A KING FOR A LUXURY

Constantine has not landed in Greece yet. When he arrives he will find the problems, which so far have weighed but lightly on his royal mind, to be considerably complicated. The French minister has left, and the British minister has orders to have nothing to do with him officially. The French and British military commissions are to depart soon; and Italy is in full accord with these plans. Greece has actually become a derelict, whether Constantine expected it or not.

Since 1898 the country has remained financially solvent because a commission of delegates from the three Powers has had charge of the external debt; it handled the revenues from salt, petroleum and other monopolies, and from several duties. This financial support will go with Constantine's arrival, and without the occurrence of a miracle the King will never succeed in keeping Greece from bankruptcy--a task that has been difficult enough for three European nations.

Besides withdrawing financial support, the Powers announced that Constantine's return would mean a reconsideration of territorial adjustment. The King will find little help in fighting the Turks as he plans to do. Already there is dissension within his country, the Greeks in Constantinople echoing the animosity to the King in "clamorous demonstrations," while the Greeks in Thessaly have not changed in their opinion regarding military operations; they voted against Venizelos because they wanted the army disbanded. The problem of how to fight the Turks without an army or a treasury would phase a monarch of greater ability than Constantine. It seems that the Greeks will soon discover that "their King, after all, is a luxury and not a necessity?"