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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1911)
Politics and Business the Live Things in Modern Athens e3 Ha I 5 'St t T - 1 , ...' ' ,..llit ... l '" ,. - , ' - . r r .i A - I -if r if 1; 1 U I Itlr' ": I I ' , VV- ! I i I i I I v Ii I A II I I I . I ilJI II II I II ill I IV i JT , j ... t v . -- .""' ' 11 i ill kl S I , i I ' it! I 1 in i - i i .ihii jits-- - . i i'. v v v."- -vV'A w r r j r r . t ii -S. I ii ii i i ii mi ill ii ill iiimrwwnniiiiBMMOMmiiLL A (Copyright. 1911, by Frank O. Carponter.) TIIKNS. --(Si)fclal C'orreBpondence of The llec.) Take a look at Athens today I It lies here under the rocky Acropolig, filled with and surrounded by ruins. NevrrthelfBS, it ia the brlghteat, gayest and busiest city of the near east. It haa Bo'uie of the most elegant homes of the world; Its marble buildings vie with those of the best cities of Europe, and its stores are full of fine goods. The town grows as fast as blackberry bushes on top of the lllue Ridge. About fifty years ago it had some thing like 10,000 people, who dwelt in 300 miserable houses. Today it has almost 200,000, and among them are Greek millionaires, who have made fortunes In Alexandria, Cairo, Constantinople and other cen ters about the Mediterranean sea. It is the aim of the Greek to come to Athens to die and the rich bring their savings and live here In luxury. They spend so mueh that the finest of everything may be bought in the stores, and the cost of living Is about as hikh.'T8 anywhere else In the world. $ A Iook Over Athens. I climbed the Acropolis yesterday and took a view of the city. The Acropolis Is a hill of rose colored limestone which rises to a height of 200 or 300 feet out of tho plain upon which Athens stands. It Is right on tho edge of the town, and from the Parthenon, on its top, you can see the whole city. Your flrft glance shows a flat plain of grayish white buildings, tho chief of which is the palace, a three-story structure of marble, surrounded by trees. Farther over are the Parliament building and mu seums and schools, and scattered about the outskirts aro the massive ruins of ancient temples, such as that of Jupiter, Olympus and Theseus, and also the new stadium, which was erected by an Alexandrian Greek millionaire named Averof. It Is now being repaired and repolishcd, and I am told that its cost altogether has been about $800,000. As I look closer at the buildings below me I can pick out the details. The city is cut up by Btreets which cross each other at right angles, except at the center, where they go in and out like tho pathways of Rosamond's bower. The heart of the town is right at Constitution Square, In front of the palace. There the car lines converge and from there go off the chief business streets. To the left of tho palace are many beautiful homes, and to the north of It aro the chiof public buildings, Including the univer sity, the library, the National Museum and the Acad emy of Science. - The main part of the town la made up of build ings of much the same height. They are painted yellow, rose pink, 6ky blue and other gay colors, and ' . . . i k. . f . - i Rlltll4fli ill! ."-It II - V H' . - . . . II I I ( I I I I I 1 i I I i Sit (I rt ,. . .. . ... i lit,... r nit s7 - - - - -"' i ii Tlllll '"T ''mm iiiiiimiw 117 i.iii. ''TJZ'' SsWif f - !" w I 'V"" - . V " . . "v v'N : f. mjm a liotxir, or ts. g4 ... -. - AHrW D..,. . . I : . .... ry-J lives In his own house he has to pay a percentage on the rent it would probably bring. The cafes are good; they are full of peoplo afternoon and evening, and many of them keep open all night. At those about the Place de la Constitution you may see men chatting as late as 3 o'clock in the morning. . There are also daily lunch rooms, where a breakfast consisting of eggs, rolls and butter may be had at low cost; and afternoon tea rooms near the palace and otherwheres. AhaV.aA1 A a. . .... lw uulelB, Aiuens nas a aozen or rairly good ones down into the pipe, drops his bullet for or against the at which tourists can atop, and there are a score more candidate as he pleases, without the possibility of which are not bad. At the best houses the rates are anyone knowing Just how he votes. Each voter is from 3 to 5 a day on the American plan, or you can given only as many buckshot as there are candidates, pay for your rooms and order what you please at fixed and the Judge sees that he has only a single ball in prices per meal or per dish. Many of the native ho- his hand when he nuts it into the nine of the hnr I am told that considerable lobbying Is done and that a great deal of money is spent on elections. The candidates have to treat the voters and one of them counttT.ir motintatnoua, and our raTJroad engines ara said to be the best for such regions. Americans are popular here, and it might pay our locomotve corn- being arranged in a row along one side of it. The boxes are so fixed that only one man can pass through to vote at one time. The box is a foot square, with a pipe hole In Us top about big enough to admit the arm of a man. This runs down into the middle ofthe box, where it meets a partition which divides the box in hair. On one side of the partition go the affirma tive ballots and on the other the negative. The bal- recently said that his election expenses averaged about panles to Investigate the situation. 