Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-13
PHILADELPHIA GREEKS
LOYAL TO CONSTANTINE
Little Colony Here Mourns Rul-
e-'s Forced Abdication and
Blames Allies
PRo-GERMANIsM DENIED
King Can Fight Like Devil for Greece,
Says Papageorge, and
Others Approve
Rv M,LISS

There is mourning In the Greek colony In
( Philadelphia today-sorrow In the hearts or
The Aiexanders, the Christas and the
Georges because OF the putting down OF
their beloved Constantine, whose forced
nbdication from the throne and country is
likely, once more they predict. to empty
the Walls of bloody revolution upon the
heads OF their country7ren.
what little business Is being done I'm the
vicinity Of Lsocust ard Eleventh streets Is
carried on u au ahsentrnllnded and dis
trait manper. What matters II that Helene
wants a can OF beaus with tbe picture OF
old King otbon on II. or that Stephano de-
mauds small fish? There Is a DISCUSSION
on some one Is recounting the stqrs Of the
adored Queen Sophies appearance 20 the
balcoDy the time ahe was accused OF stab
biug her beln~ed hualand and her pas
nionate denial OF the ugly charge Who
has the heart TO make sales2
IN THE GROCERY
In the grocery store ~ George
Staroyiannis an eager little group assembled
vhen they learned that leannis Papageorge
was In town again. Papageorge although
a young man, Is one OF the leaders OF Greek
thought in America.
He ls travelling salesman whose terri
tory extends from Boston TO West virginia,
and although he is a good salesman with
an order book in one pocket. he Is ike
wise a good Greek. with a copy Of Plato
In the other. Moreover, he fought In the
Bulgarian war in King Constantnes own
regiment and has the wound that he re-
ceived in "A charge at Janina, Epirus. when
the King not ten feet away from MN,
To-day like another Aristotle. Papageorge
declaimed peripateticaly, while his audi
ence sat around on StaroyiannisS soap
boxes and counters and nodded their heads
in emphatic approval Of his words.
The Greeks all over the country ne was
saying, are behind our Constantine and
the royal family and this mornings news
came with the suddenness OF "A bullet from
the back II is another Of the Allies blum
ders, this forced abdicRtion' ana unless
there is a strong statement from our King
advising us to the contrary, II Will go nara
with VeniZeNos and his followers
"Our King and Queen have proved they
are for Greece and not for Germany or for
the Allies That Is why they now suffer-
Constantine is one Of us He has kept
out OF this war because the people do not
want it-for no other reason. He is
brave man and can fight like deviI. In
the war against the Bulgars he won thirty
one battles in thirty-four days. lie Is a
monster in fight, but he is the peoples
King and not the pawn for foreign coun-
tries. That is the reason why "e prefers
70 give up and go TO switzerland, because
the Allies by the blockade and starvation
and internal intrigue have tried TO force
him from his neutrality"
A dozen eager listeners took up the
strain here The beloved Constantine was
named with those two great Constantines
Of the past-Constantne the Great. who
introduced Christianity in Greece. and Con-
stantine Palaeologos, the full blooded
Greek born and crowned in Sparta, after
whom Constantinople is named, and who
brought about the fall of the Eastern En-
pire in 1853
KING FOR GREECE
According to Papageorge, there is in
Greece today well-trained army OF $780,
900 men, but unless there is a command
from Constantine himself not 10000 OF
them will answer the call OF Venizelos and
the Allies The pro-Germanism charge no
dismisses with gesture and the emphatic
words: Constantine and Sophie are for
Greece. neither for Germany nor the Allies
and that is the trouble"
The Crown Prince George is second only
20 the King and Queen In the affections Of
these isolated but local Greeks, and the
twenty four year-old Prince Alexander. who
has been chosen for the throne is spoken
OF as "a sweet boy" very quiet and home-
loving.
Asked IL there were Greeks in America
who would return to their native isle should
there be war or a revolution a pail fell |
george answered
any other, no! Let Constantine call and we
come. Am | not rght?'
And those on the soapboxes and cOun-
ters registered with mods and words an un-
mistakable affirmative.
1t Is thus that the Philadelphia Greeks
revere their beloved Constantine.