Evening star., 1902-01-28
PERSIAN WOMEN'SCOURAGG
BECOME RULERS OF THE HAREN
WHEN THEY ARE AROUSED.
No Trampling On Their Rfehts-How
They Forced the Shah to Cam
eel n Concession.
London Letter in New York Sun.

London Letter In New York Sun.
The life of veiIed seciusion led by Per-
sian women of the upper classes would
hardly be thought calculated to foster In
them a spirit of Independence so strong
and courageous that on occasion rulers
and governors must bow before them In
matters political economic and social. Yet
Mr.. wilfrid Sparroy. writing with knowi-
edge of things Persian. declares that such
is often the case. 'ff you encroach on
their sovereign rights as mothers or sisters
or wives" Three examples which he gives
will serve O. Illustrate the point.
A provincial governor makes corner In
wheat and barley. forbldding his subjects
to import grain from any market whatso-
ever outside his jurisdiction. Their daily
bread goes up to famine price in no time,
and the women. seeing their children In
the danger OF starvation. rise up In arms at
once. They jump into their trousers, they
slip on their wells, they make raid on the
gates: the gates are flung open and the
women rush in. They take the dlvan knane
by storm: they shrek, they wall. they
threaten. they plead. they defy. they swear
cheap bread to live on, and in nlnety-nise
cases out of a hundred they win the DAY.
The strongest governor. IL the womenfoik
make common cause against his oppres-
sion, must mend hisways.
The Tobacco Concession.
Again. it sometimes happens that the in
nate sense of justice in women expresses
itself In the opposition they make to any
inquisitorial interference on the part OF
licensed concessionaries with the habits and
practices of their daily hfe-an opposition
which clashed on one occasion with the
success OF a British enterprise, as Naslrn'd
Din Shah. the ablest Persian sovereign OF
81 ,,sr,a 1aor nod In Ms
from the disturbances arising out OF the
tobacco concession in 1891. In the autumn
of the preceding year complete monopoly
of the purchase, sale and manufacture or
shah and an English company, entitled the
Imperial Tobacco Corporation Of Persia,
was formed to work it.
The concession was to hold good for Pc
riod of fifty years. So wholesale barter
ing of staple product, regarded in Persia
as a necessary of life. excited the nercest
opposition among the people, who took fur
ther alarm at the company exercising the
right of search in too reckless a fashion
The suggestion that the privacy of their
homes was in danger of being violated by
the unclean Firangi suftlced to kindle the
vitality of the race, and the whole coun-
try, headed by the woman and the priests
went on strike.
Antf-Smoke Crusade.
Mira Hassan. the high priest of the sa-
cred city of Kerbela declared tobacco to be
unlawful of the true follower of the
Prophet, and every man. woman and child
was forbidden to smoke sell IL. The
priestly prohibition was obeyed; the wo-
men, ever to the fore in upholding the
rights Of the people to develop the resources
of the country themselves, refused to allow
their husbands TO smoke in the harems;
raids were made on suspected tea shops by
vigilance men. who smashed every water
pipe they could lay their hands on: minis
ters of the crown were coerced by their
wives to forswear the soothing weed; men
and women took their walks abroad wear
ing the sullen and irritable look habitual to
smokers who give up the habit too sud-
denly.
Even the shah himself had no other
choice than to smoke on the sly like a
schoolboy, so overruling was the whim of
the ladies of the haremi The result OF the
strike. probably the most remarkable and
certainly the most representative on record,
was that the shah. in January, 1892 weary
of governing a nation of non-smokers
yielded to the popular demonstration by
canceiing the entire concession, promising
pecuniary compensation for the rupture OF
contracts-a promise which was faithfully
fulfilled. Then the gurgling OF the hubble
bubble was heard once more in the land and
the national face took on its wonted ex-
preston of oriental serenity. The honors
of this victory belong to the gentler sex
for the priests could have achieved next 20
nothing without their whole-hearted Coop
Grafton.