Evening star., 1907-11-11
FOXY SHAH Of PERSIA
Provides Telephone Booth for
Host of Petitioners.
IN USE ALL DAY LONG
Requests Pour in From Sunrise to
Sunset.
ELECTRICITY IN TURKEY
ELECTRICITY IN TURKEY
Diligence line Established to the
Valley Of Mesopotamia-Peculiar-
tiles of the Chinese Language.


Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald
I The new Slah Of Persia has granted his
subjects the r.2ht of petition in move!
way. Until recently. when a constitu-
tion was adopted and q parliament or
gained to make the laws. the right of
petition was denied as it is in all other
despotisme and If Il citizen tried to reach
his sovereign lie was likely to meet with
/ ii great deal OF trouble. The only way
of securing q hearing was to bribe the Of
ficiais Of the palace to take message or
let him in 10 the august presence. Stimuli
tane0usly with the adoption of parlia-
mentaTy government the right of petition
was granted. and the people took advan-
tage of it to such an extent that the
! palace was thronged with applicants for
all kinds of faNors, with people complain
! ing of all kinds of wrongs. with adver-
lures of every sort, and the life of the
| shah and OF the members of his court
was made wretched. In order to avoid
the crush his majesty adopted a unique
/ plan of setting up a telephone hooIh IN
the public square in the Cente" OF Tehe-
ran with wires connecting with the palace,
/ and people who have communications TO
| make to his majesty take their turn IN
| talking into the transmitter- They tel
|
/ ask their faVOrS N this way. and they be-
. lieve that they are talking to their sover-
eigu direct, but how many hours day
ne spends at the telephone 1t is dlftlcult
to say
The line of petitioners forms at day
light. and continues unbrOken until sun
81 when the telephone booth IS closed
People go day after day to take the1
turn. and each is allowed so many min
Htes N the booth, but outsiders know
nothing Of what occurs at the palace end
of the wire. although the petitioners as
sumo that his maJestys ears are Always
al the receiver. If This were true, now
ever he could do nothing else, and 1t is
ONLY fair to believe that he takes a little
rest occasionally. and allows his secre-
taries or his ids-de-camp to receive the
messages in his stead.
Electricity in Turkish Empire.
Electricity has finally been admitted to
the Turkish empire and the invasion IS
very rapid Until recently the sultan
would not permit telephone or an cleo
tric street car or any other form OF cleo
tricity except the telegraph lines Whlch
connect his palace with the uttermoSt
parts of his dominionS. Two or three
years ago his procession, on the way TO
pay his annual visit to the seragio IN
Stamboul, was halted until the telegraph
wires which crossed the roadway had been
removed. The sultan is SO SuperStltlouS
il is said that the reason he has been
so stubborn in prohibiting the use OF
electricity is that some learned German
professor frightened him one DAY by tell
ing OF the mysterious currents OF cleo
tricity that pervade the air. There are
two or three private electric light plants
in Constantinople belonging to Il hotel,
the Ottoman Bank and the palace of the
mother of the khedive OF Egypt. There
is also one private telephone line which
on the Bosphorus. so that the approach
of ships may be communicated as prompt
fy as possible. But until last year no
concession for electric lights, telephones
or street cars had been granted in Tur-
key. although many had been applied for.
The governor general of Damascus was
the first to break down the rule. He
granted concession to a Belgian conf
pany called lie Societe Ottomaine I'm
periale des Tramways ct d'Eciairage
Electriques de Damnas. which has laid
five miles of trolley track through the
streets OF the city. installed 1000 street
lamps. has equipped the Grand Mosque.
the palace and other public buildings and
has installed complete plants in the prin-
cipal hotels and theaters. and in some
of the shops and private residences The
engineers and managers are all Belgians;
their machinery and supplies, cars, mo-
tors and everything else were manufac
tured In Belgium and represent an in
vestment of several millions of dollars.
March. the first day of the Ottoman fiscal
year, and the ceremonies were quite i'm
posing. The governor general of the prov
ince, the general In command of the army. |
other civil and military officials OF the
province, the consular corps and numer-
Gus nota blcs participated In the function
and made an excursion over the new
tracks. They Were the first to ride In
the cars Since then the service has been
continued regularly between daylight and
InlinlgEt,
minutes. and have been crowded. because |
public curiosity is naturally very keen
and there is a passion among all orientais |
for moving swiftly.
The electric lights were turned on In |
the park and public buildings the same |
night and for the first time In history /
Damascus was illuminated. Until tnen |
tho only street lights We're those which !
hung from brackets on the walls of the |
houses. There has been la as old a
time itself requiring each house holder to |
hang out lantern to light his neigh |
hors home 4 similar law is enforced in |
all tho old countries
II is Quit" remarkable that Damascus !
tn" oldest city in the world and the !
on" which is most typical of ancient orr /
entail civilization. should be the first in /
modern improvements And il is par
ticularlv interesting to krow that the |
powrT Is generated by the waters of the |
Raradd river. the ALBANIA of The Bible in |
n.
sisted upon bathing when the prophet |
told him he could be cured only by the
waters of Jordan.
Now that the prohibition of the sultan
has been thrown down by Damascus, It
i expected that Smyrna, Beirut. Aleppo
and even Constautinople will follow the
example and introduce electric cars and
lights. and ii Is reported that the same
Helgian company has already obtained
conces sions In several places There are
thirty cities in Asia Minor with a popu-
lation of 1000 inhabitants and more
which offer an inviting field for such en-
terprise, but thus far no American has
attempted to take advantage of the op-
portunity.
By Diligence to Babylon
1t is possible now for a traveller to reach
Ragdad and other points in Persia and
the Valley Of Mesopotamia by diligence
Until now the journey has been made on