The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1889-02-21
SUICIDAL TURKEY.
A Country Which Would Be Prosperous
Under a Wise PoIicy

SIeaI value 10 lLe people OF ASIA
Minor, and it could have controlled
the worlds market. But Turkish
political economy is of that kind that
as soon as it perceives any industry to
be In 1ourishing condition it begins
to levy unbearable taxes upon it, and
thus the production of this beautiful
wool was practically stihed. In ad-
dltion TO the usual four-fifths there
was placed an export tax of per cent.
upon it, besides the profit of the mid
dlemen. The peculiar system of tax
alton made the goats taxable as live
stock and their milk as a food product.
Their hair was taxed when clipped
and again when shipped abroad. Thus
the whole production of this beautiful
textile died out and other countries
are beginning to furnish the Angora
wool.
The culture of the silkworm and the
manufacture of those unique and al
most everlasting silks from Broussa
might be made source of much rev.
enue to Turkey, were it not for the
policy which taxes every mulberry
tree, every ounce of raw silk and
every yard of goods manufactured,
until 1t is a matter of surprise how the
poor wretches who produce them can
live. Every fruit bearing tree is taxed,
as are also animals, fowls and worms,
and, lastly, labor itself is taxed, and
the wage worker has to surrender all
that the tax gatherers can squeeze out
OF him without actually starving him
to death. The laborcIs in the interior
of Turkey and her dependencies are
so thin that they look like moving
mummies, and they all have the ex-
preston of utter dependency and
hopelessness on their wizened features.
The collection of taxes in all the in
terror of Turkey and her dependencies
upon farm produce, made by revenue
officers belonging to each particular
pachalik is made in kind when there
Is no ready money. When the crops
fail the amount which each one
usually pays must be given in money,
otherwise the soldiers, or revenue Off
GERS, seize the animals implements,
copper cooking utensils, and, in fact,
everything of sufficient value to carry
OFT, and these are turned into money.
leaving whole families utterly desti-
tute. II they make an outcry they
receive the bastinado or are thrust into
prison. + +
Those farmers or peasants who live
within distance of fifty miles from
Constantinople bring their scanty
stock of salable articles, such as small
vegetables, fruit, poultry, ETC., and all
these roads converge in two, which
have stations for the revenue officers
at Mashiak, which is near the forest at
Belgrade, and another on the Taxime,
near the Grand Champs cemetery.
Here the trains of poor peasants pass
with their donkeys, with their Bags
upon their shoulders or with baskets
containing a little salad or few eggs
or chickens-in short, anything they
have to sell. They : stopped and
their produce apprais. I'D the peas
ant must render up partSot his scanty
store, letting the officials take out what
they wish as tax. Then he receives O
bit of red paper which permits him
to go on selling the diminished stock.
Money, however, is always preferred
when the peasant has it, but when he
has no money the officials help them
selves always to the best of the stock.
II he complains, which he seldom
does, he receives the bastinado. No
other people in these days could be so
submissive under such abiect slavery.
All the drinking water is brought
from long distances in barrels and
bags on the backs of men, and this
water is also taxed, with the exception
of that which is brought for the sui
tan's household.
The resources of Turkey proper are
various and would enrich any other
country in the world, and when we
also take into account all the tributary
nations and dependencies, we/wonder
at the universal poverty. Uhe coun-
try is large and reaches into several
climates. There is scarcely anything
that could not be produced if the in
dustries were not subject to such I'M
| just and outrageous taxation. Wheat,
coffee, grapes, raisinsi figs, prunes,
wool of several qualities, tobacco of
the finest possible kind, herbs, medici-
nal and aromatic, such as make the
Serkys tea; rhubarb, mastic, honey,
corn, fish of all kinds, medicinal gums,
dates, opium, silk, cotton, fax, petro-
leum, cattle, sheep, rugs and carpets,
altar of rose The beautiful Broussa
silks and embroideries, the exquisite
gold filigree work, which cannot be
equaled outside of Turkey, and many
other things.
The Turkish dyestuffs were always
valuable and i'll large demand, but the
government effectually killed the in
dustry by handicapping it with taxes
and export duties, until now the trade
is nominal. Indeed, the whole policy
of Turkey has been to kin the goose
that lays the golden egg.
There are valuable coal mines in
many parts Of Turkey-one within
forty miles of Constantinople-and
they are not utilized, though the need
for fuel in that city is great. The
present supply for heating houses
through their very rigorous winters is
charcoal and wood, brought from long
distances on camels and horses in in
| finitesimally small quantities, and sold
by the chekkee or afnful. Cor. New
York Herald.
| Shooting Deer from Locomotive.