PERSIA. 



PERU. 



557 



gregate value of the 331,082,734 pounds of tin 

 and terne plate produced by these 25 establish- 

 ments for the year was $12,165,879. Black plate 

 for tinning was made in 11 counties in 1899. 



Lawlessness. On Sept. 21 a serious affray 

 occurred in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, grow- 

 ing out of an extensive strike in the anthracite 

 coal fields. Two thousand men were reported to 

 be marching the streets of Shenandoah, firing re- 

 volvers and resisting all attempts of the civil au- 

 thorities to disperse them. Two persons were 

 killed and seventeen w r ounded. The sheriff of 

 Schuylkill County reported these facts to the 

 Governor, and his inability to suppress the dis- 

 turbance, and asked that a sufficient number of 

 the National Guard be sent there for the pro- 

 tection of the public peace. This call of the sheriff 

 was seconded by a resolution of the councils of 

 Shenandoah and the personal requests of a large 

 number of citizens. It reached the Governor on 

 Sept. 21. About 7 A.M., Sept. 22, 600 men with 

 their officers were patrolling the streets of Shen- 

 andoah, and by noon of that day nearly 2,000 

 troops were there. No further serious disturb- 

 ance occurred. By Oct. 31 the strike was ad- 

 justed, and the last of the National Guard with- 

 drawn. 



Coal Strike. In August the coal operators re- 

 fused to accept the scale of wages adopted by 

 the Hazleton Miners' Convention, saying that the 

 scale was too sweeping, and if put into force 

 Avould reduce producers of coal to bankruptcy in 

 a short time. The miners, on the other hand, de- 

 clared that the scale was just, and that the coal 

 companies would only be giving the men their 

 rights by signing it. In September 112,000 mine 

 workers in the anthracite region were reported on 

 strike. On Oct. 30 the strike was practically 

 ended, an advance of 10 per cent, in wages until 

 April 1 and an adjustment of the sliding scale 

 being the basis of agreement. 



Political.- The Republican vote for President 

 was 712,665; the Democratic, 424,232; Social- 

 Democratic, 4,831; Prohibition, 27,908; Repub- 

 lican plurality, 288,433. The vote for Auditor 

 General was: E. B. Hardenbergh, Republican, 

 676.846; P. G. Meek, Democrat, 410,746; J. E. 

 Gill, Prohibition, 25,300; W. J. Eberle, Social- 

 Democrat, 2,636; D. O. Coughlin, People's party, 

 917; N. Seward, Social-Democrat, 3,797. The 

 Legislature in 1901 will consist of 36 Republicans 

 in the Senate and 156 in the House; 13 Democrats 

 in the Senate and 49 in the House. 



PERSIA, an empire in central Asia. Muzaffer- 

 eddin, Shah in Shah, or Emperor, born March 25, 

 1853, succeeded his father, Nasreddin, on May 1, 

 1896. The Valiahd, or heir apparent, is Moham- 

 med Ali Mirza, born in 1872. 



Area and Population. The area is about 

 628,000 square miles, mostly desert. The popula- 

 tion is estimated at 9,000,000. The city of Teheran 

 has about 210,000 inhabitants; Tabriz, 180,000; 

 Ispahan, 80,000; Meshed, 60,000. Of the popula- 

 tion, about 8,000,000 are Shiite Mohammedans, 

 800.000 Sunnites, 45,000 Armenians, 35,000 Jews, 

 25,000 Nestorian Christians, 9,000 Guebres or Par- 

 sees, and there are probably 800 Europeans residing 

 in the cities. Of the Mohammedans, fully 2,000,000 

 are nomadic Turks, Kurds, Lurs, and Arabs. The 

 Persians of the higher classes are well educated in 

 ersian and Arabic literature. 



Finances. The revenue of the Shah's Govern- 



lent for 1900 was estimated at 1,500,000 ster- 



ig. Towns, villages, and districts are required 

 pay each a certain assessed amount in cash 

 kind, these payments constituting about 82 per 



ent. of the revenue, customs duties 15 per cent., 



and posts and telegraphs, fisheries, mines, and 

 other concessions furnish the remaining 3 per cent. 

