Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1877 — Distress in Constantinople. [ARTICLE]

Distress in Constantinople.

The Cologne Gazette publishes extracts from the diary of a woman in Constantinople relating to affairs in that city. It is scarcely possible, she says, to conceive the distress that prevails among the Mohammedan population or the patriotism with which it is borne. All the able-bodied men are sent away to serve as soldiers without pay, and their wives have to support themselves and their families on 2 piasters a day, which is the current rate of women’s wages, while the price of bread is now four piasters

for three pounds. Many families used to live on the dividends of Turkish stock. These families are entirely ruined, and others, though not absolutely destitute, have suffered immense losses. There are iu Constantinople 25,000 officials, mo6t of them with families, and they have not received any pay since the beginning of the war, not even in paper money, on winch there is a loss of 80 per cent.