The New York herald., 1922-10-22


melancholy thing. 1t has reminded me Of
"old families" in America-and they're not
so different the world over. 1t has stayed
right at home, too poor to travel and too
proud to- move, looking down with brave
though ludicrous contempt on the new
neighbors, making over its old clothes and
ever growing pathetically thinner on the
consciousness of it's past pomp and it's "old
mahogany" And little by little that has
gone.
Persias timber has vanished, and with
it the water courses: with them most of
the agriculture. What remains is carried
on in the sef-same fashion that it was ten
thousand years ago. The industry-in the
main-has been a weaving of rugs, and
some shipment of dried fruit and licorice
and tobacco not at all sufficient to pay the
cost of maintaining shoddy and vain
glorious court and its swarm OF political
parasites and the shell of a shabby army
that was seldom if ever paid And yet
Persia has lived, and despite loss of large
territories has held itself together. 1t has
lived on memories and clothed itself in
pride and STAYED off through years of
penury the neighbors great and small who
strove by force and by guile to take away
it's yellow jacket
Persia's great asset has been geographic
cal position, and it's statesmen have traded
with this in a manner which bespeaks
commercial genius. 1t is a buffer which
England has long striven to control be-
cauSo IL b,,ftraSSad India AGAINST thp on
ward march of the Russian, but which by
an indefatigable process of penetration
Russia-down to the time of the world
war-was slowly absorbing into herself.
The war did many things besides making
"cost-plus" millionaireS and teaching
women to drive trucks. 1t seems among
it's more important results to have
switched the center of tension into the
East, and played the overture TO the great
drama of the next century, which is to be
the recrudescence of Asia And it has
started Persia on the way TO a colossal
change-though just what the change will
be no man knows. All that has kept her
from vanishing utterly as a nation any
time the last half century or more was
that neither England nor Russia ever
dared break the eggs that were necessary
hungered for, though both were bound the
eggs should never hatch national inde-
pendence for Persia.
Mr.. Morgan Shuster, who years ago went
out to Persia to see if he could make the
books balance, found within very short
time that Persia had within herself the
possibility of perfect solvency but his min
istrations We're not approved by either
of the rivals for Persian control, and he
came away, while the great game of attri-
ton went on.
Persia was pathetic. In the cities there
was starvation. 1t was so commonplace
that nobody paid any heed to it. Night
after night one could hear the bugles play
ing gayly in the garrisons and the dogs
snaring and bowling until dawn in the
graveyards on the hill-at a work which it
was well the darkness hid.
Wages were merely a figure of speech.
The gorgeous rugs of Herman and Meshed
and Tabriz were woven by nimble fingered
little boys many of them not more than
six or seven years old. and for the making
of these rich creations they were paid the
munificent sum of 10 cents a day. And il
was funny looking 10 cents. made, up
almost to 1900 in fashion that ante
dated the PhaTaohs Huge bullets of silver
were struck by hand with a die, which
bore the monogram of the Shah and fiat
tened TO a thickness of perhaps eighth
of an inch. This lump they called a krdn.