Ahmed Emin Yalman, this article's author.
Actually, there are very few who stray from the course of the majority.
Of course, one should not expect that, even though they come from
villages, after a few years in America they would not want to share in
American life, rise to a better professional position and become more
complete individuals. Among the first generation of migrants who
came to America from southern countries, there were few who
progressed to any great degree. The Turks, who started coming to
America 10 years ago and who came from village environments,
should be expected to be far behind the Slavs. Nevertheless, the
Turks are only able to show one or two examples of individuals who
have advanced markedly.
One of them is Hasan Efendi, who lives in Manchester, New
Hampshire. He was a laborer back home and began working in a
lumber factory when he came to America, becoming a foreman in
a short time. Later, he opened a bakery and went into a partnership
with a Greek coffeehouse owner, bought real estate and acquired
weath of around 15,000 Ottoman liras in the course of 10 years.
Hasan Efendi has won the respect of his compatriots, one of whom
is in Chicago. Hasan went to Chicago right away to help this
fellow with some legal and court matters. In another instance,
Hasan heard about a fellow in Lowell who lost his job and
started to drink so he went to help him there. Another fellow who
came by ship to America was denied entry so Hasan went to New
York’s Ellis Island, where immigrants are processed, and tried to
persuade officials to grant him entry. A couple of years ago, Hasan
brought his 10-year-old nephew to America and put him in school.
And although the child did not know Turkish, he was nevertheless
hassled each day by Greek students in the school because of the
Balkan War.
Consequently, the child asked his uncle to put him in a boarding school.
I went to visit the boy at this school and was amazed to see that he was
a leader among his American friends on every subject and well-liked by
all. Research conducted in regard to relations between American
children and immigrant children at American schools shows that
immigrant children rarely emerge as leaders in any particular game or
subject and that only ones with very strong personalities can be
successful. Some of the Rumeli workers have been able to open proper
grocery stores and others who work in factories have shown an interest
in learning different things. For example, there are some shoe factory
workers who have learned every aspect of the factory’s operation and
can explain how the entire job is managed.
In the Chicago area those who work on the railroads are less well off
than the factory workers, in terms of their economic situation and
lifestyle. The railroad workers have to live in old rail cars, in which
there are stoves, beds and tables for 4-5 workers, who each get a small
space for themselves inside the wagon. The foremen are all Turks.
Since they are from rural areas, they live with a village lifestyle.
And even though they can go to Chicago once each week, there are
few of them who go, preferring to avoid the hustle and bustle of the
noisy city.
When I visited the Turkish railroad workers, there were a couple of
Turks in Chicago who were trying to set up an organization to help the
Turks in the area to understand America better and to infuse them with
ideas about society and entertainment possibilities. I was with them as
they went from rail car to rail car to explain this concept. The workers
would listen to the proposal to join this organization, think about it and
then mostly agree to participate. It was quite noticable that hundreds of
these workers gave the idea considerable thought and then jointly
agreed to join, although this meant contributing money to the
organization each month. In Chicago there is a man who does
charitable works and runs a humanist school. His name is Professor
Taylor and, together with his daughter, he runs a institution called
Chicago Commons where immigrants can familiarize themselves with
American life and strive to improve their minds. But although a room
has been allocated to the new Turkish organization, this has not born
promising fruit with regard to the railroad workers. Later I learned
that the Turkish organization gathered there only once.
Let us turn to the migrants from Anatolia. A portion of them are
involved in road-building. If they work in the agriculture sector they
expect that the new knowledge they acquire will provide them a better
life back in their homelands, but actually most of these migrants are
not inclined to work in agriculture in America. So while they are
encouraged to work on farms, their reply is “we came to America to
work in commerce. If we wanted to work in the fields we would have
stayed home.” I learned that there are only a few Turkish workers
engaged in some forestry activities in Michigan.
In the year 1327 (1911), when I visited some Anatolian workers in
Peabody I found their situation to be quite bad. They were working
in tanneries under harsh working conditions that no other group of
migrants are willing to work under. The pay is only 5-6 dollars per
week, which is less than the pay given to children who are employed
in light work in American factories. As a consequence of working
in humid, fetid workrooms, their health has suffered. They complain
about their lot quite a bit. They have no wish or thought other than
to avoid getting sick in this foreign country and to make some money
to bring back to their homeland. If one of them gets interested in
learning English and getting to know America better, with the idea
of staying permanently, he is subjected to mockery and harsh words.
Nevertheless, there are some among them who go to night school
and are learning English. Their harassers, on the other hand, are
rabidly against learning English and won’t even eat in American
restaurants. Contrary to the pressure they put on night school
students, these same men turn a blind eye toward fellows who get
caught up in whisky and the other temptations of big cities. As is
always the case, there are some men who cannot adapt to the work
and roam from city to city like tramps. However, most of the
migrants send money back to their families at home and they bear
up under harsh conditions in the hope that someday they will save
some more money and leave America for good. Mostly, they live
in narrow rooms, cook basic meals and wash their own clothes.
Fun amounts to sitting in the coffeehouse or under a tree. They
have little contact with their surroundings and no inclination to get
involved. For example, if they need something from a store a
block away they won’t go get the item themselves but, instead,
have a profiteering Armenian get it for them. They only have two
grocery stores and a bakery among them. And although there are
nearly a thousand of them, they haven’t opened a coffeehouse of
their own and continue to go to the Greek ones. There is a
museum nearby where rare and interesting items that captains
have brought back to the port of Salem over the centuries are on
display. There is even a Turkish room in the museum. But while
other foreign migrants frequent the museum on Sundays when
there is no entrance fee, up to now no Turk has set foot in there.
Peabody Museum, Salem.
//END of PART II//
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