The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-09-29

The poor in Turkey find 1T hard to keep
themselves alive. The only reason many of them do
manage to live In the cities is because the govern
ment allows each inhabitant half a pound Of
bread a day, for which the recipient has to pay
two cents. Somehow or other they all manage
TO get their two cents a day. Then there are
soup kitchens run by the American Red Cross,
the Turkish Red Crescent, the Jewish Charities
commission, the Greek Patriarch, and other socie-
tiles. Some soup kitchens give food free; others
sell at cost price.
There are now no dogs in the streets of Con-
stantinople. Time was when they acted as scav-
engers, but now there is no surplus left around
to eat. The people save their last crust. There
are no bones. The dogs were not shot or used for
military service, they were sent off to q semi
desert island In the sea of MarmOra and have
undisputed sway of its barren shores.
The government makes free distribution of
beans, cheese and olives to the families Of SOL
diers. but this support Is doled out in driblets.
Destitute families among the civilian population
also get supplies free from some of the charitable
organizations, but before the war one never heard
of men and women dropping dead from starvation
In the streets. Even now it Is comparatively rare,
but deaths from malnutrition and lack of re-
~sistance to even mild diseases are not uncommon.
People weakened by lack of food fall easy prey
to ailments which in normal times would not be
serious.
The aspect of Constantinople has changed con-
siderably since the outbreak of the war. Curl
ously enough, It has immensely improved, and
from q cause which Is entirely unrelated to war
or political conditions. 1t happened that during
the first year of the war an unusually capable
and honest man was mayor of COnstantinople-
Djemil Pasha, the foremost surgeon in Turkey.
He went to work on the city as If it had been a
diseased human being and performed surgery on
the streets. He cut out and removed unhealthy
slums and widened and relaid streets he paved
streets and cleaned streets and made parks and
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system completed and the street car system cleo
trifed. In 1915 he resigned because of trouble
with the government and went TO Switzerland,
where he had been educated. Later he made his
peace with the powers that be and is now back
In Constantinople.
Germany Dominates Turkey.
How far Germany seeks to dominate Turkey,
not only In military but also in civil matters,
may best be shown by the fact that Berlin in
sisted, as Part of the recent treaty with the
Sublime Porte, upon the reorganization of the
court system and the abolition of the religious
tribunals. This means a profound modification
of the MOhammedan political and civic system
along German lines.
The o.. S. S. Scorpion is informed In Constantl-
nople for the duration of the war. There are
only three officers and sixty men on board. Per-
mission for shore leave under proper restrictions
Is not denied by the Turkish authorities.
The wonder of wonders in Constantinople is
that women workers are beginning to be seen.
Woman's first step toward emancipation through
work in Turkey was brought about by an Ameri-
can inventiOn-the telephone. "Hello girls were
first employed. Then the city got permission to
use women as street sweepers-if they could
sweep the houses, why couldn't they sweep the
streets? Then the post office went short of men
and a few women were used as letter sorters.
There are also Turkish women employed as hos
spital nurses and In the soup kitchen.
Although Turkey is virtually dominated by Ger
many in military matters, the Turks do not love
the Germans. In the estimation Of the gentle
Turk, the German lacks tact and delicacy. Teu-
tonic ability, energy, initiative and capacity are
admired and genuinely respected, but the Turk
and the German do not mix any more than oil
and water. Yet Germans are everywhere In Tur-
key, and are almost falling over themselves in
Constantinople. There are German officers, Ger
man military experts. German civil advisers,
German educators-for Germany is paying par
ttcular attention to the education of the rising
generation of young Turks. Even the Germans
put In a military officer as adviser TO the Turkish
police headquarters. The TURKS somewhat re-
sented that.
The Turkish police system is about the best
organized thing they have in Turkey. Here the
Oriental love Of intrigue can give itself full play,
and as for astuteness and 'hnesse," the Turkish
secret service is not to be beat. 1t has more
weird and curious devices, more strange and
secret methods than the mathematical mind Of
German efficiency ever dreamed of.
The legal limit for is four wives.
AS a matter Of fact. most Of them get along with
= one. There are, Of course, some old-fashloned
reactionaries who insist upon their legal matri-
monial complement. and a few poor men who want
o servant and cannot afford one. These marry