The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1912-01-04
BY WILLIAM r. ELLIS.

dNlluOple.-"lne PHEASANT
sensation of sitting upon a shoulder
ing volcano may be enjoyed by any
one who attempts to understand the
Turkish situation. This great empire
is made up of diverse and conflicting
elements without any adequate ANAL
gamating agencies at work upon them,
such as makes the creation of the
American type the wonder of students
here.
Almost every one in Turkey con-
fesses allegiance to some cause or
body higher than the government it.
self. Patriotism is 3ubordinated to
nationalism. Men are Turks or Greeks
or Armenians or Jews or Syrians or
Arabs first-and Ottomans afterwards.
Such congeries of dissimilar races
is nowhere else closely gathered into
one empire. I fail to see how they
can ever possibly fuse Each of these
peoples is proud of it's own past and
intolerant of any program that does
not put it on top.
More Tongues Than at Pentecost.
In the streets of Constantinople one
commonly sees shop signs in five diff
ferent languages. French is supposed
to be the prevailing language Of the
higher circles Of the city. Except for
the work Of the missionary schools
the English tongue Is losing ground.
The German language Is not making
the inroads Of other German forces
here. Beneath the upper crust where
these European languages are recog-
nized one finds more tongues than at
Pentecost, and, incidentally, practical
1y all of the races mentioned in the
Pentecost story in the Book of Acts,
are now within the confines Of the
Turkish empire.
Ten minutes upon the Galata bridge
viii give vaster and better concep-
ton of the motley assortment of peo-
pies with which the Turkish govern
ment has to deal than a long news
paper article. Thanks to Islam there
is no color line in Turkey. Across
this rickety bridge, all wearing the
red fez or tarboosh, which marks
Turkeys subjects in Constantinople, go
black Nubians from Africa, and blond
Circassians from the north, yellow
Mongols and brown Arabs, with all
possible shades between the black and
the white-Armenian, Greek, Jew,
Druse, Koord and Turk. The dress is
more diverse than the faces. There
is no spot on top of the earth so
cosmopolitan as this shaky old struc-
ture which joins Galata and STEAMBOAT
above the waters Of the Golden Horn.
Liberty That Will Not Mix.
Wear any kind of clothes you
please and it will be all right; nothing
is strange in Turkey" So said an old
resident to a visitor. Turkey is toll
Grant of all non-religious usages.
There is no kind of raiment that may
not be seen in half an hours walk in
old STEAMBOAT; there are more rags
than in China and the latest fashion
in French shoes. Ottomans are fond
of shoes, especially the women. Be-
meath the hideous black garment (the
ezar) that covers head, face and body
there may be seen peeping out the
latest creation in tan or fawn col
ored Oxford ties. American enter
prise is opening up the shoe markets
for Massachusetts products.
A queer local fashion is the devo-
tion to the bootblack. There are no
sidewalks to speak of, and yet it is a
point o. etiquette to keep ones shoes
polished. Bootblacks who carry their
kits on their shoulders, are as common
as they were in American cities 20
years ago. The fexibility of Turkish
nanners-some of them primitive and
ITO western ideas revolting-speaks
well for the open-mindedness of this
country.
These things are superficial. Be-
meath them reigns a rigid loyalty to
ones own nationality and religion that
is the despair of all who hoped for
unified Ottoman empire. In this great
and fantastic city the life is grouped
in various quarters-the European
quarter, the Greek quarter, the Ar
menian quarter. the Jewish quarter,
and so forth. These different peoples
do not at all blend; there is no in
termarriage; each keeps its own holt
days; so that in every week Constan-
tinople has three Sabbaths-Friday
for the Moslems, Saturday for the
Jews and Sunday for the Christians.
The last is the best kept one. Each
nationality speaks of the others as
N"they." I have heard Greeks and
Armenians talking of the Turkish gov
iernment, of which they are legally
part, as if they were speaking of some
nation in Africa or America. There is
today no Ottoman type as there is an
American type. This is big fact
lever to be recognized in any con-
sideration of Turkish conditions.
Religion and Nationalism One.
In the Ottoman empire there is no
non-religious class, at least openly.
The young Turks are doubtless skep-
hical in all matters of religion, and the
more conservative Moslems call them
dnf1dels. Outwardly the Young Turks
knn f@r 81 H. ~ nat