what kind of a machine an aeroplane is the vernacular Arabic says "What is its religion?" A street fight takes place in Jerusalem. "What is the trouble?" you ask and for an answer you will get "A Moslem is beating a Jew" or "a follower of the Greek Church is fighting with a Catholic" thus using one's religious denomination to identify him.

As it is today military service is the most unpopular institution in Turkey. It is relentlessly compulsory on males between twenty and forty. The German may deem it a privilege to serve in the army and fight for the Fatherland, but the Young Turks, even with their German military training could not persuade the people of Turkey to think likewise. Conditions in both Empires are not alike and by introducing the German system with all its severity, the Young Turkish Party was putting "new wine in old bottles." Military service is a cursed obligation in Turkey and all those that can possibly escape it do so. It is abject slavery for a score of years which is divided into three terms.

1. Nizami, military service proper, 3 years.

2. Ihtiat, reserve Class A, 6 years.

3. Redif, reserve Class B, 11 years.

The author paid $280 plus three months service to secure exemption from the first term. On the completion of the three months he was listed a reserve which meant that every time he was called upon for the next seventeen years, he was either to bear arms or pay another installment of nearly $160. Money may be refused and service demanded if the need for men were pressing. Many men have paid the fee three times over and are today fighting in this war.

But why is service in the Turkish Army any worse than it is in any other, the reader might ask. Why are not the people of Turkey willing to fight for their country?

1. First of all they do not feel that they are fighting for their own country. They are forced to fight and thus perpetuate a heavy foreign yoke which they detest.

2. If the Turkish soldier happens to be a Moslem he might get up some enthusiasm to fight for his Faith. This, however, he knows he is not doing at present when on one side of him is a cursed Jew and on the other a Christian dog. A non-Moslem has nothing whatsoever for which to fight. Indeed "he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter." Troops are always sent to serve away from home. They are also mixed up so one race always neutralizes another and no racial mutiny is feared. The soldiers fight because they have to. They dislike and even hate the government. The writer frequently heard Moslem soldiers and non-commissioned officers curse Turkey, the Army and Enver Pasha to boot.

3. Only a Turk has any chance for promotion. Even non-Turkish Moslems complain against partiality. This leaves a pretty slim margin for Christians and Jews to be anything but "hewers of wood and drawers of water" in the camp of the Young Turks.

4. The pay of a private is nominally 83 cents a month. Even this large pay is not certain and regular; for in the regiment of the writer were men who served eighteen months in the Balkan War and all they received for salary was a promissory note. For cigarette money, the soldiers had either to importune their already impoverished folks or rob the public. They did both. When the author served his three months after having paid $280 he had to furnish his uniform, hand it over to the government at the end, leave his school and drill three months for nothing. Moreover, he was permitted to board himself as he could not stand barrack-life which is intolerable by civilized standards. Men sleep in a thin blanket on the floor with nothing but a knapsack for a pillow and an overcoat for bed clothes. They are herded in foul, filthy rooms where the air is vile and no chance for ventilation since the windows are closed by cheap burlap sacks to take the place of window panes. The rooms are dark and crowded with not more than a foot of space between one soldier and another. Every time the writer left the barracks he had

to examine himself lest he should carry vermin to his friends. Standing in the ranks it could be easily seen crawling all over the soldiers' uniforms and body. Thursday-Mohammedan Saturday-was washing day and the soldiers were made to carry their soiled clothes to a neighboring spring or brook and do their washing the best they could. In justice to the officers, it must be stated that they took pains to inspect the quarters occasionally and insist on general decency. A soldier was once given a tremendous blow on the face by an officer who saw him spit in the barrack room where soldiers slept, ate and attended classes squatting on the floor.

