Los Angeles herald., 1905-09-21
PERSIAN GENERAL
VISITS AMERICA
MORTEZA KHAN COMING TO
CALIFORNIA
ENCOURAGE TRADE
He Is Anxious That an Exhibit Of
Goods Made in the United
States Be Placed In
Teheran
WOULD ENCOURAGE TRADE
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald.
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 20.-Gen. Morteza
Khan, imperial Persian minister to
quarters at Washington, D. c., has been
paying a visit to st. Louis. He Is MAX
ing a tour of the cities of the United
States and Mexico and will return to
Washington via San Francisco and
Portland. He departed recently for
Mexico.
1.-THE object of my tour is to become
better acquainted with America and to
make America acquainted with Persia"
he said when interviewed here. "Per-
sia wants the products of the United
States, and it is to convince your manu-
facturers that a great market is open
to them in my country that am here.
1 have a plan which I am hopeful of
carrying out. 1t Is to establish per-
manent American exhibit in Teheran,
Persia's capital, in order to show to my
countrymen the many modern things in
the way of farming implements. and
household articles, such as ranges. etc.
This would create demand for the
goods and would soon establish import
ant trade relations between this coun-
try and Persia.
Persia Is larger than is ordinarily
believed. We have a population of IA,
100000 and the country is largely given
over to agriculture. At present the
methods in use are more or less crude,
modern methods such as Americans
employ, introduced there.
Last year Persia imported goods to
the value Of $54,00O,0OO from Europe,
while America only supplied us goods
to the value Of $55,000. At present Eng
land has the bulk Of the trade. Persia
is at present having an awakening. In
all lines there is activity, and the peo-
pie are showing a strong disposition to
adopt modern methods. Our kingdom
is 5000 years old. 1t was a contempor-
ary with many Of the old countries that
are now but memories, and 1t is the |
only one of those that has survived. We
have an excellent literature and our
people are all Of a poetic temperament. |
That is one Of the reasons we have been
slow in becoming commercial
But the spirit of the age is taking
hold of us and we want to become mod |
ern. I estimate that for about 100000
a permanent exposition could be estab-
lished in Teheran. 1 have already |
talked the matter over with manufac-
turers and expect to see some of st. |
Louis leading producers before leave.
MANY people have an idea that all |
we make in Persia is rugs. This, of
course, is a mistake. We manufacture |
silverware, brasses, mo-
saics and other costly things, few of
which have as yet found their way to
America. This will come after we grow
better acquainted"
Favorlte of the Shah
Gen. Morteza Kahn is one of the
highest officials in the Persian govern
ment, and has been given the title Nom
stezel Molk (king's favorite) by the
shah. He is the descendant Of one of |
the oldest families. He was appointed
Persian minister to the United States
on February "a During his stay in ST.
Louis Gen. Kahn is the guest of the
local Persian vice consul, M. c. Seropy-
an. Last night they dined at the Ty-
rolean Alps, and afterwards visited one
of the theaters. Gen. Kahn expressed