davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

1910 and the ill-advised and terrible man.
ner Of it's repression. In the summer
months Immediately following this still
worse scandal in the repression OF Mace
donna was untouched by the cabinets OF
Europe. And in this connection II should
be remembered that Turkey Is not
country wholly free and sovereign Sne
rightly so. Yet Macedonia was terrorlzed
and outraged in a manner which, but for
the selfishness of the game OF diplomats,
would have caused European interven-
ton.
Under the label Of disarmament of
population at that time peaceful, the Bull
garian villages of Macedonia were. with
appalling lack Of provOcation, tortured
and maltreated. The procedure was as
follows: A ring of soldiers from 200 to
800 strong would seal in a village for a
period of three or four days, and on
some occasions for from, ten days to two
weeks No one was allowed in or out eX-
cept by rare and special permission. the
most general exception being that of
some luckless Bulgarian returning from
a business trip to Saloniki- He would be
passed through the Gordon and escorted
directly to the Turkish schoolhouse-for
it was then vacation time-and there re-
ceive the beating such as was being given
to his fellows.
The choice of the peaceful little Turk
ish schools seemed the very irony of
cruelty. The first inkling of what was
about to happen to a village was the APP
pearance of Turkish troops and the seiz-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

a condition of affairs as bad as anything
known under the bloody rule of Abdul
Hamid of sinister memory. With a brief
respite of few weeks of 1905, when the
committee of union and progress first
came into power, the torturing crueities
of Turkish misrule, which aroused the en-
tire civilized world, have gone on un-
checked
In Turkey itself the enchantment that
Immediately followed the revolution was
entirely dispelled by the summer of 1910.
For the outer world it has taken the
Italian war and the increasing gravity of
the situation in the Balkans to lay bare
what the Young Turks have really been
doing since they came into power. Al
most completely disregarded by the for
eign press were the events which led up
to the Albanian revolt of the spring of
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

stances of torture at this time which in
Guided beating to death on the head Tin
one case doctors certificate, obtained
by violence, read Death by suicide'D
crushing the shoulder blades together.
throwing water on the unclothed victim
and leaving him out of doors through q
cold night, keeping priests standing on
one foot until they dropped exhausted.
placing hot eggs under the armpits, ETC.
Many of the tortures were too out
rageous to mention. The list Of persons
maltreated in the district of Monastira
alone from August 20 to October IA
numbered 81. This list includes only
the cases which necessitated medical
care or were permanently injured The
murder list, with specific stories which
make even the average Turk repudiate
his own government, reaches over q score
at this particular period.
Today the government is reaping the
harvest of the crimes sown In the sum-
mer of 1910. Bombs are exploding here
and there in Macedonia and other repris-
ais of Christians there are of such ire
quency as to excite little interest in Con-
stantfnople. The Turk is explaining that
the Bulgarian revolutionists are wild
beasts. repudiated by all the Bulgarian
villagers. And it must be admitted that
the revolutionist, once compelled to seek
for justice by blood when 1t is not to be
obtained by other means, shows little
conscience and, spares no ona Mace-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

donna, fair to look upon as the traveller
journeys over its plains or through its
valleys, has again become an unhealthy
place for its inhabitants: -.
It Is not necessary to invoke the witt
ness of foreign consuls, who are always
accused Of being biased pessimists. to
the wrongs done with the cOnnivance or
aid of the men in power. Here is the
evidence given last month in a trial in
Constantinople, relative to q political
murder instigated by the committee of
union and progress. The affair has
brought to light much subsidiary matter
in Macedonia. the home of the murdered
man. One witness, guilty OF nothing but
that he refused to be the tool Of assas-
sins, gave the following testimony while
seated. He was unable to stand.
1.-TWO gendarmes took me by one leg
and two more gendarmes by the other
leg, and then while they held me I was
beaten on my bare feet. One Of the
gendarmes kicked me in the head. I do
now know how many blows of the basti-
nado received because tainted. At one
time while was being beaten. one of the
officers held revolver to my bead and
said: We are going to kill YOU tonight.
After beating me. they beat the thirty
others, one by one. Then we were taken
below. Capt. Ali came in and said to
Mustapha Zone of the prisoners). Come.
You are wanted. You must go and md
Kadrt' lAnother peasant wante1 by the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

