Omaha daily bee., 1916-01-02
WHERE MELTING POT
WORKS In VAIN
American Geographic soOiety's Re.
cent Studies Of Turkeys Bewil.
dering Babel.
CLASH OF TONGUES AND IDEALS

observe In America n gradual dissolving
proceFs a gradual "colliquefacton"
although sometimes slowed W when the
fires Of patriotism burn low.-but In
Turkey the ingredients are tougher and
stinglcr Century after century OF sim
nefing STRINGS by sclmitar. and sppli
caticn of the fierce heats OF religion.
have left solid masses OF population
stubbornly unsubdued to the Turkish
ldea-
The Turks" declares the author OF the
American Geographic Society's report.
Leon DominiRn, bear a name which has
no signif They themselves apply
Il to every MohammedRn inhabitsnt OF
Asia Minor without discrimination OF
race origin. But for fully eight cen
turtles they have stocked their harems
with womed seized from conquered popu-
lations. IL Is no exaggeration TO say
that this human tax has been levied on
almost every family of the Caucasus
Western Asia and the countries OF the
Balkan peninsula. Today the net result
OF this variegnted intermlxture is that
the Tartar origin Of the average Tirk
so called, IL entirely concealed by the
mlngling with Mediterranean, Aymeno'd-
Alpine and even Nordio elements. Except
in few isolated instances, thu Turkish
type OF Central Asia is rarely met within
Turkish boundaries. Clearly no valid
claim 20 racial distinctiveness can be set
up BY the Turks"
II the Germanic powers fancy that the
prophetic and final evolution OF the Turk
is represented by Captain Boy-Ed they
base Il on small grounds lie IL the
Tartar-Circas ssian- Armenoid-Teu hy-
phenate, his father being Turkish mer
chant resident in Germany, and hts
mother a German novelist: but he II not
type. but a more or less isolate incident
There are too few OF him 10 amount TO
a prophecy OF Turkeys future. That fu-
ture is as vague as the so-ealled Turk,
and his loosely held empire, Mr.. Domin-
ian writes;
Nationality Meaningless.
Turkish nationality is as equally mean
ingless las the word Turk). The de.
scendsnts Of Asiatlc nomads became mas.
tera OF western Asia without ever con-
ferring the boon OF government or OF ma
tonaiity upon the land and it's peoples
In Gibbons mordant language. the camp
and not the soil is the country Of the gen.
uine Tartar And Turkey is still a vast
fields In which the Turk has pitched his
tent waiting, Knowing that the day
IL not tar off when he will have 10 break
camp and seek now pasturaRes for mis-
herds and flocks But the site on which
he has settled for the past five centuries
has been the seat OF highly organised
government Seeing himself master OF
this estate the Turk unhesitatinely
adopted Ito institutions. Thus. under the
mantle OF Islamie theocracy. Byzantine
government and customs have continued
10 flourish In Ottoman domains. Barring
spl cial features belonging TO Mohani-
mechanism, the cermonials OF the suitan's
court may bo tra,ed step by step 70
Byzantine government and customs have
of tho cniiphs is alien 70 the fundament-
ally democratic character Of both Tartar
societies and Koranic teaching. II Il
bysantine and a relic OF the despotlsm
OF the Roman Caesars"
Even the language OF the so-calIed
Turk is not his own Originally he had
one, but now ''over 70 per cent OF the
words in any Turkish daily are Arabic.
retained in unalloued purity A scant
sprtnkling OF Tartar words merely re-
calls BY their sound the rauoous articula-
uons which form the nomad's speech.
while their paueity is true measure of
the limited range Of coneepts which find
Judgement in his mind. the splendor of
Arabian Hyntax and the supple elegance
OF Persian style alone confer literary
flavor upon H." Moreover. in religion
the Turk II no innevator He has
merely taken unto himself the idealism
OF Arbia And yet hts efficient WELD OF
the fine edss OF Mohammedan fanati-
cism to sever the ties which bind Islam
10 the land" He has never really sub
dued or made Turks Of any element In
his population--hs has merely made
himself less Turkish. mainly by the pro-
cess OF plural marriage with various
foreign ~omen-in effect marriage by
capture or purchase.
Place Of Conflicting ideals.
From the social standpoint the east
ern half OF Asiatic Turkey deserves In
restigation as the seat Of an imnlsmorlal
conflict between nomadism and sedcn-
tary life. Every stage OF the transition
between the two conditions may he OBJ
served. The feuds which set community
against community in Turkey originate
IN the DIVERGENT interests OF nomad and
settled inhabitant. Viewed as q whole.
Asiatic Turkey has changed from an
ideal nursery OF hardy men to a land Of
meeting between races and people Aa we'll
as between their ideals. II may be safely
tants bids fair 20 be as intimately af-
fected as the past by the circumstances
Of the remarkable situation OF the coun-
try and lie features. One can only hope
for their sake that 3 thorough invasion
OF highland and .owland by the spirit
OF the west not be delayed much longer.
This much may be said now. that the
establishment or Christian rule In the
land would probably be attended ny
Wholesale conversions to Christianity in
many Eo-cailed Mohammedan eommun.
itieg where observance OF Islam.e rites
has been dictated b. policy rather than
b, faith /"
Confusion by Tongues.
Among the differnnt languages Il
northern and central Asiatic Turke,
mot necessarily foreign" some OF then
beins more thoroughly native than tina
used By the governing Turksl Greek Il
spoken by 100000 as compared with
100000 speaking Turkish. other Ian
guages are Arabic. Aramean. Armenian
tAryan). syriac. orusinian. Kermanje
Kurdish and Hebrew.
Among the different races (most 0
them not foreign" but native to th
land for ceuturiee). are Turkoman's. IN