DESPITE many difficulties, the Greek civil authorities,
as far as their influence extended, succeeded in giving Smyrna and a large
portion of the occupied territory, the most orderly, civilized and progressive
administration that it has had in historic times. Mr. Sterghiadis, who
continued to the last his policy of punishing severely all offenders of Greek
origin against the public order, lost, for that reason, popularity in Asia
Minor. When he left Smyrna after
the debacle of his troops he was hooted by the people of the town who had not
come loyally to his support. He was, indeed, a great man who made a supreme
effort to perform a superhuman task and who is suffering from the obloquy that
always attaches to failure.
Here are some of
the civilizing reforms which the Hellenic administration introduced into the
Smyrna region:
1. During the
war, under Turkish rule, the morality of the Christian inhabitants of all nationalities
had greatly deteriorated. The Turk had no respect or
regard for non-Mussulman women, whom he regards as his legitimate prey.
All the American residents of Smyrna during this epoch will remember the orgies
indulged in by a certain high Turkish official and his friends and the example
set the European colony by a prominent Anglo-Levantine lady who became his
acknowledged and public mistress. The lady in question was proud of her
position and afterward explained it by saying that she had accepted it to use
her influence to prevent persecutions and that a monument should be set up in
her honor. In one of the first conversations which I had with Mr. Sterghiades
after his arrival, the governor general told me that the Christian people had
been debauched by the Turks and had lost their self-respect and their morality,
and that they needed an awakening of their pride of race and religious instincts. One of his first
acts was to suppress the disorderly houses located in the central portions of
the town, and in this he met with determined opposition from various of the
foreign consuls whose subjects owned these houses and conducted them.
Helpless to enforce an edict against a European subject, he stationed gendarmes
in front of the establishments in question who took down the names and
addresses of all frequenters and thus caused their patronage so to dwindle that
they were obliged to close. Playing of baccarat and other forms of gambling for
high stakes had also become a crying evil in Smyrna, resulting in the ruin of
several people and even in suicides. Mr. Sterghiades suppressed gambling in the
clubs, and private houses, wherever it came to his notice.
2. The Hellenic Administration supported and aided in every way
possible educational institutions. Its support and encouragement of
American educational and philanthropic institutions will he taken up later. It
is chiefly to be praised, however, for the measures which it took, paid for out of the Greek Treasury, for the maintenance and improvement of Turkish schools.
It continued the Moslem secondary schools at its own
expense, the taxes for their support having been taken over by the
Ottoman public debt as security for a loan contracted by the Ottoman
Government. The Greek administration supported by funds
from its treasury, two Moslem high schools in Smyrna, two at Magnesia and
Odemish, and two seminaries in the provinces, paying therefore yearly seventy
thousand Turkish pounds. It kept in vigor the Turkish system of primary
education, appointing prominent Mussulmans in the various villages to
superintend the same. It maintained a Polytechnic school at Smyrna, at which
two hundred and ten poor Mussulman, children were educated and supported, paying therefore thirty-six thousand Turkish
pounds yearly. In addition to this, it was especially helpful to those
American institutions and schools, which operated in the Turkish quarter and
among Turkish children.
3. The Greek administration made a serious and intelligent
effort to organize a sanitary service for the compiling of statistics, the
betterment of sanitary conditions and the suppression of epidemics and
contagious diseases, such as malaria, syphilis, etc. A microbiological
laboratory was established for the diagnosis of infectious diseases with an
equipment of sanitary motorcars for bringing in the sick from distant points,
small wagons for the transportation of infected articles and portable outfits
for disinfections on the spot. To describe the work of this service
alone, which was organized on a large scale and abundantly supplied with means,
material and money, would require a good-sized pamphlet. As a result of these measures, plague, exanthematic fever and
smallpox were got so under control that they disappeared as epidemic diseases
in the occupied zone. Needless to say that systematic war was waged against
lice and rats. A Pasteur institute was opened at Smyrna by the Greeks on the
eighteenth of August, 1919, under the direction of a specialist working
in conjunction with a staff of experts. Out of over one thousand five hundred
patients treated during the first two months of its existence who had been
bitten by dogs, jackals or wolves, only four died. Treatment
was free in this institute. Previously sufferers had been obliged to go
to Constantinople or Athens and those who could not raise the funds were left
to die. I have myself assisted poor Turks, frantic with fear, to make the trip
to Constantinople for treatment. One section of the
University of Smyrna, founded by the Greek administration, was that of the
Institute of Hygiene, divided into two sections, hygiene and
bacteriology. It was all ready for business when the Turks burned Smyrna,
possessing an installation similar to that of the great universities of
Europe, including a good library and complete equipment of appliances. It would never have lacked money or support, and would have
been at the service of all classes, irrespective of creed or race. Here
is the program which it was about to put in operation:
Gratuitous
bacteriological, hygienic and industrial examinations for all classes of the
community.
The
preparation and gratuitous distribution of all healing and diagnostic inoculations,
serums, antitoxins, antigonococcus, etc.
The sanitation of
the town on an extensive scale, sewerage, water-supply, streets, etc.
Sanitary works for
the combating of malaria, the draining of marshes, etc.
The combating of
trachoma.
The combating of
phthisis on a large scale, (dispensaries, asylums, convalescent homes, special
hospitals, sanitation of houses, etc.)
For infants:
dispensaries, gouttes de lait, creches, foundling
homes, etc.
