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RECEDING articles in this number have set forth the present conditions of the different regions and races in the various sections of the Turkish Empire. The pictures which they present of distress, persecution, lack of opportunity and the resulting general backward state in every walk of life would seem to render immediate improvement well nigh a hopeless task. Yet the fact remains that in spite of all these adverse conditions, here is a land of marvelous possibilities and natural resources which it would be a crime not to develop to the full that it may become a producing force in the life of the world.

A LAND ECONOMICALLY BANKRUPT

An invoice of the present situation

money issued and promises for goods requisitioned during the war, will constitute liabilities which the credit of the government cannot possibly carry. Repudiation is all that the people of the land expect. Turkey has been shut up tight by the allied blockade. Not a ship has entered and not a ship has left her ports since Italy entered the war. She was absolutely dependent on imported goods from Europe for all lines of manufactured articles. While she produced silk, wool, cotton and hides in considerable abundance these were all exported in the raw state and returned in the form of cloth and leather goods. All petroleum products came from abroad as well as many articles of food such as sugar, rice, fine flour and tinned goods. Her entire stock of manufactured sup

and driven across the borders of neighboring lands.

Turkey is a country financially bankrupt. Up to March 31, 1917, she had borrowed from Germany and Austria, as a war loan, 79 million pounds. This, in addition to the

already large public debt, together with the enormous amount of paper

the past four years of blockade. The small amount of relief obtained from

Germany and Austria has met

but a small fraction of the demand. The restocking of Turkey, along with other countries, will be one of the world problems after the war; to supply Turkey will be especially difficult as it is so far from the manu

facturing centers.

The question of man power will be a most trying one in the rehabilita

tion of Turkey. A conservative estimate places the loss of Turkey during the past four years, from all causes, at about 20% of the total population before the war. In a country, capable by nature of supporting from eighty to one hundred millions, and having at best never more than twenty millions, the loss of twenty per cent. is a serious one for the development of the resources.

THE PROBLEMS

The economic problems before the country are, then, to restore to their homes the people who have been driven away; to supplement the man power of the land by suitable immigration and by the introduction of machinery; to teach the people to turn their own raw materials into manufactured articles ready for use; and to put the country on a sound financial basis by the development of resources and, through proper governmental reorganization, the obtaining of adequate credit abroad.

THE RESOURCES

The establishment of a safe and just government will go far towards the solution of most of these questions. The proper provision for the educational needs, especially along vocational lines, will be of the greatest service in preparing the people to supply their own wants and in stimulating trade with foreign lands. But with a proper government assured and the people provided with the means of adequate training in industrial lines, what are the resour

ces at hand which give assurance of a prosperous future?

1. First of all is the geographical location of Turkey. It lies at the point of contact of three continents.

In ancient days the city of Antioch was called "The Gate of the East." Seleucus Nicator claimed to have been divinely guided when he selected the bank of the Orontes, at the foot of Mt. Silpius, as his capital. From there his hand could stretch to the north, the south and the east and he could easily reach any part of his empire. The prosperity of Antioch for a thousand years, and of Aleppo afterwards, proved the wisdom of Seleucus' choice. And what was true of Antioch as the center of Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Syria in ancient days, is true of Turkey in its location at the meeting points of Europe, Asia and Africa to-day. A glance at the map reveals at once the unique situation for engaging in trade enjoyed by this nation.

In addition to this it should be noticed that scarcely any portion of the country is more than two hundred miles fron, the sea coast where all harbors are open the year round and in a clime particularly free from severe storms. Besides there are two large rivers that afford steamer navigation for a distance of six hundred miles, into the very heart of the rich plains of Mesopotamia.

2. In the second place should be noted Turkey's agricultural wealth. At present this is looked upon as her chief asset for it is really the

only one that has received any attention.

The area of Turkey in Asia, exclusive of Arabia, is 540,000 square miles. This is a district as large as the whole of the British Isles, France and Germany combined. It equals the area of the United States east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio and Potomac rivers, with the state of Virginia added. Now practically the whole of this area, except the very high mountain tops, is suitable for agriculture. All kinds of grains, cotton, mulberries and fruits can be raised. Certain of these products, such as wheat, the sorghum plants, olives and many of the fruits are indigenous.

Stock raising is a natural part of the life of the people. Sheep, goats, cattle, horses and camels are at home on the hills and plains of this land. The people are perhaps more naturally pastoral than tillers of the soil. Even now the exportation of hides and wool to Europe and America occupies a large place in the commerce of the country, and this could easily be expanded.

