davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

able to collect within a year, with in
significant exceptions they have al
ways lived up to their obligations to
herman creditors, The credit system
underlying this import trade results
IN the fact that all the time the Turkish
retailer and consumer owe considerable
sums to the importers, so that the Ar
menians, Greeks and Jews are always
creditors and the Turks always debit
ors. This inevitable relationship is
felt by the Turk (who Is apt to forget
that he has received goods for the
money he owes) as a state of depend
ence, and leads him to the notion that
the annihilation Of the Christian and
Jewish commerce would rid him Of his
indebtedness and leave him better off
financially.
However, it is not only the Arme-
nian merchant, who simply disappears
from the scene, that Is hit by the con-
sequences Of n policy which encourages
this delusion. but also tho German and
Austrian exporters and tho banks in
terested In export trade. haye before
mo tho customers list Of a single i'm
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27
The ''Creat Period"

This was the beginning of the sue
cession of European grabs" that be-
came notorious at the time of our diff
fculties and war with Spain. Taking
as an excuse the murder of two Ger
man missionaries in Shantung, the
kaiser's government followed that of
Russia Gn 1899 with the seizure Of
the harbor Of Kiao- chau, including the
port Of Tsingtau, where naval base
was established and fortress erected
under ninety-nine-yea lease extorted
from the Chinese. 1t was then deemed
eXpedient by the British government
likewise to find a naval base in the
Gulf of Pechili, and the Chinese saw
fit to grant the British a concession at
Wei-HaiWei, on the northern shore
OF the Shantung peninsula.
1t was this series of incursions that
alarmed the Chinese and caused them
two years later Gin 1900 to launch
the stupid Boxer rising, which cost
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27
"Creat Friendly People,

The Japanese used to call US the Great
Friendly People. We were among the
first to recognize their right to self
determination within their own bor-
ders and to agree to a termination Of
the privileged position which white
men held upon their islands.
After several quick and costly de-
feats at the hands of the United States
and European powers and the payment
of heavy indemnities during the latter
half of the last century the Japanese
realized the necessity of adopting
Western methods. and their first
modern warships were purchased from
this country, old Civil War ecruisers.
Within a comparatively short time the
Japanese had possessed themselves of
modern armament, but they then be-
gan to realize that the poverty of their
rocky islands was such that thew would
be unable to defend themselves and at
the same time find outlets for their
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

for the Turkish race not merely heee-
mony (Vorherrschaft) but exclusive
mastery (Alleinherrschaft) In the En-
pre- was to be executed in all Its i'm
phcatlons. Second, the Empire was to
be built upon purely Islamistic basis.
Iurkish nationalism and the Pan-Isla-
mstic idea excluded in advance tho
enfranchisement Of the different ma
bonailties and denominations Of tho
Empire"
"a Turkish Cabinet minister is re-
ported to have said in the course of
the war: by the end Of the war there
will be no Christians left In Constan-
tinoplc' An under-sccretorv
OF the Department OF Justice said to an
Armenian: There is no room both for
you and for ourselves in the empire.
and failure on our part to take
advantage Of the present situation and
get rid OF you would be irresponsible
leylty.' Members Of tho Young Turk
committcrs said quite openly that all
'strangers had to vonish from the en-
pirc~~frst the hrmcnians, then the
Greeks, then the Jews and finally tho
"A Turkish Cabinet minister boasted
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

to various Chinese provinces and by
profiting by the vast natural wealth
which the Chinese themselves do not
exploit.
On the other hand, the Chinese,
who regard the Japanese with a COLI
tempt inherited from times when
Chinese civilization ranked first in the
world, resent the assumption Of pro-
tectorate which the Japanese are
steadily attempting to impose upon
them.
The Japanese have become powerful
by adopting European methods and
making personal sacrifices for their
country, such as the Chinese do not
make, but this modern development
has only intensified the dislike the
Chinese bear them. Each regards it.
self as a greatly superior race, and
the Chinese prefer and tolerate Euro
pean ncursions-having even in tha
past invited Europeans and Americans
for the purpose of defeating the OBJ
jects Of the Japanese.
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

