During the last winter there were continued periods of rainy weather, and the amount of rainfall was large. Springs, reservoirs, and cisterns were filled, and everybody was rejoicing in the prospect of a prosperous year. When the spring came, however, the "latter" rains, without which the crops are likely to perish, were cut off, and the grain withered before it was half developed. The inevitable consequences followed-a poor crop, high prices for wheat, and suffering among the poorer classes of the population. In the lengthy report upon the climate of Palestine which I made to the Department in my dispatch No. 26 of the present year (1883) I devoted one section to showing the price of wheat as connected with the amount of the rainfall year by year for a period of twenty-two years. This, it seemed to me, might prove, from a commercial point of view, of general interest. WAR AND THE CHOLERA. Two other circumstances have largely interfered with the business and prosperity of the country for two years past, namely, the war in Egypt last year and the cholera in that country during the present year. Palestine is so closely connected with Egypt that whatever affects the latter country affects also Palestine. The natural connection of the business and commerce as well as of most of the other interests of this country is with Egypt, and not with Constantinople or Turkey. QUARANTINE AND STAGNATION IN BUSINESS. So far as business is concerned, the cholera and quarantine have proved far more injurious than the war. People here were almost panic-stricken. They dreaded the approach of the cholera, but, unlike the inhabitants of Beirut, they had no mountains, with a healthy climate, near them, to which they could flee for refuge. A severe and exacting quarantine in the East means stagnation in all kinds of business; consequensly there have been, during the summer at least, no imports or exports, and no travel. Multitudes of people have been out of employment, incomes have been reduced, and the cost of living has been greatly increased. That an Oriental and consequently half barbarian style of regulating a quarantine can practically isolate Palestine from the rest of the world may be learned from the fact that letters from Paris, London, and Berlin have been forty-four full days in reaching Jerusalem, when the time ordinarily required is eight or ten days. Notwithstanding the near approach of cholera, the health of Palestine has been in general good; certainly there has not been, nor is there at present, any disease which should deter travelers from coming here, or which need interfere with the natural course of business. PARTIAL FAILURE OF THE WHEAT CROP. In regard to the failure of the "latter" rains, not all portions of the country suffered equally. On the great plains, which are depended upon for the main supply of wheat, the crop was bad. In the mountains the damage done was less severe. As soon as it was known certainly that the wheat crop was to be short, the price rose rapidly, and there began at once to be suffering among the poorer classes. When the new crop began to come in, it was immediately bought up and held by the "middle-men," who are one of the curses of this country, and the sufferings of the poorer classes were only aggra vated thereby. The quarantine, which has caused so much injury to the country in general, has, by preventing all exports, been indirectly of service by keeping in the country itself whatever wheat was raised. The wheat crop is estimated as being 40 per cent. less than that of last year, while the barley crop, as compared with that of last year, is about one-third of the amount. The duna crop, the kind of maize that is raised here, has been good, which is not always the case when the "latter" rains are abundant. One effect of the high price of barley, for instance, is that animals are unusually cheap. With the price of barley one-third to one-half above the ordinary rates, a donkey or a horse will soon "eat itself up," and those who own them are glad at such times to dispose of them for merely a nominal sum. PUBLIC REVENUE AND IMPROVEMENTS. The income for the district of Palestine for the last fiscal year was 90,000 Turkish liras, or 10,000 less than the amount reported last year. This is chiefly due to the partial failure of the wheat crop. The income from the Jaffa road for the past year was 1,450 Turkish liras, this being 300 liras less than the year previous, which is explained by the fact that the quarantine has for so many months stopped almost entirely the business of exporting and importing, and all travel, and this of course checks the traffic upon the road. The road itself is in a worse condition than it was a year ago, although some feeble efforts have been made during the summer to repair it. Just now there is, on the part of the Government, a spasm of enthusiasm in regard to it, and 800 fellaheen and 1,000 camels have been impressed to put it into better condition. But about road-making the fellaheen are as ignorant as the camels, nor have the officials in charge of the laborers any but the rudest conception of what a road should be or how one should be made; consequently little is expected from this apparently mighty effort. haps it should be stated that all labor upon this road, except that of the officials, is forced labor. BUILDING IN JERUSALEM. The following table will show what has been done in the way of repairs and new buildings during the past year. It will be understood that whatever is done under the head of "repairs" and "additions" requires a permit from the Government no less than new houses. The Government tax is from 1 to 20 mejedies (a mejedie is 91 cents in American money), according to the size of the new house or the amount of work that must be done upon an old one. The tax is higher than it has been in previous years, and this fact, together with the scarcity of money and the stagnation in all kinds of business, has made the building operations in the city somewhat more limited than they were last year. Permits within the city walls: Repairs, 20; additions, 22; new houses, 8. Permits outside the city walls: Repairs, 30; additions, 22; new houses, 21. New houses, 29; additions, 44; repairs, 50; total, 123. CROWDED HOUSES AND THE INFLUX OF JEWS. Jerusalem is one of the most crowded cities of the