To the Editor of the *Nonrum-CHmwA Dalny News"
Sm,—How many Germans are today in Iran? That is now the big|& ruestio Not yet 700, says the Iranian Government. At kh assert the sible that more than 690, but on the other side men speak of numbers of Germans who on entry bribed the officials not to report their presence.
There we are: the almighty "back-shis" the alms you give a beggar, the. present a merchant gives a customer, the money you give to corrupt a minister or another official.
To postmen in Iran you must give tips or you must give them a monthly gratuity of 10 to 30 rials. The normal tip is two rials (Guide Book on Iran, by G. H. Ebtehaj, Director of the Tourist Propaganda and Political Department of the Imperial Ministry of the Interior, second edition, page 220). If you forget the tips or the gratuity you will never more receive letters or telegrams—this is my experience, but this is not written in the Guide Book.
Oh, the almighty "backs his" (pronounce the a as in "harbour").
One of the most impressive things I have seen on my ¢ravels was at There near the harbour in big characters: "Backshis prohibited." As I arrived there for the first time and read that I stood speechless and thought, "What? The British Government will make war against backs his? All the might of the British Empire can't finish backs his."
But apart from the backshis—how many Germans are in Iran?
The last time I was in Iran (the spring of 1937) there were in Teheran alone many hundreds of them, and in Teheran was a big "Brown House" where the German Nazis gathered. Moreover there were many Austrians, the are now also Germans because German influence in Iran was ready strong in 1937 and an trian who will not recognize the exation of his country finds that fe is made impossible. Also there were in 1936-1937 hundreds of Czechs. of whom a part were "Sudeten-Deutscher." Many of them were already in their heart Germans. In the north of Iran, on the coast of the Caspian Sea. I met also many Germans. In 1934 and following years arrived hundreds of Italians. I remember a caravan of autobuses (it was in the spring of 1935) arriving in Teheran from Beyrouth with 200 or 300 Italians, and there also arrived severa] caravans with Italians who came to work on roads and on the then not completed railway from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf (length about 1,500 kilometers).
Notwithstanding the many Germans, Teheran gave the impression of a town under French influence. The first European language there was French, There was not a German newspaper nor an English one, but there were two French daily papers. and one Iranian paper was edi half in the Farsi (Persian) language and half in French.
For some years Persia has been called Iran. and this is certainly "The old, Greeks and Romans called the mixture of races which but the ins "Iranians," asked &n Auf Why he did not live there with his old people. The man did not answer and looked at me somewhat angrily. X The Iranian army can in wartime be estimated at 400,000 to 600.000, but on account of the long distances (Iran {has about three times the surface of France) the mobilization will take time, Once I saw in Teheran a parade lof 15000 to 20,000 men, infantry, cavalry, artillery, many planes, some tanks, and I must say the troops made a very good impression—but on another day, in a small town far from the capital, my impression of the army wag not as good.
In 1935 the Shah, Roza shah Pahlevi, decided to form a military high-school, a school for generals. A French general became the direster, twelve French superior officers became professors. About the same time, German naval officers were appointed to the Iranian fleet—some old destroyers which almost never left their harbour on the Persian Gulf.
Tu 1936 there was trouble between Iran and France. A French newspaper had published an article on Roza "shah Pahlevi, in which it was said that "les chats persons out toujours ete fameux." It was a pun. The words "shah" and "chats" (cats) are in the French language prounced in the same manner.
The Shah heard about it and saw in it a lack of respect. He claimed that the French journalist in France should be punished. The French government answered that the French law made this impossible. This was inconceivable to the Shah. dismissed several French officials who were in the Iranian service, engineers. university professors, but he maintained the French director and the French professors of the military high-school, so great was his estimat tion of the French officers. el-Arab means "Arabic river") a road runs over Ispahan. ito Teheran. On the north part of this road there are in Winter-time also often snow dif-, of Teheran is In the east of Iran is à road from the border of Baluchistan. This road runs parallel with the border of Af-Meghed and from Meshed is a railway to Tiflis, Batoum. and Baku. Between Tabriz and Teheran is e pretty good road for motor cars. Another way of invasion in the north is the road 4o Recht, and there still exists the possibility of a landing on ihe Iranian shores of the Caspian Sea, from where there is the railway and some pretty good roads to Teheran. The country there is, however, very mo ous and as easy to defend as the road from Tabriz io Teheran. On the east side of the Caspian Sea there is the possibility of a Russian offensive in the direction of the holy town Meshed. All these roads, however, are in winter often blocked by snow.
There remains the question whether the Iranian people will fight for their country and the Shah. Many of the nomadic tribes do not love the Shah at all. And there is still ("of cause"
use we are in the Orient) the religious side of the case.
The majority of the people of Iran are Shiah Moslem. But what is Roza Shah Pahlevi himself?
Many of the Shah's measures did not please the mullahs, the priests of the Shiah.' The was not gentle with the mullahs who were in opposition and. showed very little respect for them. Is he a Sunni? Nothing proves it. In 1935, 1936 and 1937 he demonstrated sympathy for the "Guébres" who are in British India called Parsi, followers of Zoroaster, but the Shah himself is not a Guébre. Often I have presumed that Roza shah Pahlevi is a Babist. belonging thus to a not very orthodox Mohammedan sect.
Roza shah Pahlevi rules with a strong hand. He formed a modern army, organized education (Teheran has had for six years a real university). built roads, But one thing he could not change; the general corruption you find everywhere in Iran from the smallest police official to the ministers. Greater than the might of the Shah is the might of the "backs his" and with money you can obtain almost the impossible. Cór-ruption exists also in the army. An Iranian officer told me in 1937 that the officers received of their salaries on an average not more than 40 per cent, What happened to the rest? To avoid difficulties it was better for the officers not to ask that. And for the soldiers if was the same thing.
J. K. BREDERODE
Shanghai. Aug. 28.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.