Coffee Quarrel

At the Battle of Magnesia in 190 B.C. two potent Roman legions worsted the hordes of King Antiochus, won the decisive victory which placed all Asia Minor under the Pax Romana.

Last week in ancient Magnesia (called Minissa by modern Turks) irate coffee house owners banged shut the doors of their coffee houses, bolted, barred and made them fast.

Magnesians, to whom a coffee house is the equivalent of a saloon (pious Mohammedans are total abstainers), wandered wistfully about the streets, gossipped loudly, cursed Dictator Mustafa Kemal Pasha under their breath.

By the Dictator's decree, a tax equivalent to two U. S. cents has been laid on each cup of coffee served in a Turkish coffee house. Dictator Kemal, not pious, tipples champagne frequently. So potent is he, however, that last week only ancient Magnesia resisted the coffee tax. In all Turkey, only Magnesian coffee houses were shut.

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