The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-08-24
HONESTY IN PERSIA.
A LAND WHERE THE OFFICES ARE
EARNED OUT.

The Entire Persian Government Honey.
combed with Corruption-The Poor the
Only Taxpayers Condition of the
Lower Glasses Might BE Worse.
Honesty there isn't much of in Persia.
Political services are always paid for-office
on delivery. Here is, for instance, the son
Oh the present moursheer. ed dowieh, boy
oil L. not quite five feet high His father
had done the shah little service some time
ago, and SO the young fellow got a job as
governor Of Ghaserin, an important and
fertile province. He didn't rule any worse
than his predecessors-that' true Is "a
general thing the offices are all farmed out,
SO much cash down and so much every year
as long as the office holds good, which is not
long. For the right divine TO misgovern
some OF the more important provinces enor-
nous SUMS are paid. Thus, the lilies Sultan
pays his royal papa annually matter of
Jhl,O0l tomans, and the other prince at
lahree1 pays 20,od0. The governor of
khorasSan, although bossing it over a
thinly peopied and sadly impoverished
country Exposed to continual inroads of the
Turcoinansl, yet has to find the wherewithal
to replenish the Golfers of his master every
year TO the tune of 1000 tomans 1850, 600,
and so it goes on in proportion in all the
other offices down to the very solutions who
rave to bride their superiors to be allowed
to stay another term
Everything goes by bribery, corruption,
and stealing here, either direct or indirect
The whole country, from the complicated
government machinery down TO the smallest
business, is SO honey eombed with this thing
that doubt il a thorough reform could
ever be accomplished here in this slow going,
conservative country, even if some shah or
a succession of shahs should attempt it The
present shah is, for instance, fully aware Of
this dreary state of things, as numbers of
his sayings prove, but he has never tried to
remedy it Thus be gives the latest jobs
within his gift always to his favorites.
Every Noon-Rou New Years, about March
u, he sends out q number of them, who
have to bear the khalats Crobes of honor to
tho big ofiicehoIders in the provinces This
is sign that they will be allowed TO hang
on to their offices at least one year longer.
The messenger bearing this mystic gift trav-
els with almost royal pomp, and a large
retinue of servants, horses, mules, camels,
etc. All this splendor and the gigantic
bride paid the messenger to report to the
shah that the province is in apple pie order,
and that all the inhabitants thereof are as
happy as the day is long, has to come out
OF the governor or officer, and indirectly, of
course, out Of the poor taxpayer, and when
| say poor taxpayer" | moan poor tax
payer" for here the only taxpayers are the
poor-the artisans, the peasants, the small
tradespeople
NOT POOR MANS PARADISE.
The rich don't pay any taxes whatever
That Is why great many rich folks here,
with whom the fear of being despoiled is
greater than their love of display and that
is one of the leading traits of the Persian
the love of display live in mud novels, go
about on the back of lame donkeys, and
wear shabby clothes. As soon as a peasant.
for instance, has had plentiful crop
presto! the thumb-screw is applied to him,
and he is made to pay twice his usual taxes
REDRESS, there is none A refractory tax
payer is simply bastinadoed till he gives ill.,
II is astonishing that there is any people
left here at all to raise taxes from But
century after century of this misgovern-
ment and oppression has accustomed them
~ AZ ~ thut lASI uOu hlOM IT,
and think 1t is as it ought to be- Nowhere
else in the world, do believe, are the peo-
Ile such thorough believers in the old saw
" hatever Is, is righti' Besides, they can't
help themselves They are intensely Ignor-
ant, and have but the filmiest and most
absurd ideas of other countries. They dom
know but what Persia is really the poor
mans paradise" as l once saw Persia called
n 81 hook 10 H..
they cant-there is law against it, and
the government prevents it Even the poor
GuebreS, tortured and oppressed beyond en-
DURANGO, had to emigrate TO India on the
sly, and those caught were punished cruelty
In spite of all this, the poor here, as far
as the actual necessities of life are con
cerned, are really better OIL than in some
other countrleS-as in the south Of Italy, for
Instance, or even the west of Ireland They
have enough TO eat and drink, and the
shelter they have is ample three fourths of
the year. The soil, when cultivated, is usu.
ally extremely rich, the climate not Iisor.
Gus, and the clothes they wear and food
they eat can be supplied for neat to moth
ing Their wants are not those of civilized
beings, but of poor, down trodden slaves
who have been under the heel of the con
queror for thousands OF years, Who Knows
but what 1t comes III appropriately re 10
say, Where ignorance is bliss Lwere folly to
he wise: At least, | must say that 1t Is
but very seldom that one meets a Persian-
no matter how humble, even the he-gar by
ths road siie-who wears the de ,cctsl, des-
olate, miserable air one may see so often de
picted on the faces of the toiling masses of
England, France, Germany or Italy. 1t
seems the gayety of heart, the elasticity of
lhnd We find in Hatiz, a Saadi, have not
wholly faded out Of the national character
Vol Won SChierbrand's Teheran Letter