TURKEY. 



773 



enough food for their needs, and were obliged 

 to borrow money at high rates of interest. 

 The importation of food-stuffs amounted to 3,- 

 600,000 Turkish liras (about $16,200,000), the 

 exports to 600,000 liras. Another such disas- 

 trous year would have brought famine, but 

 happily average crops were obtained in 1881- 

 '82. The total exports of 1880-'81 amounted 

 to about 9,800,000 liras ($41,850,000), includ- 

 ing 6,958,531 okes (about 19,715,000 pounds) 

 of tobacco, which pays no export duties. The 

 values of the leading exports were as follow : 

 raisins, 998,558 liras; tobacco, 810,000 liras; 

 raw silk, 836,500 liras; opium, 447,618 liras; 

 valonia, 377,253 liras; olive-oil, 347,876 liras; 

 coffee, 346,852 liras; cotton, 289,510 liras; 

 figs, 225,235 liras ; sheep and goat skins, 224,- 

 514 liras; sesame, 205,455 liras; soap, 199,474 

 liras; wheat, 219,022 liras. The export of 

 raisins to France for the manufacture of wine 

 has recently sprung up and become the most 

 important branch of the export trade. Since 

 the rise of this demand a large part of the coast 

 regions has been planted to vineyards. 



The Army. The reform in the military or- 

 ganization, approved by the Padishah in April, 

 1880, has made considerable progress, though 

 retarded by the lack of financial means and 

 the opposition of the older officers, whose 

 emoluments are threatened with diminution. 

 The army is divided into the nizam, or active 

 army ; the re'dif, or reserve; and the mustahtiz, 

 or levy in mass. The duration of military ser- 

 vice in the three bans is twenty years, of which 

 six are passed in the active army and its reserve. 

 The war effective of the active army is to be 

 610,200 men, with 1,512 guns. The actual 

 strength of the nizams in 1883 was 10,311 offi- 

 cers and 150,106 men, with 650 guns. There 

 is great lack of horses and war material, though 

 contracts have been made in the United States 

 and Sweden for rifles, torpedoes, etc. 



Finances. The budget for the year ended 

 March 13, 1881, makes the total revenue 16,- 

 155,840 liras, and the expenditure 19,148,763 

 liras. A commission appointed to -inquire into 

 the condition of the finances reports that for 

 1882-'83 the total revenue amounts to 15,000,- 

 000 liras, and the expenditures to 20,340,000 

 liras. Estimates for 1883-'84 make the total 

 revenue 16,313,006 liras, and the current ex- 

 penditures of the Government 12,126,001 liras, 

 leaving 4,187,005 liras for the state cred- 

 itors. 



The loans of 1858, 1860, 1862, 1863-'64, 

 1865, 1869, 1872, and 1873, consolidated at 5 

 per cent, interest, and the railroad debt, repre- 

 sented by the Turkish lottery bonds, amounted 

 to 190,997,980 and the defaulted interest .to 

 61,803,905. The Turkish Government began 

 contracting a foreign debt in 1854. Except 

 the guaranteed loan of 1855, 5,000,000 in 

 amount, bearing 4 per cent, interest, the vari- 

 ous loans, bearing interest at 6 and 5 per cent., 

 were issued at a discount ranging from 30 to 

 60 per cent. In 1875, when the borrowing 



power of the Government was quite exhausted, 

 the creditors were notified that only half the 

 interest would be paid in money, and the fol- 

 lowing year it was announced that no more 

 payments would be made until the internal 

 affairs of the empire were more settled. In 

 July, 1881, delegates from the bondholders met 

 at Constantinople and effected an arrangement 

 with the Government. The Council of Ad- 

 ministration, created under this arrangement, 

 took charge of the ceded revenues in March, 

 1882. One fifth of the product is to be ap- 

 plied to the reduction of the capital, and four 

 fifths to be paid out in interest. The interest 

 is never to exceed 4 per cent., and when the 

 yield of the ceded revenues exceeds 5 per cent, 

 of the debt in amount, the surplus is to be 

 turned over to the treasury. The quotas of 

 Servia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Montenegro, in 

 the expenses of the public debt, are to be ap- 

 plied to amortization. 



The Council of Administration paid in Sep- 

 tember, 1882, and March, 1883, the semi-an- 

 nual interest at the rate of 1 per cent, on the 

 reduced amount of the consolidated debt. Ar- 

 rangements are made for a tobacco regie, to 

 begin operations in April, 1884. 



Revision of Commercial Treaties. The Porte 

 took the opportunity of the expiration of the 

 treaties of commerce with England, France, 

 Italy, Russia, and the United States, to secure 

 an augmentation of its revenues by increasing 

 the customs duties. It proposed to abolish ad 

 valorem duties and substitute for them specific 

 duties, adopting provisionally, pending the ne- 

 gotiations, a general ad valorem rate of 8 per 

 cent. The proposal was resisted resolutely by 

 the interested governments, particularly Great 

 Britain and the United States. The British 

 Government, in the interest of the Lancashire 

 cotton-manufacturers and other English im- 

 porters, insisted on being treated, under the 

 most-favored-nation clause, on the same terms 

 with Germany, whose commercial treaty has 

 yet eight years to run. Gen. Wallace, the 

 American minister, contested particularly the 

 increase in the duty on petroleum. The im- 

 ports of American petroleum are so large, 

 amounting in 1882 to 400,000 cases, and the 

 demand for this article so strong, that the 

 Turkish Government expected to derive from 

 this source a large and steady accession to its 

 income. The British Government likewise ob- 

 jected to the application to British subjects of 

 the tax for trade-licenses, a newly : established 

 source of revenue and one of those which were 

 abandoned to the bondholders. 



The Armenian Question. The Porte had thrice 

 promised Great Britain to carry out adminis- 

 trative reforms in the Armenian vilayets. Min- 

 ister Layard obtained the promise of a gendar- 

 merie under English officers to defend the Ar- 

 menian Christians from the violence and op- 

 pression of the Kurds and Circassians. An 

 article in the Treaty of Berlin provided for Ar- 

 menian reformSj and the special convention be- 



