Chapter 58: Foreign Suppliers

Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Foreign Suppliers

I

Constantinople, Galata — 15 March 1915

Zeynep laid a new sheet across the long table of the Financial Office and asked Elias to read the column on the left.

The column listed every foreign house that supplied the House of Hassan, with the country, the goods, and the share of each grade of stock that came from its warehouse.

"Pichler and Sons of Vienna supply fifty-eight parts in a hundred of the fine paper," said Elias. "Keller and Son of Winterthur supply all of the steel for the lathe and the testing machine, and the Berlin firm supplies nothing at all."

"That last figure is the only one I like," said Zeynep. "A supplier who holds more than two parts in five of any grade is a supplier who can set the price in a month when the roads are closed."

"You wish to cut Pichler?"

"I wish to hold a second source ready for every grade, and to name it in the contract before the first order is signed." She drew a line beneath the column. "I do not blame Pichler for his place on the sheet, but the sheet should not give any man so much."

Ayaan, who had come in from the yard, read the figures and found them exact.

"What is the reason that a clerk may check?" he asked.

"The Vienna route was closed for eleven weeks last winter, and the House paid for it in the price of stock," she said. "That is a figure on the Friday sheets, and it may be read by any man in the Compact."

II

Constantinople, Galata — 29 March 1915

Herr Adler, the agent of Pichler and Sons, came to the office after a journey of nineteen days by the Bulgarian rails.

He was a thin man in a travelling coat that had been brushed with great care, and he laid his papers upon the table before he sat.

"My principals ask me to tell you that the price of fine paper will rise by eighteen parts in a hundred," he said. "They also ask that payment be made in gold, for the crown is no longer what it was."

"The House has forward contracts for crowns through the Ottoman Bank until September," said Zeynep. "I will pay in crowns at the agreed rate, and I will pay ten days before the term if the paper is tested at the mill gate by a man whom we both trust."

Herr Adler considered the offer and wrote a figure in his notebook.

"Eighteen is too much for a friend, madame, and I shall say so to Vienna," he said. "Twelve parts in a hundred is a price I can defend, if the House will take fifteen hundred reams more than it ordered."

"Twelve in a hundred and fifteen hundred reams, on the condition that the House may also buy fine paper from the ?zmit mill for the same grade," said Zeynep. "I will not ask Pichler to give up a customer, and I will not give up a second road."

Herr Adler looked at the sheet that she turned toward him and smiled for the first time.

"Few buyers tell me in advance where they intend to trade elsewhere," he said. "I shall carry that to Vienna with a good conscience."

III

Constantinople, Kas?mpa?a — 8 April 1915

Herr Imhof laid a cracked steel plate upon the bench of the foundry office and pointed to the fracture with his pencil.

"The testing machine has worn its lower plate, and Keller cannot ship a new one," he said. "The Austrian rails are held for the army, and the Italian road is uncertain."

"How long can the machine run on the old plate?" asked Ayaan.

"Perhaps ten weeks, Efendi, and then we cannot test a single brass balance for the Ministry." He tapped the drawing that lay beside the plate. "I have the Winterthur drawing, and Mavridis says that the Pera foundry can cast the blank."

Mavridis took the drawing and turned it carefully in his hands.

"I can cast the blank and Herr Imhof can finish it upon the new lathe," he said. "But the steel must be the right grade, or the plate will fail on the first heavy test."

"Then we shall buy the steel from Keller’s own stock in Winterthur and cast nothing from scrap," said Zeynep, who had followed them from the office. "The House pays for the metal in francs from Geneva, and the shape is made here."

Imhof nodded slowly and wrote the order upon a clean card, and he pinned it above his bench where the men could read it.

The steel from Winterthur would reach the foundry in five weeks by the Geneva post, and Mavridis began the wooden pattern the same afternoon.

"A foundry that cannot make its own spare part is only a customer with a chimney," he said.

IV

Constantinople, Galata — 20 April 1915

Herr Brandt called at the office on a bright afternoon, with a leather case and the manner of a man who expected to be received.

Ayaan received him in the front room, with Zeynep at the table and Cevdet in the corner with a book.

"My principals in Berlin are anxious to serve the House," said Herr Brandt. "They can supply aniline inks and brass sheet at a price that no house in Vienna or Winterthur will match."

"Upon what conditions?" asked Zeynep.

"Only that the House buys from Berlin alone in these grades, and that my principals may read the Friday count letters of the sheds, for they wish to plan their deliveries." He opened his hands. "It is a small thing between friends in a war."

Ayaan took a moment to answer, and when he did he spoke slowly.

"The House buys by open tender, Herr Brandt, and it shows its price board to every merchant in the city," he said. "It does not sell its count letters, and it does not buy from one house alone."

"The Ministry of War may take a different view of the House’s independence."

"Then the Ministry may ask me for the figures openly, and I shall give them." Ayaan stood. "Your principals may bid on any lot that we publish, and the best tested bid shall win it."

Herr Brandt closed his case and bowed with a smile that was not warm.

When he had gone, Cevdet turned a page of his book without looking up.

