TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14843, 8 December 1913, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Wβ hear much about the

An influence of European cmiAmerican gration to America on tho Leaven, polities and social condi-

tions of the United States, but not so much about the influence of returned emigrants on the communities of the Old World. The Washington correspondent of the- "Morning Post" draws attention to the backward flow of European workers from the United States. Formerly very few ©migrants returned to their native land, but last year the number who rocroesed the Atlantic was 333,000. Many workers, especially Italians, find it pays them better, after working in the summer in the United States, to return to Europe until the following summer, for to remain in America moans being out of work in cold weather. Others among those who go back to Europe have mado money; it is a common ambition among Europeans who emigrate, to return to their own country when they have made their "fortune." The "American" who returns brings back to his'own people the spirit of democracy. The few years lie has spent in America have lessened his respect for law and authority. Ho is less tractable than when ho loft, but "less willing to admit that whatever is bad must continue to he bad because it cannot bo improved." He is touched with the spirit of Western progress and energy, and is nearly always a propagandist. "The American leaven is working in the back places of Europe in ways that are seldom reported, and profound changes are certain to follow," says an observer. The Italian, for instance, takes back with him an elementary knowledge of hygione and a desire for greater comfort, which most have the effect of raising the standard of living in Italy. Equally noteworthy is the influence of tho Japanese who has been to the United States and returned'to Japan. The growth of democracy, including Socialism, in Japan is attributed largely to the leaven of men who have worked in America and been influenced by American ideals. A glimpse into the Moslem The mind, the mind of millions Moslem unaffected by that Western Mind. culture which has touched a Mohammedan here and and there in the East, is given us by an American missionary who writes in a New York "Missionary Review" on the absence of scientific curiosity among Turks. It ie considered irreverent even to seek to know the facts of the universe. "Allah knows; why should I sock to understand?" a typical answer to questions in Turkey—conveys the attitude. of the Turk towards questions which keop the West ever climbing in pursuit of knowledge. Even such a matter as the span of the camel'e life, which one would think would be of practical interest to the man of tho desert, may bo included among the things about which it is improper to enquire. "How should I know?" replied a camel-drivor to an American who sought information. "Allah knows. When Allah wills to take a'camel he takes him. Who am I that I should enquire?" To a Frenchman who asked for statistics regarding the imports, tho water supply, the. birth-rate, and the death-rate of Aleppo, the Vali of tho town replied: "It is impossible for anyone to know the number of camels that kneel in the markets of Aleppo. The water supply is sufficient. No one ever died of thirst in Aleppo. Tho mind of Allah alone knows how many children shall be.born in this vast city in any given time. As to tho death-rate, wh& would venture to ascertain this, for it is revealed only to tho angels pf death who ehall be taken and who shall be left. 0 son of tho West, cease your idle presumptuous questionings, and know that these things are not revealed to tho children of men." Probably a Western investigator would find it impossible to get accurate figures relating to the Turkish losses in the war—how many were killed, how many died of cholera, how many were wounded. It is enough for tho Moslerp. that men were and now they are not; of what importance is it to know whether they died from bullets or disease? There must bo thousands of widows and children who do not know, and never will know, how their husbands and fathers died. They went away and .nover came back—that is enough for the authorities.