Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-01
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
Many Reverses for Greece

wholly from the world stage be-
cause OF the tremendous reverses
which she has suffered recently"
says a bulletin from the Washing
ton, d. c.. headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society, "he has
only to glance back INTO history to
change his mind"
There are few parallels" con-
tinueS the bulletin. quoting a COM
munication to the society, "to the
striking racial phenomenon of Hell
lenic continuity throughout the
vi~cissitudes of 1000 years. Mod
ern research has penetrated the
dark byways of medieval Greek his
tory, and we know that the Greeks,
whatever their temporary fate, have
preserved unbroken the thread of
their national existence.
Language Bond With Classic Past
THE firmest bond which unites
the Greek of today with his illus
trious ~forebears of the golden age
is the Greek language. the essential
elements of which remain as they
were in the days when the tongue
served as the medium of the noblest
poetry and the sublimest philosophy
which the race has yet produced.
This tongue traces its unbroken
lineage back through medieval and
ANSW LCSldlilCIIt SLCCh " lax iClOSA
speech of Plato and of his contem-
poraries.
"And yet, with all this continuity
Of language, there has existed in
Greece for some years a linguistic
condition of affairs around which
centers a controversy at once comic
or tragic; for there are in Greece
two languages, or, rather, the n
language in two forms-one written
by the newspapers, spoken by h
educated classes. and used in par
liamentary debates and in public
documents, including the Scriptures,
the circulation of which is regulated
by law; and the other a ~vernacular
used by the masses of the people,
containing many words of foreign
origin, especially Turkish and Ital-
ian, arising from those periods OF
foreign occupation, with a much
grammar and rarely re-
duced to writing, except for private
The former is the
cultured tongue; the latter the pop
ular idiom; and between the TWO,
there RACES q merciless warfare, In
which fanatical students of the n
versity have lost their lives, minis
tiers their portfolios and a Metro
politan of Athens his inter.
Greek Scholar at Disadvantage
The controversy Is o intricate
to be briefly summarized, and ike
most questions which divide the Lee
vantine mind, it is probably not to
settled wholly in favor OF either
extreme party.
The use of these two tongues is
a source of much confusion to the
visitor in Greece, especially II he
has reckoned upon his knowledge
of classic Greek to assist him in his
He will be able indeed TO
read the newspapers without much
but he will be utterly lost
in conversation, MOI only because OF
The pronunciation, which is vastly
from the EraSmian method
in which Westerners are schooIed,
but because the spoken tongue,
being demotic, will have a vastly
different vocabulary from that
he has taken from the die
tionary.
"Greece of today looks back only
three generations, il one places Its
origin in the War for independence,
which was concluded by the Pro-
tocol of London in 1880; and. VIII
Messing the progress which in that
orief span has been made in a land
of such sparse resources. one can
see how praise cane be
from a people who have accom-
plished SO much.
Race Pure Only in Islands
ut is only in the Islands or deep
in the country, where the
which swept across the Attlc
plain has never reached. that one
the facial lineanents and the
bodily grace which the ancient
sculptor has taught the modern
world as being common to all
Greeks of classic time. And this
persists chiefly among the
children, because incessant toll and
nourishment soon deprive
both boys and girls of their native
and stamp them with the IN
ranks OF d life OF LABOR.
Greece is essentially a land or ag-
prominently 10
be such; but, owing to h tremen-
drain by emigration from the
rural districts, the progress OF agr!-
culture has been painfully oeHc!eht.
In many places the land Is titled
only by women and girls, many OF
men have gone off to America:
s'Throughout Greece-and indeed
throughout the entire Balkan region
is much heard, OF
the great numbers OF Greeks VINO
returned home from America
and few travellers in the Pelopon-
resus will fail to recall at almost
every railroad station the eager face
thrust in at the carriage window
and %quivering with the demand,
fellers from America"
Retain Democracy OF Ancient
Athens
1.-THE ancient Athenian democracy
may be said to have projected itself
intact into the life or
as it is today. Class dlstlnc-
ions are unknown. Titles OF nobility
are forbidden by the constitution,
sven though every native of Corfu
Slams to be a Venetian count, and
he crown prince is known only a.
The Diadochos, or successor.
wealth nor education hin
ders the association of all upon
.erms of the most absolute equality.
zone Unfortunate result Of this
extreme democracy, go firmly nxed
IS a Hellenic characteristic. Is the
5isincIination to obey q leader,
has had q striktngly disas-
.rous effect upon both the politics
md the commerce OF the nation.
Long years of Turkish oppres-
lion have, however. left their mark
n certain customs and attitudes of
On the Greeks; not In externals, but
mind. Thus the position of women |
n modern Greek life Ia semi
Oriental, to say the least"
- n munMncnHy