that the great majority of the unskilled laborers were Italians.[26]
Ultra-patriotic Germans, furthermore, denounced Dr. von Gwinner and his associates for not making the Bagdad Railway an exclusively Teutonic enterprise. A speaker at a Berlin branch of the Pan German League had this to say of the situation: "The Bagdad Railway, which in its origins was entirely German, has, thanks to the criminal negligence of the Deutsche Bank, become almost wholly French. The German schools along the line of the Railway, which were established by von Siemens, have fallen into decay. The officials of the Railway speak French. The ordinary language for transacting the business of the Railway is French, although the French share of the capital is only thirty per cent. The German engineers may as well be called home to-day as to-morrow."[27]
Nevertheless, the rapid expansion of German financial interests in the Near East and the established policy of the German banks to encourage and assist export trade were factors in a remarkable development of German trade in the Ottoman Empire, as will be indicated by the following table:[28]
Exports from Imports to
Turkey to Turkey from
Year Germany—Marks Germany—Marks
1900 30,400,000 34,400,000
1901 30,000,000 37,500,000
1902 36,500,000 43,300,000
1903 37,700,000 50,200,000
1904 43,500,000 75,300,000
1905 51,600,000 71,000,000
1906 55,000,000 68,200,000
1907 55,100,000 81,500,000
1908 47,600,000 64,000,000
1909 57,300,000 78,900,000
1910 67,400,000 104,900,000
1911 70,100,000 112,800,000