them heavily, further impaired their
independence and still failed to teach
them the lesson that the Japanese had
learned so readily, namely, that q ma
tion must take care Of its own integrity
and keep abreast of modern develop
ment.
Though the Japanese took part with
the allies Of that date in the march
to the relief Of the besieged legations
in Peking, they nevertheless looked
with no ease Of spirit at the encroach-
ments Of the white races in Eastern
Asia, for the French, too, had ex-
tended their possessions and "sphere
of influence" from Indo- China up to
the southern provinces of China proper.
Up to the beginning Of the present
war the game Of the European nations
appeared to the Japanese to be one of
selfish national rivalry and constant
striving for power, strategic position
and natural resources; and when the
great struggle began in Europe In 1914
the Okuma government, then in power
in Toxic, followed this European ex-
ample. An ultimatum was sent to
Germany, couched In terms similar to
that in which the Germans had par
ticipated with the French and Russians
IN requiring Japan, twenty years previ-
ously, to withdraw from Liaotung.
AS the latest treaty Of alliance with
Great Britain provided for Japan's par
ticipation in the war only in the Ash
attic sphere, Japan demanded that Ger
many withdraw from Tsingtau. her
Eastern naval base. There we're evil
dences at that early date that the
British and Count Okumas government
were not upon the closest understand
ting: that the Japanese were acting to
an extent Independently.
Berlin ignored the Japanese~sum-
mons, wherefore the Japanese block
AIDED Ktao-chau Bay, landed forces on
the northern shore of Shantung.
marched them across that neck of the
Chinese peninsula. despite the Chinese
protest, and, after investing the Ger
man fortress, stormed it and captured
the garrison Of 5000 men, who were
taken to Japan and interncd for the
duration of the war
In the East there was then nothing
to stay Japan, the great powers of
Europe were all involved in war. and
the United States was regarded as de-
termined to follow policy Of non-in-
terferenoe in foreign affairs. Presi
dent Wilson had publicly stated that
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

blessing can attach to(this mass plum
der which is without parallel in his
tory and which was thinkable only un-
der Turkish regime.
"A person does not become a business
man by staying one. Nobody learns a
trade by destroying its tools. A thinlv
populated country will not be rendered
more productive by the determination
of its most industrious inhabitants
The economic damage, which is by
no means limited to the Immediate
losses, huge as they are, but which will
be revealed to its full extent only
later, will have to be borne by Germany
and Austria in the first place."
And here, Inadvertently, it would
seem, DR.. Lepsius makes an important
admission. The world had occasion to
llsten to tales of the enthusiasm with
which the entire Turkish people went
into the "holy war" against the infidels.
The war, 1t was said, was hailed by
the Turkish masses as the great op-
portunity of Moslem revival, as the now
dawn Of Ottoman strength and gran
deur. In word, the Turkish, or rather
the German, press represented the war,
from the Turkish point of view, as the
osmanli equivalent of Der Tag"
Maybe this was the view taken of
the struggle by the Young Turk INTEL
lectuals Of Constantinople. 1t was not
the view taken by the Turkish masses.
II DR.. Lepsius is right. Note his
version;
Perhaps the popularity Of an un-
popular war was enhanced in tho ave,
of the Turkish mob by the chance TO
rob and annihilate the nom Mahom etan
populace, first Of all the Armenians.
then Syrians, Greeks, Maronites and
Jews. Thoughtful Mahometans. how
ever, will, in view Of the losses suf-
fered by this country, most sincerely
deplore the economic ruin Of Turkey
and will reach the verdict that the
turkish government has lost immense
~ more through the domestic warfare
than it could ever hope to gain by a
victory abroad"
In regard to the question Of enlicht-
ening the German public about the
Armenian horrors, DR.. Lepsius does
not attempt to conceal the fact that
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27
By Eugene S. Bagger

