Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-05-16
MORNING. NIAN 10. 1877


Foreign Correspondence of Fro, Pres ant T,u,c.
E Letter rrom Turkey.
TrEEl~u uNiN,rs-rIAr MoNn-uJw ltG.
MY RErNEs srEug PAYMENTS
TGrm4o>n, Turkey, April l., lS7o.
To tie Eli:or o.: the Free Press ami Times
1t may strike You a a surprising thing,
but it is true, that Turkey has resumed
specie payments. Her plrcr money wa-
iint' money, it wls utterly innocent of
any specie basis, it had proved itself suih-
ciently powerful to carry the country through
a gigantic war, to buy rifles and cartridges in
America, kruPp guns in Germany, clothing
ami food and camp equipments in Turkey, with
which to drive back the powerful armies of
the Czr. All these supplies, except that
part which had been previously accumulated,
were provided with the Turkish " fat -"
money, for the government had no other
money AMI no credit with which to borrow
other money. With such powerful d" fiat "
as this the supporters of fat monev had
strong argument On their side. For two and
a half years this IL 3ncy had liTed an active
life and accomplished great work, and it
an!y r.n,atned fJ- the adyucItr5 Of absolute
money to keep it clear Of all contamination
from dirty and accursed specie and to insure
a continuance Of its usefulness, and nothing
more would be necessary 81 fax a. most pco-
pie could see, this was being accomplish
el. True, it took 5000 in paper
to buy Sloo in gold, but then we
needn't bay gold rrlc, the prices
of bread and olher things were six or eight
time- what they were in old copper times,
bat then paper vas Iicnty, anl We hal
only to enlarge our arithmetir to cover a
skiold income AMI skiold QUITO, and all
| was moving on swimmingIy, when We woke
up one morning AMI found ourselves down
ont Of cur bllloon+, alighteI, with rather a
severe bump. on the plyemsnr Of specie pay
ments-p.'epy ,o'ep,, all was hard cash.
1t took you slow Americans fifteen years
to return from paper at $50 to specie pay
mems and that only after long years ot
careful and ldborious preparation. Here the
thing wl7 done in twenty-iour hJurS-ye1,
any nan who now wants gold for his paper
has only to step upto the nearest money
changer and !hc coin will he counted ont to
him, it may lc a many As six pilstres,
possibly no more than five, for each hundred
in paper
And this Is tie way it was brought about.
The government fjand that its revenues,
payable IN paper, amounted to almost
nothing, and something must he done. An
at tempt was ma lc to reduce the volume OF
paper b; huying in 4 certain amount each
day AID Burning it, mlklpE 4 great buster
over the matter ae L 10 stitlen up the CON
ii ience g; the PEOPLE in what remained \
scheme wa proposed by which it Wa hoped
to ciite: loan Of S,oahneo pounds, Turk
ish. y Frenchman, named Toclncyille,
rropo7ci that the Turkish government place
all it. customs revenues in the hands ot an
international commission that should use
this income. first, Tor paying per cent III
tereet ON the id Turkish loans consoliilted,
and the balance should be applied to paying
interest on the new loan of s,O00, 600 after
reserving certain sum for the expenses OF
the government. This scheme broke down
because it appeared that the customs income
was not sufficient to do all this, besides. the
French and English governments would no:
consent tn it because the Turkish govern
ment insisted that all the members Of this
international commission should be in Turk
sh employ, which would essentially destroy
its international character The Russian
government opposed the scheme also as
preiudcial to its demands for indemnity.
II the government had secured this loan ii
vas proposed 10 appropriate some 1900, 600.
or more, Of it to retiring the paper. Bat
when all hope ci this wa cut eli the govern
mcnt wa- obliged to throw the paper cur
rency overheard or the ship of state itself
would 20 down. \ decree wa therefore i--uel
max ing al dues 10 the government payable
in COM except that, Tor sixteen months,
one lriL Of the taxes woali be collected
in Tapcr, reekonci at onc-tjurth It's
iaec NHin'' a'' Inc paper ''''7 '''''''''' ~ ~
at once cancelled AMI destroyed. There was
the further hone hell out that in cl~e Of 4
...t..ti .,.i;a,.
'o''' i'''''" Vi ''.'' H'o"'' '0 "iF''1" "
Z -
buying up and destroying P'iaf- fefnAp'
the authorities imagined this decree would
rr,duc, m disturhln,f II =, they were
l'''' '''' III
the terms ol The new ARRANGEMENT were midt
publ, at onse. the c,mm,tirl was le-- thaa
La,, ~. p,sh, al Inn. t,Np th,ugh
"'' ANY '''''' - n.y. - w "
order, took not the slightest pains To allay
the popular excitement. All the poor people
knew was that with armiuls of PAPER
money they could bay nothing. not eSen
bread Shops were closed, money changers
stands were deserted. and the plnic-strlcken
people ran wildly hither and thithcr trying
to realize something for the paper which
with hard work and rigid economy they bad
been mouths accumulatlng, The hakorIc
were br-lcgcd with hun ,ry people cllmoring
for bread. and holding M hlud.ui4 ot paper
in retain. The Pa,h. at last, icarln, lc~t
the angry populacc would tear dosn hi- /
ralacc over his head, hcstirrci himself
sufhcicntly to get open a few hakeric- 50
that rartiL supply of bread wa- afforded /
the re6rlc. \ lew ~harJcr- stood around
the corners and bought up paper at 500, |
= 900. and even a. high ~ = 2uh y. to 100 /
n. c,ld.
The rrsult oi all his Is that raurr money /
;s now entirely removed from circulation.
If the Government rcpuda.eS it, own paper, /
wL,t cI.o VIII tho ncnnl, IA % Thr govern