15 per vote, a rate much less than that of Adams Speaking of American machinery, I am told that county, Ohio. One way of conciliating the puMicIs by the people are beginning to use It. American sewing acting as godfather to babies, and It is said that one machines are popular and our bicycles bring th high statesman here has a thousand god-children. A change est prices. I see some American revolvers and also of administration means a change of offices. The arms made by the Germans to imitate American arms appointments are made on the old Jacksonlan theory, and sold as such. As to agricultural machines the "To the victors belong the spoils." farms are small and the most of the implements are When a new government Is elected the old clerks similar to those of the days of Herodotus have to leave, and this is so of school teachers and lots are buckshot, and the voter, having put his hand officers of the museums, college professors, as well as of the librarians and From Athens to Paris by Hail. Just now one of the questions which Is agitating the Greeks Is the building of a railroad to connect the system here with the line which runs from Paris to Waterworks for Athens. Other openings might be found in supplying Ath ens with water. The city often suffers from drouth, and as It Is now It is about the dustiest town of the orient. The streets are macadamized, and the roads grind the metal to powder. The soil is thin and the dust Is a white flour which permeates everything. It an extent that you have to tela let rooms without meals, and there are boarding There are also other means of nreventimr fmuria in Constantinople. Greece has In the neighborhood of k. w houses where one can get accommodations from $1.50 elections, and each candidate is usually present to 9 miles of railroads. It has some which go to the have tnem blacked Bevera, u JV t 92 per day. look out for bla rlgnt8 - nortnern boundary and whlch by an exten8l(m of le89 ha(j ZZ&' Zn anv" The term of the members of Parliament is four than sixty miles could be Joined to the great Paris otner town of ,t , . . . . . ... . . ... . a. i ii t t. .. i j . . a. v nuuu' i no water now A City of Politicians. years, and they receive salaries of about $300 or $400 Athens Is a city of politicians. Every modern Per session. They are allowed free paases on the rail Greek is a statesman, and the average man will settle ways. v ' the greatest questions of the world off-hand. The Parliament makes all the laws and votes all the h 1 TWO Aaa t1Utnn 1 1 I n I i . . . Tnn a t is n Mm 1 i. I I 1 i their roofs are gray or red tiles. There are uo sky- . 1 " ' are aooui tne " w . - su'c,uu"'ul' " " ruieu v - i. i . . cafes. There are a half dozen news Journals, and speaker, who is elected by ballot. The new members 2 n Eat hU, BP'rr' " ,nthe ther ach man h Per as he sips his coffee. The are sworn In by a priest and are sprinkled with hoi, cities of Europe. Here and there the blue dome of a nan j C , ,, t. . . , , iniuicu iu iu Bums cuuraciers mill von uuuuk iuc ceieiuuujr. jl one seBHiun noi lonx trunk line. I am told it would not cost more than $8,000,000 to make the extension, and that both the great powers of Europe and the sultan have approved of its construction. It Is delayed, however, for fear of military troubles. When It Is completed it will have a great Influence upon Greece. It will probably change the through fast route to India, which now goes by Italy and Brlndisi, to this road to the Piraeus. comes from a reservoir on Mount Lykabettos. but the supply is not sufficient, and, they are now talking of utilizing the falls of the Styx, which are a long dis tance away, the scheme proposing an expenditure of something like $1,000,000. The Draining of Lake KnnaU. Jiussian cnurcn may be seen, and occasionally, rising flnd ln the Greek classics, the modern Greek language some members grew angry and a scuffle ensued, The mafls w111 K wa and the Passenger travel Another enterprise which Is already under way out of a garden, a clump of tall cypress treeB of dark being much like that of ancient Greece. Indeed, I during which an ink bottle was thrown into the holy as well. The people are excited over the possibilities, and largely successful is the draining of Lake Kopais, green. Rut little manufacturing is done, and I can find that I can get along with a phrase book; I can ater basin, discoloring the fluid provided for the and the money for building the line could probably the largest lake In Greece. This lake lies in the moun- count the smokestacks on my fingers. read the nanera &nd ran cvn Hamvt.r tho Jut. oDenin ceremony. iTnnn unnihpr nrmninn thA monUr be raised without difficulty. tains some distance northeast of Athon. it h. usuauy contained no water excent in wintr whn there was a depth of about thirteen feet In the sum- some or tne jokes ln the comic periodicals. .Timt nnw A Hide Through Athens. the chler talk is about the New Turkey, and as to But let us get down and take a ride through the what place it will hold in this part of the world. Most Streets. We can go several miles on the tramway t the poople here think that it will be largely laflu- for