''::%.::'5:;; %::: :.:'; ;;:: s:::: & :: ::::::; :::::+
Moslem ideas and Mos
lem influence must pre-
dominate. All other religious propa-
ganda must be suppressed. The exist
ence Of the empire depends on the
strength of tho Young Turk party
and on the suppression of all antag
onistic ideas"
The above passage is quoted by DR..
Lepsius from resolution adopted in
1911 by the convention Of the Young
Turk party at salonIca. 1t contains.
according 70 tho German writer. the
theological background Of the policy
which eliminated in the determination
Of the Armenian people.
"Ths programme Of the (Youny
Turk) government vas determined bv
TWO leading considerations" Or. Lep-
siaa says In another place. "First.
tho csntralistic idea. which postulated
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

it necessary formally to obtain the
support of at least one great power
hostile to Russia. They found that ally
in Great Britain, forming an alliance
early in the century which has lasted
down to the present day.
The first treaty with Great Britain
provided for the maintenance Of the
integrity and independence of Corea
as we'll as that of China, but the Corea
clause was dropped In renewals of the
treaty when the march of events in
East Asia became obvious. The treaty
has been modified several times to
meet the changing status of Oriental
conditions, for it was originally de-
signed to keep the field clear for Japan
in meeting the thrust from Russia
down into China and Corea, a menace
that no longer exists.
Russia in the nineties was complet-
ing the Transsiberan railway across
Manchuria, the northern province of
China. Hardly had the Japanese with
drawn from the southern section of
Manchuria at the insistence of Russia,
France and Germany than tho Cars
ministers, by connvance with the arch
intriguer, Lii Hung Chang, took pos
session of the peninsula of Liaotung
by lease for twenty-five years, and
began to extend branch of the Siber-
ian road from Harbin, on the Siberian
road, south to Port Arthur in the pen
insula,
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

10 MORE powerful Indictment Of Turkeys in Armenia
appeared during the than that presented By
Drter, Dr. Johannes Lepsu chairman Orient
Mission and the German rnenjan
gated the Armenian prosecutions the Incorporated
rnds9s m report entitled D Lage des
lurk published secretly at Potsdan rp7ey
oooooras the testimony Of American
'ndorses the report published By the carqcs
the responsibility for the Armenian o1rght the Turkish
government declaring that the determination
"o decded upon at Consantinope poic Tho
o'"os s"ence the alleged government to
stop the prosecutions and his the German cnsorsn
""~ throughout wthed the truth the public costi
'"'' q" anptct admission Of Gemanys
IN 'Uo preceding articles haze
1psuss norraUe Of the his anolss Of the
attitude Of the Young Turks y WV
"e connd'ng article, printed gves Lepsus vieaus
" " '"s eOecs OF the prosecutions Turkeys economic
stotus. ~''0
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

only their own ignorance and lack of
culture. Eighty per cent Of the Arme-
man population of Turkey consisted of
peasants; the number of city dwcllers
was about equally divided between COM
merce on the one hand and the liberal
PROFESSIONS and various handicrafts on
the other.
Neither is religion an adequate ex-
planation Of Turkish inferioritv in tho
mercantile field. In competition with
Armenians and Greeks, Pcrsians and
Arabs (Moslems themselves) always
hold their own, inasmuch as thew are
not handicapped by ignorance of Ian
guage"
Gcrmany's trade relations with tho
Armenian, Greek and Jewish firms IN
tho Turkish empire were based on a
system of long-term credits, DR.. Len
sius explains. This is in contrast to
the English custom of granting credits
Tor very short terms only. an suite
of the fact" he writes, chat these Ar
men!an, Crock and Jewish firms have
TO sell on tho basis Of six or nine
months credit and are seldom II ever
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

