The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1911-03-03

1t would be difficult for Persian
who has not Travelled to understand
American excitement over what the
newspapers here call graft" My
motherland, Persia, is not yet quite
awake to the possibility of a mans
serving the public for certain fixed
salary and taking nothing more. In
Persia they take it for granted that
every ofliceholder will 'gouge" people
whenever he gets chance.
There are no lawyers In Persia, so
there are no jokes about lawyers ap-
petite for gold and silver If you have
ever had a costly lawsuit on your
hands you may think that makes mat
ters simpler, but getting into trouble
means being squeezed for money,
wrnng for money, as If you were a
piece of wet cloth in a washerwomHh's s
strong grip.
This is how it is managed: First,
you see, TIE governor Of city or Of a
province never has a definite salary
from the state-not at all. On the con-
trary, he pays the state treasury sew
eral thousand dollars more or less for
the privilege of being governor and of
making what he can out of the enter
prise He is not an elected officer; he
is more like "concessionaire" at one
Of your big expositions, who offers
large sum for chance to run res
taurant or to provide ice cream soda or
candy.
The governor Tor mayor of large
Persian town may have perhaps 100 to
$50 employees under him. OF these
only a few house servants (cook,
coachman and the like have fixed
wages. The incomes of the others de-.
pend upon the amount Of money which
they can help turn into the great
mans hands in the form of fines and
taxes. You can guess whether the
neighbors are fond Of them!
Suppose now you live in Persia. You
have leased q piece of ground or you
have sold some goods and the other
man does not pay. You dun him,
Then you threaten him. Then you go
TO the governor and make complaint.
An officer arrests your debtor and
takes him before the governors Sec
retaiy for examination. Possibly he
can convince that important parsonage
that 1t ia not just debt. If he can
not do that he would better put all his
wits to work to convince the secretary
that poverty makes It quite impossi-
BILE to pay up.
This Is where many Of the 150 under
employees get their chance. A large
part Of their occupation is hunting up
facts about everybody's property,
eyerybody's business, everybody's In
come. They know an amazing num-
her Of things which your debtor sup
posed were safely secret. They pro-
Gnce information whenever informa-
tlon Ia wanted.
Your mans pretense that business is
bad and that he Is all but bankrupt is
brushed aside, and he is made to pro-
duce m amount of money consider
ably larger than the original debt.
Made" to produce it? Yes. There
are shocking things that can be done
70 him IL he hesltates too long, and he
knows Il. So, like a child aware that
HERE ID an rgly stick waiting in the
'orner. he usually does not hesitate
90 long. He saves his skin and hands
yer the money. You get maybe so
Q 30 per cent to satisfy your claim
llNt Is, the officer of justice practi-
'allg collects from you something for
li' own services. The rest goes to the
,oyernor and such of the employees
= may be considered in the case.
Nerlans You have shop in the town
'aznar or market place and sorne poor
.ooG-for-nothlng steals a chick en- that
vas hanging on the wall. If a woman
yas the thief she is most likel,g fined
'oSsiby whipped If she has n o money
o pay fine If the culprlt lis a man
hey punch a hole through the car
ilage of the lower end Of his nose, put
cord through the hole and lead him
n this painful disgrace all ae ound the
AZoar. The officer collects nj he goes
long few cents from this hopkeep.
T and 4 few cents from tina one as
n acknowledgment of the officers
ewice In publicly exposing thief.
Naturally II often happens that some
outrageous robbery occurs or some
lody Is hrutally murdere 4, and the
Nilty one is unknown. II ,en the gov.
rnors detective agents let to work.
anybody may be arrested ON suspicion
nd examined either MS the probable
hender or as n witnes 8. If the sus-
ect has plenty OF mo nsy, he can al
rays prove his innoce' ACE or his igno-
anHe by paying cash 10 the examining
a crs though, since the,te / no regu.
stea tariT IN sus.h mat ters, the pro-
eealng may be- quite expens i've,
y the sus' ,,eck Is too poor to make
N'Nes rig -at with the xamln ers or too
tnhDo' "A 20 tell what he lrows--and
or .etlmes. am afraid. if he really
4ees aet know anything to tell-they
Some third degree" methods
t0 rrlke a man say some
ts2 sp h tethod is what they
N NE "hastinado," 1t is whipping
The soes of the bare feet with slen.
der rods. Often live Goals from a pipe
are put on the shaven head of pris-
lner TO make him confess, Sometimes
: But no, Probably YOU would not
are to hear any more along this par