The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-29

of fences to private grounds; right
cheerful and absolutely safe economy,
since those who might care are ~nOt
i'm a position TO object
Having devoted so much of our time
TO mosques monks and mausoleums, it
is not strange / am Unable TO write
compendium of Turkish politics and
customs. Otherwise. ! am sure that
four days would have been quite suffi-
SieEt. according 10 usual recorded ex-
Deriences of travellers. There are few
things, however. that fell within our
ken. TIE moneys current are a con-
glOmerate of issues/ of many petty
states or pTincipalities. At each shop
handful of different coins would be
given in change. half of which. in spite
OF the solemn guarantees Of the shop
keeper, would De pronounced mo good"
and refused by the next one.
TIE Koran teaches q religion. so ii
clcimed, whereby the ritualistic duties,
guch as regular prayer, are mandatory.
if the followers of the prophet ever ex
pect TO taste the delights of Paradise;
but the moralitics that are the essence
of pure living may be violated with i'm
punity, and yet the delinquents remain
good Mohammedans. Not only in Con-
stantinople, but i'm Cairo also. we saw
enough to convince that this claim is
u
tial example of the difference between
the letter and the spirit of their teach
ing. The Koran's prohibition against
needlessly taking life protects sacred
~ the useless dog only because he does
not become an obstacle to their desires
But let any human life so intervene
and it is destroyed. The Muslims arc
not the only people IN the world who,
as Henry Ward Beecher once said.
ssnra1p lg gTapfiCp kim mod
milk" The pith of the Indictment is
that to them the skinned milk and
! cream look the same.
Petty Grating Common.
The petty graft of officials was al
ways obvious. For instance, we were
held up" an unconscionable time on
entering the port, Notwithstanding lib
eral bakhshish. Being told o. this. our
guide babe us watch how easily he
would arrange our departure. And it
must be admitted that. for the sum OF
forty piasters part of which he doubt
less kept, we ran the gantlet i'm about
two minutes. Passports obtained be-
fore leaving the United States for 81
each, are required to be "vised." for
another 81, by the Turkish consul in
New York, and these are carefully ex-
Constantinople they must pc certified
by the United States consul general,
who collects a third dollar. At the rail-
road station these Passports are again
scrutinized and every item of informa-
ton docketed. We expected this action
spelled another dollar: but somehow
this halcyon opportunity was over
locked.
Each country represented at the cap
ital administers it's own laws and col
lects its own mail, having it's own
street mail boxes. The foreign CORE
spondence of state is specially protect
ed, being sent in bags carefully sealed,
as the Turkish officials have as much
| curiosity as a woman. No books or
pamphlets that in any way teach re-
ligiOn or government are allowed to
enter. Baggage is carefully searched
| Cor is supposed to bel for all literature
and tobacco. If Objectionable books
are found they viii be confiscated. OF
course, nothing is permitted TO be pub
| lished or sold in the empire containing
adverse criticism. Reforms in govern
ment come slowly, and progress in civic
improvements is steadfastly resisted.
There is no public electric lighting sys-
tenn. as the sultan is opposed to any
substitution for the present gas serv
ice. The fire department is crude. both
| in respect to the appliances and the
methods of giving alarm. A Swatchman
in a tower and messengers seem in this
| twentieth century almost criminal:
| particularly so in a city built of so
much combustible material
City Disappointment.