No. 45.
Mr. Maynard to Mr. Evarts.
Constantinople, November 26, 1877. (Received Dec. 28.)
Sir: The separate dispatch of August 7, 1877, from the Department of State, devolves upon the diplomatic officers of the government, jointly with the consular officers, a duty which hitherto has been mainly borne by the latter—the collection of commercial information, especially with reference to the question of methods by which trade with the United States can be most judiciously fostered.
Turkey is naturally very rich and her commerce great, although the Turks themselves are not given to trade, and their system does not encourage it. The burdens of the government fall chiefly upon productions, so that the heaviest exactions are made from industry and enterprise. Repeated statements of the shares accruing respectively to the laborer and to the tax-gatherer, exhibit a disproportion too incredible for such a paper as this. It is not a fancy to depict the wealth that would accrue under a system like those which have enriched other countries, notably our own, where taxes are imposed on consumption and luxurious indulgence. At present agriculture retrogrades, manufactures dwindle, and commerce is in foreign hands.
The trade with the East, especially with Persia, is considerable, and is carried on by caravans either to this city or to some sea-port within easy communication. The Western trade is done chiefly in large iron steamers from London and Liverpool, from Marseilles, from Trieste (the Austrian Lloyds), and from Naples and other Italian ports, all built, I believe, in England, and therefore more or less subsidiary to her. More than eighty such steamers, varying from 600 tons to 6,000 tons each, are advertised from England alone. I inclose the advertisements for more specific information. British interests in Turkey are commercially very great. The Mediterranean steamers ply regularly and carry passengers, especially the Messageries Maritimes (Marseilles) and the Austrian [Page 141] Lloyds; the English steamers carry very few; for, although the fare is less than by the overland routes, the voyage is longer, and, outside the Straits of Gibraltar, much rougher. These ships, for the most part, come laden with merchandise, and return with cargoes of grain, for which they frequently go into the Black Sea. It is with this unequal competition that our grain-producers have to contend, a competition suspended for the moment by the war. The lands of the East are very fertile, the quality of the grain superior, labor very cheap, and freight low. Only in the methods of handling have our countrymen the advantage.
The direct trade from America is confined almost entirely to petroleum and arms and ammunition. The former is usually brought in American sailing-vessels, the latter in British steamers. There is some indirect trade through England, from which our people seem to derive little either of credit or of profit. Hams, cheese, and some other articles familiar to the American eye, are found in the markets, where they pass for English. Our cottons have also been brought in limited quantities, much admired for their texture and finish, and readily sold. When I first came I was attracted by the street-hawkers crying American cloth. By inquiry I found that it came originally from the United States, and acquired a reputation and the name, both of which were subsequently appropriated by English manufacturers, who supplanted it in the market by a much poorer fabric, at a little lower price. Sewing-machines and clocks are not uncommon. Iron stoves of American make are sometimes seen, though the porcelain stoves, generally used on the continent of Europe, seem to be preferred, indeed are preferable, being cheaper and more ornamental, and imparting a more agreeable warmth. There is some traffic in distilled spirits, chiefly rum. Our trade in these articles I am satisfied might, with proper diligence, be greatly enlarged, and extended to many other things Cottons, both colored and uncolored, for example, might be introduced in considerable quantities, the former being adapted in style and pattern to the habits and traditional tastes of the people. So, too, the smaller implements of husbandry, edge-tools, fancy weapons, ordnance stores of various kinds, clocks, carriages, and numerous other things which the practical mercantile eye would discover. On the other hand, there are, in different parts of the empire, the elements of a return trade. Arabian horses and Angora goats might be profitably introduced into our country, the former to cross on the American stock, the latter for their fine silken fleece; and the buffalo (Bos bubalus) as a beast of draught, heavier and more powerful than the common ox, and, I should think, better adapted to the warmer districts. Sheep for hybridizing with our native growth might be selected from the different breeds of the East, where they so abound that one might think it the land of their origin; the same flocks are seen to-day that have existed hundreds of years, furnishing the shambles with abundant and superior mutton, and the looms with the staple of many a beautiful and durable fabric. One variety, distinguished by a broad, adipose tail, attains great size, and is much esteemed for the excellence of its fleece. Wool, both on the skin and in the fleece, goats’ hair, and goat skins, occur in this connection as important articles of traffic. I may add, as pertaining to the domain of agriculture, raw silk from Broossa; figs, licorice, and opium from Smyrna; and attar of roses from the southern slopes of the Balkans; olives, olive-wood, and olive-oil, from the Sporadic Islands and all along the Asiatic coast; and tobacco for smoking, from the district of which Salonica is the center. Grapes everywhere abound, rare and delicious, from which are produced wines, to my taste superior to the common red wines of France or the white table-wines of Germany, [Page 142] more nearly resembling the vintages of the Spanish peninsula, but lighter. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, who in 1717 was here with her husband, then English ambassador, writing of Bulgaria, speaks of drinking several sorts of delicious wine; and says she was “assured the quantity of wine last vintage was so prodigious that they were forced to dig holes in the earth to put it in, not having vessels enough to hold it.” All agree that the wine production, considerable as it now is, falls immeasurably below that of former times, and below the present capacity of the country if adequately encouraged. Dye-stuffs, both for the primary and the intermediate colors, must be found here if we may judge from the many-hued textiles constantly seen, retaining their brilliancy until quite worn out. The Tyrian dyes are among the undiscoverable secrets of antiquity. Probably then as now technical skill had something to do in attaining the gorgeous results.
