The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-11-03
THE SHAME OF
THE NEAR EAST
By JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
Dust Back from Eur0pe)

Now that the ashes of Smyrna
are cooled and its dead buried, and
the menace of another world war
for the moment apparently removed,
it may be well to set down, in as
concise a form as possible, some
facts about the Near East horror
which have been pretty successfully
obscured by the daily press.
The facts are these:
"a The war between Greece and
Turkey is in reality a war between
England and France.
(2) Greece went to war at the
suggestion and with the support of
the English government; the Turks,
under the triumphant Mustapha Ke-
NAL went to war with the support,
the ammunition and the guns of
France.
go England rushed troops and
Warships to defend Constantinople
and the Dardenelles, because her
arms-i.e., the Greeks-were beat
en-; France remained inactive and
uneXcited, not because she was more
wise and less militaristic than Eng
icnd, but because her arms, lie, the
Iurks-Were victorious, and she
could therefore afford to stand pat
ca England and France are now
rivals after the Great War. Just as
England and Germany were rivals
before the Great War. These two
nations will plunge Europe into
another ''world war" whenever. to
either side, the hour seems to be
propitious.
90 Asia Minor is the center of
disturbance because of the gross
injustice done to Turkey. in the
Treaty of Sevres, by the victorious
allies.
90 The talk of Greece about a
"holy war; to save the Christian
world from the Moslem, the appeal
of the English cabinet to the domin-
ions across the sea to Join hands
in protecting civilization again from
the barbarians. is the same kind
Of bunk that was foisted upon
mankind at the outbreak of the war
against Germany: this crisis. like
the crisis Of 1914. is purely i'm
perialistic, and has no remotest con
nection with Christianity. civiliza-
ton, democracy, or. any other gen.
uine humanitarian interest.
ca The dreadful Turkish atroci-
ties. reported from Asia Minor. are
lust like the dreadful German afro
cities reported from Belgium and
France in 1914 and 1915. Some
OF them undoubtedly took place. for
atrocities invariably accompany war.
Of these. we may be sure that the
Greek Christians committed quite
as many rs the Turkish MoSlems:
says Mark O. Prentiss. special rep
resentative of the Near East Re
lief in Smyrna.
Il hear and firmly believe many
stories Of Greek atrocities. and |
have abundant evidence that the
Greek army distributed enormous
quantities of ammunition among the
civilians in Smyrna, and encouraged
and organized sniping and bomb
ing"
Of all these tales. however the
majority are sheer imagination or
deliberate invention. Thus. in the
sacking and burning of SMYRNA. n
city of about $4,000 population. il
was reported on the first day that
10000 were killed. That this num-
Der was later reduced to 1000 and
later still to 1000, only proves the
truth Of our assertion.
(S) The dead in Asia Minor. like
the dead in Flanders, are the vic
tins of an ignorant and cruel i'm
perialism. They died to serve the
interests of gold and steel and oil.
and therefore "died in vain"
t9) Europe today is governed bv
the same men, controlled by the
same forces, as those which were
dominant in 1914. The "next war"
Is definitely and swiftly on the
way.-From Unity.