1914II ^ City of Paradox 



Constantinople has perhaps the most beautiful Magnifi- 

 slte of any city in the world, and its majestic """" 

 cathedral-mosque, its domes and palaces, give splen- 

 did evidence of former glory. But these are now 

 ever3rv\'here inextricably mingled with the results of 

 modern incompetence, cruelty, and greed. Unkempt 

 and shabby, Stamboul's magnificent areas seem to be 

 occupied by a dirty camp of peddlers preyed on by 

 grafters, the streets are narrow, crooked, and rough, 

 and successive conflagrations followed by no attempt 

 at restoration have devastated the heart of the old 

 city. 



The dogs, once so conspicuous about town, had all T^ejau 

 been gathered together not long before our visit and ^ogj 

 carried to an island in the Sea of Marmora, where 

 they were left to destroy each other, Islam having a 

 religious prejudice against the taking of life, that of 

 man excepted! But with the south wind the odor 

 became intolerable, so that finally the animals were 

 turned over to a glover, who made use of their skins. 



In the course of our stay I was invited to a luncheon 

 at the American Embassy by Dr. Henry Morgenthau, Morgen- 

 the sagacious representative of the United States at 

 the Sublime Porte. A number of Turks were present 

 on that occasion, among them Rustem Bey, a man 

 of mediocre ability, then newly appointed minister 

 to the United States. But some one told me he was 

 Polish by birth, and only recently converted to 

 Islamism! It will be recalled that his tenure in 

 Washington soon ended on account of indiscreet 

 utterances in which he compared the atrocities in 

 Armenia to "lynching bees" in the South. This point 

 of view of course ignored the fact that in the one case 

 crime was committed in the name of the law, in the 



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