of the Mohammedans of the world. But
these two axioms are not incompatible
with the happy development and unre-
served loyalty to Armenian, Greek. Bull
garian or Christian Albanian. With the
exception of certain Greeks obsessed with
the big idea Of mighty Hellenic en-
pire, there is no subject race in Turkey
which would not by a great majority,
prefer to be a constituent part of a
righteous empire than to run the risk of
domination and absorption by a European
power. This does not mean that there
are not thousands, even millions, of peo-
pie under the heel of the Turk who are
convinced that there is no hope of justice
so long as Turkish rule lasts.
The great cry in Turkey today, as in
the past, is How long?" The answer is,
Just as long as the Turk continues to
be bolstered up by dissentient Europe.
Just SO long will the non-Turkish races
Of the empire groan under the thrusts of
the bayonet and the blow of the basti-
nado.
The problem is not in the slightest de-
gree a religious One-of the Christianity
Of the west against the Mohammedanism
of the east-as so many Turks. and even
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

some Christians, would like to make out.
To be sure, Moslem fanaticism and the
counter stubbornness OF the Christian pop
ulations complicate the question but on
the higher plane of humanity, setting
aside all creeds and animosities Of re-
ligion, the rule of the Turk is bound to GO.
Moslem Arabs and Moslem Albanians. IL
not ignorant and superstitious. proclaim
their hatred of their Moslem oppres-
sors, the Turks. In common with the
cringing Armenian. the logged Bulgarian
and the angry, seIf-confident Greek, they
despair of the Turk.
These five chief non-Turk races of the
empire are all superior to the Turk in
their ability. The Turk conquered not
only his present possessions. but the
lands up to the very walls OF Vienna, by
his superiority as brute warrior. In
the generations since intellect and wealth
have controlled the power of brute mill
tary and naval force, the Turk has been
a steady loser in the race except when
sustained by the brains of his subject
peoples or by European weapons bought
at the cost of bankruptcy.
fcooyriebt 1912 lv Curtis Rrowp.)
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07
TIL. GREAT. .BREAKyMATER. To Mos ISLAND
CONTAINS 18OOO,O 900 CUBIC YARDS

trip through the canal as 1t runs in and
out to the Pacific ocean. 1 made such
trip today with Mr.. w. G. COmber, the
engineer in charge of this part of the
work He is a man who understands his
job and who has won his way to the
top by his work as a civilian The most
of the engineers here belong to the
army. They are graduates of West Point
ali their lives. On this Pacific division
there are many civilians. Col. GOethals
uses the best men he can get, whether
they be military or civil, and he seems
TO have punched the civilians into this
end of the work. Mr.. Comber is now a
man of fifty or more. He is an English
man by birth, but he ran away from
home to this country as boy of fifteen
and three years after began work with
the Mississippi river commission in 1918.
He started in there as an axman for a
term of three months and stayed on the
job eighteen years. At the end of that
time he accepted a position as resident
engineer with the isthmian canal COM
mission, and he has been here ever since.
He has had much to do with making the
canal and has also had charge of carry
ing them out.
X X
Engineer Comber will go with us on our
trip through the canal We take a steam
launch at the wharf near the shops and
are soon out in mid-channel. We are on
the only part of the canal which is ac-
tually completed, or, as Mr.. Comber says,
the only Atwood, yard-wide canal that
we now have. The dredging opposite
where We start is all done, and this Is sc
of a great part of the channel from here
to the locks at Mirafiores. From those
locks out to the sea the canal is nine
miles in length. 1t is 500 feet wide AZ
the bottom and for the greater part OF
the way $50 feet wide at the top 1t Is
now only about thirty feet deep for the
stretch which runs from the wharf to
the locks; but that running out to the
Pacific is forty-fiye feet deep and Is as
wide as good-sized river
The canal here is lined with low for
est-clad hills which rise on each side OF 1T
a thousand feet or more back from tne
shore. The banks and this thousand odd
feet are covered with thick vegetation
consisting of plants which will live in sal,
water They are mostly mangroves. and
i am told they will die il they cannot Dc
fed by the sea. They are for the mos
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

