'GRASS NEVER GROWS WHERE TURKISH HOOF HAS TROD" 1135 



THE TERRIBLE WEAPON OF THE TAX- 

 COLLECTOR 



Should he refuse to accept an exces- 

 sive valuation, the tax-collector has a 

 terribly powerful weapon which he does 

 not hesitate to use against him. The 

 harvest is not allowed to be gathered 

 until the authorities have given their 

 consent, and this is refused until the 

 illegal estimate has been paid. 



The peasant sees his crops rotting on 

 the ground or rapidly wasting away be- 

 cause he cannot obtain permission to 

 gather it, but he is powerless. To save a 

 remnant he will sometimes sacrifice half 

 of what remains. The local zaptiehs 

 (policemen) are at the service and in 

 the pay of the collector, and until they 

 receive word from him they will see that 

 no obstinant peasant begins harvesting. 

 There is no commoner form of injustice 

 done to the peasants than the refusal to 

 give permission to gather their crops 

 until an illegal as well as the legal por- 

 tion of them is conceded to the tax-col- 

 lector. 



If the peasant remains obstinate and 

 refuses to pay the illegal contribution, 

 preferring to let his crop perish, even 

 thus he does not escape. The saptiehs 

 (policemen) do not hesitate to seize and 

 sell his cattle, and even his seed corn. 

 The policemen are, in fact, regarded by 

 the peasants, not as their protectors or 

 as the representatives of law and justice, 

 but as persons entirely at the tax-gather- 

 er's disposal. 



It may be said on their behalf that 

 they are merely the tools of the higher 

 officials, and that they, as well as the 

 local watchmen, are miserablv paid. 

 Their pay is almost invariably many 

 months in arrears, and their daily ration 

 of bread is barely sufficient to support 

 existence. To a large extent they live 

 upon the poverty-stricken peasants who 

 are forced to tolerate their exactions. 

 The evils of collusion between the tax- 

 gatherers and the local authorities press 

 hardly on Moslem and Christian peas- 

 ants alike ; but as the saptiehs (police- 

 men) employed are Moslems, they natu- 

 rally act more willingly against the un- 



believers than against their coreligion- 

 ists. 



UNIQUE INDUSTRIES DESTROYED BY GROSS 

 TAXATION 



It is not in the collection of tithes only 

 that gross abuses exist. Many other 

 taxes and contributions, both legal and 

 illegal, are exacted. Sometimes these 

 are so excessive as to defeat the object 

 for which they are imposed. Not long 

 since, in one district, hundreds of apricot 

 trees, on the dried fruit of which the 

 people largely subsist during winter, 

 were cut down by the peasants them- 

 selves in order to avoid the annual tax 

 levied upon them. Vineyards near the 

 capital, even, have been rooted up for 

 the same reason. The growth and ex- 

 port of the hair of the Angora goat, 

 which when manufactured is known as 

 mohair, ought to be one of the most 

 profitable enterprises in Turkey. Thirty 

 years ago this goat only existed in the 

 Ottoman Empire, but the tax levied upon 

 the animals was so heavy that great 

 numbers were killed, and Turkey has 

 had to take a second rank in the produc- 

 tion of mohair. 



But added to all these burdens there 

 is another which is still more grievous. 

 The governors and other officials, who 

 are appointed from the capital, have in 

 many cases to pay the persons who 

 have used their influence to have them 

 named. This payment sometimes takes 

 the form of a periodical contribution. 

 The official recoups himself by taking 

 pay and toll from the subordinates whom 

 he in his turn appoints. These again 

 make good their losses out of the peas- 

 ants. 



_A_ convenient way of accomplishing 

 this is to add the proportion intended for 

 the officials to the amount which has been 

 levied for_ transmission to Constantino- 

 ple. Receipts are constantly refused, and 

 the same sum is levied twice or three 

 times over. Very commonly the prac- 

 tice is varied by giving receipts for a 

 smaller sum than has been exacted, and 

 the difference finds its way into the pock- 

 ets of the collectors and local officials. 

 One of the results of these irregular con- 



