Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-11-22

to the teeth In order to extermnate all
non-M ussulmans
The financial position In ConstantInople
passes belief. II Is much worse even
than during the desperate days Of 1876,
preceding the deposition OF Sultan Abdul
Aziz. The bulk OF the population has
quite forgotten the color OF money. and
II is little short OF marvellous that the
rich European quarter has not been
sacked by the thousands Of absolutely
destitute Mussulmans who hunger ana
thirst. not for Christian blood. but for
meat and drink, or money whcrewlth 10
bus them,
The sun reporter has not yet come
across the respectable Turk who does not
admit that the present regime Is impossi-
bic. and that salvation is only 10 be
found either in the deposition of Abdul
Hamid or In the establishment OF a
European commission 10 control the
country's finances. Most people Turkish
and European. now incline TO the belief
that the latter will be the solution. Sir
Edgar Vincent. president Of the Imperial
ottoman Bank. is meandering about Eu-
rope In search Of fnanciers willing to
advance funds TO keep the Turkish gov
ernmental machinery going. The great
flnanclers are shy, but doubtless Sir Ed
gar will manage TO strike some sort
Of bargain.
Few people are IN n position TO know
the terms offered by the Porte, and fewer
stu cherish any hope Of permanent bene-
III from all this Juggling. Among the
sceptics is King George. Of Greece, who
ought to be fairly well informed on such
a matter. seeing how much ne stands to
lose or gain for himself and his people
According TO the Poster Lloyd, which Is
an usually trustworthy newspaper. his
Majesty told an Austrian diplomatist this
week that he had no hope that the prom
Used reforms in Turkey would be really
carried out He added that he was any
thing but treasured. even as regarded
Crete and he expected little from any
reorganization Of Turkish finances. In
other words King George thinks the time
has come for carving up this Turkey, and
he is quite prepared 10 seize his slice.
Short-sighted people who have been pro-
ceeding I'm their calculations upon the as
sumption that Greece Is too small and
too poor to do anything when the critical
moment arrives. will probably, one Of
these days. wish they had consulted
political oculist.
SCANDALS AT ROME.
The inquiry ordered by the Marquis di
Rudini, the Italian Prime Minister. in the
accounts Of certain public departments in
Rome. is revealing a state Of affairs which
is worthy of Constantinople. and 1t would
not be surprising If the investigation
should result in the legal prosecution Of
some ex-Ministers and exalted permanent
functionaries. who are more OF less d.
rectly responsible for scandalous misman-
agement, If not actually systematic cor
rupton.
1t ought not 10 be very difficult to make
somebody responsible. The later Com
missioner OF Agriculture. for instance,
would find II an awkward task 70 justify
the annual expenditure Of $4,000 during
ten years for carpets. seeing that the
carpets now on the floors of the ministry
buildings would probably not fetch
thousand dollars at auction, and, pre-
sumably, he would also have some diff
Guilty in persuading the average house
holder that $50 was fair price to pay
for a few brass studs used to ornament
a ministerial bookcase.
In another department, believed 10 be
Signor Crispfs own Foreign Office $1,000
coo was spent in ten years in purchasing
pins. The ordinary mind shrinks from
the strain which would result from an
effort to calculate the billions OF pins
that sum would buy in the open market.
There is a suspicious smack, too, about
the manner In which payments to rail-
way contractors were allowed to get in
arrears. SO far as the muddled accounts
show, there was plenty of money avail
able for railway construction, but the
accounts remained unpaid, apparently for
no better reason than to entitle the con-
tractors TO interest. with the result that
in one year alone million and half
dollars was paid as interest. Some
Italian newspapers make merry over
these disclosures while others, more
properly, treat them as symptomatic OF
the existence Of worse scandals which
may yet be revealed.