Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1885-01-14
Turkish Enterprise,

The foreigners in Constantinople arc
much amused at the lat st exhibition of
Turkish enterprise. The pride of the
Turkish Government has been hurt by
the necessity the European residents
have been under, owing to the total in
efficiency of the postal service, TO have
their own post-offices and mail carriage
The French, English, German and other
post-oliices have long served their ma
tionalities, and their mails have been
dispatched on foreign steamers. The
Turkish Government determined TO end
this state of things, and, having organ
lied its post-oilice department, announ-
ccd that on August 1st il would close
the foreign post-oilices in the city. Tho
foreign ambassadors remarked that the
abolition Of long-established privilege
required negotiation, and meantime
thoy would not permit any hindrance in
tho way OF tho transit Of the mails TO
Europe. Tho Government did not close
the Offices but set 10 out To show how use
less foreign post-olllccs and foreign mail
boats were In Turkish territory. IL AN
nounccd TINT on August LIST tho Turkish
mails To Europe would 20 by Turkish
steamer To Vnrna 10 meet the lightning
express 10 Vienna
Tho Foreigners looked with some
nmazcmcnt nnd incredibly nj this cxhi.
bitlon Of Turkish enterprise. Tho mil
train from Vnrnn leaves nj six n. M.
every sunday mud wednesday, The dis.
tnnco from Conalnnlinoplo 10 Vnrnn II
ono hundred mud forty miles; tho mail
steamer leaves tonsinnlinoplo nj three
y. m. on the previous day, thus having
iiiiccn hours IN which 10 mako the con.
ncCtion. This time has been easily
made. The Turkish steamer which set
out with such loud proclamation ar.
rived nj Varna four hours late. The
authorities tclcgraphcd TO have the
mails sent on by special train, and re-
garded the matter as arranged" The
train ran as far as Bucharest, and there
the agent discovered that there were
only accommodation trains to Vienna,
and consequently the mails arrived
thirty-six hours late. The next mail
day the Turks tried again with another
steamer. 1t reached Varna six hour
behind time. Again special train
was chartered to reach the Bucharest
accommodation trains; but as this sud.
den demand for transportation to Var
ma absorbed all the postal facilities, the
Asiatic mail for that week was sup
pressed. 1t was hoped that the foreign
ers would not notice this. A grave
consultation was held by the authori-
ties, and it was determined to sacrifice
everything to make the Varna connec-
ton. To avoid the swift current of the
Bosphorus the mail steamer was left at
the Black Sea entrance and a swift
steam launch was dispatched to her
with the mail an hour before the usual
hour. This change of hour discounted
the post-oilice. BY charging q cent
less postage than the foreign offices it
had built up quite business in letters
for Europe, but on this day all the GUS
toners of the Turkish office took their
letters to the other offices which were
open an hour later. II was said that
the Turkish sacks contained only seven
letters; but with these seven letters
the steamer started, missed the train at
Varna, and the letters were forwarded
by special train as before. BY this
time the whole population of Varna was
in the joke and ieered and guyed the
Turks when they landed.
vi iHc lOuTlH tTldl tue IOsl-OJllCC
Department had to face the task of
reaching Varna in the face of an
amused and ridiculing world. This
time the steamer did better; it only
missed the train by about an hour. On
the fifth trial the Turks determined to
win; they closed the Constantinople
mails two hours before the usual time,
and at last did catch the train. In fact,
the Turkish mail, with its empty bags,
reached Varna only half an hour after
the Austrian steamer which had left
Constantinople three hours after the
Turkish mail closed. The Turks, how
ever, determined to persevcrc, and they
capped the climax of absurdity by an
nouncing that they would receive lstters
as late as the foreign offices and would
send supplementary mail by the Aus
trian steamer which runs in competi-
ton with their own slow line. Nothing
more is heard of closing the foreign
post-oflices. Cor. NJ Y. Tribune.