The Washington herald., 1920-07-26
Turks Have Neglected Fer
tility of Ancient Rome's
Richest Province.
u. S. METHODS NEEDED
Scientific American Farm
ing Wanted to Replace
One-Man Power ofTurks

The dogged reluctance Of the
Turk to have the ancient province
of Smyrna pried from his jaws by
the league of nations is no sur
prise to those who know the coun-
try.
Smyrna reveIs in all the balmy
richness of Southern California,
and then some" is the way George
Horton puts it.
Mr.. Horton, whose status at
Smyrna since the Peace Conference
has been the quas-Aplomatic one
of delegate representing the Amer
lean High Commissioner at Con-
stantinople (Rear Admiral Mark
BristoD, with the rank of Consul
General. was a man of letters be-
fore Grover Cleveland appointed
him to the consular service.
Having a flair" for the classics.
he likes to recall the glories of
Magma Grecia, among which the
Asiatic city ranked as a jewel riv
aling Athens itself.
Richest Roman Province.
And again. it was the richest
province OF the Roman Empire" +"
Consul Horton says. In fact, when
the Romans wanted to bestow a
yer Especial reward on one of their
great men, and give him a sure
means of getting rich quickly. they
would appoint him to the governor
nF 81 kgfa xKyhf frh
meant that he could despoil it to
his hearts content
The fertility of the province is
enormous, and 1t hasn't been reany
farmed since ancient times. The
modern Greeks had made
beginning. but their work was
devastated by the Turks in 1912,
just as the ancient culture had been
wiped out by primitive invaders.
II the province is now opened up
for Intelligent cultivation, 1t will
AFFORD a great chance for American
commerce, especially in the line or
tractor ploUghs and other agricul-
tural machines made necessary by
the reduction of man power during
the war
American enterprise controls the
output of licorice, which enters in
to the manufacture of American to-
baccO. The licorice plant grows
wild in great profusion, and that
precisely suits the agricultural at
tainments of the Turks. All he has
to do Is to dig up the root when it
is ready and pile it up in heaps.
Thousands of persons find employ
ment in the gathering of licorice,
when they might be raising mag
u
No Scientific Farming.
Smyrna figs are famous, of
cOurse-the finest in the world.
They need no cultivation. The
trees grow everywhere.
of scientific cultivation there is
not single manifestation on the
part of the Turks-only on that of
the Greeks. who raise very valua-
BILE crops Of suItana raisins on their
terraced farms. The possibilities of
fruit and grain culture in the prov
ince are simply untold.
The Turks have never advanced
beyond the condition of feudallsm
They are a people of arrested de-
velopment-or perhaps of exhausted
development \ Turkish village to-
day is exactly as it was 500 years
ago. If il contains $500 Turks and
800 Christians-Greeks or Arme-
nians-the Turks will be living in
their novels with their cattle, while
the Christians will be the skilIeu
artisans the doctor, the school
teacher. the merchant, and so on"
Can't Learn Language.
According to Consul Horton there
is no such thing among the Turks
$ farming in the American sense.
The peasant does not live on the
patch OF ground he Crudely cultI-
Yates When night falls they all
huddle together in their miserable
villages. In the morning the peas
ant and hi swife-he can't afford
more than one-with the family
donkey or OK and the wooden plow
set out for the little plot, which
may be five or six miles away. Mr..
Turk. a man of few words, rides on
the animal. Mrs. Turk, her features
hidden by a veil, as in duty bound,
marches phlegmatically behind.
You can't learn a language"
Consul Horton explained, without
meeting the women of the country.
But il you call at a Turks house
you meet only the Turk. And as
he prefers to talk bad French
there's practically no opportunity
Of picking up the language of the
country"