The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-11-13
RUMOR SAYS PORTE
APPLIES TO SOFIA IN
AN EFFORT TO PUT AN
END TO THE FIGHTING

CONTINUED From Page One)
of the officers are in a peculiarly favor
able position to reason to a sound con-
clusion as to the causes for what is hap
pening having served in recent years
either as military attaches or as OBJ
servers attendant upon great military
maneuvers held in the very country
which now forms the seat of war.
Times Have Changed
I'm the days of Sultan Abdul Hamid, .
said a prominent member of the general
staff today, 1.-THE Turkish army would
have swept away the allied forces like
chaff before the wind. Far sightedly
that monarch had availed himself of the
German kaiser's offer (not disinterested
1t is true for he was seeking to sell
Krupp guns to the Turks and to secure
certain railway and trade concessions),
to train the Turkish army on the German
system. Not only were the German mill
tary schools corresponding to our West
Point. thrown open TO Turkish officers,
who eagerly embraced the opportunity by
hundreds, but a galaxy of brilliant Ger
man officers were sent to Turkey to in
struct personally the Sultan's soldiers At
their head was Won Der Goltz, one of the
foremost soldiers of the world. and after
wards field marshal in the German
army. SO effective was his work that,
according to military experts, the Turkish
army, fighting on its own ground, was
practically invincible even against one of
the great powers.
Then came the downfall Of the sui
tan. and the new regime in Turkey.
There was a feverish desire to develop
the country materially, and the liberal
sums of money formerly allotted to the
ina intenance Of the army were diverted
10 the Improvement OF roads and to the
construction of public works on a large
Scale. The German instructors were dis
missed, and more serious error .be-
cause OF their loyalty to the deposed
Abdul Hamid, the young Turkish Off
GERS educated in German schools and
methods, the very flower of the army.
were also driven off.
Few Officers Competent
NATURALLY Reorganization began, and
progres sed steadily. and with few conf
petent ard capable officers, the array
was soon afflicted with dry rot. Econ
omy was the watchword. and no new sup
plies were bought. The criticism of the
ohsei vers of the recent engagements to
the effect that the French artillery of
the Bulgarans was far superior to the
German artillery CT the Turkish army
was founded on a false promise, for the
reports to the general staff here chow
that the German cannon were really of
obsolete type and that no guns of mod
err construction have been purchased for
several years.
Put even with modern guns the I'M
fortunate Turk would still have been at
a great disadvantage. for by the same
false rule of economy there has been
no purchases for some time of amnuni-
ton, either for large or small arms
This explains the desperate hand to hand
encounters of the Turks; they had no
ammunition for their muskets, and one
battery after another was abandoned TO
the Bulgarians and the Servians, GfeeiIs
and Montenegrins because the caissons
we're empty.
There was one other and very mpor-
tant cause for the Turkish defeat" said