East. There is not room enough to give one-half the population a decent place to live in. Multitudes of the inhabitants live in hived houses, or, more properly, dens, where it is impossible to have suitable ventilation, to say nothing of proper means for cleanliness. This crowding is most marked in the Jewish quarter, where it is not uncommon to find four to a dozen persons in one small room, with their cooking utensils and bedding piled in the corners or scattered upon the floor. It is characteristic of the Jews, in Jerusalem at least, that they do not care to have this wretched style of life changed. The number of Jewish immigrants during the past year, as officially reported, was 4,000. The actual number that arrived in Palestine is probably considerably larger, as very many land at Beirut or some other Syrian port and make their way hither overland. These are not reported to the Government. These immigrants settle, as usual, chiefly at Jerusalem, while some of them remain at Jaffa and others go to Gaza or Hebron. Certain societies are making efforts to colonize, especially the Russian immigrants, or "refugees" as they are called, and a large tract of land situated between here and Jaffa is about being purchased, on which the managers of the proposed colony are soon to commence operations. What is sought to be done will, however, be very difficult of accomplishment, since the Government is opposed to the influx of Jews, and to Jewish colonies in particular. SCARCITY OF MONEY AND RUINOUS INTEREST. With short crops, increased cost of living, and high rents, the rate of interest on loans is also high, with very poor security. Good security is very difficult to obtain. Money is scarce, and there is no public confidence in the stability of affairs in general. There have been some failures during the past year, so that natives, the Moslems especially, who have any money prefer to hide it in their houses to loaning it to bankers or elsewhere on any terms. Good security means 6 per cent. annual interest. Very few wish to loan money at that rate, the most preferring to hoard it if they cannot get 10 or 12 per cent. For short loans 2 per cent. a month is demanded, and not unfrequently, when the time is for a few days only, the loaner exacts 0.25 per cent. a day, at which rate $1 American money will draw 90 cents a year. OPPORTUNITIES FOR INVESTMENT. When I say that there are no good opportunities for investing capital it is only another way of saying that no one should come here with the design of establishing a business of any kind. It is not the poverty of the country or its limited resources that lead me to make this statement, for the natural wealth of Syria and Palestine is great, and the careful observer sees on every hand ways in which capital might be most profitably invested; but, governed as it is, there is absolutely no encouragement to those who would institute reforms, undertake internal improvements, or organize measures for the development of the natural resources of the country. There are extensive deposits of coal, iron, copper, sulphur, bitumen, and salt, and probably of petroleum also, which, if properly worked, would yield the most gratifying results; but the Government does not wish foreign capitalists to enter the country for this purpose, nor does it wish to sell its land to aliens. No commercial or business enterprise of any kind is favored by the Government; consequently individual effort is useless, no matter how great the skill which may direct it or the capital which it can command in its support. While one cannot invest money in land, mining, or manufactures of any kind, something might still be done in a small way in private mercantile business. One ought not to think, however, of establishing stores here for the purpose of supplying the Europeans of the country with European goods. A fair amount of trade is already done in this way, and the only chance for success would be by underselling and crowding out somebody who now occupies the ground. Instead of this, efforts should be made to secure the traffic of the fellaheen or peasants of the country and of the wild Bedouin of the desert. This traffic is large, and there is no special reason why a share of it at least should not be in the hands of Americans. MIDDLE-MEN AND MONEY-LENDERS. "cash These people do now what, in a certain sense, may be called a business," but it is done in such a way as to make them poorer every year. The peasants receive cash for their produce and pay cash for what they purchase. If this statement covered the whole business there could be no objection to it. But the fellaheen are deeply in debt, and they have to borrow money at a ruinous rate of interest in order to pay cash for what they buy. They must have animals, utensils, seed, and clothing, and in order to obtain these they go to the moneylender, borrow money, paying at least 12 per cent., and secure him on their stock, and especially upon their incoming or prospective crops. With the money thus obtained they buy what they need until their crops are ready for the market. If the crop, whatever it may be, is short, they cannot meet their liabilities, and the money-lender then acts the part of a merciless tyrant. Another way in which the fellaheen suffer is by not receiving a fair price for the produce which they bring to market. For instance, a man comes to market with a camel load of charcoal. Outside the gates a "middle-man" accosts, or rather pounces upon, him, seizes his camel, at first dickers with him, but very soon begins to browbeat the poor fellow until he takes for his load whatever the middle-man chooses to give him. He pays the peasant, we will say, $1.50 for the load, and a few minutes later, within the city walls, he has sold the same load for $2.50. There are no laws against this kind of robbery, and public sentiment allows it. The money-lenders and the middle-men ought to be dispensed with in some way, and the peasant and Bedouin ought to deal directly with the men who can furnish them with whatever goods or supplies they need. By a system of barter-trade they would receive a fair price for their produce, and pay no more for their supplies, perhaps not so much, as they do at present. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Jerusalem, October 18, 1883. SELAH MERRILL, Consul. |