TURKEY. 



751 



1,239,020,000 piasters, as compared with 2,- 

 010,243,000 and 1,096,449,000 piasters respect- 

 ively in 1883-'84 (1 piaster = 4'3 cents). Of 

 the imports, 44 per cent, came from Great 

 Britain, 20 per cent, from Austria, 14 per cent, 

 from France, and 6 per cent, from Russia; 

 Italy, Persia, Greece, Roumania, and the United 

 States coming next in the order of importance. 

 Of the exports, 37 per cent, went to France 

 and 36 per cent, to Great Britain, Egypt tak- 

 ing 5 per cent., and Russia and Greece a little 

 over 3 per cent. each. The imports from the 

 United States amounted to 28,948,000 piasters ; 

 the exports to the United States, 11,392,000 

 piasters. 



The navigation returns at the port of Con- 

 stantinople show an aggregate tonnage of 6,- 

 202,956, those of Smyrna 1,071,713, those of 

 Salonica 881,828. The merchant marine, in 

 1879, numbered 220 sailing-ships, of 34,500 

 tons, and 11 steamers, of 3,350 tons, engaged 

 in ocean commerce. 



Communications. The total length of railroads 

 open to traffic in European Turkey is 1,432 

 kilometres; in Asia Minor, 555 kilometres. 



The number of letters carried in the mails 

 during 1882 was 3,003,000 in European Turkey. 



The length of telegraph lines was 23,388 

 kilometres; of wires, 41,688 kilometres all 

 belonging to the Government. The number 

 of paid internal dispatches was 133,212; of 

 international. 137,168; the receipts were $85,- 

 499 ; the operating expenses, $96,244. 



Finances. The financial accounts of the Turk- 

 ish Empire invariably show a large deficit ; yet, 

 by withholding a part or the whole of the sal- 

 aries of functionaries and military officers, the 

 Government has managed to avoid actual bank- 

 ruptcy. The total revenue for 1883-'84 is es- 

 timated at 16,313,006 Turkish pounds about 

 $71,451,000. The approximate amount of the 

 expenditures, apart from the service of the 

 debts, is estimated at 12,036,011 Turkish 

 pounds. The new loan of 23,000,000 francs 

 at 7 per cent, was obtained from Baron Hirsch 

 in December, 1885, to meet the expenses of 

 mobilization. A new contract in regard to the 

 trunk railroads was made in order to obtain 

 the loan. The company is to pay the Govern- 

 ment, as rent for the railroads, 45 per cent, of 

 the excess of the gross receipts per kilometre 

 per annum, and in all cases at least 1,500 francs 

 per kilometre. This assures to the Govern- 

 ment an income of at least 2,000,000 a year. 

 The interest on the new loan is secured on this 

 revenue. 



The annual report of the Council for the 

 Administration of the Ottoman Debt makes 

 the total capital amount in 1885 to 92,225,827 

 sterling, of which 82,346,767 represent the 

 converted debt, 6,570,447 the registered debt, 

 and 3,308,613 other obligations. The re- 

 ceipts from the hypothecated revenues in 

 1884-'85 were 225,986,319 piasters; the ex- 

 penses of administration, 25,167,591 ; leaving 

 a net sum of 1,984,616 pounds Turkish (1 T. 



= $4.38). Other receipts guaranteed by the 

 Porte for the service of the refunded debt are 

 the subvention of Eastern Roumelia, fixed at 

 245,000 pounds a sum equivalent to the Cy- 

 prus surplus of 130,000 pounds a year, the 

 equivalent of the Bulgarian tribute of 100,000 

 pounds, and the equivalent of the revenue of 

 Tumbeki of 50,000 pounds a year. Other loans 

 were already secured on the Egyptian tribute 

 of 765,000 pounds previous to the recent ar- 

 rangement. 



The Army* The Turkish army has been par- 

 tially reorganized on the plan adopted in 1880. 

 The nizam, or regular army, is completely or- 

 ganized. The first ban of the redif lacks the 

 cavalry and a portion of the artillery, while 

 the troops of the second ban exist only on pa- 

 per. Every Mohammedan is liable to serve in 

 the regular army, except sole supporters of 

 families ; but exemption can be purchased for 

 about $250. Christians pay an exemption-tax. 

 The country is divided into seven military dis- 

 tricts with headquarters respectively at Con- 

 stantinople, Adrianople, Monastir, Erzingian, 

 Damascus, Bagdad, and Sanaa. Each district 

 furnishes an army corps to the nizam and one to 

 each ban of the redif, except the Yemen dis- 

 trict, with headquarters at Sanaa, which fur- 

 nishes only a corps in the nizam for local serv- 

 ice. On Jan. 1, 1885, the Turkish army com- 

 prised 264 battalions of infantry, 189 squadrons 

 of cavalry, 140 field batteries, 8 battalions of for- 

 tress artillery, 19 battalions of engineers, 5 bat- 

 talions of train, 3 battalions of firemen, 11 bat- 

 talions of laborers, and one company of teleg- 

 raphists. Its total strength was 158,959 men, 

 including about 9,900 officers, with 23,025 

 horses and 3,202 pieces of artillery. The redij 

 troops already organized at the beginning of 

 1885 would raise the effective force to about 

 310,000 men, and a call of the mustaTifiz, or 

 final levy, was estimated, to give 120,000 more 

 men trained to arms. The investigation car- 

 ried out by the War Department at the time of 

 the partial mobilization in the autumn showed 

 that Turkey possessed 450,000 effective troops, 

 and in case of need could place in the field 

 probably 300,000 more. 



The Navy. In 1885 the Turkish Government 

 had 15 large ironclads and 46 unarmored moni- 

 tors and gun-boats and other vessels. There 

 were three sea-going frigates, the largest having 

 12-inch armor at the water-line and carrying 

 twelve 18-ton, and three 6-J-ton guns, the two 

 others having 10- and 8-inch plates respective- 

 ly. Next come 4 sea-going corvettes, and then 

 8 corvettes for coast-defense. The navy con- 

 tained 3 torpedo-boats. The personnel com- 

 prised 927 officers, 30,000 sailors, and 9,463 ma- 

 rines. 



War Preparations. The Turkish Government 

 continued the mobilization begun after the 

 Roumelian revolution of Sept. 18 (see BULGA- 

 RIA) until the end of the year. At the end of 

 October it had on the northern frontier aforce of 

 40,000 men and 54 guns around Adrianople ; in 



