PERSIA: Still Shah

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For debauching along the Riviera (TIME, Mar. 10), His Majesty, Sultan Ahmad Shah, seventh sovereign of the Kajâr dynasty, lost his job. No longer did Persians refer to him as Shâhinshâh (King of Kings).

Then there came in an account of his baby son, undebauched, being made a Shahlet (TIME, Mar. 31).

Then came a story that Valiahd (Crown Prince), His Royal Highness Muhammad Hasan Mirza was made Shâhinshâh. To him were given the Imperial honors that once belonged to his elder brother, while that brother "walked around in circles, lamenting his fate in Oriental fashion" (TIME, Apr. 7).

All this the daily press printed with a fine disregard of fact. All this, TIME, having no staff correspondent in the land of Iran, ignorantly mistook for sound statements of fact. Not so.

From a high source, whose authority is unimpeachable, TIME last week discovered the facts : His Majesty Sultan Ahmad Shah is still Shah; His Royal Highness Valiahd Muhammad Hasan Mirza is still Valiahd. There has been no change of ruler in Persia. Veritas praevalebit!