Evening star., 1947-04-17
Letters to The Star
Attacks on Turkeys War Role
Held Unjusti6ed

8
Held Uniustihed
To the Editor Of The star.
have followed with great interest
the articles Of your foreign news
analyst, Constantine Brown, on Turkey
It seems that Mr.. Brown, writing from
Turkey, and your columnist, Harold T.
1ckes, observing from Washington, are
In sharp disagreement on certain vital
points concerning Turkey.
For example, MI. Ickes wrote In the
April 2 issue:
Il know Of no political soil In Turkey
In which the flowers of liberty could
be made to bloom, even If nourished
with this amount t$l5o, 900 900 loan) of
life-giving water"
Mr.. Brown, In the April 4 issue:
II freedom OF speech and freedom Of
press are the touchstones Of democracy,
Turkey is fully entitled to be 20 describe
ed. The opposition is allowed to have
its own press and does not mince words
There Is no restraint on freedom
OF speech SO far as this reporter has
been able to ascertain in three-week
stay in Turkey"
AS for other charges made by Mr..
Ickes-that Turkey made money out Of
both sides during the war, while max
ing 1t necessary for the Allies to inn
mobilize a good many divisions for fear
that Turkey might throw itself into the
arms Of Hitler-may quote this pass
age from President Inonu,s statement
on November /, 1915:
"On January 10, 1912. the Soviet Am
bassador, acting as an intermediary Of
the Soviet Government, officially COM
municated, in detail, to the Turkish
Foreign Ministry, the appreciation Of
the Soviets, stating that Turkeys
(neutraD position had really benefited
the Allies"
In their zeal to oppose President Tru-
mans proposed loans to Greece and
Turkey, MIR. Ickes, Henry Wallace and
others have presented Turkey as
SNUG and safe country diabolically
playing one side against the other for
profit. They seem to forget-or de-
liberately ignore-the fact that Turkey
was in dire peril early in the. war, and
that the German threat of invasion
was so great that the American diplo-
matte colony in Istanbul had rented
a house on the Asiatic side OF the
Bosporus, stocked 1t with canned goods
and was ready to evacuate Istanbul on
q moments notice. Those were the
days when there was pro-Axis govern
ment in Irak and the Vichy govern
ment had set an anti-British attitude
in Syria. With Axis forces on all sides
how could Turkey have ''tmmobilized"
Allied divisions by its neutrality as Mr..
Ickes and MIR. Wallace have charged?
After the German peril had somewhat
abated, Turkey was accused of having
embarrassed the Russians by concen-
trating forces on the Black Sea Coast
and her Eastern frontiers. But the
Soviet Government had been informed
that these troops were there to fight
of any German attempt to get at the
Caucasus through the back door, and
the Soviet Union expressed its satisfac-
tion with the plan.
It is readily admitted that MIR.
Wallace and his followers have q per-
feet right to take issue with the loan,
but 1t is difficult to understand why
1t IL necessary to distort Turkeys po-
sition In order to make that opposi-
ton more effective. Even actions Of
the old Ottoman Empire are dragged
In to discredit the Turkish Republic
founded in 1923 after great sacrifices
and hardships on the part of the
Turkish people. NUzHET BABA.
Bricklaying-Then and Now
To the Editor OF The Star
In 1914 I had built by contract q
grocery store, 26 feet front and 5S feet
In depth, with Groom apartment on
each of the upper floors. This building
was started May 6, and I moved into
the store July 28, and 1t was completed
for less than $500. The walls are 13
inches and from concrete footing to fire
wall are a feet high. The contractor
sublet the brick work for $1,450 and
it appeared to be a good Job and still
looks so after SO years.
About eight years later an alley had
been opened in the rear and I decided
to build a brick garage Is feet wide
and 20 feet deep. contracted with
a member of the Metropolitan Police
force to lay the brick for the sum of
$195, for labor, all material being sup
tai hS,y hoH 'n1o IN
former building $50 old bricks, counted
by myself and had 1000 delivered by
Hudson Supply Co., which did not
count. The contractor arrived with
another bricklayer promptly at 7:3o
and the two Of them went to work. At
the stroke of II noon, the 1850 bricks
were in the wall. This speaks for it
self on the timely subject of "produc-
ton" Something over $50 bricks per
hour per man.
of production Your paper carries ads
for bricklayers at $40 per day and I
am told by most reliable persons that
500 per day is their very "fondest hope"
In production. I just cannot see the
solution OF the housing problem while
this sort OF things lasts.
JOHN BRAYSHAW.
Attention, MIR. Gromyko
To the Editor Of The Star.
To the surprise of no one but the
Daily Worker, Mr.. Gromyko has fin-
ally come out In opposition to the
Greco-Turkish aid program. In addi-
ton to the stock phrases already well
used up by Henry Wallace, Mr.. Gron1y-