New-York tribune., 1901-05-26
THE BAN OF THE TURK.
WORKING OF THE THEORY THAT ALL
PRIVATE INITIATIVE IS HOSTILE
TO THE GOVERNMENT.

Turkish Government, which forbds the use oi
typewriters in the Turkish Empire This edict
is one of long series aimed at the pestllent
activity of men of business who seek to improve
their methods. TypeWriters have been In use In
Turkey for twenty years or more. At first they
came into the country through the lamblike in
noconce of the custom house inspectors No one
knew what they were. After ii was found that
they could print as legibly as the terrible print
ing press itself, an attempt was made to refuse
them admission to Turkey. the ground that
they were a kind of printing press, and there
fore each one must have the special permit of
the Sultan himself before being imported. The
forefgn embassies went sponsors for the ina
bility of the thing to print more than two OK
three copies at once, and that obstacle to using
typewriters was removed. But now it has come
out that a devsh ingenuity has found means
to combine typewriter with hektograph, ana has
also discovered an institution called the mimeo-
graph. There is nothing now to hinder a man
with a typewriter from sending out advertise
ments by the hundred which the censor has not
seen. Hence the typewriter must so. We must
suffer the pangs of decpherns painfully drawn
lieroglyphics whenever We receive orders iropl
Turkish business men.
This is an Illustration of a state of affairs not
really understood here. The idea OF the Turk
is that private initiative must necessarily be
hostile to any we'll regulated government An
official elucidation Of the subject of the place
and danger of private enterprise was not long
ago published in the Turkish "Sabah" news
paper 1t says 1T is proven that the affairs
OF men cannot be perfectly carried on 10y indi-
vidual and separate initiative. 1t is, therefore
the benefcent viii of God that the whole inter
ests of the human race be committed To the
hand Of one man inspired directly from God"
MI. ,ei,t,1, hat he. "a
alluded to is Sultan Abdul HaInid II. Under
this principle. prescription Of some Of the main
snews and muscles OF business enterprise has
been enacted in Turkey The theory is that any
communication between men that is not under
the supervision e ccnsors Of propriety in lar
guage must threaten the prosperity Of the en-
pire.
Telephones are forhi5dcn in Turkey for this
reason. Code te,egrams may not he sent. Open
telegrams are held un:u the crnsors can dc
cipher their meaning II the meaning is not
clear the merchant who supposed his order for
a thousand heavy weight" was already being
filled in England is d.sNusioued 10y SUNNI. ns
to police headquarters for explanations which
will release his telegram of two days before.
There used to be city post in Constantinopi,
Lest some one should say something la some
one else by that means. 1t was suppressed. All
communications between merchant and custom
have to be by private messenger.
There is a burning question between
Turkey and the European powers about the for
eign postofiices. They the only sure means
by which foreigners living in Turkey can com
municate with their home lands Turkish in
sistence on the suppression Of these postofices
is based on the desire to have the police read
the letters and suppress the newspapers Of for
eigners. The first result of the seizure by the
Turkish police recently of mail bags from the
foreign postoiiice clerks the arrest Of a
number Of men to whom letters had been ad-
dressed by persons abroad whose language the
police disapproyed.
The same fear of individual and separate ac-
tivity shacIles the newspapers of the country.
Censors must read and approve every word be
censor makes morning newspapers i'"u@' -.
Excepting the Turkish and semi official papers
no newspaper in ConstantinOple is published be
fore noon. Scoops impossible. and the
of the censor the next day. The necessity of
overhearing everything that is being said nat
urally gives employment To enormous multi
tude Of spies. Each of the departments or the
government has its corps Of spies. the police
force has its swarms of sncaking .sdroppers.
The Sutans palace has its troops of secret
agents to spy on the people and the 49,
spies. one relieving feature of this system is
the fact that high official contriVes to