The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-04-10
SAYS AMERICA SHOULD ASSUME
 TURK MANDATE

New York, April 10.-(Specia1 Cor respondence). - Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons. writing in the April number of The Century Magazine, on Con stantinop1e: the Greatest Problem" examines the various solutions of the Turkish problem which have been offered. and presents reasons why the United States should assume the proffered mandate over the Ottoman Empire. asserting that: ''We cannot get rid of a responsibili by refusing to see it. Sooner or later we shall have to intervene in the Near East, as we had to intervene in Europe; for there will be no peace in Europe until the attribution of the greatest prize of the war is made.'
 'sIn outlying portions of the em- pire," Dr. Gibbons writes, land at points on the sea coast. the powers have agreed upon definite spheres of influence, or at least upon the temporary occupation by one power to the exclusion of oth- CTS. But Constantinople remains under international occupation. a hotbed of intrigue and religious and racial antagonism among the in digenous elements, working upon and being worked upon by the European powers, the Balkan States, Bolshe- wiki, and Pan-Turanians. Constan- tinople is producing the culture to in- feet Asia, Africa, and Europe with the bacteria of religious and social unrest and economic and political in- ternational rivalry.
 There are many propositions for disposing of Constantinople and the straits. G)-The creation of an in 
 the League of Nations. The plan is plausible but the League of Ma tions, as it would have to be in ac- cordance with this conception, is not yet born 2)-Maintenance of Con stantinople as the capital of Turkey. This solution follows the line of least resistance. It satisfies economic laws and possibly the will of the mai ajority. A French friend of the old school of unregenerated European diplomacy said to me recently, '4It is the best for us to keep the Turks in Constanti- nople, so that we shall have some thing to offer Russia when she comes to herself and we need her again as an Ally.
 "(3)-The attribution of Constanti- nop1e to Greece. Greece has more than doubled her population in the IS1sSL d6Cdue Eot1o 1ldS SiS IIluCI1 cS oiIG can do to assimilate and organize ad- ministratively the territories acquired in 1913 and 1919. The new consti- tuition must be proved. Finances must be put on a sound basis. Return to Constantinople now might jeopardize the new structure. Their premier, one of the wisest statesmen, has not asked for ConstantinopIe.
 "(4) - A European mandatory Virtually all competent observers ot near Eastern affairs are in accord 1r asserting that the only successful mandate scheme for the Ottoman Empire is a single mandate. But France is in the field only for a limit ed mandate. She could not accept the burden of Asia Minor and Armenia. It is certain the Italian people would never consent to it. It is certain the British do not feel able to ado Turks unredeemed Greeks and Ar menians to recalcitrant Persians, Af- ghans, Arabs, and Egyptians. They have their hands full.
 "(59-The acceptance of the larger 1 mandate in Turkey by the United 1 States. It is the solution that can be 1 immediately applied. Only this SO lution has the merit of avoiding com. plications between European powers and indigenous elements"