! surplus population unless they con-
trolled territories and natural re-
sources abroad. The Coreans and
Chinese had not the power to restrict
their approach in the way that the
United States and the British Pacific
"colonies have seen fit to do so those
Asiatc territories became the Japan
ese objectives
China at first attempted to resist,
disputing, quarter Of a century ago,
the interference Of Japan In Corea,
which kingdom the Chinese had long
claimed as a dependency, though with
as shadowy an excuse as they now claim
authority over Tibet and Mongolia. The
ChinaJapanese war Of 1894 resulted
in the quick defeat Of the Colossus,
the modern-trained Japanese forces
sweeping the Chinese rabblc before
them almost as rapidly as they could
advance. The Japanese planned not
only to rid Corea Of the Chinese, but
to establish themselves also in Port
Arthur, the strategic naval base which
the approaching Russians already
showed signs of coveting. But three
Of the European powers Russia,
France and GERMANY advised" the
Toxic government in unmistakable
terms that it would be wise to with
draw.
The Japanese complied, but not with
out anticipating their next and greater
struggle-that with Russia. To an
amazing degree the Japanese had begun
to comprehend international matters
that were so new to them. To Europe
the millions of soldiers Of the Czar
were terror from which the creates,
nations had shrunk. Russia, it will be
remembered, had long been regarded
by Great Britain as her first menace
ard by Germany as a constant threat
to her existence. But the men who in
their youth had worn skirts and long
queues, who daintily famed themselves
and drank tea from delicate cups, had
gone abroad throughout the world and
made their own estimate Of other men.
their laws, religions and machines, and
had determined that the Great Bear
that lay across Europe and Asia was
by no means the formidable power that
European nations believed
They estimated correctly. however,
that he could muster friends and allies,
an0 they found also that there were
rivals with opposing interests among
the European nations, and they deemed
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

the German press hoodwinked It's own
readers by limiting itself to the pub
hcation of mendacious Turkish off,
clal bulletins. On the other hand, he
points out that this was due mainly to
the rigid censorship Exercised by the
German government BY defending
the German newspaper press DR.. Lep-
sius thus indicts the German govern
ment. The following passage is highly
Illuminating:
I'm Germany, also, when the unjusti-
lied excitement over the American re-
ports had calmed down-these reports
were, in the meantime, fully confirmed
through German sources-the facts be-
gan to be circulated in secret The
better class press, which even during
the war remained conscious Of its re-
sponsibility toward its public, pre-
ferred, with few exceptions, TO keep
silent altogether on the Armenian
question, as the censorship could not
permit, out of regard for Turkey, tho
public discussion of the situation
However, Dir. Leps.us is unable to
deny that the Turkish presentation OF
the events found ready credence in
the German press: Naturally, the
German press was glad to take cogni-
zance of these assurances of an allied
government and treated them with
due CD confidence"
Tbs result was, according 70 the Ger
man writer, that when the first Amer
lean reports were published, in August
and September. 1915, the German
newspapers refused to credit them and
charged American bluff. Some even in
aisted on branding the American re-
ports as products of the English ie
factory" DR.. Lepsius remarks: Had
tho reports been known in full, suen
accusations would have been omitted
The English reports confined them
selves exclusively to the reproduction
of American sources" lie continues:
The American reports were pub
lished by committee composed OF
men who inspired the greatest con-
hdence even in Germany The reports
nothing but communications
from eyewitnesses, chiefly consa!s and
missionaries, and are limited to state
mcnts of fact, without going into y
discussion Of the political side Of ths
matter" :.
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

the war in Europe was none Of Amer
ica's business. To Count Okuma. an
exceedingly crafty statesman, the stu
alton appeared to be, as he was cred
tied with stating, "the opportunity of
ten thousand years"-an Oriental
phrase meaning eternity.
What has been acknowledged bv
many Japanese as the greatest blum
der one Of their administrations has
ever made. was the attempt that came
IN 1915 to obtain control of China.
Contrary to both the letter and snirit
OF the Japanese treaty with Great
Britain, the Toxic government pre-
sented a series of twenty-one demands
TO China, requiring concessions of a
farreaching character in Manchuria
Shantung, Fukien, in the Yangtze River
valley, and even in Peking, over the
central government itself.
The preamble Of the Anglo-Japanese
alliance provides for the maintenance
OF the integrity and independence of
emma, and one Of the clauses pledges
either party to inform the other if anv
transgression is perceived. Here the
japanese were themselves the ageres-
sors, yet they officially denied for sew
eral months the accuracy Of the state
ments given out by the Chinese-who
had no other defence but to appeal to
public opinion throughout the world.
While attempting to take control of the
Chinese army and encroaching upon
other branches of China's internal ad
mlnlstratlon, the venerable Japanese
count persistently reassured the West
ern world with promises to return
Isingtau to full Chinese sovereignty.
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

