The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1914-11-07

whims of the individuals connected
with it.
THE TURK AND THE WAR.
The European conflict has spread
to Turkey. Before the advent of the
Turk into the present conflict the al
lied armies of Europe had invited rep
resentatives of the various Barbaric
dependencies to furnish recruits for
the army. This has continued and the
Turk, up to this time, has been the
most interested spectator in the east
ern hemisphere. England has called
upon her savage hordes to assist in
destroying German civilization and
promoting England's supremacy. This
the Turk has watched with mute sat-
isfaction and a sort of melancholy con-
temptation upon the whole scene, re-
Numbering that the flag of Moham-
med had, for centuries, waved over
the battlefields of Europe and that the
twilight of the European civilization
found him the one potent factor. The
position Of the Turk in reviewing the
Christian nations of Europe is an i'm
portant one, viewed from the stand
point Of Mohammedan civilization as
compared with the bitter racial feeling
that exists between the great Christian
powers of western Europe.
TRANSACTIONS from the Turkish press
reveals the keen satisfaction that
Turkey enjoys, not only as spec
tator, which she has been up to this
time, but as factor in the conflict
now that Turkey has taken sides with
Germany and Austria. The following
translations made from Constantine
pie papers appearing in this country
serve to illustrate the position of the
Turks.
"They would not look at the evils in
their own countries, or elsewhere, but
interfered at the slightest incident in
our borders; every day they would
gnaw at some part of our rights and
our sovereignty; they would perform
vivisection on our quivering flesh and
cut off great pieces of it. And we,
with a forcibly controlled spirit of re-
bellion in our hearts and with
clenched but powerless fists, silent
and deprest, would murmur as the
fire burned within: oh, that they
might fall out with one another! Oh,
that they would eat one another up'
"And 10! today they are eating each
other up, just as the Turk wished they
would. Whatever people may say,
there is in the nature of things an es-
sential justice that will at last come
to light. To the benighted and the
victims of injustice it brings a smile
on the face and a joyous tightening of
the heart.
This being the case, there is in our
hearts a new feeling of mercy. We
can not forget what an eternal and
inextinguishable torch of learning and
the arts of France has always been.
We can not be blind to the fact that
Germany with its brains and it's in
dustry is highly civilized nation. We
will not be behind in praising the high
position the English hold in the civil
lied world, even after they have base
ly betrayed trust committed to their
honorable keeping. For this reason,
while we pray that this awful war may
be taken out of the way as soon as
possible, we also hope that in some
way or other out of this stream of in.
nocent blood may shine forth the light
of strong and lasting peace and
righteousness"
Another Turkish paper, reviewing
the Balkan situation, analyses the con.
flict with reference to Turkey and de-
clares that the Turkish empire is the
only important factor that can be de.
pended upon to properly handle the
Balkan trouble and outlines the posi-.
ton Of Turkey as follows:
Zone does not have to be great
scholar to see that the Balkans, after
giving rise to the European war, could
not remain in quiet and tranquility.
We are now in presence of effective
proofs of this evident truth which we
have often maintained. The efforts Of
Russian ENJOYS to gain Bulgaria, the
continual concentration of Greek
troops on the Bulgarian border. the
explosion of bombs placed by Bull.
garian comitadjis that have blown up
the bridges at Demir Kapou and Gev.
geli. the active negotiations by certain
Balkan statesmen, the panic that has
seized the Greeks of Macedonia, are