The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-13
TURKEYS PAMPERED MOBILES
AND PAUPERIZED PEASANTS
General Oates Tells Of COnstantinOpe and the
Domains of Abdul Hamid---POOr Toll InceS-
@ sanity to Pay for Sultan's Spendor,

postal system, and but one line OF street
cars and that confined to one street of the
city. There is one subway or under |
ground road about half to three-fourths
of mile long up the steep hill from
Galata to Para. There are no electric |
lights allowed In the city nor In the |
hotels. except one, which has special |
permit from the Sultan. A gentleman
told me that the proprietor of that hotel |
Is aTspy and any discussion of the Sui |
tan or his government which occurs In |
that house Is communicated to him forth |
with. The government Is thoroughly cor |
rupt Brides are accepted by nearly all
the under officers and 1t Is fair 10 pre- |
sumo that such practices are INDUCED In
by the higher officers. If a man Is
stricken a blow In the street and he has
the aggressor arrested all that he has to
do Is TO give the policeman Lirie or
perhaps few Piasters may do. when
he Is released and the poor fellow whom
he struck is arrested as the guilty man,
the briber swearing 1t on him, he Is con-
victed, fined and Imprisoned as we'll as
being beaten in the first instance. The
. customN laws are very strict but small
bribes can prevent their enforcement If
gun or pistol Is found in a travellers
baggage 1t is confiscated unless the Gus
toms officers are bribed. for 1t is against
the law and the decree of the Sultan
for any one to bring arms within that
dominion The Sultan, it is said. is afraid
OF assassination. But few drachmas
dropped into the hand of the customs Of
ficer passes the baggage. and similar
practice prevails in a less degree in some
other countries. was reliably Informed
that a system of secret murders prevails
in Constantinople. The people are taxed
outrageously and yet the public debt IN
creases every year. Two Englishmen VINO
have lived there for years, when they
found they could talk freely with me
shut and locked the door of their office
and then gave me fun account of the
immortality injustice and brutality with
which things are managed there. They
said that IL a man expressed himself |
freely in opposition to the government or
to the Sultan's methods. or slyly invaded
the sanetity of a noted mans harem ne
was lured or watched into private place
and then unexpectedly arrested, cast into
prison and that night the Padeshaw
men enter put around his neck small
silk cord choke him to death, tie 9 wait |
to the body and chuck him into the Bos-
phorus. No trial, no evidence, no pub
Iicity The man simply disappears and
no one knows where he has gone or what
has become of him. A corrupt police ana |
detective force will never implieate any |
one as that would undermine the source
of their power, lose their office and might |
soon find a place for him alongside OF
the dead. Those men told me that they |
could, If they dared. obtain proof that
one hundred and seventy-one men had
thus been secretly disposed of during the
-present year. An editor of reputable
newspaper, with whom l travelled and
conversed the greater part of day, prae-
ticaliy confirmed this account and he was
a Turk
He told me that the greatest reason
for the disordered financial condition was
the sultan's extravaganza and the dis
honesty of the revenue officers He said
that there are more than five thousand
dependents on the Sultan's bounties, ana
that he supports them--especially his
women and children-in royalty magnih-
cent and luxurious style. He said that
the Grand Vizier, the Pashas and other
officers Initiate 1.-THE great and good
mans example as far as practicable
thus consuming the substance OF the
toiljng millions, who, in their ignorance,
labor and live hard to enable the favor
ed few t. roll in wealth and luxury. 1t
il enough to breed anarchists. and rev.
olution against such government would
be the highest order OF patriotism. Sur
rounding nations want to roast that Tur-
key. but the point of management is
(which ONE shall have Constantinoples
On this they cannot agree, "and on that
ore fact depends the integrity OF the
Turkish Empire.
Water communication being easy be-
tween that part of Africa known as
Egypt and the Barhary states,' there Is
a considerable number of negroes in Con. |
stantinople who assume the dress and
speak the language of the Turks. There
Is no distinction on account of race or
color, but only on account of property |
or education. One day on the sidewalk ]
saw a good looking young white woman
sitting on a box by a black man, who |
was writing a letter for her to her hus- |
band. She was illiterate and had EN- |
ployed the negro to write for her. The
Turks write backwards, from right to |
left lust the reverse of our writing. /
saw a big, fat, black woman riding in her
fine carriage through the street with one
young white man for a driver and an
other as her footman. A decided majority |
of the nunuchs who guard and wait upon
the women of the harems are negro men. |
After seeing Constantinople, ! did not
care to visit Jerusalem and the Holy |
Land, which were not far away, as l
learned from my old friend, ex-Congress- |
man Finley of Baltimore. who had Just |
returned. that they were worse and less |
attractive than Constantinople. We
boarded the train and during the night |
ran away from the great city of numerous |
spires, minarets fsnaticism. crime and
NANCY dogs, and through Turkey in Eu- |
rope. Early the next morning we were in
Eastern Roumania, and then through |
Bulgaria and then Servia. These coun- |
tries belonged to Turkey until. by the |
aid of neighboring Christian nations. they |
cut loose and established their independ- |
.ence. They are now independent king |
doms. Roumania and Servia are each |
about as large as Georgia and Alabama
and Bulgaria is larger. OF course, 1 only |