part bushes ten or twelve feet in height,
and they look just like the vegetation
which covers the valley of the Jordan OPP
posite Jericho and the alkaline soil run
ming from there down to the Dead sea.
Riding up the canal We seem to be go
ing through a river in from the ocean.
The scenery is beautiful and the water.
which is salt mixed slightly with the in
flow from the Rio Grande. is that of the
Pacific ocean. Our launch takes us up
the canal until we are stopped by dam
-dredges which is now being built across
the channel. Were it not for this dam
we could go clear to the first locks. and
Mr. Comber tells us that he could within
few months open the canal for Ordi-
nary ships to that point
X +
There are but few vessels which sail
the Pacific which are over thirty feet
deep, but this canal will be forty-five
feet in depth all the way to the locks
and mighty dredges are still working.
What they are doing I will tell farther
on.
1t has been found, however, that there
are certain kinds of excavation which
gan be done cheaper and better in the
dry than in the wet. For this reason Is
the dam which is now rising before us.
The water will be kept out and the great
steam SHOScIS anu OtuCA hidCuhICiy Wal
deepen that part of the channel and then
the dam will be RACED and the Pacific
will flow to the locks. The completing
of this part Of the work within time is
sure. 1t will all be done long before
July 81, 1912.
But take a look at some of the mighty
dredges which are working about US.
There at the right is one which moves a
gigantic steam shovel SO arranged that 1t
works in the water. 1t has a great steam
engine upon 1t and this moves steel
arm over forty feet long at the end OF
which is a shovel-like hand which claws
down into the bottom Of the canal and
takes I'D about five tons of earth at a
time. 1t does this in a steel bucket which
swings around and drops its contents
into a barge at the side.
There are altogether. I venture. some
thing like a score of dredges at work on
the canal and the dredging is going on
on both sides of the isthmus.
There are other machines which crush
the rock in the bottom of the canal into
such pieces that 1t can be taken out by
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

HE writer has just
returned from an
extensive trip
through Macedonia
and Albania, and
has secured ire
futable proofs Of
diabolical cruelty
practiced by Tur-
kish soldiers upon
the unhappy. peo-
pie of the two
countries. He found
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

ure of the dozen or SO most important
and respected men of the place. After
being roughly handled and kicked up the
steps Of the schoolhouse, they were
thrown down on their backs in one Of the
schoolrooms. Then the shoulder strap OF
a gun was placed about the legs Of each
victim and frightened to vise-like grip
by turning the gun round and round.
When the man was thus securely held,
his bare feet were beaten with heavy
sticks
1T was necessary to beat their toes, I"
declared Turkish officer. laughingly,
''for these Bulgarian peasants are SO
tough that they never would feel any
thing else."
The. victims included respectable gro
GERS. school teachers and doctors, repre-
sentative men, with the sturdy, COM
mendable qualities of the better Mace
DOMAIN Bulgarians. The atrocities sent
scores of inhabitants to their beds and
even to the hospitals of Saloniki and
MOnastira, rendering many Of the VIC
Tins lame for life. But the bastinado
was by no means the browning iniauity.
1t was only the groundwork. A Euro
pean consul who received frst-hand in
formation Of what went on gives In
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

