Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-04-03
IN ExrREMls.
The Evidence That Persia IL in the Throa,
of National Death Agony.

Tho Evidence That Persia IL in the Thro.,
of National Death Agony.
'.By the fruits thereof shall ye judge
of the tree" And what fruits can.
such a tree bear save fruits of ruin and
of death? Let any one with eyes to see
and ears to hear traverse Persia from
end to end, and then point out, if he
can, any single good result due to the
initiative of her present rulers, any
single enterprise undertaken by them
for the benefit of the community, any
single measure adopted by them to re-
lieve distress, to arrest decay, to stimu-
late the la%nguishing vitality of the.
country. There is a Ministry of Pub,
lie Works at Teheran, but, except a few
badly built and badly kept up roads in
the vicinity of the capital, designed
solely for the convenience of the Court.
except a few gas lamps and electric
lights set up around the Shah's palace
for his Majesty's amusement, there
are no public works. The few stone
bridges and handsome caravanserais
on the chief highways, even the
mosques and palaces which attract kthes
travellers eye at Ispahan and else-
where, are almost without exception
the neglected relics of long-forgotten
prosperity, legacies from the time of
Shah Abbas, whose name, after two
centuries, is still a household word
throughout the country. Still it must
not be supposed that. from a Persian
point of view, this Ministry of Public.
Works is without it's uses. 1t effect
ually blocks every scheme put forward
by foreign governments for the devel-
opment of the country, such as the En-,
glish scheme for opening up the Ka-
room River to steam navigation and the
Russian scheme for constructing a har-;
Dor at Enzeli. while it has the happy
knack of turning inside out the pockets,
of over san guine European capitalists,
who, like Baron Reuter-. can afford to-
pay ESQ, 600 for the preliminaries of a
concession to regenerate Persia. There
is a Ministry of Public Instruction, butI
apart from the Imperial College at .Te-
attend %%ep Special eess sp" desire IS = and Sr5l'i ths:
high school at lspahan. which has ac-,
of precocious immortality, education
is more neglected to-day than it has
ever been in the land which once so.
largely contributed to the wealth of.
Oriental literature. The Minister of
his treasury by debasing the public cur
exchange for 4 aeund sterling has risen
krans to thirty-two, and would have:
o1,.ooAr ,o.ohoJ +h;r.+r CT, ~, %l,;.Ar
seven if it depended solely upon the.
skill, which, assisted by the melting
pot and a little alloy, a convert 4
millionof old krans into a million and a
half OF new ones, has, however, won.
his Excellency golden opinions at the.
palace. While the country teens with
mineral wealth, and coal, copper, iron,
and other valuable ores abound in the
immediate vicinity OF the capital, the,
Ministry of Mines exhausts itself in.
futile searches for gold, which it APP
parently expects to find in the bowels:
of the earth r%eadycoined to the Shah's
effigy. The Minister of War absorbs
nearly sevcn-eighths of the public rev.
enue but although the raw material is
good and the physique of the troops.
SoiCAaAy IllC, dil1lOuSu 1LuSIiSus
French and Austrian military missions,
have been successfully invited to Persia.
to assist in the reorganization of the
army, it is practically worthless. With
the exception Of the Zill-es-Sultan. the,
Prince-Governor of lspahan, who de-
votes a great portion of his time to.
drilling and looking after his troops,
with a view to the scramble for the.
throne which is expected to ensue upon
the shah's death, every officer, from
the Wal Minister downward, regards.
his office or command merely as a.
source of more or less Illicit profits.
With an estimated peace establishment,
OF 100000 men, it is doubtful whether
Persia can really muster 10000 men
under arms. Companies, battalions,
brigades exist only on paper, while
Captains, Colonels and Generals live at.
home in ease, drawing with more or
less regularity rations and allowances
for these visionary legions. Expensive.
war materials are occasionally ordered
from Europe with a view rather to the,
commission which the officials canmake>
Out of the orders than to the real re-
qulrements of the country, and after
being perhaps once submitted to the,
Shah's inspection are consigned to OBJ
llvlonamid the chaos of the military ar
senals. 1 do not think there is vet q.
Ministry of Marine at Tcheran, but
there are two or three Admirals of the
fleet, though neither on the Caspian
nor on the Persian have they one single.
ship on which to hoist their pennants.
-polemtsme CAirol, IN Fortniyhtly Re-
George Probst, an eccentric old
bachelor of Allentown, Pa, who died q.
year ago at the age of e~ighty-four years..
left an estate worth nearly $500, 600.