Sultan's Army Broken Down.

New York Times 100 years ago today, October 27, 1912:
Unprepared for War, Lacking in Equipment. Fighting Spirit Gone.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Oct. 26.— The rapid march of events in the Balkans the last week have shown unmistakably that "the sick man of Europe" has not been healed by the administrations of the Young Turk and Constitutional régimes.
    It was generally supposed that the best efforts of the Ottoman Government in recent years had been devoted to the army, and the opinions voiced by Gen. von der Goltz and others of its German instructors had led to expectations that its fighting efficiency would prove greatly superior to that of the Bulgarian forces.
    Evidence has accumulated that the Turkish Army is inferior to the Bulgarian, probably also to the Servian. Both in artillery equipment, transport, and commissariat, the Turks are far below the Bulgarian level, and also below the standard which the German commendations led the world to expect. Horses are lacking, regiments are under-officered, and reports are current that divided counsels, the old bane of the Turks in war, are again working mischief. Nazim Pasha, the War Minister, and Abdullah Pasha, the Commander in Chief, are said to be at odds. Constantinople dispatches have given a picture of preparedness for war and enthusiasm among the people for it, which the advices now coming from other quarters greatly discount.
    Details have been sent by an Italian correspondent which tell a very different story. They were obtained from a traveler who had been in Asiatic Turkey and Constantinople, and who stated that the Turkish mobilization, when he was there, was going on very slowly, accompanied by much confusion and difficulty. The call to arms had not been received with enthusiasm by the reservists.
    Certain regions traversed by roads and railways were feeling the oppressive nature of their military obligations very severely, while the Italo-Turkish War, the Albanian revolt, and the mobilization had subjected the reservists to enormous hardships and privations, exciting a spirit of revolt among them. For a year they had had to march — now to Smyrna, now to the Dardanelles, then to Constantinople and finally to Thrace and Macedonia.
    A few days before Turkey began its mobilization against the Bulgarians, mutinies broke out among the troops at Broetsa, Bandurma, and elsewhere. The Turkish Government gave orders to send the reservists back home but they had hardly reached the villages before they were again called to the colors. Many of them hid themselves, while others, particularly the Christians, fled. Those who remained had to be threatened by the gendarmerie before they would join their regiments.
    The discipline and self-abnegation which have constituted characteristic virtues of the Turkish Army appear lacking in the troops. At Constantinople and in many neighboring towns the gendarmes are seen every day beating up citizens who are able to carry arms and conducting them to the military stations. In this manner Christians and Turks alike are enrolled by force.
    Those who wish to avoid service must pay a "bedel" or exemption tax, which amounts to £40, (Turkish,) ($176,) and many persons have paid "bedel" two or three times. An enormous number of persons have hidden themselves, and the demonstrations in favor of the war are made by the scum of Stamboul, porters, boatmen, and Kurds, led by hodjas and harangued by "diumne" who are, for the most part, Young Turks of Jewish origin. The hodjas are exempt from military service. The wealthy "diumne" are let off at a price and the remainder disappear. When it comes to enrollment, at the sight of the recruiting zapties a demonstration melts away as a crowd does when the street Juggler goes round with the hat. The truth is that the war has found everybody disillusioned and tired by the long existing anarchy, which is eating away all of Turkey's energy, distrustful alike of old and Young Turks, exhausted by taxes, terrified by disorders, and uncertain as to the future.
    Every form of enthusiasm, even that of a religious origin, which is usually most profound, has been extinguished during the last four years of abuses. Christians secretly sympathize with the enemy because they have everything to hope for from a Slav victory, and also because the new military service oppresses them in an insupportable manner.
    "In time," says the writer, "if Turkey finds some means of bringing forward the more distant and uncontaminated forces of her empire and throwing into the struggle the ignorant and fatalistic hordes, the Kurds and Arabs, who have weeks of marching in front of them, the waste of youthful and ferocious enthusiasm may arouse the bellicose sentiment of the enfeebled empire, but in that case we shall witness an atrocious and sanguinary cataclysm."

PREDICTS TURKISH VICTORY.
Austrian Army Man Says the Allies Might Turn on His Country.
    An officer of the Austro-Hungarian army, who is now on leave in New York, said yesterday at the Waldorf that while he had intended to remain over here until next Spring, the chances were that he would be called home long before that.
    "Personally, I think the Turks will lick the allies," he said. "That country through which the invaders have gone so far is almost bare, and the Turks have not kept any of their best troops in it. In a few days you will hear of some fighting.
    "If, contrary to my expectations, the allies do succeed in beating the Turks, then Austro-Hungary will be their next object of attack. They have it in for us. The Servians and the Montenegrins want Novi-Bazar for themselves, which is against Austrian and Turkish interest, and if Turkey should lose in this war, the Balkan States will turn on us. Even if they should be victorious for a time. It is likely all our officers on leave will be called home."

EXPECTS SHORT STRINGENCY.
Money Will Soon Be Freer in England, Says Sir William Wiseman.
    Sir William Wiseman, who is Chairman of the Hendon Trust, a British financial concern, said yesterday at the Waldorf, before sailing for Europe, that while the war between the Balkan States and Turkey would keep money in England tightened up for a little time, and that that would naturally affect Canada, it would be only a short time before things would be booming again.
    "English investors have been putting a good deal of money into Canada," said Sir William. "This has principally gone into industrial issues. Of late a considerable amount of French money has been taken to Canada also. I have just been making a tour of the Dominion, and I have found everything prospering."