Turkish Misgovernment.

New York Times 100 years ago today, October 7, 1912:
To the Editor of The New York Times:
    A diplomatic official long resident in Constantinople is reported to have declared that "the world does not know Turkey," and then has gone into an ecstatic paean about the virtues and admirable character of the Turks, whom he styles "the finest people in Europe."
    But how is it that "the finest people in Europe" have the most miserable Government in the world? If the Christian Macedonians and Bulgarians are desperate cutthroats, as this diplomat accuses them of being, who taught them to be so?
    Under the criminal treatment of the Turkish Government even angels would resort to murder. The Turk not only has tried to keep in bondage all his subjects, but has tortured them fiendishly because they are his superiors morally, mentally, and physically.
    Victor Hugo has so masterfully described the character of the Turk by saying: "Les turcs ont passé là, tout est ruine et deuil."
            ARSHAG D. MAHDESIAN,
                    Editor of Armenia.