New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-11-01
Entered at the Postonice at New York as secOr
MaH Matter.
Turkey Reluctant TO Back Up It's
Acts of War.


mitted in the Black Sea by vessels flying the Turk
ish flag is easy to account for. The Turk does
Anothing in a hurry, and the running amucl Off the
Russian coasts may have been more or less Of a
surprise to most Of the members of the Sutan's
government The Sultan must have good deal
of concern about the future of the present dyn-
asty and can hardly share the fantastic dreams
of a Reconstructed Turkish Empire which are cher
ished by Enver Bey. the power behind the throne
and the chief agent in Constantinopls Of the pan
Germanistic propaganda.
/ new Turkish Empire in Asia and Europe as
an offshoot of man-Austro- Hungarian al
uance is the goal Of Enver Bey's schemes. But
the Sultan would probably rather cling to Con-
stantinople and what he has left Of his patrimony
than risk everything in q head-on crash with the
military and naval resources Of the powers Of the
rriple Entente and Of their prospective allies.
It is very easy to overeshmate the military
strength Of the present Turkish Empire. Mr.. Her
man Ridder. writing as a military critic in the
..staats Zeitung" puts the strength Of Turkeys
q
.the war strength is ouadruple her peace strength
But it is obvious that Turkey cannot equip and
keep in the field an army Of 100000 men, to say
nothing Of 100000 Her government lacks the
war material the organizing capacity, the capital
and the credit with which to maintain such
force
TURKEYS war machinery broke down as soon as
# was put to strain in the war with the Balkan
: States Training and education are needed to
make p modern army, and the average Turkish
subject though drst class soldier in the old days
Is UNEQUAL 10 the demands Of the present, as was
nrettv thoroughly demonstrated in the recent Bal
kan war The Turks could not make Roadway
against the Greeks, Servisns Bugarians or Mon
tenegrns. although in the with Greece in 1897
they had exhibited decisive, all-round superior
ity Even then the superiority was only relative,
and Greece and the Balkan nations have in the
last fifteen years outdistanoed Turkey in cult
waiting and attaining military efficiency.
Moreover the Turks rule over disconnected sub
ject peoples in Asia Minor, and if they try to
base the war against Russia, Great Britain and
France on an appeal to religious fanaticism they
will have these subject Christian races-among
them the Armenians and the Syrians-to reckon
with The Young Turks tried to increase the
strength Of the army by admitting nonNIahomet
ans TO the ranks. But that one of the causes
of the disorganization in the army which made
Turkey so easy prey for the Balkan states.
If a Holy War is declared (and the effects Of
such war are what Great Britain and France
have most to fear) the Turkish army will have to
be recruited solely from among the Faithful But
that step would cut down the recruiting material
enormously and throw large sections of the empire
into state Of civil war. From the point Of view
of actual military strength the support Of Ru-
mania and Greece would be worth far more to the
Allies than the support of Turkey would be to
Germany and Austria Hungary.
The Turkish navy, apart from the Goeben and
Breslau. the German warships recently acquired
by Turkey is an anachronism. 1t was bottled W
in the war of 1897 with Greece, in the recent war
with Italy and in the war with the Balkan League
1t may do some damage in the Black Sea, but ii
will hardly venture to meet British, French OF
Greek ships in the Mediterranean.
For naval and military supplies Turkey is
largely dependent on foreign nations. Germany
may have stocked the Turkish arsenals Trains
from Germany carrying munitions Of war to Tur
key were recently held up in Rumania But wher
the supplies already received gone Turkey
fighting power will also be gone 1t is a wild ex
travagance to think Of the Portes supporting in
the field an army Of from 100000 to 2OOOOO(
men in war which may last a year, or even
longer The bigger the army raised the sooner il
would fall TO pieces from lack Of equipment food
arms and discipline. Superiority in artillery fire
enabled the Balkan League armies to crush Tur
key, and artillery is the most costly arm TO main
tain, as well as the one requiring the highest aver
age Of intelligence in the men who serve it. Tur-
key will always be short on first class artillery.
II beaten, Turkey has more TO lose than any
other country participating in the European war.
a