The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-10-13

nave answered JnlS ullNafNlHt
! formula at least once day since
my return from the Near East
Very few Americans eve
! find their way to Turkey except Il:
passing tourists. and those few are
principally engaged in missionary
work. Our information, then, come:
from the following sources; from the
| English, who are intensely concerned
politically and commercially, in get
| ting control of Constantinople anC
| the Dardanelles, and who, for that
reason, have supported the Greeks or
every possible occasion, and who have
| lost no opportunity to justify then
action by placing the Turkish people
in an unfavorable light before the
world; from our own missionaries
who are often prejudiced in their
ideas regarding religious differ.
ences, since their life work is devoted
to the spreading of Christianity; from
travelling correspondents who seldom
spend more than week in getting
up their articles and who depend
upon a dozen hurried interviews for
their information; and, lastly, from
the tens of thousands of Greeks and
Armenians in our own country, there
being practically no Turks to defend
themselves by counter-propaganda 1t
is easy to see from this that whether
the information is correct or in
correct, it comes from only one side
Of the fence and that is dangerous
and unfair.
Conscious and Unconscious
Dishonesty.
There is no better way of setting
forth the truth of the matter as
saw it than by recalling in success
sion the various reactions | expert
enced in and around Constantinople
AS an instructor in an American
college, whose students were drawn
from the wealthiest and most re-
spected families, | was particularly
fortunate in coming into close and
intimate contact with young Levan-
tines of every nationality. 1t was
not surprising to find them almost
universally dishonest, for here was
the Oriental and semi-Oriental mind
and austerity of our Occidental civ
iliZation. They all cheated flagrantly.
confronted by the incongruous ideals
Little by little l began to discover
that dishonesty could be separated
into two different categories-con-
scious and unconscious dishonesty.
Il
The Turkish boys, on the other
hand, were novel experience. Quite
as dishonest as the others, they could
see no good reason for being other
wise. and were therefore quite free
TO acknowledge their guilt. * y
The Greeks mad Armenians far
outstripped the Turks in aptitude
and adroitness. Very few of the
latter We're really good students. The
former learned to speak English with
astonishing rapidity: they absorbed
elementary mathematics with avidity,
for there they learned the essentials
of business, which is their forte. The
Turks were Indifferent to commerce,
prcferring those studies which ap-
pealed to their emotion and imagi-
nation. Money was the unconscious
prCmpter in the minds Of the Greeks
and Armen:ans; beauty was the in
spiration Of the Turks.
Pera is in the hands of the west
ern peoples who have raised it in the
likeness of their own cities, with de-
partmenU stores, hotels, women's
shops. and all the other appurten-
ances of our rode of living. During
the day it is banal and harmless
enough Under the cloak of even
ing, however, it is transformed into
a riot of drunkenness and vice. Wei
Gus cabarets and foul drinking dens
appear in the dim-lighted streets,
taking possession of Pera like
swarm of nocturnal harpies. Then it
is that one sees brawling crowds
fighting in side alleys, intoxicated
women in the last stage of abandon
ment land men knived or murdered
by unseen hands.
Our much Wanted modernity and
progressiveness are found in Pera,
but our weaknesses are still more APP
parent And this is what we have
brought to Constantinople, for the
Turks are conspicuously absent from
the activities of Pera
Down the hill is Galata, the ship
ping quarter, inhabited principally by
to picture Galata in the hideousness
of its depravity: 1t is a fostering
breeding place of white slavary, dis
ease and opium dens. The worst of
it has sprung up since the Allies
took control Of the city out of the
hands of the Turkish authorities.
Before the war it was no worse than
any seaport of the Mediterranean.
Now it stands a terrible charge
against the West-for in Galata the
Turks are as little in evidence as in
Pera.
The city of STEAMBOAT presents
striking contrast to the two Euro
pean quarters. The Turks have kept
it much as it has been for cen
turtles. Broad, shaded avenues lead
to the magnificent mosques and
monuments, many of which were
erected before the discovery of Am
erica. The narrow side streets are
humming with the noises Of the
shops and bazaars-the noise of in
1ustry rather than the noise of riot
ing. Here one sees the copper
smiths and carpenters and rug-weav-
ers busy with their quaint tools, pro-
ducing articles that delight the tour
ist by their fineness and delicacy.
Here coffee shops take the place of
beer halls. for the Mohammedan is
forbidden by the Koran to indulge
in Intoxicating drink. 1t is a glimpse
into a colorful life that has no
counterpart in our civilization. Over
everything hovers delightful sense
If well-being, contentment, happiness,
and honest endeavor. No flaming
cabarets jingling with cheap music,
no street-women clutching at the
sleeves of passing men, no brawl-
ing in obscure cafes. When night
steals over STEAMBOAT, the streets are
deserted, and an unattended woman
might walk in safety from one end of
the marvellous old city to the other.