Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-29
ARAB SEEKS FATHER|B[ACK SEAS TRADE
Hghbon Son Is Bosn of an Only the Mouses Share of I'll
English Freighter. Goes to Americans.
HE SPEAKS MANY TONGUES EUROPE IS ON THE JOB
Voice Him Sheik Has
and May Be Here. and Language of People
CROCODILE ATE HIS TOE FIELD AN INVITING ONE
OF o When Railroads Have Opened
Charm Up the Country
EUROPE is ON THE JOB
Has Statesmen Who Know Wants
and Language of People.
FIELD AN INVITING ONE
Commerce Likely to Be Larger
When Railroads Have Opened
UP the Country.
BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.
Special Corresponding Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
TREBIZOND, Turkey. May %. 1910.
DR.. Milo A. Jewett, formerly Of
Danverv, Mass, has spent a good part
OF his life in Turkey. He is the son Of
a missionary and was born in Sevas,
one of the principal towns in the interior
Of Asia Minor, where he was afterward
consul for seven years. He has represent
ed the government at Trebizond for three
years and Is as we'll posted concerning
social, commercial and industrial condi-
lions as any man in this part OF the
world.
The consular district Of Trebizond en-
braces about one-half the southern coast
of the Black sea and about one-fourth
of Asia Minor. with a population of
100000 or more. There is no railroad
in the district, although the plans Of
the present government for internal i'm
provements contemplate the construction
of lines from Samsoun and Trebizond, the
principal ports, into the interior.
Foreign commerce Is carried on chief
ly through those ports, said DR.. Jewett,
in answer to my question, land amounts
annually to nearly thirty millions Of dol
lars, being about equally divided between
imports and exports. The imports are
sugar, tea, coffee, cottonseed oil. iron
and cotton goods from England and Ger
many chiefly; the exports are tobacco,
wool, goat and sheep skins, black wal
nuts. tiberts. carpets. eggs. beans, silks.
embroideries and raisins, the latter being
principally from Persia.
Poor and Conservative.
THE people in this district are the
poorest and most conservative of Asia
Minor; their wants are relatively few and
simple, they live on the products of their
own land, employ rude implements and
wear clothing of their own manufacture.
yet the demand for foreign goods is in
creasing, especially in the cities along
the coast. In Trebizond there has been
q steady advance in the cost of living
and in the variety and quantity of foreign
goods consumed. Salaries and wages
have increased and the requirements Of
ton goods are the most important imports
In former times, when Turkey had less
trade with the outer world, most of the
inhabitants, except the rich in the cities
on the coast, clothed themselves with
fabrics Of their own weaving. and even
today more than half the cotton and
wooden cloths used is home spun. But
now the average imports of cotton cloth
az cACceu ~ per
cent Of which is carried into Persia by
the camel caravans. Very little cottons
from the United States are sold here
most of them coming from England.
There IS goou market 1or nour,
which comes from Marseille. and for
hardware. which comes from Germany
and Belgium, often limitations OF that
made in the United States. Our people
send few novelties. little labor-sar-
ing machinery, sewing machines and that
sort of thing huf the trade ia palre1y
nominal. We might supply a fair share
Of the market If our merchants would
come after the trade, but at present there
seems to be no prospect of such a change.
Cigarette Tobacco Exported.
There has been steadily increasing
export Of cigarette tobacco to American
manufacturers, and the tobacco trust has
an agency at Samscun which ships large
quantities of tobacco raised in this dis
trict for manufacture into cigarettes in
the United States The American de-
mand for filberts and walnuts, which are
recognized staples in this district. is also
increasing. But the merchants OF Eu
graphical proximity, cheap goods, long
credits and skilful travelling statesmen
who know the languages and the wants
Of the people and the commission houses
eStdpllsHcu mere py European 1FIl1S.
"Cigarette tobacco is one of the chief
crops and one of the most important ex-
ports of Turkey, and four or five hum
dred thousand dollars worth Is shipped
annually to the United States by the
agents of the American Tobacco Com
pany. 1t is a very mild tobacco and
large quantities are sold in Egypt, where
1t is used to brighten the tobacco OBJ
tanned from other parts Of Turkey. The
best quality comes from a district Dor
ho chOra IF ho Plack
sea, where a chain of mountains, rang
ing from two thousand to eight thousand
feet high, running parallel to the coast,
seems to act as curtain to hold the
clouds and the moisture which rises
from the sea. Rain is abundant until June,
the atmosphere is nearly always humid
and bright sun and clear sky are
unusual. These conditions cause the to-
bacco to be of an excellent quality, par
ticularly for cigarettes.
THE methods of culture, however, are
very rude and primitive and much is
left to chance and nature. The ground
is not fertilized in a scientific manner;
there is no systematic rotation of crops
and very little cultivation. although the
yield will reach from eight hundred to
nine hundred pounds an acre from land
which is planted year after year with
out rest and very little wedding or cul-
tivation. The leaves when gathered are
placed on strings and hung over hori-
zontal poles to dry in the sun, after
which they are put In a damp cellar,
where they remain until they become
soft They are then made up into pack
ages of six to ten leaves, taken to the
government agency, where they are as
sorted and weighed. and sold either to
the government or to the agents Of eX-
porting firms.
Filberts Important Crop.
Another important crop Is hazel nuts
or filberts, and those produced here are
considered as fine as any in the world.
The young trees bear at the end of the
fourth or fifth year. are at their best
when seven or eight years old, and cease
to bear when they are fifteen or twenty
years old. Then the orchards have to be
cut down and replanted. l should Judge
that there are 100000 acres Of filbert or
chards on the hillsides along the coast
in this neighborhood. There are three
varieties; the round nuts, which consti
tute about 20 per cent of the crop. are
sheiled before they are exported, which
saves about 80 per cent on the freight
and furnishes employment for several
thousand persons, mostly women and
girls, who receive about l cent for every
three pounds of kernels and can shell
day each. The nuts are first sorted into
They are then run through stone mill,
one size at time, the stones being adj
iusted SO as to crack but not to crush the
nuts. The kernels are then picked out
and the different sizes are mixed together
fnr f0r