The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-17
AFTERTHETURK,WHO
Light on the Titanic Game
Going On in the East.
Few ISSUE IN The BALKANS
Rivalr, Of Pam Slavic and Pan
Germanic Ambi ions.

The Ksiser's Dream Of an Empire Stretch
ing Across Eslropc--StruEEle OF tn
Satan Against His Foes-S',rprisina
Account OF Him Given At Constants
nsp,e--He 10 Described ~ q Rcnned
Kindly. Considerations and Oycrw ork ed
Gentleman Explanation Of Turkish
Corruption and Atrocities In Armenia
and observation-disclosures Against Mis-
sionaries Of Making Trouble Russia 4
Position NJ Present King Edward
VII. May Come to the Front.
CoEsTANTINoPLE. April 23.-Let us wan
der little as newcomers among the
streets and bazaars, the mosques and the
cafes, Of this extraordinary city, 1t il only
ny getting into touch with the actual Moslem
life of the day that any Westerner will
speedily come to realize how ignorant he
IL Of the real Turk of his character, his
habit Of mind. his point Of view.
You step from modern train de lure
into the only railway station Of metropolis
of more than a million inhabitants. Two
trains a day amply meet the demand for
communication with the Western world
You are detained for he careful examna-
ton OF your passpor, and baggage.
commission naire- interpreter takes charge
OF you to conduct you to your hotel.
The porter who has carried your bag
from the train to the carriage raises an
internal row over the amount OF the tip
which your guide has given him. Your
driver attempts to start off before the argu
ment is finished The porter in maniacal
fury springs upon the Jehu, soizes the reins,
throws his weight upon one of the lines.
the horses jump to one side, and over goes
the cab
You are lucky in landing just in time
on your feet, and you find yourself in the
midst of a small riot. You begin to wish
you had slipped your pist ol into your pocket
instead OF leaving 1t in your bag, until you
notice tho bored expression on the face
Of your guide.
So you aEect a noichalance you do not
feel while somebody wearing sword
hlstles away the belligerent porter and
twenty pairs Of hands set the carriage on
its wheels again, Then you drive Of, and
your conductor merely observes:
"Those fellows are never satisfied
But driving to your hotel in CONSTANT
nople for the first time is novel experience.
You start with a rush, and as you leave the
station yard you are startled to see that
your driver has headed straight for an
unguarded ohasm in the road which proba-
bly, the electric light men have left open.
It is too late to interfere, so you clutch the
sides of the carriage, prepared for another
spill =
Nothing Of the sort; down you plump
with a terrific jounce, and then up you 60
In the air several inches above your seat.
Wonderful springs and powers OF endur-
anca have these Constantinople cabs.
For you find tina. all your drives in the
Crescent City are series Of such shocks,
New York in the worst days of the Tweed
regime was q wc-paved city compared
with the capital of the Ottoman Empire
to-day.
Leaving the station in Samboul one
speedily reaches the Galata bridge, one
OF the two ramshacke structures con-
Meeting the old city with Pera, the more
modern European quarter across the Golden
Horn. Here aga in one is amazed at the
utter dilapidation OF one Of the most primi-
tive and necessary Of public conveniences.
A lot Of loose panks flung down upon
stringers, st re, ched across pontoons, seems
to comprise the rickety span of about one
hundred yards across which We drive
as fast as the crowd will permit after pay
ing the eXtor' lonate tot. of 10 cents for
the privilege.
A street scene IN Constan,nople is always
brilliant, IL only by reason of the bright red
fez or tarbouche with which the swarlning
population il Lecapped. But in the very
first hour OF idle wondering, ones attention
is compelled more by the four-footed than
by the human inhabitants of the town.
You have noticed during vour first drive
that il IL only by continued shouting that
tho driver has made way among the
crowds OF pedestrians who throng the
rough, dirty roadway in far greater num-
bers than the comparatively well-kept
sidewalks, Wher yon are on foot yourself
you literally stumble across the eyrlana-
ton Of the Gust ON before you have walked
a dozen yards.
The explanation promptly gets upon its
feet With angry and astonished protest
aud you are lucky if you do not feel it's
teeth through the leg of your trousers.
This is the parlah dog. the most favored,
the best governed, and | am inclined to
add the most numerous class Of inhabi-
tants Of Constantinople.
HIS privileges are TRADITIONAL and in
violable. He sprawls singly or in groups
upon all the dry spots Of the sidewalks
the busiest streets by preference
sleeps all day. Ordinary human beings
step carefully over him, never by chance |
infringing even on the tip of his tail. or they
pick their way as best they can among the
muck OF the street.
AT night he barks or howls Justify every
quarter OF an hour when the watchmen
rap out the time upon the pavement with
their resonant sticks.
He is not = handsome beast, Usually
about the color Of an Irish terrier. some
what larger in size. and with a head sug-
costing distant ancestry in the hyena. his |
appearance inspires neither confidence nor
.espect Yet hs Is entitled TO both
His ssf-organised system OF govern
rnent, bib strict enforcement of recognized |
rights and privileges both individual and !
commercial, suggest. perhaps, the only |
solution Of the human problem in the Sui |
tan's Balkan provinces. But alas, the |
value Of the cardinal virtue expressed |
by the phrase Mind your own business"
while fully appreciated by the dogs of |
Constantinople. 10 apparently impossible |
81 application to certain sections OF tho |
sultan's human subjects.