Show r m 1 turks finances basically lasi cally illy VT sd sound ky k y aund impression to Gnit 1 before war said to have been artificially Artificia ly created FOREIGN financiers PROFIT revenues revenue to be already adequate to conduct the old government large sums squandered on harems hares and palaces jon amei american lean experts who have investigated the financial condition ot of the former ottoman empire say they are coil convinced incel that it is ia fundamentally sound several considerations side rations are advanced to support this conclusion first it Is stated slated that the popular point of view that turkey was bankrupt before the nar ar was nas partly created for the benefit of foreign financial interests with the object of frightening other would be investors ve Ne and tor for political reasons of ct establishing spheres of influence the fact that turl turkey ey was alwa always s able to secure loans is cited as evidence of her financial soundness though aga agamet hist this may be advanced tile the observation that he was a political center coveted by many powers iio ho bere ere iere played the one agal against list the other oilier and that financial considerations were sometimes subordinated to political purposes turkey did not default it II is pointed out that turkey did not tie default fault on her I 1 indebtedness n deb in r recent e years but funds for the payment of interest find and amortization were continually increasing and doubling at the rate of every 15 years the revenues of the country as a whole were increasing at the normal natural rate of other prosperous countries in eu lopo lope an enormous percentage of revenue w biener er reached the treasury the loss belag estimated by some as high Is as 50 per cent this was partly ascribed to the system of farming fanning out the taxes by districts collectors pacing in advance a certain sum and then collecting what hat they could for americans who are considering the mandate question or of doing business ile here under whatever government is established it is pointed out that the above facts show revenues already adequate to conduct the old government and that with good government tile the old ottoman empire would have been financially strung strong before the war foreign investments amounted to the equivalent of 1078 oooo of which was in ill the public debt or loans to the government ern ment the difference in private enterprises terp rises and concessions the bulk of these investments was IQ in loans to the government what was done with this money 1 many of the lorns loans viere vi ere issued below par so bo that all of the money ne never neer er reached the treasury enormous commissions ni are e believed to have been bec paid to to european bankers and in gratifications to various local ministers min to get their lipport for the loans sums that did reach the treasury are said to it have tive been squandered on palaces hares harems nd ind in other unproductive was so S the loans did riot not on oil the whole mate cate rf sources of new revenue and id therefore the public debt continually increased Sp spheres lieres of influence the object of such loans it Is stated was partly will tile the political intent of milking making turkey default so interested powers could take lake over her finances find and control fil the country as was done in 1981 this led to tile tho creation of loose spheres of influence germany taking kola plain the french syria tile the italians wanting tile the PrO provi villee iii e they tit at present occupy and the british and tile lie russians seeking in tile tho council of administration of the ottoman public debt which continued until the war and has been resumed in some imon faimon fa fi silon there was one Ing englishman lishman one frenchman one german one austrian and one italian with the presidency alternately occupied by an englishman and a frenchman tho the conclusion of the investigators Is that it if the InNest investments ments had been made for productive enterprise and had bad created sources for meeting interest and the debt it would have been childs play to carry the debt and pay it off however IIo weer its as the debt was lowered in spite of the above attempts additional loans were made not nil all of the sums borrowed by the government goern ment were ivere wasted for example about was used to help build the bagdad railway although the germans would have built the line with their own money they actually got turkish money to finance what they considered a german enterprise |