The Washington herald., 1918-05-05
SOCleEy
/ ~ MAsHINer eroMT
p. E. C. DRJJM.HtJNT ~.
IN WAsAINcTo
E. c. DRUM-HUNT.

friend, and that fact hastened his
own end. The Minister OF the Meth
erlands. August Phillips, who sue
ceedod Chevalier van Rappard only
few months ago, resigned before
he was comfortably settled here and
Is already safely back In his own
country. DIR. Angelescu, Minister of
Rumania, has returned to Paris and
will be succeeded here by q member
of the present Rumanian cabinet
DR.. Angeiescu will resume his work
in Connection. with the Rumanian-
French liaison.
The resignation of Mehdi Khan
as minister of Persia to this coun-
try is a real loss to the United
States as well as to Persia. It
was with regret that Washing
ton saw him depart. Mehdi Khan
is a man with a splendid mind. is
highly educated and cultured and
Is an unusually deep thinker. He
has travelled far and wide and
profited thereby. His native land
will have great difficulty finding
another man, I am sure, who can
I'll his place here as satisfactorily
as he has done. In fact. probably
because they realized that, they did
not want to accept his resigna-
ton. but he insisted. feeling that
he must return home to look after
his business interests there, as they
had suffered by his absence of
about four years in this country.
He is planning to return here aft
er the war and may open a branch
OF his business in New York.
1 had such an interesting talk
with him before he left. He said
that he was extremely sorry that 1t
was necessary to leave this beautI-
full America, with its atmosphere
of freedom. TT really expresses
my idea of Paradise" to use his
exact words. He was appointed
minister to this country about six
years ago. He came over here: re-
mained about six months when he
returned to Persia. 1t was over a
year before he came back. Ali Kuli
Khan, the counselor of the lega-
tion. acting as charge d'affairies
during his absence.
After his first trip here. the min
lister said he determined, to attract
the attention of America to Persia:
to show the capitalists of this ma
tion the many opportunities to make
laA cl ny
investing their wealth in that ma
tion. He declares that they can
make anywhere from Il to Is per
cent instead Of the average OF 3
per cent that they make in this
country. and with less difficulty.
He stated that his aim was not
only that they invest in railroads
and such concessions as our gov
eminent encourages, but to inter-
est themselves in other branches
of trade, such as various means
of transportation, banks. hotels,
agriculture. publishing. sc h o s.
transportation of goods, the ex-
ploitation OF the earth. mines and
so forth. Up to now. the neigh
boring governments have tried to
keep other nations ignorant of the
opportunities to make money in
Persia in their desire to monopo-
lize them all themselves. Mehdi
Khan was desirous OF making these
facts known to the people of these
United States and to bring them
TO be interested in his government
and people. but unfortunately
this miserable war started and
spoiled all my plans" he said.
"I hope that The statesmen of the
United States fully realize that the
people OF Persia have a great affec-
tion and friendship for America:
sincere feeling that truly comes from
the depth of their hearts," he said.
Also he expressed the hope that the
statesmen of this country would do
all within their power to keep this
feeling of friendship from being marred
in any way. especially by the wa
now waging all around his country
and that they will endeavor in every
way to help Persia to maintain her
neutrality. He feels that that is one
of the important tasks the allies have
ahead of them. When the war is
over Mehdi Khan hopes that the ties
of friendship between his country and
this will be stronger than ever and
that the two nations will have ex-
tensive commercial realtions. For
the next thirty years, he declared,
there would be endless opportunities