Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-28
TURKISH FINANCE ODD.
Unit Of Value Has Different Prices at
Different Places.

From the San Francisco Argonaut
The new colonies Of Jews are due to the
Zionist movement inaugurated by Jewish
millfonaires, like the Rothschilds. Israel
Zangwill, the author, is one of the ardent
advocates OF a hegira of the Jews to their
, ancient home. Jews certainly pouring
Into Palestine from all over Europe But
the consuls in Jerusalem doubt the desira-
bility OF this movement; they say that the
Jewish coonists are failures as agriculture
lists. and seem to succeed only as shopkeep-
ers or money changers. And one certainly
sees more Jewish money changers than
turkish, although 1t would seem fitting for
the business of changing Turkish money TO
be In the hands of Turkish money chang
ers. Perhaps the Turks do not understand
| the Turkish money as well the Jews do
Here is brief resume of some of it's &C.
centricities
The Turkish gold unit is the Ira. or
pound worth about IS; the Turkish silver
Unit Is the plaster, worth about cents
When we were in Turkey the Ira was thus
quoted: In Constantinope. 100 piasters in
Beirut, 123 piasters; in Jaffa, 141 piasters;
In Jerusalem, 124 piasters: in Damascus. 10
pastors To this must be added the fur
Their fact that even these values fiuctuated
from day to day with the fluctuations in
exchange of Turkish silver. This is about
the same as 1t would be IL our American
gold piece called the half eagle were worth
on the same day IS In New York, So. 25 in
Chicago. $50 in Omaha, $500 in Salt Lake
and s.. 35 in San Francisco. If / add to the
foregoing that the Turkish metallic cur
rency (metallik) current In Constantinople
Is uncurrent In every other Turkish city;
II l state that the value of the Turkish
pound is quoted differently in buying diff
ferent commodities; If / say that the fore
going Is merely the government rate of ex-
change, and that there is commercial
ra te of exchange, which Is different; If re-
mark that the four foreign post offices in
Jerusalem have rate of exchange of their
own, which also different: If set down the
curious fact that the railway companies
recognize none of these rates of exchange,
but have a rate of their own also-I may
not be believed, but nevertheless IL is en-
tirely true.
Who can help smiling at these benighted
Turks? Certainly, these doings are calcu-
lated to amuse Americans.
But stop-it is not so many years since
silver was at SO heavy a discount on the
Pacific coast that money changers offices
were about as numerous in San Francisco
as they are in Cairo. At that time there
was about 10 to Is per cent discount on SILL
yer half dollars; there We're no standard
dollars then coined. Some smart skinfiints
conceived the idea of paying their employees
wages In the trade dollar, which, although
not legal tender, was worth more I'm silver
than two half dollars The trick was at
first successful-the trusting artisans &C
cepted the large new coins, and paid their
tradesmen with them. But the banks re-
fused to accept the trade dollars from the
butcher, the baker, the caRdlestick maker.
Like nSnlnlnS the news ran all over the
Pacific coast. and within a week the trade
dollar was discredited among the working
classes. They did not know that it had
never been monetized, but they now knew
that 1t WAS demonetized. Is 1t not odd that
In an intelligent nation like ours clever
sharpers should work off on workingmen as
money that which was not money at all. but
merely minted bullion? And that 1t should
pass through three hands-workmen. job
Der. retailer-before 1t was unmasked?
Yes, there are odd things In the money
line in more countries than one. Only this
spring I handed a restaurant waiter a S
gold piece to pay the bill for breakfast. He
returned in few moments. and said the
young woman cashier wouldn't take 1t.
''Why?' l asked. us 1t counterfeit?''
No" said he, at amt bad money, but
she says she won't take gold; her Or
ders is to take paper instid."
l sent him out to the cashier in the hotel
Office to if 1t good there. Same re-
port. The hotel cashier said, Discount on
gold-take nothing but paper"
l have found English gold readily taken
In every place have been. Where was ID,
then, that l found American gold refused?
Was it in Constantinople? In Smyrna? In
Jerusalem?
In none of these places. 1t was in the
Wellington Hotel in Chicago, ILL.,. u. s. A.
in the year of our Lord, 1904 and of the
independence of the United States the one
hundred and twenty-eighth