Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1919-09-26

OF Arabs, Moors or Turks with
the picturesque cities of the
Spanish main. yet there is II
fiOurlshing colony of these Orientals
In Venezuela. hailing from northern
Africa and Asia Minor. They main
tain among their foreign surroundings
all the customs of their brethren In the
Old World except that of plural mar
riage. on which institution the Vene-
ut Is a strange thing to walk along
one of the main business streets, say.
of Caracas. essentially Spanish In
every respect" says writer In the
New York Times, rs quoted In the Lit
erary Digest, "and suddenly see along
side Spanish names of merchants
strange Oriental inscriptions, such as
Abu Amad, Ben Sid. Chalala, Benatar.
One might easily imagine ones self In
the bazaars OF Tangier or Damascus"
They are an Interesting lot, these
"rurcOs," as the Venezuelans call
them. irrespective of whether they
came from Turkish territory or not.
and so all of them are In business for
themselves. mostly MS peddlers or
small shopkeepers; and all of them
make money hand over fist. Not only
do they take In the coin. but they also
save It, and IL Is no uncommon thing
for IN humble peddler to come into II
bank. plank down $4,000 In gold and
ask for receipt and check book.
They don't like banks and therefore
keep their money at home until the
amount becomes so large that they
fear for lis safety. And they will, UNI
der no circumstances, mix" with the
native population.
Live Their Lives Apart.
These Arabs and Moors and Turks
| live life entirely apart from the
Venezuelan community. Whereas, II n
Venezuelan has half million dollars,
he Is known all over the country and
pointed out as one of the leading men
In the community. n "Turco' in Cara
cas-, the Venezuelan capital, may have
| that amount, or nearly ms much, and
| live SO entirely TO himself that scarce
| ~ anybody in the city can even tell
| you where he dwels. There are "Tur-
cos" with big accounts In the leading
| banks of Caracas who are still living
! in the wretched novels they occupied
when they first reached Venezuela,
with ten or fifteen of their race packed
into the same house. several in II
room. Aud when they return to north
ern Africa or Asia Minor they often "a
back ms they came, in the steerage.
crowded In with hundreds of other
] passengers, though the purScr of the
steamer may have locked up for safe
keeping thousands of their dollars
which they have earned by years oi
hard work in Venezuela.
The "lurcoS' never accept job
! They want to be their own bosses first
last and all the time, They began by
going to some oldestabliShed firm in
Venezuela. asking Il credit of - In $40
and taking out Il basket of trinketS and
dry goods Ia sell from house To hous,
In the capital or some of the lesser
cities and towns. They start oul
| NiillAlN hAA'A hhN ~ hAsA WYNN hAAAl
dark. Their cry of "Compre, mer
cnante" CBuy. customerO,, in {
strange, Oriental Singsong, is wei
known all over Venezuela.
Prosper and Grow r ch.
Gradually, MS they prosper-and the!
almost invariably do-they get more
credit from the big firms and eventu
ally open little shop, a mere hole
in-the-wall," where there is Scnrcel!
rOolu for person to turn around
They put in stock of dry goods
trnkets. novelties and the like. or per
haps the lighter kind of hardware
Then they get rich, Their money mul
tiplles in ways that strike the Nene
zuelnns, who are inclined TO take lif
easy, MS miraculous.
The quitting whistle means nothin
to '"rurco." He will start little raj
hole of shop near the market plac
Caracas, for instance, ana open n
It dawn In order to catch the seller
II vegetable, and fruits, who com
nto the market from s-s village