The manufactures of Turkey, which once were numerous and very rich, are now few. The theory that to sell to others we must buy from them, and the practice of buying in the cheapest market, here find ample illustration. Instead of spinning their cotton into yarn upon the distaff, as formerly, they ship their cotton to England, and receive yarn and inferior cloth in return. In 1873, the latest report at hand, they exported to Great Britain, of cotton, £200,884; they imported from Great Britain, of cottons and cotton yarns, £5,828,869. The woolen industry is diminished in equal ratio and from similar causes. The fleeces of Angora, once wrought by the native women into garments of comfort, grace, and beauty, are now shipped to England, and the traditionary skill has declined. The exports thither amounted in 1873 to £752,621. The old fabrics, half worn, but still retaining their delicate colors and displaying their elegant forms, are sold in the bazaars to strangers as precious relics of a departed antiquity. Mr. Gueschoff, United States consular agent at Philippopolis, says: “Forty years ago the manufacture of the coarse woolen cloths called abbas, and of the woolen braid called Ghaitan, as well as the production of ready-made clothes, had attained an importance which marked out this district as one of the most industrial provinces of European Turkey. Since the Crimean war, however, the spurious refinement which has produced a change in costume, and the light duties levied by the Turkish fisc on foreign goods “(8 per cent., payable in cash or in kind), “a policy by which Turkey has sought to win the support of the Western European powers, have gradually diminished the production of these staple articles.”.—(Foreign Relations, 1876, p. 588.)
These remarks apply with equal force to the manufactures of silk and of iron and steel. Texier, an accurate French writer, has described the silk manufactures of Broossa, keeping busy the households of that ancient capital, magnificent brocades rich with flowers of silver and gold, for the exclusive use of the harems of Constantinople; stuffs for dresses and for furniture, washing like linen and more durable than woolen; and gauzes filmy, nebulous, and almost as impalpable as gossamer. These goods were never seen in France, because excluded by prohibitive duties, and of course were unknown in the realm of fashion, of which the center and mistress has long been the French capital. Damascus gave her name to a well-known style of silk fabrics. She also enjoys an ancient fame for the temper and finish of her blades, unsurpassed and unrivaled except perhaps in Spain. Specimens of that renowned cutlery which have outlasted both hilt and scabbard command this day astonishing prices. Of these decaying and nearly forgotten industries there are remnants that would prove interesting and profitable to our [Page 143] countrymen. The various silk fabrics from Broossa and Damascus, silk lace rare and very costly from Smyrna, towels and bathing-costumes of cotton plush; woven also in Broossa, of which English imitations are sometimes found in our markets under the name of Turkish towels, and, above all, carpets, a commodity deserving mention. No product of native skill, taste, and industry combined is found in such abundance and variety. Two styles prevail, the Persian and the Turkish. The commerce from the East is enriched with carpets and rugs, each peculiar and different from all the others in size, pattern, and quality, made in Daghostan, in Turkistan, in Khorassan, in Teheran, in Bokhara, generically similar but specifically unlike. Carpets and carpeting are made both in European and Asiatic Turkey. The best—those usually found in the imperial palaces and in the houses of the rich—are brought from Smyrna, and are known commercially as Smyrna carpets. They are not produced there, however, but at Oshak, some distance in the interior, where this beautiful industry which gave celebrity to ancient Phrygia has been preserved to this day, owing to the abundance of wool and dye-stuffs. They are the work of Greek women upon the simplest contrivances, but with the matchless ingenuity and taste that seem to be natural attributes of that race. The shawls and embroideries must not be overlooked. Of the methods by which this trade may be fostered two seem the most important.
- First. The establishment, by our merchants, of business agencies, to be filled by intelligent and trustworthy American young men. Experience has demonstrated that the natives cannot be depended upon, either as agents or as partners. They know nothing of our country and its wants; and their habits of business are so totally unlike ours as to unfit them for the correspondence of our merchants, though sometimes very successful both at home and abroad. What I mean to say is, they are not qualified for the special service indicated, nor would any European be, for a similar reason. Such agencies would be quick to discover any articles adapted to American wants and tastes, and especially what American products would suit the wants and tastes of this people. Our countrymen sometimes fall into the mistake of sending abroad novelties and what are valued at home as improvements, instead of conforming to the requirements of the people with whom they would establish trade. This mistake is especially serious in a conservative unprogressive country like this, where there has been, apparently, but little change in the popular life since the epochs of Moses and Hesiod. Texier, whom I have already cited, says the chamber of commerce of the city of Lyons wondered for a long time why so few of their fabrics could be sold in the East. At length the French manufacturers adopted oriental designs for their cottons and their silks, and their trade became considerable. This is a point which cannot be easily overstated. These agencies I have indicated would, I am persuaded, prove an excellent school for the American merchant.
- Second. The establishment of direct communication by American steamers between this city and the United States. The frequency of the trips, the intermediate stoppages and other details, would require careful consideration. Immediate profit could not be expected; an unfavorable balance would be more likely, at least for a time. Such an enterprise would be proper only when supported by capital which could afford to wait for its return until a business should grow. This would eventually happen beyond a doubt, and in addition to remunerating the outlay would secure to our countrymen the indirect advantage of a profitable commerce. The example of England in this respect is worthy of [Page 144] imitation. Her steamers go not only where trade is established, but where it is deemed practicable to establish it; they run, too, in her own exclusive interest, and no other nation need expect to profit by them. No matter how many ships we may build or own, until our merchants are prepared to sail them with an eye to ultimate results, as well as to current receipts, we cannot expect to rival the commercial fleets of that enterprising, untiring, and far-sighted power.
I have, &c.,