Evening star., 1921-08-14
SMYRNA L|KENED
TOA CITY DEAD"
Once Regarded as the Great
est Commercial Mart
in Asia.
BY the Associated Press.

SMYRNA. July 20.-Smyrna, once
the greatest commercial mart in Asia.
is now like city dead. There is lit
tie to show that it is the base of a
Greek army of 100000. For months
no cargo boats have entered the har-
Dor. Business throughout Asia Minor
is paralyzed. Americans control the
little trading that exists There are
three reasons for this stoppage of
business. One is the war, another is
the hopeless rate of exchange (the
Turkish pound is worth about 65
cents) and third is lack of demand
for foreign goods.
AS there seems little likelihood of
an abatement of the war between the
Greeks and Kemalists, local mer-
chants see little hope of a revival of
Smyrnas commercial supremacy.
Many of them have left the place for
Italy. England and America, where
they nope to fnd greater prosperity.
City Is Unattractive.
The city itself is SO primitive and
unattractive that one wonders why it
has been such a bitter bone of con-
tention between the Greeks and Turks
for so many centuries. But, of course,
it is the rich agricultural lands with
in the province of Smyrna that both
sides covet. This area. which the
Turks call the Pearl of Asia" is one
of the most fertile and produces some
of the finest fruit in the world.
Smyrna figs and raisins are household
terms. The country also yields the
finest leaf tobacco known. The yearly
exports to America amount to mill
lions of dollars.
The treaty of Sevres placed Smyrna
under Greek administration. with the
proviso that after five years the pop
ulation might express it's preference
for either Turk or Greek control.
Although it has a population of up
ward of 100000 and is considered by
both Turks and Greeks as one of the
most modern cities in Asia, Smyrna
to the visitor is disappointing and
unattractive. Its narrow. winding
crudely cobbled streets give off an
offensive odor. Its drainage system
is deplorably inadequate. It's trans
portation and lighting facilities, too,
are woefully defective. There is only
single tram, and that consists of
single-track, one-horse line along
the waterfront.
Then Smyrna's hotels are sad af-
fairs. The most modern of them is
forty years old. None of them would
do credit to the smallest town in the
United States
King In Small Quarters.
When King Constantine came here
the best accommodations the au-
thorities could get for him were a
small. eight-room terra Gotta house
that any farmer in America would
own. The king and his ministers
were not here two days before they
were almost driven out by bugs and
mosquitoes.
The city has few places of amuse-
ment. There are two or three indif-
ferent moving picture theaters and
numerous coffee houses. All over the
near east the coffee house" is an in
stitu'tion. Here the population sits
all day slipping Turkish coffee, drink
ing oozo "a drink that tastes like
anise seed and talking politics.
The natives as rule are primitive.
indolent and superstitious They
carry conversation beads" to beguile
the time. These they finger and fum-
BILE by the hour. The visitor might
imagine the holders of the beads
were at prayer. Even the horses
wear these curious conversation
beads. But in these cases they are
used to keep away the "evil eye"
from the animal, as the natives be-
lieve.