The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-02-02

lures.
Bullock Carts and Macadam Roads
Travel is congested on many n
Turkish road which seems extremely
remote to Western eyes. Accustomed
as is the American to automobile
dotted highways he would marvel at
the traffic jams of heavily laden camel
caravans in the interior Of Anatolia.
Then there are the slow-moving bull
locks carts, carriers Of enormous bur-
dens.
Even the Turk has q reason for his
likes and dislikes; and his opposition
to Western innovations not always
is based on religious prejudices
or sheer inertia. 1t was these
bullock carts which aroused the OPP
position to macadam roadS-an i'm
provement which seemed to young
american statesmen SO obviously use
full that the Turk would not oppose it,
1t soon was found that the rounded
iron tires of One-tOn bullock carts
made a macadam road look like a cor
rugated roof. WhercupOn officials or
dered bullock carts using the new
roads equipped with wide, flat tires,
which made necessary new wheels at
considerable expense to the farmer.
The countryside farmer rebelled and
demanded the restoration of his stone
roads with their magnified cObble
stone surfaces, and once more was
credited with pure cussedness' by
newspaper readers at occidental break
fast tables.
The women Of Turkey may appear
to have lost much in the way OF priv
ileges by the success Of the Turkish
nationalist and their reported inten-
ton TO return to old conservative
customs. including the requirement
hat women wear heavy wells. But
after all Turkish women Of the pre-
World-war days had a good many
rights Of which the West was ignorant.
The toys Of the Turkish harems"
were to be pitied in many ways, it is
true, but considerable pity for them
has been misdirected.' For example,
Turkish women had absolute control
Of their own property for hundreds
Of years, whereas German wives cried
in vain for such emancipation" I'M
der the kaiser. 1t is a ~well-knOwn
fact that Roman law regarded the
rights Of the individual without con-
sideratiOn of sex; n man or a I'M
was alike a citizen Of the Roman
world. This met the requirements OF
Mohammedan life, where no
ever necessarily sustained q lasting
relation with any man.
Dual Life Of Women.
Therefore, during all the centuries
Of Mohammedan history, women have
legally controlled their WI property.
They have been free to buy. sell, or
ALLEVIATE it without consulting any
male relative. This has given them
independence Of thought and an inf1u-
ence in business affairs that seems
wholly inconsistent with their life of
comparative personal slavery.
If you could have entered n harem
you probably would have seer a Cir
cassian beauty. who had been newly
acquired by the tall, handsome pasha
who had just passed you In the street.
The air was heavy with the odOr of
Eastern perfume. and the black
eUnuch stood by the door TO watch all
who came and went. The beauty her.
self was tlickly powdered. with an
elaborate couture erected by her
numerous maids. Jewels half COW
cred her arms. and she wore n beau
tifully embroidered negligee. There
was a languOrOus expression in her
black eyes, as she sat idly smoking a
cigarette and slipping Turkish coffee.
Would you think, to look at her. TINT
when she drew her money from the
bank thnt she must sign her own
wholly at variance with each other:
but. as years went by, the thoughtful
side predominated among the more in
tellectual MOhamniedan women, until
they were ready to enter into the af-
fairs of the new day that seemed to
dawn in 1919 with an understanding
and vigOr which the world had never
accredited to them.
1t was on the social side that Mo-
hammedan women suffered most un-
der the oppression Of the last thirty
years, especially from the frequency
of divorce. A man could legally di-
vorce his wife at any minute, the
only condition being the payment OF
the dowry which was settled upon her
by the husband at the time of her
marriage.