3. The mineral wealth of the land is potential rather than already developed. The stories of the fabulous wealth of Croesus obtained by sifting gold from the river sands are not entirely from the imagination. One of our American missionaries reports that frequently grains of gold are found in the soil washed down from the mountains. But the mineral prospects lie rather in the mines of copper, coal, iron, silver, chrome, manganese, mercury and salt than in

the prospect of gold. Of this list of minerals, however, all reports and partial surveys made agree in reporting very rich deposits. At present the lack of means of transportation from one part of the country to another and to the sea coast has prevented the development of these riches. They lie, a potential wealth, ready to reward the organization of the people and their education in industrial lines.

All the world knows of the wonderful oil fields along the Persian frontier; but all do not know so well the indications in other portions of the land, notably from Mosul to the east, in the neighborhood of Harput, and along the valley of the Jordan river. These indications are abundant enough to class these districts in the words of oil experts, "as among the best possible oil lands in the world."

4. Manufacturing has received very little attention in Turkey. The weaving of rugs, the making of lace, and the fashioning of vessels in copper constitute the chief industries in this line. These are all hand work and the world would be the poorer to lose the skill of hand and the fineness of product which generations of practice have been able to develop. But the human hand alone can never supply the wants of the world today; it must be supplemented by machines harnessed to the power nature has provided. Turkey is not lacking in this possibility. Great rivers, fed by copious rains or by melting snows, rush through narrow mountain gorges where plants could

be constructed to supply the needed power for the running of factories. Besides coal and fuel oil are in abundance in the earth waiting to do their share in the development of the prosperity of the land.

WHAT IS NEEDED

In all the life of the country the simplest, crudest and most unscientific methods are now being employed. For the cultivation of the fields it is well known that the primitive instruments of Bible days are still in use. In the care of the flocks and herds there is no attempt at improving the breeds or of maintaining the original quality of the stock, except in the case of the horses of the Arabs.

Primarily there must be a suitable reconstruction of the government which will ensure safety to property and person and justice to all. The government must become the friend rather than the enemy of the people, promoting new industries, developing the old, protecting and fostering the prosperity of the people.

Given a proper government there is needed above all instruction of the people in better methods of doing

their work, demonstration farms, technical schools, village instruction by convincing experiment and illustrated lecture. These things may be done either by the government or by private philanthropy and when accompanied by fair taxation and sympathetic encouragement they will meet a ready response on the part of the people.

There still remains one great problem to be met, and that at the very outset of reconstruction work, the bringing back to their homes of the people who have been scattered abroad and the reestablishment of them in their native haunts.

Unfortunately only a remnant of them remains in many of the districts and their homes have been ruined and their fields left desolate. But these are the people of the land and they are the best adapted to the work of reconstruction to be accomplished. The women and children must be gathered from near and far and what men 'are left must be returned to their villages and farms and these rebuilt and restocked. A multitude of orphans also are to be housed and trained for the to-morrow of Turkey.

W

HEN, in the spring of 1915, the Turks began the deportation and massacre of the Armenians, few suspected that this was in defense of the German policy. Now the belief is well substantiated that this blackest crime of the centuries was contrived and promoted by the German Imperial Government, in order to make it easier to perfect her scheme of Mittel-Europa. The Armenians, Greeks and Syrians were all able and patriotic people, the sense of nationality among them was strong. They had stood for education and progress and many among them were men of great competence in professional, commercial, industrial and political life. They would not readily submit to a plan of overlordship which would be far less endurable than Turkish rule. So the Germans conceived the idea of wiping out these people of education, ability and promise, thus making it easier for the Germans to achieve their ambition. The Turks, attracted by the idea of loot, and little realizing that they were digging their own graves in so doing, carried out the German scheme to the letter. Probably a million and a half of the best people of the empire have been destroyed. Through the inroads of the war upon the male population and the deliberate murder of Christian men, the population of the empire at the pres

ent consists chiefly of men too old to be of service, women and children.

Everywhere there is extreme poverty and starvation. Industrial and agricultural enterprise is crippled or in many cases absolutely destroyed. It is difficult to conceive of a more unhappy picture than Turkey presents to-day, with her people reduced to wretchedness through hunger and sickness, her children crying for bread, and her government in the hands of unscrupulous men who possess no fear of God nor man.

Education throughout the Empire is at a standstill. At the outbreak of the war, the French and British schools were closed and their property passed into the hands of the Turks. The school systems supported by Armenian, Greek and French Catholic communities under the desolating influence of war and massacre soon became disorganized and were discontinued. Even the schools conducted by the American and Presbyterian Boards of Missions have had to yield to the force of conditions engendered by war and massacre. There is a pretense of educational work on the part of the Turks, but from the meager knowledge available, it is obvious that Turkish schools exist more upon paper than in reality. In contrast to this general situation, the three independent colleges, namely, the