committed But as Mustapha could not
walk, a horse was sent for. Mustapha.
wished to put on his slippers. but his feet
were so swollen he could not get them
on. I have not been able to work for
eight months"
II this were an isolated case, it would
not be worth mentioning. 1t Is typical
case Of the liberty fraternity, equality
and justice which the committee and
party of union and progress are melting
out to the inhabitants of Macedonia.
Albania is faring still worse. There the
Young Turk in his stupidity is trying to
crush out the national consciousness Of
the Albanian. Albania will be allowed to
develop and prosper if IL will become
Turkized but not otherwise, is the inten-
ton of those in power in Turkey. The
Albanians, intensely brave and individual
istic, will never accept the condition. In
April, $685. they helped save CONSTANT
nople and depose Abdul Hamid. In April
1870 the Moslem Albanians of eastern Al
bania revOlted and We're cruelty suppress
ed In April. 1911, the Christian Alban-
ians of western Albania reyolted and
came so near to success that the Turks
compromised with them, but only after a
chapter. of campaign atrocities that should
have made Europe shudder. The Alban-
ian question has only just begun. 1t needs
to be solved by an unselfsh Europe, and
is as worthy of being solved by independ-
ence as was the Hellenic question four
generations ago.
The Adana massacres of April, 1909,
were cleyerly laid at the door of the
..Hamidian reactionaries." Later investi-
cation and subsequent events have re-
vealed the responsibility of the Young
Turks in this affair. The blackness OF
that blot on the Young Turks stands out
even against the somber tone of SO many
Of their other deeds.
1t is in vain that the committee OF
union and progress, or its ruling party OF
the same name, or any other of the
spokesmen of Turkey issue manifestoes
and write open letters to the European
press pledging their word that reforms
have been accomplished and that reforms
will be accomplished. The underlying
facts and motives of present-day Turkish
rule are painfully patent to any one VINO
has been living in Ottoman territory TOT
the last two or three years. There Is not
the least sign of any heart reform. In
competent Turkish officials are every
where in power. The program Ior the
future is that they shall remain In power.
Where justice is done in individual cases.
It is generally to create an impression. or
it is done under the pressure OF f.ne
minority party who are making heroic ei
forts to save their country. me sooo
and capable official. or the omciai wiz
merely is clever enough to know that IN
Justice lies the one hope Of safety, Is the
rareSt exception.
The minority party. recently given an
effective organization, is founded on ana
rooted in the principle of the equality or
the different races and in ample freedom
for the development OF each race, With
out any coercion in the matter OF schools
language religion or customs. The sui
tanate must, of course. remain in the
dynasty Of Osman; and the Ottoman sui
tam must. in the logic Of events, so far
o. ono can see, continue to be the caiph
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

LOW Old Ocean Is Fought
1 The Mighty Sea Wall
to the Island of Naos Almost
Completed The Mammoth
Dredges and What They Are
Doing-They Suck Up Rocks
and Cannon Balls Through
Steel Straws-Dynamiting the
Bed of the Pacific-A Trip
Up the Channel With Engi-
neer Comber Banks
Look Like Those of the
Jordan-Out to the Islands
Where the FortificationS Are
Building-Lighting the Canal
and How Uncle Sam Has En-
shaved the Sun-The Prophet
Joshua a Back Number.
copyright. 1912. by Frank G. Carpenter.)
Special Correspondence Of The Star.
BALBOA, Canal Zone, Panama
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

Y last letter de-
scribed the At
lantic end of Uncle
s a m gr e a I
waterway. / am
writing this at
what will be the
great port on the
Pacific, the new
town of Balboa.
1t is now made up
of shops and the
n ON e S of en-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

ton. 1t is just like its sister, the AncOn,
which is at work on the other side of the
isthmus. These dredges make me think
Of the old song:
1.-THE prettiest girl ever saw
Was sucking cider through a straw"
Each has two gigantic straws of steel
which extend down at the sides and
pierce the mud flats or gravel bed, and
suck at everything that is small enough
to pass through the six by nine inch holes
in their shoes. The best material for
them is gravel, and the most difficult is
heavy clay or rock. Solid rock cannot
be excavated, but Jumps. as big as a
mars head are carried through the
pumps without harming them.
Not long ago the Culebra drew about
sixty feet of steel chain from Panama
bay and threw it into the bins. and on the
other side of the isthmus the Ancon lifted
a cannon ball from the bottom Of Limon
bay. Quantities of fish, eels and shells
are taken up in these pipes and thrown
with the mud and rock into the stomach
like bins. The Culebra came with it's
own steam all the way from Chesapeake
bay into the Pacific through the Straits
of Magellan, and the Ancon. the Atlantic
suction dredge, steamed down from Nor
folk in the same way.
AS to the work of these dredges: in her
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

