Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-04-30
ALLIES POPULAR
WITH PEOPLE OF
sAL0N|K| CITY
Greek Traders Find French
and British Officers and
Soldiers and Civilian Visit
ors Easy Money,

Saloniki, March g--rhe inhabitants
of saloniki do moi share the indlgna-
ton OF their SOVEREIGN over the pres
enee here OF the French, British and
Serbian troops. They are making
their fortunes out Of It. Besides huge
added profits on everything bought
and sold by the local tradesmen. there
/ are numerous less usual ways of turn
+ ing penny that are evolved from the
/ fertile brains Of the Spanish and
+ Portuguese Hebrews, who constitute
/ Grescc's second city
/ Greece second city.
! There have been depots, docks and
! barracks to build, roads to construct.
and improvements Of every kind to
1 make to render the old Turkish city
/ OF squaor fit for the habitation Of
an European army Then too. there
| have been the extraordinary works of
fertilization ana defense OF the en-
tire Chnlcldic peninsula. With one
thing ana another the allied oceupa-
/ ton of central Macedonia has proved
| ii contractors paradise and many a
/ willy Greek has come all the way from
/ Egypt to get share In the exploita-
ton of the strangers.
The British, particularly, have been
the victims OF close dealing, as they
/ have lacked that complete organza-
/ tlnn for the care Of large armed
/ force that makes the French army so
efficient Many OF the officers en-
| listed In the army service corps. also
/ have been used to dealing with Eng
/ llshtnon and not with Greeks. Their
| lack of experience In the latter's
/ character costs the government no
little money.
In one Instance a local Greek took
"a contract TO furnish several thuus-
and feet of lumber to certain de-
partment OF tile British oxpedttionary
/ force at SO cents a foot~-and on that
| he was making a good round profit
! Naturally when the lumber was de
! liNered forty per cent was found not
TO come up TO specifications and was
! promptly rejected, The Greek was
not very happy over this outcome Of
i his little deal but by no means in
despair After scouting about bit
he found another department Of the
British army in need OF lumber and
! offered the rejected timber A brief
/ bout al haggling over the price. and
the Greek received forty-five cents a
foot FOR the lumber that had been re-
J ~ tfft fRN WI AfiiiN ltCSs
on another occasion a British off
/ Ger in charge OF certain road con-
struetion solved the problem Of seeur-
/ ing his labor by letting the contract to
/ employ the men TO Greek There
We're 10 be something over 1000
Workmen who We're 60 receive three
/ dfaehmae tsixty oentsl per day. The
/ Greek contractor WAS 20 receive, in ad-
1 ditlon ten cents per day for each man
No furnished. AS all Macedonia il full
Of refugees from Trace and Asia MI
nor who are In most desperate want
| the contractor had no difficulty in
iseeuring all the men he wanted and
collecting, himself. ten cents Il head
per day from each OF the men whom
he turned over 90 the British officer
Though the Greek was making $500
per day and over out of the arrange
ment with no personal effort he was
dissatisfied with his bargain. So he
engineered strike among the men.
and then Offered TO act as mediator
/ nefsuading the lahorers TO return to
work on condition OF an increase of
q frame twenty centsl per day OF
this he himself levied on the men for
IN additional five cents per man per
day--and only made the arrangement
+ on consideration Of receiving from the
British officer m charge of the work
another five cents per man per lay
in addition 10 the ten cents he was al
ready drawing from that source Tor
his services.
The work lasted over month.
With his double rakeoff Of thirty
cents per man per day. the Greek
clsafed something over $4,000 on the