports.
"hlle the Sultan agrees to adopt the
scheme Which practically takes the GOV
eminent of Macedonia and other localities
out OF his hands, and transfers it to the
agents of the powers, it is evident that he
proposes to have the proposition amended
III order to save himself hum lila ton The
scheme ct the powers resembles that pro-
posed before the Russo Turkish WAY IF
1ST-7s. which went to pieces On the first
movement to actualize it, The attemnt
81 the concert of Europe to reform the
european provinces OF Turkey at that time,
resulted in a bloody and disa strous war
"hlch Drought about the practical indie
pehdence OF half the Christian popula ton
OF european Turkey, and the elimina zion
OF what remained in those communities Of
the Moslem popula ton, by exile or ex
termination. Under the Berlin treaty. the
Sultan was pledged to institute admins
tratlVe reforms in Europe and Asia, and.
IN special treaty with the Sultan which
gave her Cyprus England pledged herself
to see that Turkey fully reformed her ad-
mlnlstratlon in Asia Minor. These pledges
have been utterly disregarded by Turkey
and England. In fact, the Sultan ostenta-
| t1ously def1ed Europe by having at least
hundred Thousand Armenian Christians
! mastered in cold blood, while the ICON
cert or Europe stood by in complacent
contemplation of the fiendish atrocity and
did literally nothing. The Bulgarian and
Macedonian Christians never suffered the
| hundredth part of the hideous crueltics
which have been visited upon the moor
Armenlans. even to the point Of exter-
mlnation. To-day we'hear of the firm de-
| termination Cd the concert of Europe to
| stand no trifling on the part Of the
Sultan with regard to the fpint note.
Why did not these same powers intervene
to protect the Armenians from the bloody
monster who sits trembling, through fear
Of assassinat ton, in the recesses of Yildez
Kiosk? Is there any probability that they
will attempt to force reforms now upon
| Abdul Hamid IL? The latter as Caliph,
| has seen the khanates of Central Asia fall
into the hands Of Russia with their Mo-
hammedan populations besides the terri
tory within the Ottoman empire which
Russia has absorbed; has seen England
make Mohammedan Egypt practically a
British province, besides presiding over
60, 000,0 900 of Mohammedans in India, and
| he has seen most Of his European prov
inces, through the aid of the concert OF
| Europe acquiring their independence.
Christendom encroaches upon Islam with
giant and resistless strides, and it is not
surprising to learn that the Sultan has
sought to initiate pan-Isamic movement
| against the menace OF the ''in1dels' and
meditates, as he did in 1878, the formal
waving of the standard Of the prophet, the
sacred symbol Of the Mollammedan faith.
4 which is kept In The old palace of the
| sultans in Constantinople. The claim of
I
nized by millions Of Mol1amrnedans not
ably those Of North Africa, where there
are claimants grounding their claims on
descent from Ali the son-in-iaw of Mo-
manned, and III Arabia there are persis-
| tent claimants on that basis. A pan
| Islamic movement against Clristendom is
not probable. The Sultan of Morocco has
already declined to join it, and, if Abdul
| Hamd chooses to make a final struggle
| for his weakening foothold in Europe. he
will find himself the ruler of some little
Asiatic province instead of nominal caliph
and head of the Ottoman empire. The
crushed Christian worm as well as the
crushed Mohammedan worm in Turkey is
! likely, with the help of the European
powers to turn and rend the, detestable
and now blighted power which has robbed
and tormented them since the advent oil
Moha mined II. in southeastern Europe ir
I the fifteenth century.
/ The Fairmont Sentinel publishes a let
1 ter from a Minneapolis wholesale glass
1 firm to a merchant of that city.wfich saws
that the duty on glass enables the trust
TO collect just $175 more for an ordinary