ployes. but rivers of earth and rock are
pouring down into the flats to build up
the space for the wharves, and a mighty
breakwater is moving out from the coast
to the Island of Naos, a distance OF more
than three miles. This brtakwater Is
almost completed. 1t runs parallel to the
axis of the canal prism, and rises above
sea level to the height of a three or four
story house. / can see the cars running
out upon it and dumping their great
masses of rock as 1 write
The breakwater has almost reached
Naos Island, and it now contains millions
of cubic yards of earth and rock, all OF
which have come from the crest of the
mountains at the Culebra cut. To give
you some idea of the amount of rock and
earth which it has taken to make it. I
will say that when completed 1t will con-
tain about 1S.OO0, 900 cubic yards. This is
enough to make a wall almost twice as
wide as Pennsylvania avenue in WASH
ington, taller than the tips Of the
feathers which crown the head OF
the Goddess on the dome of the
National Capitol. and long enough to
reach from the White House clear down
Pennsylvania avenue all the way to the
Library building. 1t would make a wall
300 feet high. 300 feet thick and 400 feet
long. These quantities are SO vast that
they amaze me. They seem too big for
my little red head. would say. however.
that the estimate is based on the figures
of Engineer Rousseau, who states that
million cubic yards of earth and rock
will equal a cube measuring 800 feet on
each side.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07


pierce holes in. the ocean bed that it may
be broken up by explosives. The dredge
is a big flatboat containing an engine
and having three derricks like those of
an oil we'll rising above it. Each derrick
has a drill which works sixty feet under
water. and makes wells or holes in the
bed of the canal as big around as the leg
of a man. These holes are sunk to a
depth of five feet or more and then load
ed with dynamite. When q score or SO
have been made the electricity Is turned
on. 1t flashes like lightning from one
charge to the other. and there is a series
of mighty explosions. The sea Is cast
into the air, the water bOils and bubbles
and becomes muddy with the debris. An
instant later it is quiet again and a vast
amount of rock on the bottom Is ready
for the dipper and clam-shell dredges
These drilling machines go on per-
petually. They are run day and night
with the exception of Sundays. This is so
of all the marine work at this end Of the
canal. The men work In two shifts Of ten
and twelve hours and are paid according
1y. The ten-hour men are Americans.
The twelve-hour men are gangs Of
Frenchmen and other foreigners who
came here years ago and who have stayed
We move farther out to the sea, follow
ing barge which is taking thousands Of
tons of rock to be dropped into the deep
Pacific. We pass boat upon which is a
great dipper lifting wagonloads Of earth
out of the water and throwing them into
barges That dipper holds two wagon
loads of rock and it looks almost human
as it rises and swings about through the
air. 1t poises over the boat and then
leisurely drops it's jaw, throwing into the
dredge a great quid of tobaccolike earth
weighing four or five tons.
And then there is the great steamer
dredge, the Culebra, which through pipes
sucks in mighty streams Of mud, gravel
and rock and pours them into the mud
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

This great breakwater is necessary. 1t
protects the canal from an ocean current
which here whirls around through the
sea, sweeping up the eastern shore OF
Panama bay and then coming down the
western shore so that it crosses the ca
nal from east to west. The current is so
strong that it carries quantities of silt
and refuse, and this is liable to clog the
canal channel. Therefore the engineers
have put in the breakwater, which shuts
the current out from the low portion of
the canal and forces it to run north and
south in the channel. The tides here rise
as high as twenty feet, and a part OF
the land near the breakwater Is bare at
low tide, although when the tide Is high
eighteen or twenty feet of water flows
over it.
But come with me and let us take
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

Special Correspondence of The Star.
CONSTANTINOPLE, March %, 1912.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

the shovels. There is one such at our
right. 1t is known as the Lobnitz rock
dredge. AS we look we see immense iron
piles rising and falling. Those piles each
weigh twenty tons, and when one of
them drops 10000 pounds of steel fall
upon the rocky toes of the canal. They
crush the rock and it is then ready for
the dredges.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

copyright, 1912. by Frank G. Carpenter.)
Special Correspondence Of The Star.
BALBOA, Canal Zone, Panama
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-07

Copyright. 1912. by Curtis Brown.l