The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-01-02
BALKAN WAR
A SURPRISE TO
MOST PEOPLE
ESPECIALLY THE TURKS WHO
THOUGHT THEIR ARMY WELL
PREPARED, ONLY TO FIND A
LACK OF ORGANIZATION.
az AssocIArEp PRpss.

College at the Turkish capital. +
The letter follows:
This has been war of surprises to /
most people. The Turks themselves
were among those most surprised.
They had expended some forty-two |
million pounds upon their army.
They supposed that whatever else
they had not done they had at least
prepared an army, but that army has
failed them.
The principal reason seems to be
lack Of organization. The officers of
the army were not In touch with their
men, The committee of union and /
progress had gotten rid Of the old Of
f1cers, who had risen from the ranks
and who knew their men, and substi-
tuted officers trained in the military |
schools of Turkey and Europe. I'm
fortunately these officers have been |
devoting too much time to politics and |
too little time to their work with the |
army. So they did not adequately |
know their men.
Confusion Everywhere.
Turkey at the opening of the war
strained every nerve to bring her sol
diers to the front. They came In by
ships which passed down the Bos-
Ihorls every day, the soldiers cheer |
ing and the bands playing. The sol
diers were put into cars and sent to
the front, often without their officers.
When they arrived at the station
where they were to leave the railroad
officers We're in waiting who took them
and placed them in their companies.
All corp and division formation was
lost. 1t was confusion. These soldiers
went to the battle under bad condi-
tons They needed a month at least
to train with their new officers and
get to know one another and their
leaders.
Then the commissarlat failed. It
soon became evident to US here in Con-
stantinople that the government was
| bringing in men much faster than food
They gave money to the soldiers and
| told them to go and buy food for them
selves, but often they could not find
| food to buy, and many os the soldiers
were suffering from hunger before they
saw battle or heard a gun. When
/ fighting actually began all their diff
| culties were increased. 1t is painful
to contemplate.
Under these conditions the Turkish
army ought never to have advanced
| beyond the line of Lule Burgas., They
should have taken up strong positions
there; waited to get all their army to-
gether; trained their men and put
them into sympathy with their officers.
By this time all the world knows
that the Bulgarian army did not pur-
sue the Turks beyond Lule Burgas.
| tt waited nearly a week before they
made their demonstration to try the
strength of the Turkish army at Cha
/ taldja. There has never been a pitched
Rattle there, and now eace negotia-
lions are going on. The Turk is not
driven out of Europe, nor do 1 believe
that he will be now. Constantinople
| will remain under the Turkish govern
ment, and a strip OF territory the size
of which will be determined by nego-
i tiations.
Constantinopie Peaceful.
While the newspapers have been
filed with accounts of the condition
of Constantinople, filled with refugees
and soldiers driven back upon the
city, and while they have been de-
scribing scenes here only rivalled by
the scenes in Dante's Inferno" we have
been living in Constantinople in peace
and quietness. There has been no
hloodshed here and the government
has maintained order with great firm
ne IS. We should remember that Kia-
mil Pasha's government took up the
work after the committee of union and
: progress cabinet had been turned out.
soon after the beginning of the war
, The least that we can say about the
committee of union and progress is
J that its name is misnomer, for the
{ committee stood neither for union nor
for progress.
Kiamil Pasha's cabinet had a hard
task. They inherited the war, the
, army was what the committee of
union and progress had made it, and
/ the country was filled with their ap-
| pointees in office. There has been no
serious disorder in this city during
/ the war. Robert College has not
missed one day of lessons The great
est danger was in the provinces. As
| of old. when any trouble arose in the
{ Roman Empire. they cried THE
Christians to the lionsi" so in the
, Turkish empire the Christians have
usually suffered when things went
) wrong The Armenian patriarch and
his council have been in great anxiety
for their people in Adana, in the Bitlis
and Van region, and in other parts,
! and they had reason to be anxious
? We all shared their anxiety and do yet.
, But there has been no general mas
, sacre in the Asiatic provinces. There
{ have been disorders and some lives
. have been lost. but nothing like what
we feared has taken place, and we
who know the country arc sure that
1 there would have been very serious
, massacres there had not the govern
ment exercised strong control over
the turbulent populations.
= War is Saddening.
5 love Turkey and the Turks. 1t has
= drawn upon our sympathies and has
shocked US with its horrors, but there
is a bright side which has not appeared
III the newspapers. and that is the
dignity. strength and wisdom Of the
| government. struggling against ire
nendous difficulties to keep order and
accomplish its task.
There is one other thing l must