a fare of 2 cents. We pass over rVe ground enced by the Greeks who live In Constantinople, where Dlogones went with his lantern hunting an Smyrna and other cities of the Levant. They say honest man, and through the streets which Alcl- tnat a new Greek empire will some day arise and that baides traversed in his seven-horse chariot. We ,ts rnP,ta' will he Constantinople. Today the Greeks can take the steam tram and go down to the seaport are the rh,ff bankers, merchants and other buninous or Piraeus, or we can ride out to the slopes of Lyka- lnen of the caPltal of the sultan. They have monop- bettoa or to the Areopogus, the high rocky cliff upon olized the trade of that country and the Turks cannot which St. Paul stood when he preached his sermon to do w'thout them. They have had to work quietly and the Athenians. secretly, but with the new regime they expect to hold of the house, fearing adverse legislation, locked the doors and refused to let the opposition In, whereupon a locksmith was called and the speaker shoved out of the way. Chances for American Trade. .... .i m ui- j . i , TTI Pf It was llmnat AvinA .. . a . in me oix-raiiun oi lum ruitu mere is no reason " untu uy, auu ii seemed lo nave a why American locomotives should not be used. The Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints (Continued from Page One.) The Saints in Independence are located mostly ln the West End, sometimes spoken of among the citizen Here they started a printing plant nud besan publish ing the Evening and Morning Star, a small monthly. The Saints were practically all uorthi rners rnd were auDterranean outlet to the sea. About twenty-six years ago a French company conceived the Idea of re claiming the land, and It apent about $2,500,000 on a canal and tunnel through one of the mountains. It had gotten the rough work done when Its money ran out. and it went into the hands of a receiver. Scot tish company then took up the concession, and now. after twenty-three years, It has about 65,000 acres of land ready for farms. During my stay ln Athens I have called upon the me wesi ina, someiimes spoKen or among tne citizens ' " ,.. . The streets of Athens are wide and well paved and a nigh p,ace ,n the empire and to openly be the mov- a "Mormon End," the First and Fourth wards of the 8tronely anti-slavery ln sentlmont. Jackson county manager or tne company, Mr. J. B. Steele, and had a many are covered with asphalt. There Is a maia- lug Power ln all things financial. damlzed road as good as any in Central park leading ald Courjt MercatI, one of the leadipg officials of down to the Piraeus, and this is now being planted the rourt here, to me the other day: with trees. "The modern Greek Is the strongest element In The main part of the city is compactly built and the or,ent; he does more business than the representa- the business buildings are tour and five stories. The tlve of any other eastern nation; he is predominant in shops have plate glass windows, and the best of them t'alro and Alexandria and in every port on the Red are devoted to dry goods, fac millinery, jewelry and Bea; ne 18 the financier of Palestine and Syria aoid his other such things. The anopplng hour is from 5 to 7 r0'nles are found as far north as Khartum, where o'clock every evening, at which time the streets are 1'ord Kitchener said that the Greeks aided him greatly thronged with fashionable women. Shrewtl liuxineKvMcn. I have spent some tln.e in the stores talkins with the merchants and looking at their establishments. In bringing order out of the chaos of the Soudan. Turkey alone has 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 Greeks." 4, The Grwk Parliament. city being largely controlled by them. In politics thev are perhaps predominately republican, though they are characteristically independent in voting but they are practically solid against the liquor traffic. The Latter Day Saint vote at the last election carried Independence for state-wide prohibition, though so ar locally the "wets" have outvoted the "drys." Put among the Latter Day Saints an expression often ia heard. "Just wait. We'll oust tho saloons et." And the steady influx of the "gathering" Saints bids fa!r to soon put them in control sufflc'ently to make their boast g'od. The constantly growing numbers of Salnta has at i. j i , , i . ..... talk with him ikniit v, ,.,,,., . .. nun neeu wiueu largely uy pioneers irom Virginia mo uuueriuiuug. iie tells me and Kentucky and hence largely southerners in tbt tne draIn,n was done by making a girdle canal sentiment. Friction soon developed between the cltl- around the basin where the lake lay to catch the zens and the Saints and the general opposition which water of the rivers and to prevent them entering it. the Saints seem to have everywhero met with at first Thls B,rdle waa twenty miles long and It Joined a was in Independence intensified by tho differences on cutt,nS ,n the mountain of two miles by a tunnel, the slavery question. Editorials appeared In the Star to which the slave holders took exception, und finally the strained relations between "Saints" and "Gentiles" reached the breaking point and open hostilities began. Blood was spilled, and finally in 1S23 the citizens rose and by mob violence drove the Saints in a