;
_ I
“Turco” Shop in Caracas.
FEW PEOPLE associate the idea
of Arabs, Moors or Turks with
the picturesque cities of the
Spanish main, yet there is a
flourishing colony of these orientals
in Venezuela, hailing from northern
Africa and Asia Minor. They main
tain among their foreign surroundings
all the customs of their brethren in the
Old World except that of plural mar
riage, on which institution the Vene
zuelan government has put its foot.
“It is a strange thing to walk along
one of the main business streets, say,
of Caracas, essentially Spanish in
every respect,” says a writer in the
New York Times, as quoted in the Lit
erary Digest, “and suddenly see along
side Spanish names of merchants
strange Oriental inscriptions, such as
Abu Amad, Ben Sid, Chalala, Benatar.
One might easily imagine one’s self in
the bazaars of Tangier or Damascus.”
They are an interesting lot, these
“Turcos,” as the Venezuelans call
them, irrespective of whether they
came from Turkish territory or not.
They will not work under a “boss,”
and so all of them are in business for
themselves, mostly as peddlers or
small shopkeepers; and all of them
make money hand over fist. Not only
do they take In the coin, but they also
save it, and it is no uncommon thing
for an humble peddler to come into a
bank, plank down $20,000 in gold and
ask for a receipt and a check book.
They don’t like banks and therefore
keep their money at home until the
amount becomes so large that they
fear for its safety. And they will, un
der no circumstances, "mix” with the
native population.
I t. . _ VI. • _ I * a. ,
» * * v»i uvcfc f+fjari.
These Arabs and Modrs and Turks
live a life entirely apart from the
Venezuelan community. Whereas, if a
Venezuelan has half a million dollars,
he is known all over the country and
pointed out as one of the leading men
in the community, a “Turco” in Cara
cas, the Venezuelan capital, may have
that amount, or nearly as much, and
live so entirely to himself that scarce
ly anybody in the city can even tell
you where he dwells. There are “Tur
cos” with big accounts in the leading
banks of Caracas who are still living
In the wretched hovels they occupied
when they first reached Venezuela,
with ten or fifteen of their race packed
into the same house, several in a
room. And when they return to north
ern Africa or Asia Minor they often go
back as they came, in the steerage,
crowded in with hundreds of other
passengers, though the purser of the
^steamer may have locked up for safe
keeping thousands of their dollars
which they have earned by years of
hard work in Venezuela.
The “Turcos” never accept a job.
They want to be their own bosses first,
last and all the time. They began by
going to some old-established firm in
Venezuela, asking a credit of $5 to $10,
and taking out a basket of trinkets and
-dry goods to sell from house to house
in the capital or some of the lesser
v©|4jes and towns. They start out
shortly after dawn and work until
dark. Their cry of “Compre, mer
chante” (“Buy, customer”), in a
Strange, Oriental singsong, is well
known all over Venezuela.
Prosper and Grow Rich.
Gradually, as they prosper—and they
almost Invariably do—they get more
credit from the big firms and eventu
ally open a little shop, a mere “hole
in-the-wall,” where there is scarcely
room for a person to turn around.
They put in a stock of dry goods,
trinkets, novelties and the like, or per
haps the lighter kind of hardware.
Then they get rich. Their money mul
tiplies In ways that strike the Vene
guelans, who are inclined to take life
easy, as miraculous.
The quitting whistle means nothing
to a “Turco.” He will start a little rat
hole of a shop near the market place
in Caracas, for instance, and open up
at dawn In order to catch the sellers
Of vegetables and fruits, who come
Into the market from the villages
y
round about, and the sellers of fish
who cross the mountains from the sea
coast in the small hours and reach
Caracas at sunrise. He will remain
open long after the shops of the
Venezuelans are closed and their pro
prietors thinking of theaters and din
ner parties.
As a general rule, when a “Turco”
has accumulated a sufficient amount of
money, he will close up shop, pack up
his belongings and return to his native
land, where the means acquired" in the
western world enable him to live in
“grand style,” according to the stand
ards prevailing in the home town.
Once in a while, however, one of the
little shopkeepers will decide to re
main in South America and “branch
out.” As a result some of the most
important shops in Venezuela are
owned by “Turcos.” Further:
The “Turcos” who run these big
shops naturally need employees to help
them, but the employees are never
“Turcos,” for, as I said, these people
insist on being their own bosses. So -
the strange anomaly is presented of -
these keen competitors of the Venezue
lan merchants being served by Vene
zuelan employees. Customers entering
several of the principal dry goods
shops of Caracas will find behind the
counter a young Venezuelan clerk, w^o
will obligingly hand down goods from
the shelves, while, tucked away in a
dark cubby-hole, barely visible from
the front of the shop, is a swarthy
“Turco” proprietor bent over his
ledger, trying to figure out how soon
he can return to Mount Lebanon and
cut a swath among home-folk.
Observe Mohammedan Forms.
“Turcos” are born traders and shun “
other forms of business. Their idea "
of a line of endeavor worth-while is p
one where they have to take no
chances; hence they never speculate,
not even so much as to extend credit
to their customers, practically all their
transactions being conducted on a
cash basis. And they refuse to change
their oriental ways, it seems.
When they close their shops they
hurry to the quarters where they live
—In Caracas they are packed togeth
er in one of the worst sections of the
city—and take up a mode of living
which is not a bit different from that
of their kin along the eastern shore of
the Mediterranean. At sunset the Mo- ^
hammedans among them prostrate _
themselves toward Mecca and recite r
the prayers enjoined upon them by
the prophet; Old Moors, oriental to
the finger tips, in spite of their occi
dental garb, sit at the doors of Span
ish-American hovels and chatter in
Arabic, quite as if they were in Fez
or Algiers. Now and then a feud,
started at home before they emigrated,
bursts out in the Arabic purlieus of
some Venezuelan city, and then news
paper readers running over the police
news see a wonderful collection of
names, Abu this and Mohammed that,
all run in for disturbing the peace.
Once one of these feuds took on the
proportions of a regular Tong wrar of
New York’s Chinatown, and resulted
in half a dozen murders before the
passions aroused in northern Africa
could be calmed down in Venezuela.
There have been some amusing in
cidents connected with the rise of the
“Turcos” in Venezuela. For one thing,
they throw dignity to the winds and,
there, too, they get under the skins of
the Venezuelans, who, like everybody
of the Spanish race, are nothing if not
dignified. While the native merchant,
however humble, will stay inside his
shop and wait upon his customers with
grave courtesy, the “Turco,” as like as
not, will stand at the door and urge
passers-by with an engaging smile to
enter and look o^er his wares.
Heart Must Ever Be Right.
As the virtue of <a strong spirituous
liquor evaporates by degrees in a vial
which is not closely stopped, in like
manner the life and power of the spirit -
insensibly vanish away, If the heart «
be not kept with all diligence.—Bo
gatzkys. .. . ;
* THE DIGNIFIED WAY I
i e=
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DEALER IN
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«
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