The Washington times., 1922-12-24
!. he Sultan Who Ran
Away and Left His $50
Wives to Shift for
Themselves.
vu7HEN the Sultan Of
w Turkey ran /, away
w frov,o Cnuctopf;uoplo

from C0nStantlnople
the other day and climbed on
board a British warship, he
was in such a hurry that he
did not have time to tell his
wives-150 of them.
The new Turkish Sultan
takes no interest in the shop q
worn harem of his predeces-
sor; the ladies must get out
and find new places in other
harems.
Marriage in Turkey under
the Moslem law and customs
is not quite the romantic
Nthing that it is in America.
The wooing of wife in Con-
stantinople is matter of ,..:
dollars and cents-a marriage 49, D:.-
able woman is q piece Of prop S..I.. :
erty and she is acquired about p.....I,,
the sames as a horse or an W.. %,
automobile. If the prospec- V.vd.
tive wife is young and new, h;h;,
she is worth more than a shop
worn or slightly used wife,
and If she is old and consider
ably worn she has only what might be
called "junk value" around the harom
to wait on the newer and younger wives
and teach them a thing or two.
Every prospective wife in Turkey be-
longs to- somebody. She is either the
property Of her own parents, or has been
acquired by some slave dealer as sort
of middle man who expects to sell her to
some purchaser for profit over the price
he paid the parents.
So il is that when the new Turkish Gov
ernment made the announcement that the
$50 wives left behind by the, runaway
Sultan were in the marriage market, it
really meant that these $50 women are for
sale Novelists and playwrights have ideal
lied the Exquisite beauty" of the ladies
of the harem, but such glimpses as the
world has had from time to time of these
'harem beauties have disillusioned those
who have seen them.
Fat women are highly priced in Turkey,
and this attribute of beauty does not har-
monize altogether with the American idea.
And when the last previous Sultan, Abdul
Hamid, also left whole harem full Of
wives on the market, an enterprising
vaudeville agent picked up "a bunch OF
them and exhibited them around Europe.
Nobody was able to discover any of the
tabled beauty or charm Of these women
of the imperial harem. 1t would seem as
il the old Sultan could have done better
il he had picked $50 young women from
almost any subway train in the rush hour,
or from any of the big American depart
ment stores.
Il is claimed, however, that the collec-
ton of Mehmed VI, just put on the mar
ket, is of superior standard Of pulchri-
tude than that of old Hamid.
Mehmed, apparently, had more dis
eliminating eye for beauty and was lit.
tie more fussy as wife collector, and
consequently the "girls he left behind
him" are rather above the usual Turkish
standard.
The Turkish Government may>fnd Gus
; toners for the harem outcasts over there,
but it will have hard job disposing of
any in America, even at the prevailing
rate of exchange. It is doubtful II a
more helpless, ignorant, useless collection
of women could be found anywhere. They
can't cook, sew, sing or mix q drink.
Turkey, Just now, Is prohibition). They
are taught nothing and are very apt at It.
All they are supposed to do Is to sit
around and look pretty, and cast side
long, longing N.nces when the Sultan
They have nothing to do all day but