f things has been made, the
administrative and military powers have been separated, and the
taxpayers themselves have agreed to higher taxes, provided they are
permitted to pay them directly into the State treasury.

Presents are as customary here as everywhere in the Orient. Without a
present the man of lower station is not permitted to approach his
superior. If you ask justice of a judge you must take him a gift.
Officials and officers in the army are given tips, but the man who
receives most presents is the Sultan himself. The expedient of
adulterating the currency has been used to the point of exhaustion.
Twelve years ago the Spanish dollar was worth seven piasters; today it
is bought for twenty-one. The man who then possessed one hundred
thousand dollars has discovered that today he has only thirty-three
thousand. This calamity has hit Turkey worse than it would have
affected any other country, because very little money is here invested
in land, and most fortunes consist of cash capital. In the civilized
countries of Europe a fortune is the result of having created
something of real worth. The man who wins his wealth in this way is
increasing at the same time the wealth of his State. His money merely
represents the abundance of goods at his disposal. In Turkey the coin
itself is the thing of value, and wealth is nothing but the accidental
accumulation of money within the possession of an individual. The very
high rate of interest, which is here legally 20 per cent, is far from
indicating any great activity of capital. It only indicates the great
danger of letting money out of one's immediate possession. The
criterion of wealth is the ease of its removal. The _Rajah_ will
probably buy jewelry for one hundred thousand piasters in preference
to investing his money in a factory, a mill, or a farm. Nowhere is
jewelry better liked than here, and the jewels which, in rich
families, even children of tender years are wearing are a glaring
proof of the poverty of the country.

If it is one of the first duties of every government to create
confidence, the Turkish administration leaves this task entirely
unperformed. Its treatment of the Greeks, its unjust and cruel
persecution of the Armenians, those faithful and rich subjects of the
Porte, and other violent measures, are so fresh in everyone's memory
that no one is willing to invest his money where it will pay interest
only after many years. In a country where industry is