Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-25
YOUNG TURKS CAUSE ALARM
Bulgaria Really Fears a Reformed
Ottoman Army.
ONE FEATURE OF LATE SCARE
belief that Revelation at CONSTANT
nOp1e Portended Increase OF
Turkish Power in the
Balkans.

CoNsTANTINoPLE oct. Sin the ca
pacity OF special correspondent 1 have been
to Sofia often, for the little Bulgarian
capital has been the storm center OF Euro
pean politics from time to time for many
years. 1t was in 1908 that 1 first drove
into the town from the railroad station
which lies on its outskirts. ! drove in a
small victoria drawn by two white ponies
with blue beads around their necks and a
diamond shaped spot OF henna on each
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in Difference TO the
evil eye. The peasant Bulgarian is a man
Of superstitions.
AS We entered the town, our ponies all
ways galloping. the shops grew from peas
ant establishments wher cheese and odd
shapes Of bread or fancy slippers and
sheepskin coats were spread on open coun-
ters TO places where Austrian gloves and
French shapes Of silk hats were on sale.
AT the center Of the town electric cars be-
came numerous, double lines crossing each
other at one corner.
Here a sturdy geudarme raised his hand
for us to stop. He was two heads shorter
than q New York policeman. but he carried
a sabre by his side. The chief OF police
explained to me later that the weapon was
not for use. but simply to impress the
| peasants, who would have no respect for
one Of their fellows in a brown uniform
only.
At the head of the broad main street
we came to a solid. drab colored, rec
tang ular building, surrounded by trees and
high drab colored walls. The massive iron
gates were wide open and before each two
s~entirels paced. This was the palace OF
the prince, now proclaimed car Of the
Bulgarians. Just beyond the palace was
the Hotel de Bulgaria, where | was to put
up,
With Bulgarian Officers.
Several army officers in uniforms wera
standing before the Bulgaria as we drove
up, and one speaking good American
hailed me in this familiar manner: "Wer,
of the free and the brave Strangers are
conspicuous in Sofia, and when they are
how goes it? l see you're from the land
Americans they are always spoken to by
some graduate of the American college at
Constantinople, or some pupil of the Ameri-
can missionaries who have spread their
language and their ideas of liberty through
out the little country.
There was to be a military ball at the
Officers club that night and l was in
vited forthwith. Two OF the officers waited
$3.50 @NSENA UNI 4 A9o AA&on0dH aAAa ~
driving with me took me to the dance.
The scene was very like that at a milf
tary hop in any civilized country. The
officers looked martial in their simple Rus
sian uniforms and the women were simply
though tastefully dressed. There is no
wealth in Bulgaria, not a millionaire in all
the land; and as for the officers of the
army, they must live on their pay.
Members of the government and other
state officials were at the ball wearing
ordinary evening dress; some few with
one or two decorations. OF course the Rus
sian diplomatic agent was there, and of
course he wore much gold braid and many
medals. He wore a monocle, and assumed
a patronizing, pretentious air. I was in
trodueed to him. and he talked. about Rus
,sia's generous protection of the Bulgars.
But l knew that even then the Bulgarians
were aware that Russia's interest was en-
tirely selfish.
Not Partial to Foreigners.
1t Is said of the Bulgarians that they
dislike foreigners, and this is true to an
extent, for it has seemed to them that
the sympathy of even England is moulded
largely on self-lnterest. Stin they are not
lik the Greeks, who believe that all ac-
tions are inspired by self-interest, and
they realize the value of the sympathy
OF a newspaper correspondent. l was the
special correspondent of an important news
paper and they were anxious that / should
sympathize with their cause.
Yet they adopted no surreptitious means
to make me do so; they went straight to
the point, demanding to know my atti-
tude-not one or two OF them, but every
man 1 met. l minated that had come
out to the Balkans to take nobody's side,
and they remarked that an honest man who
was not a fool must ~perforce become a
partisan on the Balkan question.
That, as l have said, was five years ago.
when the most horrible effects of Abdul
Hands reign were being felt OF the Bull
garians OF Macedonia, more than 1000 of
whom had deserted their homes to seek the
safety Of Bulgarian territory. A few weeks
after the Young Turks had taken over the
Ottoman government | was at Sofia again
and had occasion to talk with some OF the
same officers at the same club. Their argu-
ment now was as direct as 1t had been be-
fore.
Local Views of Matter.
NO they said, we have no legal rights
over the Oriental railway. Neither by the
Berlin treaty have we any light to possess
an army or ship of war, or to fortify our
territory, or to make commercial treaties,
nor had we any legal right to annex east
But in all these things England gave as
moral support and in the case of the last
materially assisted us. Now it talks OF
rights in the Berlin treaty. in the making
OF which we had no voice.
And it seems to us rather absurd to talk
OF breaking a treaty which has been trans
crossed in some fashion by every European
power, not the least Of all by England, and
which the Turk has successfully combated
ever since its creation"
THE organization OF the Young Turks"
the bulgarian argument went on, lis com
posed chiefly Of officers OF the Macedonian
regiments that massacred our people in 1903,
and their first object in throwing over the
old regime was to save Macedonia from us,
Program of Young Turks.
Had only the Christians Of the Ottoman
empire suffered under the old regime there
would have been no change of government