Middletown transcript., 1921-04-02
CARNIVAL OF JOY
Turkish Capita! the Most ''Wide
0pen'' of Cities.
NomlnalIy Under Allied Control, There
10 No Interference With Any Form
Of ReveIry That Could Be
Thought OF.


frenzy of new mining camp and
world seaport. It's "the end of the
rail" for all the Balkan states and
everything west OF Suez on the Medi
terranean.
Caucasian oil men, Donetz Basin
miners, Anatolian sheep and cattle
kings, Greek war millionaires and Sy-
rian merchants rush to Constantinople
to pop champagne in proof of their
success. Soldiers and sailors of half
a dozen nations swell the population
and add to the cosmopolitan aspect of
the streets and pleasure resorts.
Under allied occupation the city has
become wilder place than it was un.
der the Turks. There are no civil
courts. None Of the allies desire to
assume responsibility for reforms 9th
er than are necessary to safeguard
life. Italian. French and British
troops cooperate with the Turkish
gendarmerie in keeping order. But
everybody's job is nobody's job. Con.
sequently Constantinople is very
wide-open town. Midnight closing Is
enforced pretty generally, but until
that hour there is little interference
with dance halls, gambling dives and
redlight districts unless murder is
committed.
Leadville and Goldfield in their diz-
ziest days never offered anything
wilder than certain sections Of Con-
stantinople, where jazz bands vie with
Neapolitan orcbestras and tsigane
singers in their efforts to. attract way
farers into the beer tunnels and dance
halls filled to overt1owing with the
painted women of many nationalities
Half dozen summer gardens offer
vaudeville programs which attract
thousands of persons every night who
drinks and restless crowds than In
the Russian prima donnas and bare
legged dancers whose art is usually
as meager as their attire. Turks,
Arabs, Bedouins. Egyptians and A.
syrians, gorgeously clad in native cos
tunes, elbow their way among Cos
sacks and Georgians whose uniforms
are far more brilliant than their re-
cent military achievements.
Coal-black French colonials, re-
splendent in red fezzes and green kha-
XII, mingle with Sikhs and Punjabi,
whose long hair and many-colOred
headdresses are wrapped In somber
brown. Civilians, soldiers and sailors
from all parts Of the world are hope
lessly jumbled together in CONSTANT
NOBLE crowds and are so busy looking
at each other that tenors from the
Petrograd opera, naughty French sing
ers from Montmartre and Austrian
strong-jawed ladies claim but slight
attention.
Constantinople itself is a grand
pageant every day. Its main thor
oughfare, Rue Grand Pera, is more
fascinating than any scene which pro
ducers ever can hope to stage. Camel
drivers lead their patient trains, bur
dened with charcoal, through the maze
Of street cars, shrieklng army motor
cars and carriages, piloted over the
rough paving at breakneck speed by
Turkish hostlers who crack their whips
and shout constantly at high pitch to
pedestrians who venture off the mar
row sidewalks.
Turks mounted on tiny donkeys
move indifferently through this mael-
strom. Occasionally Turkish peasants
drive a flock of sheep or turkeys into
this swirl of traffic and serene oxen
draw heavy carts along at a pace
50 slow that drivers Of military CANT
ons curse them in 10 languages.
The narrow, crooked streets Of Con-
stantinople are ill-suited to motor traf-
fc and the slow-going fatalistic Turk
Is little inclined to change his pace.
Consequently there are many acci-
dents and the Indifference with which
foreign military cars are driven has
done much to intensity Turkish hatred
of foreigners.