lO 
Land & Water 
July II, 19 1 8 
barbarians. In return for this promise he asked a favour 
of me; would 1 not see that Turkey was praised in the, 
American and Europem Press for this decision. I went 
home and immediately sent for Mr. 1 heron Damon, corre- 
spondent of the Associated Press, Dr. Lederer, correspondent 
of the " Berliner Tageblatt," and Dr. Sandler, who repre- 
sented the Paris " Herald," and gave them interviews, 
praising the attitude of Turkey toward the foreign residents. 
I also cabled the news to Washington, London, and Partis, 
and to all our consuls. 
Hardly had I finished with the correspondents when I 
again received alarming news. I had arranged for another 
train that evening, and I now heard that the Turks were 
refusing to vist^ 
the passports of 
those whose de- 
parture I had 
provided for. 
. Again I went to 
the railroad sta- 
tion, and again 
I found a mass 
of distracted 
people ; the 
women were 
weeping, and the 
children scream- 
ing, while a 
platoon of Tur- 
kish soldiers, 
commanded by 
a n undersized 
popinjay of a 
major, was 
driving every- 
body out of the 
station with the 
flat sides of their 
guns. Bedri, as 
usual, was there, 
and, as usual, 
was clearly en- 
joying the con- 
fusion ; certain of 
the passengers, he told me, had not paid their income-tax, 
and, for this reason, they wou'.d not be permitted to leave. I 
announced that I would be responsible for this payment. 
"I can't get ahead of you, Mr. Ambassador, can I?" 
said Bedri, with a laugh. From this we all thought that 
my offer had settled the matter and that the train would 
leave as per schedule. But then suddenly came another 
order holding it up again. 
Since I had just had my interview with Talaat, this action 
somewhat nettled me. I jumped into my automobile and 
went to the Sublime Porte, where he usually had his head- 
quarters. Finding no one there, I told the chauffeur to 
drive ^irect to Talaat's house. Sometime before I had 
visited Enver in his domestic surroundings, and this occasion 
now gave me the opportunity to compare his manner of 
life with that of his more powerful associate. The contrast 
was a startling one. I haa found Enver living in luxury, 
in one of the most aristocratic parts of the town ; while 
now I was driving to one of the poorer sections. We came 
to a narrow istreefc, bordered by little rough, unpainted 
wooden houses; only one thing distinguished this thorough- 
fare from all others in Constantinople and suggested that 
it was the abiding place of the most powerful man in tbc 
Turkish Empire. At either end stood a policeman letting 
no one enter who could not give a satisfactory reason for 
doing so. Our auto, like all others, was stopped, but we 
were promptly permitted to pass when we explained who 
we were. As contrasted with Enver's palace, with its 
innumerable rooms and gorgeous furniture, Talaat's house 
'was an old, rickety, wpoden, three-storey building. All 
this, I afterward learned, was part of the setting which 
Talaat had staged for his career. Like many an American 
politician, he had found his position as a man of " the 
people " a valuable political asset, and he knew that a 
sudden display of prosperity and ostentation would weaken 
his influence with the Union and Progress Committee, most 
of whose members, likt himself, had risen from the lower 
walks of life. The contents of the house were quite in 
keeping with the exterior. There were no suggestions of 
Oriental magnificence. The furniture was cheap ; a few 
coarse prints hung on the walls, and one or two well worn 
rugs were scattered on the floor. On one side stood a 
wooden table, and on this rested a telegraph instrument — 
once Talaat's means of earning a living, and now the means 
by which he communicated with his associates. 
The Big Boss in Pyjamas 
Amid these surroundings I wnited for a few minutes the 
entrance ot the Big Boss of Turkey. In due time, a door 
opened at the other end of the room, and a huge, lumbering, 
gaily decorated figure entered. I was startled by the 
contrast which this Talaat presented to the one who had 
become such a familiar figure to me at the Sublime Porte. 
It was no longer the Talaat of the European clothes and 
the thin veneer of European manners; the man whom I now 
saw looked like a real Bulgarian gipsy. Talaat wore the 
usual red Turkish fez; the rest of his bulky form was 
clothed in thick grey pyjamas ; and from this mass of colour 
protruded a rotund, smiling face. His mood was haff 
genial, half 
d e p r e c a ting ; 
Talaat w e ' 1 
understood what 
pressing busi- 
ness had led me 
to invade his 
domestic pri- 
vacy, and his 
behaviour re- 
sembled that of 
the unrepentant 
bad boy in 
school. He 
came and sat 
down with a 
good- natured 
grin, and began 
to make excuses. 
Quietly the door 
opened again, 
and a hesitating 
little girl was 
pushed into the 
room, bringing 
a tray of cigar- 
ettes and coffee. 
Presently I saw 
that a young 
woman, appar- 
ently about 
Turkish Troops 
The soldier who fights bravely because death in baltle means immediate introduction to Paradise. 
twenty-five years old, was standing back of the child, urging 
her to enter. Here then were Talaat's wife and adopted 
daughter ; I had already discovered that, while Turkish 
women never enter society or act as hostesses, they are 
extremely inquisitive about their husbands' guests, and like 
to get surreptitious glimpses of them. Evidently Madame 
Talaat, on this occasion, was not satisfied with her pre- 
liminary view, for, a few minutes later, she appeared at a 
window directly opposite me, but entirely ^unseen by her 
husband, who was facing in the other direction, and there 
she remained very quiet and very observant for several 
minutes. As she Was in the house, she was unveiled ; her 
face was handsome and intelligent ; and it was quite apparent 
that she enjoyed this close-range view of an American 
Ambassador. 
" Well, Talaat," I said, realising that the time had come 
for plain speaking, " don't you know how foolishly you are 
acting? You told me a few hours ago that you had decided 
to treat the French and English decently and you asked me 
to publish this news in the American and foreign Press. 
I at once called in the newspaper men and told, -them how 
splendidly you were behaving. And this at your own 
request ! The whole world will be reading about it to- 
morrow. Now you are doing your best to counteract all 
my efforts in your behalf ; here you have repudiated your 
first promise to be decent. Are you going to keep the 
promises you made me? Will you stick to them, or do 
you intend to keep changing your mind all the time? Now 
let's have a real understanding. The thing we Americans 
particularly pride ourselves on is keeping our word. We do 
it as individuals and as a nation. We refuse to deal with 
people as equals who do not do this. You might as well 
understand now that we can do no business with each other 
unless I can depend on your promises." 
" Now, this isn't my fault," Talaat answered. " The 
Germans are to blame for stopping that train. The German 
Chief of Staff has just returned and is making a big fuss, 
saying that we are too easy with the French and English 
and that we must not let them go away. He says that we 
must ke^ them for hostages. It was his interference that 
did this." 
That was preciselv what I had suspected. Talaat had 
given me his promise, then Bronsart, head ot the German 
Staff, had practically countermanded his orders. Talaat's 
admission gave me the opening which I had wished for. 
{To be continued) 
