The Washington herald., 1918-10-31
TWELFTH INsTALLMENT.

My failure to prevent the destruc-
ton of the Armenians had made
Turkey for me a place of horror.
and / found intolerable my further
daily association with men who.
however, gracious and accommo-
dating and good-natured they might
have been to the American Ambas-
sador, were still reeking with the
blood of nearly 1.000,00o human be-
ings. Could have done anything
more, either for Americans, enemy
aliens, or the prosecuted peoples of
the empire, 1 would willingly have
stayed. The position of Americans
and Europeans, however, had now
become secure and. so far as the
subject peoples were concerned,
had reached the end of my re-
sources. Moreover, an event was
approaching in the United States
" hich. 1 believed, would inevitably
have the greatest influence upon the
future of the world and of democ-
racy-the Presidential campaign.
felt that there was nothing so i'm
portant in international politics as
the reelection of President Wilson.
could imagine no greater calamity,
for the United States and the world,
than that the American nation
should fail to indorse heartily this
great statesman. If 1 could sub
stantially assist in Mr.. Wilson's re-
election. concluded that was GER
tainly wasting valuable time in this
remote part OF the world.
Reason for Returning.
I had another practical reason for
returning home. and that was to
give the President and the State
Department, by word of mouth, such
first-hand information as I pos
sessed on the European situation
1t was especially important to give
them the latest sidelights on the
subject of peace. In the latter part
of 1915 and the early part of 1916
this was the uppermost topic in
Constantinople. Enver Pasha was
constantly asking me to intercede
with the President to end the war.
Several times he intimated that
Turkey was war-weary and that it's
salvation depended on getting an
early peace. l have already describ-
ed the conditions that prevailed a
few months after the outbreak of
the war. but. by the end of 1915,
they were infinitely worse. When
Turkey decided on the deportation
and massacre of her subject peo-
Piles, especially the Armenians and
Greeks, she had signed her own
economic death warrant These
were the people. as 1 have already
said. who controlled her industries
and her finance and developed her
agriculture, and the material con-
- a
crime now began to be everywhere
apparent. The farms were lying
uncultivated and thousands of peas
ants were daily dying of starvation.
As the Armenians and Greeks were
the largest taxpayers, their an
Inhalation greatly reduced the state
revenues. and the fact that prac-
tically all Turkish ports were block
AIDED had shut off customs colIec-
tions. The mere statement that
Turkey was barely taking in money
enough to pay the interest on her
debt, to say nothing of ordinary
expenses and war expenses, gives
a fair idea of her advanced degree
OF bankruptcy. In these facts Tur-
key had abundant reasons for desir-
Ing a speedy peace. Besides this.
Enver and the ruling party feared
a revolution. unless the war quick
ly came to an end. As I wrote the
State Department about this time.
these men are willing to do almost
anything to retain their power"
Still I did not take Enver's i'm
portunittes for peace any too seri-
ously.
Are you speaking for yourself
and your party in this matter" I
asked him, ''or do you really speak
for Germany<aiso? 1 cannot submit
a proposition from you unless the
Germans are back of you. Have you
consulted them about this?"
NO" Enver replied, but I know
how they feel
That is not sufficient" an