Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1916-07-27
Food Prices Soaring
in The | turk Capita;
Imports Are Cut OFF
Flour s44 Barrel ana sugar isg
Selling for II Gents
Pound.
6. s. Mcclure ~ Minneapolis Trib-
une. A

n w uHe.
| The most luxurious of all the gov
ernment Offices that saw IN Turkey
| was the ministry OF agriculture, conn
| merce and mines. And it should he
| so, for this ministry is the most Inn
!! portant for the future of Turkey. AS
sociated with the Turkish minister
found Doctor BucheT, German ex.
| pert in agriculture. 1 secured my In
terview from the Turkish minister
with the assistance OF Doctor gucher.
Ahmed Nessimi Bey was very ener-
getic and enthusiastic in his work
| Constantinople suffered more from
lack Of food than any other city 3
| was in. Flour was $44 barrel; SUI
gar 72 cents a pound; potatoes, SIS asS
bushel; lemons, 16 cents apiece and
all other foods in proportion The
wage OF an average worker is as cents
a day
!, ,s Here is the interview as r received
| It after correction by the minister Of
agriculture;
Question: What are the meas
lures taken by the government to put
an end to the present high prices OF
food and when do You think its effect
will be felt p st
Answer: .Constantinople, being
our most important port, used I'd have
the greater part of Its food supplies
4 from foreign countries and a small
Ipart from Asia Minor, The general
war having upset the natural inferna-
ltional commercial relations, caused
a considerable increase Of prices ey-
1 erywhere;: 1t stopped all foreign sup
4 plies and made our capital depend
! wholly on Anatolian supplies, espers
4 ieials on the places rearstn he BaEsaasI
/ railway, on the Konia, Askishehr and
Angora
The same railway was utilized for
the mobilization of troops and trans
portation OF the military needs. For
1 such an extraordinary and gigantic
traffic there we're not Sufficient rail-
way engines and wagons; military
business being more and more i'm
4 portant, was naturally done before
commercial transactions. This caus-
ed some shprtness of our supplies and
! save rise to the high prices. I'll T he 81
chief cause Of the high prices was
4 not due to the shortness OF our ma
tional food supplies, but to the short
i ness of our limited transporting.
menas. --,-s .~-,Y =. ~ .s'5s s53
i When the Berlin nstantinopIe
road was opened by sweeping out
criminal Serbia off the map, the gov
eminent bought paore than sufficient
wagons and locomotives. Only few
4 days ago q notice to the effect that.
i he wagons will be hired TO the
i merchants was issued and published
in the papers. Nov this will have
remarkable effect 10 reducing the
4 prices. 4.
Price Of Bread. /. III.
I'm spite Of all these troubles, one
kilo OF bread was never sold for more
than one and half plaster. This
low price was kept through the or
ganization Of the municipality az. we'll
as by the government. IN the satsrs.- +
ior. IN the provinces Of Sievas Ao',
una, Diarbekr. Aleppo. etc, one kiIo
q the best wheat cost only 40 paras
or 10 cents. H -Y. - s1s''
Ihe crops of the last year are kent
there untouched as we could not rnaka
use OF them, Now tnat we ha,,a
bought large number Of big motor
cars, we VIII bring the crops lvfne
there to the nearest railway stat I'm.
ana thence to the capital. which, wiz i
give radical effect In reducing tbe.
prices. ',7S - IS
70 the beginning of the war our;
local commercial organization ws 4,
limited, but now, at the direct ion &. 81,
ministers OF war and cpmm an51
aeIacuitura thorough commercial
organization has been made everv-
Where, even tn the smallest villages III
q the country Goods abundant i,
one place and rare at another are &,
histories Of the past owing IS tba
present activities Wagons and mo-
lots brought from Germany have
made our task more practical and eas.
er 80 Ssssssl
This q ashort summary 81 II our 81 6
sfforts within the ocuntr ia regards I
Continued on Psge / 7#