The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-17
NEAR EAST STILL
WANTS EDUCATION
DESPITE CONFLICT
Molasses Now Used For SUI
gar Chicory No Long
er to Be Obtained.

FAtr1Ck mas come nome IOr, Vacd-
ton and to develop plans to enlarge
the College and raise the necessary
funds. She will be here until next
May.
At the home Of George A. Plimp-
ton, 81 Park avenue, where DR.. Pat
rick is guest, she told the reasons
why the College was in such prosper
Gus condition, while the rank and file
Of Turks were suffering poverty and
distress. She said the register to-day
showed AT students. one Of it's high
est enrollments, which she accounted
for by the fact that, since the gen
eral movement for education through
out Europe was arrested by the war
two years ago. parents who have
been waiting for eventualities to
make travelling and other conditions
safe, gave up hoping for immediate
better times this year and sent their
daughters to the. college. DR.. Pat
rick said that one parent in Bulgaria
struck the keynote of the situation
when he said to her that he had been
waiting for two years to send his
daughter and could wait no longer.
Viewpoint Of Parents.
with money SO scarce as 1t is now
in Turkey, funds for education have
! been remarkably free" said DR.. Pat
rick. This il because parents have
felt that education must go on; that
it was q good investment for their
nlvings; that the college was provid-
led with facilities for taking care of
the students in better way than
cnnld be obtained outside. They
!, knew we had our own stores for food
ar equipment for medical care.
I'VE have a better class Of students
~, than ever before. Need for edu-
{; on seems to have been emphasized
re war. The niece OF the Grand
!. Of Turkey is one of our stu
two daughters Of the special
II; to King Ferdinand Of Bulgaria
fs Il. Miss Ethel Elkus, daughter
": se new Ambassador to Turkey, is
ng our courses, and three daugh-
of Oscar 8. Heller, American
&c sui at Constantinople, are study
with us. The Turkish govern
ri 1T is supporting Is students at the
.age. One Of them who was grad
ed last September Immediately
was invited to become a member of
an examining committee in Turkish
schools. with four men. Moreover,
she is a Mohammedan woman. Gen.
12jGXucA1 < dSIld has SCIAt dAOIuCI 6Idu-
uate, Niguar Hanum, who, by the
way, is ha1f-sister Of Halideh Han
UNI, the first Mohammendan woman
ever graduated from the college, to
Syria, where she is organizing schools
for girls throughout the country.
Problem of Food.
"Our greatest difficulty. in Turkey
now is the food problem. There is
little food in the whole city. Were it
. not for the large quantities of food
that we purchased some time ago at
high prices, the college would not be
able to enjoy the comfort it now has.
In the stores owned by the college
there is food enough to last for a
while; when it is gone we hope to get
more from our many friends in Bull
garia. Some things for domestic use
are 20 times their normal price. A
little cement to patch things here and
there cost 20 times what it did be-
fore the war. Materials for mend
T ing kitchen utensils are correspond
ingly high. Our main scarcity is
sugar. All last year we were able to
get none at all and used molasses. We
have a little sugar now, but paid en-
ormous prices for it. A sack of loo
kilos that cost So two years ago, to-
day is priced at 500. Rice is three
times as much as 1t was There is nc
coffee to be had in the whole city
Turkish people are drinking roasted
barley and chicory compounds. A
sack Of coffee that could be bought
for $57. now costs 1920. The city
authorities are doing out all the
bread. 1t is not made of wheat flour
at all, but of coarse grains. The six
teen to thirty loaves that are daily
apportioned to the college have been
NOT nearly enough, SO we have had to
supplement them with our own grain
bread that has cost us 40 cents fol-
every loaf.
The issuance of new paper p1asters
Give cents) has somewhat facilitated
the currency situation. OF course
there has been a great money depre-
citation In Constantinople, as there is
in any country at war Families have
to spend five times as much to live
there to-day as they did before this
last war. Rents have gone up. Be-
sides the food scarcity there is a fuel
shortage-wood, kerosene, coal and
caadles being almost unprocurable
The people have set up their little
charcoal braziers throughout the city
and these are about all they have
They have had to practice the strict.
est economy. For that matter, we
have had to do the same at the col
lege. With US it has been Ions
study. We now are able to give ou1
students nourfShing, simple fare fol
eleven plasters, about so cents each
q day. This is the actual cost of the
food exclusive of service and so on.
Tension If NfiIitarisYn
Things have become more quiet il
Constantinople since the British fef
Gallipoli. In fact, the tension
throughout these last two years wa!
less than during the Balkan war. Blu
this does not mean that in the streets
one could not find distress and power
ty on every hand. The German troops
In their brown uniforms and tn.
Turkish soldiers in gray have thrown
tone OF brown dulness over ALL They
march back and forth every day. TIL,
streets are full Of soldiers; there il
evidence of omnipresent miHtarisn
wherever one goes. The only ext
from Constantinople is by the Balkan
express, which goes but twice a week
The ferryboats on the Bosporous arr
fewer because of need Of curtailins
running expense.
"Constantinop1e was never so clear
as 1t Is to-day. and never so sanitary
There is appreciably less sickness. In
creased sanitation avoided threat