them in May, 1915 Later they desired
to enter the war, not that they could
give any great military help to the Al
lies or had any grievance against Ger.
many, but in order to obtain a placs et
the peace table, where they hoped N
recover by diplomacy a measure Of tn.
losses they had suffered because Of mil.
itary inef1iciency. But the Japanese
government perslstently prevented
China entering the war until after ths
hard pressed Allies had given pledges
to Japan that they would recorniz.
Japan's claims to the transfer Of Ger
many's concessions and possessions in
Tsingtau and along the railway in
Shantung.
When President Wilson iiaally broke
off relations with Germany and sent
broadcast invitations to the various
neutrals to do likewise the Chinese
then mustered sufficient courage to
comply, and actually declared war be-
fore the President asked Congress to
recognize that state of war existed.
The American Minister in Picking.
Paul S. Reinsch, man OF German
origin and to a large extent sympathy.
had been hostile to the japanese for
the long period of his tenure in the
American Legation, and it Is said, per-
haps correctly, that he promised
m
peace table.
In Paris the Chinese delegation
thought, up to the day President Will
son made his decision, that he would
insist that the German concessions
and possessions (Which included rail
ways and cables) should be returned
direct to China; but the President
finally agreed that, as the Japanese
contended, unless the European DOW
ers and America were willing likewise
to denounce all the treaties they had
imposed on China by force of arms
Japan could not be required to do so.
The finished clauses of the peace
treaty with Germany relating to
Shantung transfer the German lease
at Kiao chau and the German rail-
ways, cables, etc, to Japan, and Japa-
nese statesmen have promised by word
of mouth, in gentlemen's agreement.
as 1t were, to return Tsingtau % China
according TO the' China-Japan treaties
of 1915, which stipulate that China
shall open the port to the commerce
of all nations and grant Japan trad
ing concession or settlement at that
port.
New-York tribune., 1919-07-27

that he could accomplish in three
been unable to get across In thirty
weeks that which Abdul Hamid haa
years." to wit, the extermination of the
Armeniars. "The argument that with
the few guilty ones an immense num-
Der Of innocent were to suffer was met
by Turkish army officer with the fol-
lowing remark: The same question
was put by some ons to our Propbet
Mahomet-God's peace be with him
and he answered.: "If flea bites YOU
would you not kill all feas"?'"
The author does not hesitate to pro.
claim his conviction that by uprootlng
the most progressive and best gifted
element Of the population the Turkish
government pushed the empire to the
verge Of economic ruin. He says:
"The an1ihilation of the Armenian
people means not merely the extinction
OF 10 to rs per cent Of tho population
IN Anatolia, but, what weighs more
heavily, the elimination Of the cultural
ly most valuable and economically most
developed element Of the population"
DR.. Lepsius defends the Armenian,
against certain slanderous allegations
as to their honesty and trustworthi
ness which we're circulated in tho Ger
man press by way Of expiating tho
Turkish attitude.
AS the entire export and import
trade is divided between Greeks. Ar
menians and. Jews. and as the Turk
himself never rises above the stage of
retail trade and remains, on the whole
and apart from the bureaucratic caste.
IN the peasant class, the aversion of
turks to Armcnians, Greeks and Jews.
lnasmuch as not Of religious charac-
ter, must be considered as the outcome
or natural antagonism between nat
ural and money economy, between
primitive agrarian culture and incipi-
ent decentralization.
"Those German correspondents who
constantly refer to the Armenans as
crooks and exploiters (these arc tho
shmo gentlemen whose vocabulary for
describing Scrbians was limited to tho
cplthot 'cnttlo thieves) evince thereby