Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-05-28
FROM AMERICA
ON WHARVE5 At P|RAEUs
Object Lesson in What United States
Has Become to Greece Since
Outbreak Of War.
TOUCH DAILY GROWS CLOSER
Wheat, Formerly From Russia and
Roumania; Sugar, From Trieste,
and Automobiles From France,
Now Come From Across Seas.

P1RAEUS, GREECE. May 27-An hour
or so at a table in front OF a cafe on
the water front Of piraeus. the mort
or Athens, is an object lesson in what
the United States has become to
Greece since the outbreak Of the Eu-
ropean war. Once the wheat of Greece
came from Russia and oumania BY way
OF the pardanelles. Now two huge
cargo boats moorcd to the sea wall are
discharEinE American grain into the
holds OF "A flock of waiting barges I'm
half a dozen yellow streams. But the
boats themselves are Greek, not Ameri-
can. and on their sides is painted the
Greek flag, the name of the boat in
Roman letters and the single word
Greece.
On the quays, spread out in the hot
spring sun. are hundreds Of noisome-
looking black sacks bearing the i'm
print OF a New York firm and the label
~"granulated sugar Once the sugar of
Greece came from Trieste; now il Jour
neys all the way from New Orleans.
-Four Greek merchants are tasting the
contents Of one of the opened sacks.
The owner and by, bill Of adlnC
in hand. The four retire to a distance
10 discuss terms. They all talk at once
waving their hands in tmpassioned
gesture. no one paying the least at
tention to what the others are saving.
When one dissents. he does not shake
HIS head, but lifts il sharply upwards,
clicking his tongue impatiently. The
discussion takes a very long time. but
hnally the bargain. is struck, and the
four purchasers and the consignee of
the sugar. their days work done. retire
to a ~neighboring cafe to ak politics
over Turkish coffee.
Close in the shadow OF the wheat
ship, n dozen or so men are unpackins
a crate. a score OF idlers look on,
deeply absorbed as little by little an
automobile is revealed. The machine
comes from Detroit, not from France.
as would have been the case before
the val.
Across the harbor n huge. white pas
senger vessel is moored-the largest
passenger vessel in active service for
teh transatlantic trip. these war times.
1t is the King Constantine, of the Ma
tional Greek Line. plying between
Piraeus and New York, making the
trip in a fortnight. She. too. flies the
Greek. not the American flag.
GLASS SHOW CASES OF
MONEY CHANGERS
Along the sidewalk opposite the
quays are more reminders Of the clos
eninE touch between Greece and the
United States. Every few steps. in
front OF the wretched shops, are sta
toned the glass show cases OF the
money changers, filed with their mot
ley collection of strange moneys
bulgarian, Roumanian. Turkish, Egyp-
tian. Russian and S~erbian-thef gold
and silver in bowls, the paper hung
on strings like washing on n line,
against the glass sides Of the show
cases. In one corner is always a roll
OF American greenbacks-to Americans
here. homelike and familiar in COM
pany with so much Oriental coinage.
Spiro will be buying such a roll soon.
Spiro Is a petty officer who belongs to
the Kinks. which used to he the Amer
lean battleship Idaho. Spiro does not
live in Greece. He Is from Saratoga,
N. Y, and when his service is over in
ia month or two he is going back to
his candy shop in Saratoga as fast as
the King Constantine can take hin