Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-10-11
CONSTANTINOPLE.
Condition of Affairs in the Turkish
Capital.
Large Quantities of Counterfeit
Money is ClrcuIAtiOu-PrOtest Of
the Government = Money
Changing and Money.
Lending.
Philadelphia Press.l

Philadelphia Press.l
CoNsTANTINopLE, September s.
The Turkish Minister at Berlin
has called the attention of the Ger
man government to the extensive
counterleiting of Turkish paper
money which is carried on in vari-
GUS parts of Prussia. 1t is manu-
factured in large quantities and
smuggled into Const4ntinople. 1t
is so admirably executed that but
few can distinguish the genuine
from the false, and the treasury is
consequently a heavy sufferer.
When it was issued before, to meet
the exigencies of the Crimean war,
the Gaines were counterleited on a
great scale at New York. 1t was
not until the counterfeits had been
several years in circulation that
they gave rise to any suspicion, and
when they were discovered it took
a long while before the place of
their origin was found out. The
mass Of fictitious paper was SO con-
siderable that the government
thought it best to say as little as
possible about it, lest the people
should refuse the money altogether.
1t was only when all the paper was
called in and redeemed by aid of a
special loan that the chaff was win
moved from the wheat. AS the
present issue Of paper goes on in
definitely its volume will be beyond
the power of the government to
redeem it, and what with counter
feiting and excessive quantity it
must constantly sink in value, until
at no distant day it will be COM
paratively worthless. The former
issue was confined to the capital ;
the present one is for circulation
throughout the empire. In Asia
the old Turks Of that region fight
shy Of it, and transactions can with
difficulty be entered into with them,
except through the medium of coin.
Heavy as they are, and of base
metal, the beshliks, or five piastre
pieces, are the favorite coin, where
gold liras are not to be had. These
beshliks are large, round pieces,
with a coppery-silver ring, and if
they have not much intrinsic value
they sound solid. Many of them
are qaite old, having been coined
in the reign of Sultan Selim and
Suleiman the Great. They are
rough, unsightly pieces, and though
the inscription on their face shows
that they were struck off at the
Zarbhane, at Stamboul, they look
as rude as the coins stamped in the
early days of Greek civilization.
changing and money-lend-
ing are the most profitable occupa-
tons here next to being grand vizier
or y provincial governor. The
chances Of plumber and extortion
in the latter are unlimited and un.
eQualed, and rare is the case in
which the retiring functionaFy,
poor though he may have been in
the first instance, docs not retire
with overhowing Golfers, There is
no fixed interest for money, The
koran denopnces usury, but no one
hesitates to run counter to its pre-
cepts when money is needed, The
Turks do not amass money. They
live frugally, care little for the lux
uries Of life, and are satisfied i
they can make both ends meet
; Those who are rich have made theil
money in Office, under the fayorit
ism Of the sultan or patrons il
power While their easily.acquireC
'lorlnue lasts, they lead o merry life