Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-02-13
THE SULTAN RULES.
Diflculties That Handicap The Man Of
Business IN Turkey,

N'N
''Thc American way of tranSacting
every day business affairs aud that in
vogue within the realms of the terri,
tory ruled by the sultan of Turkey are
rs vastly different MS the antipodcs,"
sid SiraganS. Costikyan.o of Costikyan
FrCrcs. Constantinople, Turkey, who
was at the Midland yesterday. Mr..
Custikyan resumed; in Turkey there
are no banks as there are here. Each
merchant is his own banker and what.
eve wealth he may possess is kept
slowed away in the safe in his private
Office. The banking system is un-
known. True, there are banks owned
by the government, but Turkey is a
despotism and shoL!d a merchant de-
post his money in the sultan's bank
lac might awake some morning to find
the bank closed and his money gone
where, you are not allowed Ia ask
because the sultan rules and the sui
tan accounts Ia no one for his actions,
not even la the ruler of the universe.
So it is that the merchant of Constan.
iinopic when he owes you money does
not give yoa a check upon a bank.
he taSrs you into his private Office
and pays in cash what amount may
be- due you. And. 100, when the mer,
chant gives a ninety days note lac
pays you in cash taken out Of his pri,
waite safe.
In the sultan's dominionS there i.
no opportunity offered for the invest,
ment of capital or the development of
the country's material resources. Tur,
key is rich in mineral wealth, but the
sway of the despot allows no corpora.
ton or private individual 10 develop
mines. The government allows you to
develop mine by il taking 10 per cent.
of the profit. Asa true subject Of the
sultan you are expected To be perfectly
happy with the remaining 10 per cent.
and you m further expected Ia return
thanks 10 Allah for the honor of Inv.
ing under such sovereign. In ad.
dition 10 this, your property is subject
to coniiscation, and should the mine
you are working develop unexpected
richness the government is very likely
10 relieve YOU Of il, leaving you to
stand the loss OF whatever you may
have invested. 1t is tins system OF
government which has kept that coun,
try in the same rut for thousands OF
years and which is slowly reducing
the peoplcto poverty.
The general stagnation in business
circles Iprvades the real estate market
and in this, too, is felt the whitening
influence of the despotic reign. Real
estate can lie bought forcomparatively
nothing. For $3.50 you may buy a
splendid piece of property right in the
heart of the city Of Constaniinople.
Merchants are afraid To buy. Busi,
ness men do not care to invest and
real estate is comparatively worthless.
One asks, why this state Of aifairsl
But the answer is very simple. 1t is
again the curse Of the sultan's reign.
You may have owned property for
years. Ii may have descended 10 you,
when, should you offend the govern,
ment, the government records will be
opened ana you will he informed hat
the property belongs TO some mosque.
You must get cut. aud at once. No
compensation is given you. Why
Does not the sultan ruler
THE subjects of the sultan are Of
course mostly Turks. He has, since
the last war with Russia, about thirty
million Turks, eight million Armen-
ians, four million Greeks and two mil
lion Jews. The religions are divided
in the proportion Of the different races.
A Turk is always a believer in Ma
homet, the Armenians and Greeks are
Christians, while the Jew is always a
Jew. OF these different CLASSES the
Armenians and the Jews are the bust
ness races. The Turk is a soldier. lie
was born that way. He can't get down
to the details of money making. Ii is
a part of his religion 10 roba Christian
or a Jew, and he does not comprehend
the principles of right and wrong.
With these natural disadvantages the
Turk is outstripped and the bulk Of
the wealth is rapidly passing into the
hands of the Christian and the jew.