Norwich bulletin., 1916-12-26
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographt, Society

kashan-In the grist of news from
 the war capitals of Europe there came
 recently as the concluding announce
 ment of a days activity of the Czars s
 troops the laconic statement: ,''In
 Persia our troops have entered K:4s-
 ham," Concerning this prosperous city
 the National Geographic Society gives the following information inone of It's
 war geography bulletins:
 Situated on the main travel r.,uie between the present Persian capital If Teheran and the former capital of IE- pahan, 120 miles south of the former
 and 90 miles north of the latter, Kas- han is the capital of a small province
 of the same name. It is plains City of 35, 1000 inhabitants, and it enjoys a lively trade one of it's chief articles of exports being the widely used fcse- l water, made in neighboring villages. 'tKashan is especially noted for it's rich silks, velvets and brocades when
 are woven here from raw material im- ported from the Caspian Sea province fo Gilan. The copper utensils of fae city are also famous and are distribut- ed throughout Persia. Skillfu work
 distinctive feature of the city's in Jus trial life, and it is from here that all the cobalt of the kingdom is derived,
 the mines being in the hills of kam-
 sar, a score of miles to the south.
 "A disastrous earthquake dvisite
 ing it's numerous mosques and public
 baths.
 Tn the history of modern Persia
 Kashan is entitled to a mournful
 paragraph as the place where the de-
 posed prime minister, MirZa Taxi
 Khan took his own life in order to es-
 cape the sentence Of death which he'd
 been pronounced upon him by the fla
 nous Nasru 'd-Din who was assassi-
 mated in 1896, just five days before
 completing the fftieth year of his not able reign.
 "The career of Mirza Taxi goes to
 prove that Persia is as much the land of the 'se1f-made' man as is our own country. This premier, whom his+or-
 ians appraise as one of the ablest and
 most far-seeing statesmen to mold sway over an oriental kingdom in the cook in the household of a brother of Mahommed Shah. Having acquired much wealth and filled numerous gov ernmental posts under the late sovcr- eign, Mirza Taxi was made prime
 minister upon the accession of Nasru | 'd-Din, and was also made a brother in-law. Unhappily for the cooks son,
 he had gained the ennity of the queen mother and her coterie at court, and although the young shah for some time supported his minister against kcabalistic maehinations, in the end the reforms which reflected high credit
 upon his administration in western eyes, were the source of his undorng
 under the corrupt standards which cr- tained in the oriental court.
 "So, one November night in 1852 the premier was summoned to the palace and informed that he had been de- prived of his office. As small compe h. sation for his services he was offered the governorship of Ears, Rum, or
 Ispahan, and eventually he was pre-
 vailed upon to accept the post at kas- han. Hardly a month had passed,
 however, when an order for his execl-
 tion followed him to his provincial capital. The degraded minister did not wait for the fulfiIlment of the decree, but took his own life in the gardens of
 Fin, in the suburbs of the city" The Tomos Pass-The Tomos Pass.
 through which the RumaniaIs made their first dash against the Transyl vania city of Kronstadt immediately | z