Page:Ambassador Morgenthau's Story.djvu/154

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
118
AMBASSADOR MORGENTHAU'S STORY

adjutants, all of whom were dressed in full uniform. I was pleased that Enver had made the proceeding so spectacular, for I wished it to have the widest publicity. On the ride up to the college I told Enver all about these American institutions and what they were doing for Turkey. He really knew very little about them, and, like most Turks, he half suspected that they concealed a political purpose.

"We Americans are not looking for material advantages in Turkey," I said. "We merely demand that you treat kindly our children, these colleges, for which all the people in the United States have the warmest affection."

I told him that Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, President of the trustees of Robert College, and Mr. Charles R. Crane, President of the trustees of the Women's College, were intimate friends of President Wilson. "These," I added, "represent what is best in America and the fine altruistic spirit which in our country accumulates wealth and then uses it to found colleges and schools. In establishing these institutions in Turkey they are trying, not to convert your people to Christianity, but to help train them in the sciences and arts and so prepare to make them better citizens. Americans feel that the Bible lands have given them their religion and they wish to repay with the best thing America has—its education." I then told him about Mrs. Russell Sage and Miss Helen Gould, who had made large gifts to the Women's College.

"But where do these people get all the money for such benefactions?" Enver asked.

I then entertained him for an hour or so with a few pages from our own "American Nights." I told him