The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-08-13
THE TURKISH POSTAL SYSTEM.
A Holy War Imminent Unless It's Eff
cheney is Improved.

cheney is Improved.
The crusaders of old, from Peter the
Hermit to Prince Methusalem, would
grid up their loins anew and raise again
the tattered banner of the cross,
if they could but know of the war now
in progress between United States
Consul Selah Merrill, of Palestine, and
the Turkish Government, anent the
mail service of Syria. In one of his re-
ports to the State Department last fall,
Mr.. Merrill took occasion to say that
Turkey is in the postal union, and in
Europe and America it is supposed she
is sufficiently civilized to deserve to be
thus admitted, but those Europeans and
Americans who reside here realize to
their sorrow often that letters in the
Turkish post are common property
when they see them scattered promis-
cuously about the single room of the
postofiice, on window lodges, and the
tops of boxes, on divanS and on the
floor" This was worse than a charge
of offensive partisanship" against the
postmaster at Jerusalem. and the State
Department of this country made up its
mind to investigate him. This it did
by requesting of Consul Merrill bill Of
particulars.
The Consul has made lengthy re,
port, bringing extensive and alarming
allegations against the whole postal
service of Turkey, but particularly that
of Palestine 1t seems that in Jerusalem
there are two mail services. the Turkish
and the Austrian, but no complaint is
made as to the latter. The only sea-
port of Jerusalem is Jaffa (the ancient
Joppa) forty miles distant, and the
mail is conveyed across the country by
almost anybody who will consent to
carry it. The Austrian mail arrives in
Jerusalem about eighteen or twenty
hours after its reception at Jatfa, and is
distributed by seven O clock in the morn
ing, while the Turkish mail is seldom
open until six hours later. The Consul
says that on one occasion the bag con-
tanning the mail was given by the
Turkish officials at Jatfa to a common
peasant, who agreed to carry it to Je-
rusalem for one medjidi, or about one
dollar The man took the bag, dis
appeared, and has never since been
heard of, the authorities claiming they
could not be expected to find a man
of whose name and residence they were
ignorant.
The Consul declares the mailbag is
sometimes taken from Jaffa and left for
hours by the side of the street outside
the gates of Jerusalem, where crowds
of men and animals are constantly pass
ing. Near this point there is a large
khan, where mules and donkeys are
kept and here the mailbag is often
dumped on its arrival from Jaffa, re-
naming for the night or day, or until
some official from the postoffice sends
for it. In the meantime anybody and
everybody takes the liberty of opening
the bag and getting out his
mail. 1t frequently happens. says the
Consul, that during Ramadan (the
great Mohammedan feast, which
continues for a monthly the mudi Tolls
down to the postoffice at noon, opens
the bag to give out Government mail to
some official messenger, and then de-
liberately sits down to smoke. leaving
the European patron to cool his heels
on the stone floor When the mail is
finally distributed, the Christian is
quietly told there is nothing for him.
when the fact is the letters are scattered
all over the room, and it is much easier
to say mo- than to ascertain who they
are really for.
In this manner, says the Consul, valu-
able letters are lost through the dis
honesty and carelessness of the Turkish
postal officers. and he advises all Ameri-
can mail for Syria to be sent by way OF
Brindisi or Trieste. instead of by Con-
stantinople. Naturally enough, when
these charges were formally laid before
the Director General of posts at Con-
stantinople, supplemented by similar
charges from the French Consul at Je-
rusalem, there was great crashing of
teeth and the Turkish anger was
kindled. After several months of wait
ing, the Director General now files with
the Government of the United States a
denial of the charges in language that
would do justice to a Kentucky duelist.
lie says he caused an investigation to
be made of the mail service of SYRIA
and that no complaints were heard
from anybody but the American Consul,
whose charges are inexplicable and
Intentionally untrue" Now the State
Department is scratching its head and
wondering how long anybody but a
consul could live in Syria after daring
to complain at anything the Turkish
Government did, and Consul Merrill is
roosting in the Mount of Olives with a
knife up his sleeve. There will be a
Aoly war if Mr.. Merrill doesn't get his