For children:
various philanthropic institutions. For mothers: pre-natal pre-culture.
Education and
training of doctors to compose the service of public health.
Training for
midwives and nurses.
Organization of a
registry office of births and deaths.
Organization of
special medical statistical service
4. Financial aid on a large scale
was furnished, as was the distribution of flour, clothing, etc., to refugees
caused by the Khemalist raids in the interior and the destruction in 1919 of
the cities of Aidin and Nazli. Among those so succored were thousands of Turks.
5. All American missionaries, as
well as educational and charitable workers in Smyrna and its hinterland during
the Greek occupation, will verify the statement that the Hellenic
administration showed itself most helpful and cooperative in many ways, aiding
their labors among Turks as well as Christians. Here is a list of
certain benevolent acts toward these institutions:
The high-commissioner granted to the Y. M. C. A. a large
house on the quay, one of the biggest and finest in Smyrna, for use as a
“Soldiers’ Home.” He also helped its management in many ways by detaching
Greek soldiers for its service.
An adequate building was also given to be used as a
“Soldiers’ Home” at Magnesia, where many facilities were afforded.
The civil department of the Y. M. C. A. was in need of an
adequate building for its installation. The Greek authorities requisitioned a
cafe belonging to a Greek for that purpose. It was still in operation at the
time of the burning of the city.
The same Y. M. C. A. organized on a large estate near
Smyrna an installation for the study of agriculture by young men. The Greek
administration helped this organization by furnishing tents, blankets and
other requisites from the quartermaster’s department and a motor-car for
transportation.
The Y. M. C. A. had also organized at Phocea, near
Smyrna, a summer camp for boys. The Greek administration helped by furnishing
lumber, a boat and other materials, and allowed the importation of a motor-car
free of duty.
The Y. W. C. A., which was managed by Miss Nancy
McFarland, was helped in many ways by the Greek administration in the form of
considerable sums of money, lumber and supplies.
A branch of the girls’ school, known as the Intercollegiate
Institute, was started at Guez Tepe by Miss Minnie Mills for Mussulman women.
The high-commissioner furnished a part of the equipment for this.
For the N. E. R. at Smyrna the high-commissioner gave
Miss Harvey five hundred pounds Turkish to be used in favor of poor Mussulman
women.
The American College near Smyrna is situated in a place
contiguous to a marsh formerly flooded by stagnant water causing malaria. The Greek administration drained the swamp and repaired the
road passing by the college.
All the agricultural implements, which were imported for
the use of the returning Greek refugees or for resale at cost price or on
credit for the purpose of restoring the destroyed areas were purchased by the
high commission exclusively from American factories at my request. Thus
thousands of plows were brought in to be distributed among Turks as well as
Christians.
A farm of thirty thousand acres situated at Tepekeuy, used by the Greek
administration for the study of motor-culture, was bought and made exclusive
use of American motor-plows. As a result, students completing the course
recommended to the landowners the use of American motor-plows.
While I was in Saloniki during the war, the American Y.
M. C. A. was greatly aided, both financially and morally, by the Greek authorities,
both Mr. Venizelos and the Greek archbishop being friendly to this institution
and present at the dedication of its new house.
The American missionaries, who had an agricultural
college and a school there, were at first viewed with suspicion by the Greeks
for the reason that they all spoke Bulgarian and continued to reach in that
language after the Greek occupation. I brought the missionaries and the Greek
authorities together and since then the said authorities have been most
benevolent to the missionaries and helpful to them in many ways. At my
invitation the late King Alexander came to Saloniki to visit the various
missionary and educational institutions and assured them of his friendly
interest and support.
During the Greek administration, I traveled frequently
over a large part of the occupied territory and visited many of the interior
villages. I found perfect security everywhere, native Greeks and Turks living
together on friendly terms. In general there
would be in each village a small administrative office in charge of a petty
officer and two or three aides. I noticed the persistent effort, which these
people made to fraternize with the Turks and to placate them. Very often have I
taken my coffee in the public square of some small town with the Greek
officials, the Turkish hodja, (A teacher in the secondary Turkish school
attached to a mosque) and various of the Mohammedan notables. - I remember
particularly shortly before the Greek defeat sitting thus with a venerable
hodja and a Greek surgeon under a plane-tree, helping to celebrate the marriage
of the hodja to his fourth wife, which had taken place the day before.
The dark side of this seemingly idyllic picture
is that quite frequently the two or three Greek officials would be found some
morning with their throats cut, whereupon an order would be sent to the village
that the names of the assassins must be revealed or the town would be burned. This, if I remember correctly, was modeled upon our
so-called “punitive expeditions” in the Philippines, which the Greek
authorities often cited to me in speaking of the matter. In no case did the
Turks reveal the names of the offenders and at least twice my office has been
invaded by the notables of some town who complained that their village had
been burned. On each occasion, I asked: “Were the Greek officials in your
town murdered last night?” And the answer on both these occasions was, “Yes,
but we could not tell the names of the offenders because we did not know who
they were.”
There were also sporadic acts of great ferocity
committed against the peaceful Christian inhabitants of the country, which were
always attributed by the Turks to roving bands of Chetas. Who these Chetas
were, I do not know, but it is my opinion that they did not come from far. I
remember one particularly atrocious case-the massacre and disemboweling of a
Greek miller and his wife and their two children.
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