In 1871 the Turkish government issued a decree that all cultivators of
the ground should pay to the authorities a sum of money equal to the
price of one kilo of wheat and one of barley for every pair of oxen in
their possession, in order to create a capital for the new bank. The
number of oxen would represent the scale of every holding, as they would
exhibit the proportion of ploughs required upon the farm, and thus yield
an approximate estimate of the area.
This arbitrary call upon the resources of the impoverished farmers was
an eccentric financial operation in the ostensible cause of assistance,
but it produced a capital of 169,028 piastres. The rate of interest upon
loans to individuals, or for particular districts, for the purpose of
destroying locusts was 8 per cent. previous to the year 1875, and was
increased to 12 per cent. since that period. Receipts for all sums
borrowed for the public benefit of locust destruction were signed by the
head-men and members of councils of villages.
At first sight the establishment of an agricultural bank sounded
propitious as a step in the right direction, but, according to the
conditions of all loans, it became usurious, and saddled the unfortunate
farmers after a few bad seasons with debts that could never be paid off.
If X borrowed 1000 pounds, he received only 880 pounds, as the year's
interest was deducted in advance, but he was afterwards charged compound
interest at 12 per cent.
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