The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-12-22

IN lNt Si'tb' = uOitldIiIS. FOIIiCAi
weep in Constantirople md in Syria
and in Egypt as we'll as in Germany
and England. Turkish Women suffer
in the war zone as do the women in
Belgium and France, writes Charles
M. Pepper in the Washington Star.
The cemetery at Scutari, opposite
Coustantinopie, with rs general air OF
dilapidation and neglecI,~stelters wo-
man mourpers as il did during the
Paltan war.
Women And Neutrality.
An acute observer Of affairs in the
near east remarked when Turkeys
position was in the balance that if the
crisis were olnE a few years later her
neutrality would be maintained, be
cause the Women you'd not let II be
otherwise. He was probably wrong,
because there is no reason to think
that a few years from no" the women
Of Turkey would be more allie to pre-
vent war than we're the women OF
Germany and France and England
last summer. Yet his observation was
based on knowledge OF & profound
change that has been g0ing on III the
position OF women 10 the Ottoman an
pire since the Young TURK revolt dis
placed the Sultan Abdul 3Iamid II
the old regime.
Following the success Of the Dung
Turks thai their ideals, 1nany of which
have since become So Disappointing,
there was an immediate movement Tor
the Improvement OF the status OF the
women. It MAJ have been because so
many OF the leaders had lived III
Christian countries and had absorbed
western ideas.
or il may have been q Geographic
reflection OF the new woman move
ment in the countries where woman
always was in tho habit Of asserting
herself.
Whatever the cause, the effects were
felt at once. The hareln was to be dis
carded. Few OF the people OF the west
knew that the hareTn, IL not a disap-
pearing institution, was at least a de-
cadent one, and that the privilege OF
maintaining four wives As allowed by
the Law OF the prophet was rarely
availed of by educated Turks, while
among the peasants it had no stand
ing. / never heard Of a Turkish peas
ant who kept four wives, though pos
sibly some travellers have encountered
this social condition.
Dcc1dcnCc of Harcnl.
The high cost Of living was some
what irreverenJIy said to be the cause
OF the ~decadenCe of the hareln anon
the higher classes. The real cause wa!
hat Turkey was feeling the impact o
western civilization.
The first development Of the nev
spirit among the Mohammedan wome1
Of Constantinople YVES the elnand fo1
education. 1t a met with the estab
lishrnent Of seminaries somewhat lik'
the young ladies' seminaries rathe'
than the young Women'8 colleges il
the United States. This was genuine
progress.
The aspirations Of the Moslen wo
men went beyond schooling. Thei
yearning apparently was for clubs an
societies, and for knowledge OF tn
world around them. A genuine ney
woman propaganda was organized b
a gifted Turkish lady. 1t was radica
in its aims-that is, radical from To
standpoint OF imnemorial customs.
The agitation was said to be mai
ing very marked progress in tn
screened households OF the Turks
governing classes. and It was partl
This movement that the observer ha
in mind when he said that a few yeal
more and Turkey would not have bee
allowed by the women TO take pal
in the war.
When the curtain that has bee
drawn over events in C~onStantinOp.
is raised ii may develop that the ne
woman'S movement has been n "a
tor III preventing unanimity in SUI
port OF Enver PaSha in his wal polio
n there be no Turkey in Europe Whe
the war Is over. the new woman NOV,
ment may have all the freedom
miiitancy in England. If Turkey r
mains it may be s~mothered for a tim
but not suppressed.
One OF the Anomalies.
II is one Of the anomalies Of tt
causes which led up TO the prese.
wal that the first step in the eman
patton OF Mohammedan WOlnen ShOu
be taken by "A Christian power.
When Austria foreshadOWed h
struggle between Slav and Teuton
tearing up the Berlin treaty al
changing its prcteCtorate over Bosn
and Herzegovina into territorial q
~nexation she made Austrian subjeG
OF a population the greater part
which was Mohammedan. Whatev
criticism may be directed agaiI
Austria's policy, it has been the tes
nony OF impartial travellers that &C
di;'ons in the two provinces Ia
been very greatly improved.
clSN IaG haop rntaI 4hof Tho g