Identifier: turkhislostprovi00curt (find matches)
Title: The Turk and his lost provinces : Greece, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Curtis, William Eleroy, 1850-1911
Subjects: Eastern question (Balkan) Greece -- Description and travel Bulgaria -- Description and travel Serbia -- Description and travel Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Description and travel
Publisher: Chicago London : F.H. Revell Company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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cess in life. Opportunities are sofew in Greece that educated young men must seekemployment under the government or obtain commis-sions in the army. Under the present system ofpolitics the former can only look forward to an uncer-tain and an unprofitable career, while there is evenless to encourage the ambitious in the army. Thenumber of officers is so much in excess of the require-ments that there is nothing for them to do but tospend their time in the coffee-houses and in worseforms of dissipation. The streets of Athens and othercities of Greece are crowded with men in uniform, andif you will enter any cafe or stop at one of the manygroups of idlers in public places you may notice thatat least one-third and sometimes more than half of allthose present wear the uniform of officers of highrank. I have been told that there is an officer forevery three privates in the Greek army, and certainlythat proportion exists in Athens, although it may notbe so large in other parts of the country.
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MODERN ATHENS 357 Most of the public institutions at Athens werefounded and endowed by the private means of Greekswho have made fortunes abroad. Others have leftlarge legacies directly to the government. That hasoccurred several times in the United States, but notoften in other countries. Several men in their willshave left money to be applied toward the payment ofthe Greek national debt. One man, not long ago,who evidently feared that his money might be stolen,required his executors to purchase a stated amount ofgovernment bonds and burn them in the presence of acommittee. Some years ago a man left two hotels tothe Greek government. They stand on the Place dela Concorde, and yield a good rental, which goes intothe public treasury. One of the most notable acts of patriotism is told ofa Greek barber in the city of New York, who, dying,left his entire estate to the University of Athens. Hewas not an educated man, but was proud of the classictraditions of his country, and gave more than

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