The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-20
FAMINE STALKS IN TURKEY SAYS
 TRAVELLING MAN
Disease and Suffering To Be Found Everywhere in
 Land, He Declares.

1 Amsterdam, Feb. 20. = Dispatch to
 The London Daily Chronicle )-There
 has arrived in Holland gentleman
 who holds a very responsible position
 of a commercial and financial charac- ter in one of the largest business | houses in Constantinople. He brought | with him the very latest impressions | from that city, and the picture he gives me is by no means a cheerful ! one. Privately I send you his name
 and position so that in giving pulp
 licity to his statements you need not I doubt their genuineness and serious 1 ness. Were you to publish his name ! more than one head would come off l in Constantinople.
 1 I asked first for a general impres-
 sion of conditions in Constantinop1e.
 He then gave me the following gloomy picture: | "Constantinople is a starving city, | where very certainly dozens of poor creatures perish every day, and where | for year and half typhus, cholera, and plague have never been absent
 as epidemics. Constantinop1e is dir | ty, and over all hangs the terrifying spectre of famine which, also threat CHS uCdI ly dll LII hCy III CuIO OPO. ''One sees Turkish soldiers, very badly dressed, with .worn-out boots, rambling along the streets with a
 dead-b air. Turkish losses up to | now have been very heavy. I heard
 several who are in position to form fairly accurate estimate put them
 at million and a half men,"
 tsAnd what asked, 'fs the condi- 4 of fI,A fo o1o and what is the feeling about their pow
 CT to continue to take part in the war?''
 l The traveller replied:
 .That I cannot form any definite conclusion about, but it needs. no gift of prophecy to say that from all ap- pearances and all that a member of the general public can hear the Turks any case, Turkey has certainly mo- I bilized all she has to mobilize. Old and young men with one hand or one eye have seen under military orders.
 Enver Pasha has without warning
 swept into the military net every more or less able-bodied man and I forced many thousands of women and
 children to work in factories.
 "One has hardly set foot out of doors l when one is surrounded, almost as
 sailed and borne down, by an insist l ent mob of beggars, dirty and half perished with hunger. Every race of 1 the Orient, every Balkan tribe is rep resented in this army of beggars, mingling pell mell with maimed and halt soldiers and others with grave I but, less obvious war wounds.
 l Complete control of the Turkish l Army has been assumed by the Ger mans. All the highest and higher Ecommands are filled with Germans; also the administration of national affairs is in German hands, with the result that there is perfect inunda- | tion of German officials everywhere. fThe Turkish military have absolute Fly no voice in directing affairs, the German Feldwebel, or Sergeant, hay ing higher power than Turkish Captain The Turkish soldiers are only kept in order by vigorous vici- l4ous and constant corporal punish ment for any and every alleged of fense Many Turkish Generals and other less high officers have been sent back from the fighting areas by their fGerman superiors. and even officers in most ranks are frequently sentenc- led to serve military punishments. I There is an unceasing demand on the part of the Germans for Turkish endorsements to fill gaps from losses l in the armies wherever the Turks are serving These demands always ere ate resentment and anger in Turkish military circles. Turkey should pri-
 m,arily occupy herself with the affairs of Asia, where her forces are already l weakened and scanty."
 | My next question was about muni- tions, to which the traveller replied: l Germany sends large quantities,
 but the Turks are now making much
 more in their own factories than at
 the commencement of the war. Work
 is incessant in the national factories Krupp's at Essen. Many new fac
 tories have been erected, but the
 whole Turkish output is not very l large.
 i sAs to finances, all is disorganized into anarchy, national and private af- 1 fairs being heavily and adversely af- 1 fected. It is not difficult to ina zine l the condition of Turkey when I say | that the Turks prefer the German
 mark, Austrian kroner; and even Bulgarian money to their own cur
 rency.
 | "Food is more often than not dan
 gerous. Meat is scarce and bad and very dear. A wretched sort of bread
 made from potato mixture and chest
 nuts has a horrible taste and is im- possible to digest. Rice costs shil- 1 lings a pound. Tea costs, when ob- l tainable. about sovereigns for one
 pound. The decrease in the rations
 of potatoes caused a desperate situa- ton among the hard-working masses
 in the factories, but the most trying
 lis the scarcity of milk, which for a long time past has been only avail
 able, even for, infants, in the form of skinned milk.''
 l My informant said there so far has ! been no open rebellion against the
 conditions, as this is quite impossible
 under the rule of the German police. i who keep order in the city with iron | despotism, but deep rage and discon- tent are universal. And am sure, ? he added, popular wrath only waits
 until the Germans leave the city be- fore it breaks out with utmost .vio- lence."
 tI