 A loan of 500,000 was obtained in England in 

 1892 for the purpose of canceling the unpopular 

 tobacco monopoly. The Russian Government in 

 January, 1900, authorized a subsidized banking 

 company, organized specially for the object, to make 

 a gold loan of 22,500,000 rubles to the Persian Gov- 

 ernment, secured by the customs receipts with the 

 exception of those of the province of Fars and those 

 of the ports on the Persian Gulf, the loan to pay 

 5 per cent, interest and to be redeemed at the 

 end of seventy-five years. The Government under- 

 takes to pay all existing foreign obligations out of 

 the proceeds of this loan and to contract no others 

 until it is redeemed without permission from the 

 bank. The English loan was paid off by the 

 Russian bank before the end of February. The 

 bank may issue bonds equal in amount to the 

 debt of the Persian Government to the bank, and 

 such bonds will be guaranteed by the Russian 

 Imperial Government. 



Commerce and Production. The foreign com- 

 merce is estimated at 10,000,000 for 1900. The 

 estimate is based upon the amount paid by farmers 

 of the revenue to the Government, which was 

 300,000 in 1899 and the preceding year, and 

 250,000 for tw T o years previous, having been in- 

 creased from 170,000 in 1894. The export and 

 import trade for 1899 was estimated at 9,000,000, 

 the average rate of duty being taken at 4 per cent, 

 and the profit of the farmers at 20 per cent. Euro- 

 peans pay a uniform duty of 5 per cent, ad valo- 

 rem, Persians' rates varying from 14 to 8 per cent. 

 The Government on March 21, 1899, abolished the 

 farm system in Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, and 

 some other provinces. The chief imports are cot- 

 ton cloth, woolens, glass, sugar, kerosene, tea, 

 coffee, and drugs. The exports are dates, opium, 

 cotton, wool, silks, carpets, pearls, turquoises, and 

 rice. The imports of the ports of Bushire, Lingah, 

 Bunder Abbas, and Mohammerah for 1898 were 

 2,091,224, and the exports 1,273,770, the bulk 

 of the commerce being with Great Britain, India, 

 Arabia, and China. The imports at Tabriz, 

 amounting to 682,330 in 1899, consist of cotton 

 goods from Manchester, French and German 

 silks, Russian sugar, and Indian tea; the exports, 

 amounting to 219,930, are raisins, almonds, car- 

 pets, shawls, and silk. Through Resht, on the 

 Caspian, considerable commerce is carried on with 

 Russia by way of Baku ; the imports in 1896 having 

 been 842,655 in value, including sugar, cloth, 

 silkworm eggs, silver, and petroleum; the exports, 

 amounting to 365,342, consisting of rice, fruits, 

 and cotton. From Bombay through Bunder Ab- 

 bas the value of 89,547 was imported into Khoras- 

 san, and exports to India amounted to 19,681 ; 

 imports through Meshed from Russian territory 

 were 92,547 in value, and exports 80,320; im- 

 ports from Afghanistan were 6,206, and exports 

 to Afghanistan 15,073 in value. A railroad con- 

 vention concluded with Russia provided that no 

 concessions should be granted or railroads built 

 before 1901. The Russian Government has nego- 

 tiated with the Government of Persia for the con- 

 struction of a railroad from Julfa to Tabriz, Hama- 

 dan, and Bunder Abbas, with a branch line to 

 Teheran. The telegraph lines of the Persian Gov- 

 ernment have a length of 3,400 miles, besides which 

 675 miles between Bushire and Teheran, with 2.025 

 miles of wire, are operated by an English staff, 

 and 415 miles, with 1,245 miles of wire, belong 

 to the Indo-European Telegraph Company. 



PERU, a republic in South America. The 

 legislative power is vested in a Congress consisting 

 of a Senate of 48 members and a House of Repre- 



