The Coconino sun., 1925-05-15

Tai is supposed to be one of the won
ders of the world. 1t took 10000
men II years to construct it at a cost
of some $20,000,000. 1t would cost
many times that sum to duplicate it
today, though | can't believe any one
is thinking of doing such a thing.
Enthusiasts say the Tai is so COM
plete that nothing could be added and
nothing could be taken away without
marring its absolute symmetry, which
statement is quite all encompassing if
true. Owing to bad attack of bron-
chitis in our family it was necessary
to forego the trip and cancel our tick
cts. Five days and nights on train
in India is no comfortable outing.
Jahan built the place as memorial
to his wife, Empress Argumand Bario
Begun, whom he thought was the
real thing. Later he started another
one on the same plan for himself, and
had the foundations we'll on the way
when he was taken down with the
glanders or some such illness and his
son, Zeb, better known as AurangzeD,
secured control of the army and then
ditched his pa, old Jahan, putting him
in Jail awaiting session of the grand
jury which he never called. 1t will
be seen from this brief history that
they belong to the very best families,
consequently never failed to get what
they most desired even if it took a
number of years and some delicate
intriguing to accomplish same.
These old sultans, rajahs and such
were either awful dirty or wanted to
make a great splash. When they
built bath tub they used the hull
backyard for it, had it gold-lined,
with diamonds set in the towel rack.
1t made no difference whether they
ever took a bath or not, they felt they
must be amply equipped to make the
neighbors jealous and to keep the
boys busy building something.
These old timers had memorials
and temples all over the place to COM
nemorate themselves and had their
names up on the front gate so there
could be no mistake as to whom they
were intended for.
The modest old rajah up at Delhi
now has palaces scattered about in
numerous places and draws down
measly income of over $15,000,OO0 per
year, net, without income tax, and is
exempt from poll tax at that. He has
few dozen of the very best elephants
the boys could find for him out in the
Jungle, each of which is decorated
with enough gold, silver and jewels on
mis- trappings to make a large dent in
our national debt. Nevertheless, the
old man uses Rolls-Royce automo-
bile when he wants to move about
bit in comfort.
India is undoubtedly the greatest
country in the world for dirt, dust,
smells, rajahs and beggars. Disease
and deformities, all the way from
leRrosy to hydrophobia, from the
freak with a peanut noodle to the fell
low with ingrowing legs, are capital
lied by beggars and deemed fortunate
because they are fully equipped to
make living without work Many
MAIN or deform themselves that they
may join the profession, which is
predominant one. | don't know how
prosperous it is. 1t is said that some
of these beggars deliberately hold an
arm up in one position until the mus
cles are set and it becomes rigid. This
would indicate there must be- money
in the game.
Also, that some of these Indians
are mighty hard set in their ways.
Chopping off an arm or leg is not un-
usual with them, but a fellow who
can hold an arm up over his head
with the hand opened out palm up
ward to receive coins, shows profess
sional spirit that can hardly be dupli-
Gated in the very best vag centers of
our country.
Delhi, pronounced 'Delly,0 with a
short "" is, as previously mentioned,
the capital of India and contains
about 304,420 folks, including people
of all kinds. Nadir Shah, a Persian,
who evidently had a mean disposition,
had over 100000 souls collected and
returned by the most direct route.
This cleaned up about all the popu-
lace, leaving only a few who belonged
to his party, thus making things
much more congenial with little or
no opposition.
Evidently his treatment of the po-
litical situation, while somewhat se-
we're, cleaned things up, for it is re-
lated, "now it is a progressive city,
famous for its shops as well as its
objects of sightseeing interest" Of
course, such system is bound to
bring about changed conditions in any
small city. Such drastic measures are
frowned upon by our legislators in
America, though in financial way