Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-10-17
GREEK NOT LIKELY
TOLOS[ IDENTITY.
Striking Racial Phenomenon
of Hellenic Continuity
Throughout 1000 Years.


"It any one feels inclined to fear
that Greece is in a way to pass
wholly from the world stage because
Of the tremendous reverses which she
has suffered recently" says a bulletin
from the Washington, d. c.. head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society. "he has only to glance back
into history to change his mind.
There are few parallels" con-
tinues the bulletin quoting q COM
striking racial phenomenon Of Hell
ienic continuity throughout the
vicissitudes Of 1000 years. Modern
research has penetrated the dark by
ways of medieval Greek history. and
we now know that the Greeks. what
served unbroken the thread Of their
national existence.
Greek Of Today and Of Golden Age.
The frmest bond which unites the
Creek of today with his illustrious
Greek language. the essential ele-
ments of which remain as they were
In the days when the tongue served
az the medium OF the noblest poetry
and the sublimest philosophy. which
the race has yet produced. This ton.
through medieval and New Tesla
ment Greek to the classic speech Of
Plato and OF his contemporaries.
And yet. with all this continuity
Of language there has existed in
Greece for some years q linguistic
condition of affairs. around which
centers controversy at once comic
or tragic; for there are in Greece two
languages, or, rather, the one lam
guage In two forms-one written by
the newspapers, spoken by the edu-
Gated classes. and used In parlia-
ments, including the Scriptures. the
circulation of which Is regulated by
law; and the other vernacular used
by the masses of the people, con-
tanning many words of foreign origin.
especially Turkish and Italian, arts
occupation. with q much simplihed
grammar and rarely reduced to writ
ing, except for private communica-
tions. The former Is the cultured
tongue: the latter the popular idiom,
and between the two there RACES
merciless warfare. in which fanatical
students of the university have lost
their lives ministers their portfolios
and a metropolitan of Athens his
inter.
Use OF Two Tongues Confuses.
THE controversy is too intricate to
questions which divide the Levantine
mind, 1t is probably not to be settled
wholly In favor OF either extreme
party.
source of much confusion to the WISH
reckoned upon his knowledge of
classic Greek to assist him tn his
travels. He will be able, indeed, to
read the newspapers without much
difficulty. but he will be utterly lost
in conversation. not only because of
ferent from the Erasmian method
in which westerners are schooled.
but because the spoken tongue, be-
ing demotic. will have a vastly dif-
ferent vocabulary from that which he
has taken from the dictionary,
Greece of today looks back only
three generations, IL one places its
origin in the war for independence.
which was concluded by the procotol
Of London In 1880, and. witnessing the
progress which In that brief span has
been made in q land Of such sparse
can be withheld from = people who
have accomplished SO much.
Island Race Only Il Pure.
ut is only in the islands or deep in
the country, where the Albanian flood
which swept across the attic plain
has never reached. that one finds the
which the ancient sculptor has taught
the modern world as being common to
all Greeks of classic time. And this
survival persists chiefly among the
children, because incessant toll and
scanty nourishment soon deprive both
and stamp them with the ineradicable
marks of q life Of labor.
Greece 10 essentially land Of agri-
culture, pre.eminently intended to be
such; but, owing to the tremendous
drain by emigration from the rural
has been painfully deficient. In many
places the land is titled only by wom-
en- and girls. Many Of the men have
gone of to America.
"ThrouShou. Greece - and. indeed.
throughout the entire Balkan REGION
great numbers OF Greeks who have re-
turned home from America and few
travellers in the Peloponnesus will fail
to recall At almost every railroad sta.
ton The eager face thrust In Ct ne
demand. You fsllers from America
Aneient Democracy Handed Down.
'The ancient Athenian democracy
may be said to have projected itself
well.nigh intact into the life Of Greece
as it Ia today. Class distinctions are
unknown. Titles Of nobility are forbid.
den by the constitution. even though
every native Of Corfu claimS to be .
Venetian count. and the crown prince
is known oily as the diadochos. or sue
cessor. Neither wealth nor education
hinders the association Of all upon terms
Of the most absolute equality.
'One unfortunate result Of this ex-
treme democracy, SO firmly fixed as
Hellenic characteristic. In the disinclina-
ton to obey a leader, which has had a
strikingiy disastrous effect upon both
the politics and the commerce OF the
nation. Z
Long years Of Turkish oppression
have, however. left their mark on the
Greeks: not in externals. but In certain
t the position o Of Women in modern creek eek
life IL semi oriental, to say the least"