cold No vember from their homes, across the river north Into times given some of the citizens of Indenendence much Clay county. thence into Caldwell coujty, where for Hut let mo tell you something of the Kovernment concern, and nil U not .mnmh ciiinr f. th e.i... a time they found refuge. But in 183S they were The Greeks understand how to do business; they are of this little country. The Greeks have a king, but Much prejudice exists against them here yet though drlven from there and fled to Nauvoo, 111., where trey smart traders, their character being well expressed by he la merely a figurehead and a foreigner; they do not they are generally recognized as good, frugal citizens. bullt Up a tnrlvln8 clty- In mob violence was re sorted 10 Dy IE iinnoiBans ami Joseph and Hyruin Smith were, on June 27, 1844, killed In cold blood at Carthage, 111. " """ vu... luruuenoui .ne orient; it allow nun to have anything to say about politics, and It will be re.nemtered that at one time the citizens iruo. , u iii uifs oi Ainens, rrom mo Jews King George understands this and keeps out. It was of Jack fkBOn COIintV and Inrienanitunn.. lrniu ih.& O.l.l. I.1 . . 1 . . M I .n. r . t. . . , . . - ..... W1" II IB fverywnere, good ainerent with Otto of Bavaria, who was king before out of the county. But this make it necessary to v,w.c. u. t ,o ii. mc ufr east tnat one ueorge. uuo meddled with public questions and this uroen is equal to two jews, and, although tho Jews caused his expulsion. The Greeks tell me that thev are scattered throughout other parts of the Mediter- .believe ln a perfect equality among themselves, and ranean, you will find none in Athens The storekeer.- they could not have ihl ir thpv h.H . n-u 'un touch briefly upon the history of tin church. ers have no fixed prices and you barpaln for every thing. You must dicker with your doctor, butcher and baker, and even .vith your druggist. There are no price marks in the average store, or, If bo, tho bar gaining Is done all the same. Tho Cafes if Athens. A great many of the people live In flats and dine at the cafes and restaurants. Kents are hish and houses aro taxed 5 per cent on the rental. If ono mrifiure wiry nave cnosen a Dane ror tne throne. The chief business of Greece Is done In the Parlia ment; this is different from our congress In that there Is only one house, known as the boule; this has 235 members, one being elected for every 12,000 Inhabi tants. The kingdom is divided into seevnty-one dis tricts and the congressmen are elcted by districts. The elections are usually held upon Sundays, the bal lot boxes being kept in the churches. In Athens the chief voting place is the cathedral, the ballot boxes F.arly History of KtHntH. In April, 1830, Joseph Smith, uaaally spoken of among the Saints as "the martyr," with five others, organized the church at Fayette, N' Y . and Immedl- other aspirants, introduced heresies and led his band a,teiy began an active campaign for converts. In a few months a few hundred membra went west and located near Mentor. O.. at a little place called Kirt land, where eventually a temple was built at much cost of labor and means. In 1831 a "colony" was sent further west, and this small handful was led to Independence, Mo., a small trading post at the be ginning of the Santa Fe trall also the Oregon trail. nlgni Blxtetm feet wlde af)(1 3,000 feet long. After leaving. the tunnel the water passes through another lako and on Into a second tunnel and thence on to the ocean. Mr. Steele says that the soli of the lake basin is rich. It contains the earth washings of centuries, and will raise two crops a year. Some of the land will be irrigated and a great deal of it has been already leased to the peasants ln small holdings, ranging in size from ten to 100 acres. The company has about 7,000 acres under cultivation, and also pasture lands In which are large droves or cattle. He tells me It is Its idea to employ the latest of agricultural Inventions, but so far it has found most of them unfitted to the soli. This la especially so of our heavy harvesters and reapers, and as it is now the most of the wheat and other grain is cut with the sickle. One feature of this reclamation scheme is the peaty soil of the center of the lake. This burns easily, and within the last few month, the management has had great trouble from fires started there. These have burnt down the soil so that the level of the earth has dropped over six feet, doing serious damage to the canals, cut for a higher level. The pedants find that the burning peat leaves a coat of ashes upon which they can sow their grain and grow rich crops without much cultivation tk. . Large numbers of the Independence Saint, will terested ln having the burning L on U'erelre' be in attendance at the Lamoni conference. FRANK G. CARPENTER. When Rrigham Young Became Leader. """"The two leading men gone, contest for leadership became fierce. Brigbam Young, then president of the Twelve, usurped the leadership of the church, crushed across the plains to I'tah, where he fastened his hold by demanding and receiving unquestioned obedience to the men holding the priesthood, rigidly enforcing the hierarchical principle of authority.V thus making himself the absolute autocrat of an ecclesiastical kingdom.