Washington Journal., 1943-04-02

Naturally this singular move gave color to
the British reports of an imminent American
ultimatum to Turkey to be reinforced by the
"Kentucky's' possible passage OF the OAR
danelles forts with or without Turkish per-
mission, so as to appear off the Yildiz Kiosk
at the crucial moment OF the expected ultl-
matum.
A Game Of Bluff
Llovd's brother Glenn thought it was all
a game of bluff. He doubted that our Gov
ernment cared enough about the perennial
grievances of our missionaries abroad to back
no Lloyd's bluff in case OF a showdown. lie
had a private tip that Lloyd, pulling his wires
RIGHT under the nose Of Marschall Won Bieber-
stein. one of Germany's ablest diplomats, then
at Constantinople, had persuaded the Sultan
to invite a bid from Cramps shlpyard IN Phil-
adelphia for the construction OF a costly
cruiser. Cramps shipyard forthwith sent
General Williams as its agent to CONSTANT
NOBLE to submit its bid. Glen thought 1t
unlikely that Cramps lobbyists in Washing
ton would let our Congress sanction an en-
broilment with Turkey at a moment when
such a rich plumb was about to fall into the
lap Of Cramps. ~
NV interest in Lloyd's distant game of
diplomacy was so lively that | kept a keen
lookout for news from Turkey. Then, one
day early in December, our newspapers pub
lished a brief dispatch from Smyrna about
the "Kentucky's' arrival there under the
command Of Captain Chester. 1t was reported
that the battleship contrary to usage, had
steamed close into the inner harbor with her
bulwarks down, her guns run out and her
decks cleared for action.
A Washington correspondent, known to
be an unofficial mouthplece for Secretary OF
State Hay, published a story that the Amerl-
can consul lat Smyrna had received a dispatch
from our Charge d. Affaires at CONSTANT
nople saying: "Please proceed aboard U.S.S.
Kentucky and request Captain Chester TO
take no action without consulting me!' Ihe
correspondent on the following day followed
this no with an item, confirmed by our Navy
Department, to wit: "The Kentucky at pre-
sent has no hostile intentions toward Turkey"
The next we heard was that Captain Chest
er through Lloyd Griscom had received a cor
dial invitation from the Sultan to bring his
ship to Constantinople, so that her fine points
might be admired by members OF the Turkish
admiralty. AT the same time the Sultan
hoped to entertain Captain Chester and all
his officers with a banquet at the Ylldlz KIOSK,
the Sultan's palace. The invitation was ac-
cepted after some further exchange OF dls-
patches and the "Kentucky' steamed from
SMYRNA past the Dardanelles into the Sea OF
Marmara.
ALPS Well That Ends Well
Presently it was reported that Captain
Chester and almost all his officers had been
dined and WNined at the Yildiz Kiosk, with
the Captain and our Charge d. Affaires sitting
next to Sultan Abdul Hamid, at his right and
left. There was even a rumor that the Sultan
had offered to make Chester or some other
American officer aboard his ship an admiral
in the Turkish navy, such as it was.
Not long afterwards the Cramp Shipyard's
agent in Constantinople, General Williams,
obtained the necessary signatures to the con
tract for the Turkish cruiser to be built
in Philadelphia. The price agreed on ex-
ceeded by nearly 100000 the bid originally
made by Cramp. Marshall Won Bieberstein
in his embassy at Therapia was reported to
be furious, since a German %shipyard, so it
was alleged, had made a much lower bid than
Cramps
What had happened to bring about so
favorable a turn for American interests?
was not enlightened until much later,
after Lloyd had come home from Turkey,
deeply in love with Elsa Bronson, whom he
had met in Constantinople, when she was
visiting there with her parents.
What had happened at STEAMBOAT, so Tar
as | could gather, was this: Sultan Abdul
Hamid, a careful reader of the European
press, from certain articles in the London
"Times'' and "The Telegraph got the i'm
preston that the United States really meant
to get rough about the long stalled American
missionary claims for some $4,000 mdem-
nifty. Because Of the unrest among his Mus
sulman subjects the Sultan shrank from the
indignity Of paying any indemnity to the
unwelcome missionaries of unbelievers. 1t
was not the comparatively paltry sum Of
10000, inasmuch as the Ottoman foreign debt
already exceeded many million piastres, but
the principle involved.
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