"He will try Vienna next," he said.

"Then we shall write to Vienna tonight," said Zeynep. "I would rather Pichler heard of it from us than from a stranger."

Ayaan agreed, and she drew the letter paper toward her and began to write.

V

Constantinople, Galata — 12 May 1915

A letter from Pichler and Sons arrived by the Bulgarian post and was carried to Zeynep by Mihran before the office had opened.

The letter was written in German by the old master Pichler himself, with a translation beside it in Herr Adler’s hand.

"A Berlin gentleman has visited our counting house," it said, according to the translation. "He asked to see the order book of the House of Hassan, and he offered the full price in gold for it, and we refused."

Zeynep read the translation and carried the letter to Ayaan without a word.

Cevdet was already in the room, and he read it over Ayaan’s shoulder before anyone had asked him.

"The Berlin house tried the Vienna door a week after it tried yours, Efendi, as I said," he said. "I did not expect old Pichler to say no in writing."

"A man who says no in writing wishes to be believed," said Zeynep.

She dictated the reply that same hour, and it contained two instructions.

The first was that the next payment to Pichler should be made twelve days before the term, and the second was that the House would take the full fifteen hundred reams and name Pichler in the Friday notice of the Compact as a house that had kept the order book closed.

Cevdet watched her write and said nothing for a moment.

"I have learned in this city that a man who refuses a bribe in public is rarer than a man who refuses it in private," he said. "Allah grant that the House continues to earn such friends."

VI

Constantinople, Galata — 25 May 1915

Italy had declared war upon Austria two days earlier, and the Italian houses of Galata were calling in their short loans before noon.

Agop Kalfayan climbed the narrow stair at a pace that was not his usual, and he sat down heavily in the chair beside the window.

"Three of the Italian houses have asked the Compact members for their money by Saturday," he said. "Barrault tells me that the Ottoman Bank cannot lend against it this week."

"How many of our members are in debt to them?" asked Zeynep.

"Nine, with eleven hundred liras between them." Agop took out his handkerchief. "They are the same men who sold their paper to the House at the old terms during the moratorium."

Zeynep opened the book of the reserve, and Elias brought the key.

"The Compact fund holds three thousand and six hundred liras, and the draw rule allows twice a member’s deposit," she said. "We shall lend them the money at the Compact’s rate, and the Italian houses may have their coin on Saturday."

"And the third-class members?"

"The table decides it, and I shall not make an exception because a creditor is in a hurry." She turned a page. "Two of the nine are in the third class, and they shall have only half of what they ask, and the other half when their count letters agree."

Agop folded his handkerchief, and he smiled slowly.

"I told you in July that you had made a bank of it, Han?m," he said. "I withdraw nothing."

VII

Constantinople, Kas?mpa?a — 6 June 1915

The new plate stood upon the bench of the testing machine, with the file marks still bright on its lower edge.

Mazhar Bey of the Darülfünun had come from the city with his standard weights, and Herr Imhof had arranged the first load himself.

"Five tons, then ten, and then fifteen, which is five more than the Winterthur plate was ever asked to carry," said Imhof.

The machine hummed, and the pointer rose slowly across the dial.

At five tons, nothing moved, and at ten, the plate did not bend or sing.

At fifteen, Mazhar Bey stooped to read the dial and stood up with a face that was more pleased than he wished to show.

"It holds," he said. "It holds at fifteen, Herr Imhof, and the fracture is no larger than a hair."

Mavridis, who had stood at the back with his cap in his hands, let out a long breath.

"I cast it three times, Efendi, and the third time I knew it was right," he said. "I did not tell the men until the file had touched it."

Ayaan clapped the master of patterns on the shoulder.

"The House has bought its last plate from abroad that it can make at home," he said. "Mavridis will cast four spares, and Winterthur will be told that we are grateful and need nothing."

VIII

Constantinople, Galata — 20 June 1915

On the evening of the twentieth, Zeynep read the Rules for Foreign Suppliers to the partners of the House and laid the sheet before Ayaan for his signature.

The first rule forbade any supplier to hold more than two parts in five of any grade, and the second required every contract to name a second source.

The third required every price to be written in liras or covered forward through the Ottoman Bank, and the fourth required a tested standard at the mill gate.

The fifth was the shortest, and Zeynep had written it in a firmer hand than the others.

No supplier shall see the count letters of any shed, nor the order book of the House, whatever he offers.

"Is there a reason for the fifth that a clerk may check?" asked Ayaan.

"Pichler refused the Berlin house when the price was gold, and that is the reason the House still has Pichler," said Zeynep. "A rule that protects a friend is a rule that protects the House."

Ayaan signed, and Zeynep signed beneath his name, and Cevdet witnessed both signatures with a steady pen.

Later she took the small ledger of the office from the shelf and wrote beneath the entry of the first of March.

The fourth quarter of the office: Pichler kept at twelve parts above the old price. Winterthur plate cast at Kas?mpa?a. Berlin refused. Rules for Foreign Suppliers signed.

She closed the book and placed it on the corner of the table, where the evening light fell across the cover.