The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-12
Everyone in Athens From King to Peasant Is Busy Explaining the "Situa- tien" to Visitors
KING AND PREMIER
 BOTH WERE ACTING
 UPON PATRIOTISM
If Greece Cannot Join AL lies She Will Certainly Not Fight Them and Force Immediate Starvation
By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS.

Athens, November 29-(Special corrs-
 spondence.)-We are not allowed to tell
 what the situation is here But in spite
 of the censor, am going to tell what the situation is. It is involved. That is not because no one will explain 1t.
 In Athens no one does anything else. Since arriving yesterday I have had the situation explained to me by members of the cabinet guides to the Acropolis. generals in the army; Teofani, the cigar cite king, three ministers plenipotentiary, the man from St. Louis who is over here to sell aeroplanes, the man from Cooks. and "extra people like soldiers in cafes. brgands in petticoats, and peasants in peaked shoes with tassels.
 They asked me not to print their names, which was just as well, as I cannot spell them. They are written in the language that made Dr. Jowett famous They each explained the situation differently, but all agree it is involved.
 To understand it, you must go back to Helen of Troy take running jump from the Greek war for independence and Lord Byron to MT. Gladstone and the Bulgarian atrocities. note the influence of the Ger man Emperor at Corfu appreciate the in tricacies of Russian diplomacy in Bel grade, the rise of Enver Pasha and the Young Turks, what Constantine said to Venizelos about giving up Kavalla, and the cablegram Prince Danilo of Merry Widow fame, sent to his cousin of Italy. By following these events the situation | is as easy to grasp an eel that has | swallowed the hook and can't digest it. l m Mr ty,a oT
 known contractor who sells shoes to the army, informs me the Gfeeks as one man want war. They are even prepared 1 to fight for it. On the other hand, Axon Skiadas. the popular barber of the Hotel Grande Bretagne, who has just been called to the colors, assures me no patriot would again plunge this country into con 1 flict To Axon the thought is personally so distasteful that he says, Tt makes me a headache''
 The diplomats here also disagree, espe- cially as to which of them Is responsible for the failure of Greece to join the allies. The one who is to blame for that never is the one who is talking to you. The one who is talking is always the one who, had they followed his advice could have saved the Situation"
 They did not, and now it is involved, not to say added. One military attache of the allies volunteered to set the situa- tion before me in few words. After ex- blaming for two hours, he asked me to promise not to repeat what he had said I promised Another diplomat who was projected into the service by the late William Jennings Bryan, said if he told all he knew about the situation. s'the world would burst" Those are his exact words. It would have been an event of
 undoubted news value, and as news gatherer I should have coaxed his secret from him, but it seemed as though the world is in trouble enough as it is. And if it must burst, I want it to burst when am nearer home. So switched him off to the St. Louis convention, where he was probably more useful than he will ever be in the Balkans.
 While everyone is guessing, your core spondent ventures to make guess. It Is that long before this letter reaches Amer ica, Greece will be demobilized, and will remain neutral, or will have joined the allies. Editorial Note: Greece is still neutral and the cables have reported par tial demobilization). Without starving to death, she cannot join the Germans.
 Greece is nonsupporting. What she eats comes in the shape of wheat from outside her borders, from the grain fields of Rus sia, Egypt, Bulgaria, France, America. Last week, when Denys Cochin. the French minister to Athens, had his inter- view with the King, the latter became angry and said, We can get along with out Frances money;'' and Cochin said. (Continued on Page Sixl