QUOTE : undertaking however he could. But when approached by Yale in the late spring of 1916 for his help with the next round of concession-buying, Ismail Bey balked. In the Arab way of doing business, one’s word was inviolate. Ismail Bey had now seen enough of the American way to know that Yale’s assurances of compensation were quite meaningless; what he needed was a written contract. Confronted by this request, Yale explained that as a mere purchasing agent for Socony, he hadn’t the authority to pen such a guarantee, but that if Ismail Bey “wished to know my personal opinion, it was that he had better have confidence in the Company.” That wasn’t good enough for Ismail Bey;