The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-01-25
sulclpALL1yekES
A Country Which Would Be Prosperoui
Uuder n Wise Policy.

There used to be largo commerce
in mohair, which industry was of
great value 10 tho people of. Asia
Minor, ana it could have controlled
the worlds market. But Turkish
political ccopomy is Of that kind that
as soon as it perceives any industry to
be in aourishing condition il begins
to levy <upbearable taxes upon i, and
thus thus, the Iprodactlon1 Of. the bdspsifal
dition to the usual fourfifths there
was placed an export tax of 8 per cent.
upon 1t, besides the profit of the mid
dlemen. The peculiar system of tax.
alton made the goats taxable as live
stock and their milk as food product.
THOR 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 bo 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 it is 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
o death. The laborers 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 despondency 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
otflcers 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
off, and these are turned into money,
leaving whole families utterly desti-
tute. If they make an outcry they
receive the bastinado or are thrust into
prison. t,." - ~. I
Those farmers or peasants who live
within a distance of fifty miles from
z Constantinople bring their scanty
stock of salablo articles, such as small
vegetables, fruit, poultry, etc., and all
these roads converge in two, which
have stations for the revenue officers
at Mashiali, which is near the forest e!
Belgrade, and another on the Taxime,
near the Grand Champs cemetery.
Here the trains of poor peasants pass
with their donkcys, with their bags
upon their shoulders or with baskets
containing little salad or few eggs
or chickens-in short, anything they
have to sell. They are stopped and
their produce appraised, and the peas
ant must render up part of his scanty
store, letting the officials take out what
they wish as tax. Then he receives q
bit of red paper which permits him
to go OH 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.
If he complains, which he seldom
does, he receives tho bastinado. No
other people in these days could be so
submissive under such abject slavery.
All the drinking water is brought
from long distances in barrels and
bags on the backs of meu, 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. The 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 un-
just and outrageous taxation. Wheat,
coffee, grapes, raisins, figs, prunes,
wool of several qualities, tobacco of
the finest possible kind, herbs, medici.
nal and aromatic, such as make the
Serllys tea; rhubarb, mastic, honey,
corn, fish of all kinds, medicinal gums,
dates, opium, silk, cotton, flax, petro-
leum, cattle, sheep, rugs and carpets,
altar Of rose, the beautiful Broussa
silks and embroideries, tho exquisite
gold fligree work, which cannot be
equaled outsidolof Turkey, and many
other things.
The Turkish dyestuffs were always
valuable and in large demand, but the
government effcctually killed the in
dustry by handicapping it with taxes
and export duties, until now the trade
is nominal. Indeed, the whole policy
ofTurkey 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 armful. Cor. New
York Herald.