PENNSYLVANIA. 



PERSIA. 



625 



Included in the census are fourteen Chinese 

 and thirty-four Indians. There are ninety-nine 

 tribal Indians. In the assessed value of prop- 

 erty is included personal property to the 

 amount of $69,868,190, which is not distrib- 

 uted among counties. The total taxation con- 

 tains the sum of $5,179,572, not distributed 

 among counties. The true value of property 

 was $3,808,340,112. The public debt, county, 

 city, town, etc., amounted to $57,915,469. 

 The aggregate value of farm-products, includ- 

 ing betterments and additions to stock, was 

 $183,946,027; 6,567,722 pounds of wool were 

 raised; 222,351 persons, ten years old and 

 over, cannot write, of whom 82,457 are males, 

 and 139,894 are females. Of those twenty-one 

 years old and over, who cannot write, 61,350 

 are white males. 



The effective force of the National Guard 

 of the State was, at the close of the year, 19 

 regiments and 3 battalions, comprising, with 

 unattached organizations, 382 companies, viz. : 

 8 artillery, 20 cavalry, and 354 infantry. The 

 aggregate of enlisted men was 16,734, and the 

 commissioned officers numbered 1,142. The 

 Fifth Brigade of the First Division, organized 

 in accordance with an act of the last Legisla- 

 ture, is composed of three regiments of col- 

 ored troops. The entire force is properly 

 equipped, and generally well drilled and dis- 

 ciplined. On November 7th a State military 

 convention, composed of delegates from the 

 various divisions of the National Guard, was 

 held in Harrisburg, for the purpose of adopt- 

 ing measures to secure the passage of a " practi- 

 cal and efficient general military act," by the 

 Legislature. Resolutions were adopted pro- 

 viding for the appointment of a committee to 

 prepare a bill and advocate it before the next 

 Legislature ; and declaring that the tax levied 

 for the organization of the National Guard 

 should be a State instead of a military tax ; 

 that the number of officers and men compos- 

 ing the Guard should be limited by law ; that 

 the State authorities should furnish the neces- 

 sary uniforms and equipments ; that the pres- 

 ent form of enlistment be changed from sign- 

 ing the so-called enrolment-book to subscrib- 

 ing to an oath of service, and that fines levied 

 by court-martial be considered and collected 

 as other taxes ; and that division encamp- 

 ments be held as schools for field instruction 

 at least one week in each year. The Govern- 

 or was present at the convention, and partici- 

 pated in its proceedings. 



The debt of the city of Philadelphia is, in 

 round numbers, $46,000,000, and the converti- 

 ble assets applicable to its liquidation are 

 $12,000,000. These are bonds and mortgages. 

 The* taxes collected during 1871 amounted to 

 about $9,600,000. The rate was $1.80 on a 

 hundred. The collections were made upon 

 real estate, the total value of which was $492,- 

 000,000. The total value of real estate ex- 

 empted from taxation was about $6,000,000. 

 The value of the manufactures produced dur- 

 VOL. xi. 40 A 



ing the year ending June 30, 1871, was nearly 

 $340,000,000, against $327,000,000 during the 

 year ending June 30, 1870. There were 8,600 

 mills, founderies, and factories in operation ; 

 and 96,969 men and 38,729 women were con- 

 stantly employed at remunerative wages. 

 Nearly 20,000 looms, and more than 250,000 

 spindles were in operation in the cotton and 

 woollen factories ; and 2,000 factories were run 

 by steam-power. The value of the year's 

 work in iron and steel was about $70,000,000. 

 PERSIA, a country in Asia. Area, about 

 648,000 square miles ; population, variously 

 estimated at from five to eight millions. In 

 1870 and 1871 Persia was the scene of one of 

 the most terrible famines known in history. 

 It was caused by the drought of 1870, and by 

 great ravages in the central and southern prov- 

 inces, most of all in Khorassan. A corre- 

 spondent writing to a Turkish journal from 

 Tabreez, under date of April 30th, gives the 

 following details : 



That the people are dying of hunger, even in the 

 streets of the capital, is a minor phase of this terri- 

 ble calamity. In Khorassan parents are selling their 

 children as slaves to the Toorkomans in order to keep 

 them alive ; and in Ispahan, as is said, men have 

 been seized in the act of digging up the corpses to 

 serve as food for their starving families. In Shiraz, 

 Kerman, and Yezd. the wretched sufferers endeavor 

 to support life on the grass and roots which they may 

 find in the neighborhood, and, as might be expected, 

 pestilence follows hard on the footsteps of famine ; 

 between them the half of the kingdom of Persia is 

 becoming rapidly depopulated. 



A later account of the famine is given in 

 the Times of India, of May 13th, which says : 



The famine in some parts of Persia is severe be- 

 yond comprehension. Kain was for long hopefully 

 expected, out it came in very measured quantity, and 

 too late to turn away the foe that was already at the 

 door. Thousands are said to have died by the way- 

 side, of sheer starvation, or of starvation coupled 

 with the diseases it invariably brings in its train. 

 Most of the dead lie unburied a fact which may be 

 regarded as the sure precursor of pestilence. At 

 first, when self-preservation by any means whatever 

 became a question to be decided, yea or nay, the 

 former alternative prevailed with the Mussulmans, 

 and more than one human being is said to have been 

 killed and eaten by them. It is stated that the 

 sights to be seen, and not to be avoided in the neigh- 

 borhood of Shiraz, are sucb that European residents 

 will not leave their own houses. Also, between 

 Shiraz and Bushire, thousands of dead bodies lie un- 

 buried. 



The apathy of the Persian officials during 

 this calamity was the subject of complaint. 

 A correspondent from Shiraz, *to the Lon- 

 don Daily News, states that in 1870, when 

 the famine began, the Government at sev- 

 eral places increased the taxes on gardens and 

 arable lands. The prices of garden and field 

 produce immediately rose twenty-five per cent., 

 or more, and the laborers' wages decreased pro- 

 portionately. Only the Governors of the 

 provinces of Meshed and Yezd are recom- 

 mended for not showing the same indifference 

 as most of the other officers ; each distributed 

 large sums of money among the poor of his 



