Note 7 — Chapter IV · THE SULTAN MORTGAGES HIS EMPIRE

The proposals previously made called for an absolute guarantee of several thousands of francs income per kilometre per annum. Mr. Rechnitzer’s plan called for “an annual guarantee of 15,000 francs in gross receipts per kilometre, the said guarantee to be paid exclusively out of the excess of the tithes of the vilayets through which the railway is to pass; it being understood that in the event that the excess of such tithes be not sufficient to defray the kilometric guarantee, the concessionaire shall have no redress against the Imperial Government on account of the insufficiency.” Memorandum of May 14, 1899, from Mr. Rechnitzer’s files. Although this plan had the great advantage of requiring no immediate payments from the Ottoman Treasury, it probably would have cost Turkey more in the long run, for the guarantee specified was excessively high. Compare with provisions of the Bagdad Railway concession of March, 1903, infra. Mr. Rechnitzer also asked for extensive port privileges in Alexandretta and in the port to be determined on the Persian Gulf. The chief features of the plan were outlined in a pamphlet published in London, July 29, 1899, entitled The Euphrates Valley Railway.