The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-20
'THEUNSPEAKABLETURK
DISTURBING FACTORY IN THE WORLDS AFFAIRS FOR
 600 YEARS.

Europe's Tartar Interloper Unehang.
 ed centuries-Fanatical Worship
 per of Mchammed, He Re-
 mains Crafty and Cruel, an | Enemy to All Christians.
 Philadelphia Record.
 For hundredth time in 600 years the
 Asiatic interloper fin Europe. the Turk
 holds the centre of the worlds stage. This
 time there are indications that 1t may
 be his last stand. A decadeht Empire
 only kept together by the mutual distrust
 and Jealousy of Christian nations. head
 ed by ruler who has lost ground stead
 fly since the beginning of his rule, Tur-
 key today is tottering on the brink of
 a chasm, no one can say how deep. Nor can any one say what the result will be
 when the final crash comes. The crash
 is inevitable; the time alone is the un-
 known factor
 | As to the Turk himself-collectlvely, in- diyidually and as a race--he too, like this
 Empire, is tottering. For centuries he
 has been decaying, his character sapped out by his excesses in living his sensual ism. his lethargy and his unfeigned cruelty. He constitutes the one and only non-Christian nation of Europe. Yet 1 uespto HIS DdTUdTiC eHOftS tO IOster the | spirit of Mohammed with the torch and the sword. Christianity has steadily | grown within the very heart of his l domain.
 | The Turk today holds sway over three continents. his territory covering, beside Europe, Asia and Africa. Its area is 2.530OOO square miles, or about twelve times that of Germany. It nearly equals 1 the whole of Europe. Of this immense bounds only 1,115,0o square miles Is un- der the Turks direct rule. The vast re- mainder is merely tributary or under | nominal suzerainty. So long as the con- cert of powers cannot reach any satis- | factory division of this territory so long will the Turk be left to rule it.
 The great bulk of the trade is con- trolled by Greeks, Armenians and Jews. with few foreigners. who are exempt from taxation. The Turk has but 1,a00 miles of railroads-hardly a good system in the United States-and controls 22, 400 miles of telegraph lines. Of this popula- tion of 50.000, GOO. but 6.0O00O0 Is in Europe Such. in brief, is the land of the Turk. Allah's Precepts Supreme. Over all this domain the Sultan's will is absolute, except that he cannot contra vene the accepted doctrines of Moham- | med. Thirty vilayets comprise the poli- ticai division. As to the Turks army, every Musselman S1s liable for service after hls 2Oth Nbithday for twenty years. Non -Mohammedans may obtain exemp- l tion at a rate of about q 50 head. On l a peace footing the Sultan's army num- bers 1O,00O officers Gnd 10000 men. In war times probably l.250,0o0 men could be called to rams. His navy Is so obsolete, with few exceptions, as to be hardly worthy of mention. It should be noted, however, that the Dardanelles and Straits of the Bosphorus, the approaches to Con- stantinople, are we'll fortified with power- ful guns. The Turk Is willy, despite his decrepitude.
 The Tuhkrs anoestrai home is, Central ed rule in cffihas aud wefe' scioseiN saizln to the Tartars. he earliest historical mention of the Turks was considerably prior to $50 A. D. The position they occupied, however, was of little import ance until the time of Othman, the founder of the present dynasty. of which Abdul Hamid II, the present ruler, is the thirty-fourth reikning sovereign when about lG30 A. D., the Othman Turks took possession of considerable Asiatic territo- ry. By the beginning of the fourteenth century they had made themselves mas ters of many more provinces. and. having captured Nicea. had, esta biished <: their capital at Broussa. .' ss- t
 Mine Centuries in Hnecpe,
 It. was in lOSO the Turk first appeared in Europe. At that time 2,OO0 of the best warriors crossed the B0sphorus to assist Emperor Botoniates in one of the petty wars which were then of frequent occur renee. Before the end of the century, however, the Turks had made their name known throughout the world, for they haA f-fn Dt,Irr ,.fa Thessaly and Macedonia, to subjection. and had become rulers over all of Vest ern Asia. Tn 1892 they turned their at- tention to Europe. In 1453 they captured Constantinople, named after the Roman Constantine, which has since been their capital. From that day their power was extended with rapidity, until they threat ened to gain mastery of the whole of Flu rope.
 In 1895. however. Solyman I. suffered his first serious defeat and ever since the glory of the Empire has waned. Step by step the Turks have been driven out of their European territories. Upper Hun gary and Pennsylvania were abandoned us early as 1895. In 1769 they were ex- pelled from Crimea. and in 1906 the Rus sian frontier was further advanced The success of the Greek war for independ- ence cost them that country. But the greatest blow struck to Turkey was the war of 1876. which cost the Empire Bull garia. Thessaly. Eastern Roumeiia and a strip of Armenia, as well as the entire independence of Roumania, Montenegro and Servia. and the loss of administra- ton over Bosnia. Herzegovina and Cy- prus.
 Advance on Europe Checked.
 Thus was the Turk shorn of the gains of his early victories: thus was his power effectively and peremptorly checked. Yet the rancorous jealouses of the European Powers-the fear that one may gain larger share of the Oriental bird than its rival-has enabled the sick man of Flu rope" as he is termed to remain quietly on his throne, to witness the slaughter of thousands and to feel secure in his pO- sition so long as cupidity and desire for possession infiame the breasts of the Christian nations.
 To the unfathomable hckleness of na- ture is also due a goodly share of the present strife. Macedonia is the richest broad fields left to the Sublime Porte. Her broad fields, including the vilayet of Sa- lonica and part of Monastir. afford splen, did ground for cattle raising and for az riculture Her people. hardy race, have made good use of them Naturally they rebel against the ever-ncreasing burden