5. The marrying age is early in Turkey, so military service catches a man when he is married and often when he has a family. It is a cross to leave one's dependent family with nothing and serve in a remote corner of the Empire. It is more so when there is no cause involved. The author was once waiting outside the door of the commander of the division when a decrepit old woman from the outskirts of Bethlehem came with a husband old and half-blind, in order to plead their case. Their only son was drafted into the army leaving his helpless parents with his wife and four dependent sisters. The commander was human and showed sympathy but he could not alter the command of the war office. The son had to bear arms and the poor family was left to starve as gracefully as it could. This case is only one sample of thousands of others of similar nature. Is there any wonder that military service is obnoxious in Turkey? The case of a fellow who was imprisoned and starved by the recruiting officer, in order to verify the statement that he was deaf and dumb, throws light on the attitude of both sides on military service.

6. The official language is Turkish. It is difficult enough for an uncouth backwoodsman to go through the military movements with grace to say nothing of receiving orders in a foreign language. Arab, Armenian, Kurd, Greek and Bulgarian must learn enough Turkish to get along in the army. Often has the writer seen a reserve almost old enough to be the officer's father, slapped, knocked

about and sworn at because he was slow. All orders and commands are in Turkish and woe to him who is caught making a mistake.

These are a few samples of the attractiveness of the Turkish army.

Quite frequently one reads of the new standard of efficiency in the Turkish army since its modernization under German supervision. This may be so, but in the regiment of the author, which returned from the Balkan War, were men who saw active service and could not load a gun nor count up to thirty in Turkish. Many a soldier was exempted from leaving the barracks for drill because he had no shoes, his uniform was too ragged and humiliating or he did not have his complete equipment. The modernization may have been in a slight change of uniform, but as to efficiency let the Balkan and present wars speak.

This much, however, could be said in favor of general conscription, that it is an active agency, if properly guided, in breaking down Moslem fanaticism. It never had dawned on some Mohammedan soldiers that Christians could be really human. They had the honest conviction that Christians were infidels and enemies of the true Faith. It was both amusing and illuminating to hear some remarks on this subject. In going through a town on the way to a sham battle, a woman offered the soldiers water to drink. "She certainly must be a Moslem" was the comment; "Moslem" used to mean "good"—very much like our use of the word "Christian." At another time during a mercilessly severe drill the writer heard the exclamation "By God! this officer could not possibly be a Moslem," which was the strongest way to describe the officer's cruelty.

Although a non-Moslem is a curiosity in the army, he is not denied the common decencies. He is always spotted as the "Masihi"-Christian or "Yahoodi”-Jew. Usually he is befriended on account of his financial standing. Tobacco, coffee, and sweetmeats make friends among the soldiers. On Sunday a Christian is allowed to go to

church, so is a Jew on Saturday. The author asked a Jewish comrade, once "How do you eat food prepared by the gentiles?" He threw up his hands and replied "I don't like it a bit, but what can I do?"

The army had more than its share of attention and attempts at reform. That it has not accomplished much is only a matter of history. From this the reader can judge how much reform the other departments underwent. From the above reasons the reader may understand why military service is so unpopular.

Scene 2-Parliament

It would be unfair to lay all the blame on the Young Turks for the conspicuous failure of their constitutional government. It was a demoralized and a degenerate population they had to handle. Tyranny, oppression, misgovernment, crushing injustice and abuse left the inhabitants devoid of independence, self-respect, honor, integrity and all the qualities that go to the making of a man. What was worse, moreover, the new leaders did not prove themselves any better than the common herd. The Young Turks were "weighed in the balance and were found wanting." The people do not trust the government. As they express it "It is a government of 'take' but never 'give.'" The State took everything the people had and gave them nothing whatever in return. The Young Turks have it before them to prove themselves honest, to say nothing about efficiency. The Parliament was a joke and of all farces it was the most genuine. From the very nature of things, it was bound to be a joke. To the Young Turks it meant the monopoly of power and to the masses exemptions from taxation. The author took a crude census of illiteracy in a town of about 4000 people ten miles north of Jerusalem. The educational, moral and social standard of the town was especially high on account of 25 years' effort of the American Friends schools therein. About 800 men of that town are in America which is another favorable factor. With all