In his youth a wild-riding cavalryman, Persia's self-made "King of Kings," Reza Shah Pahlevi, who seized the Throne in 1925, is now the horsiest of ruling monarchs. Last week he left a crisis to attend a horse race. While frightened Persian ministers wrung their hands in Teheran, the Shah rode out of his capital and over the Elburz Mountains to see a show he never misses, the annual contest of swift, sleek Turkoman steeds in his native province, Mazanderan. Despising effete blue ribbons, scorning silver loving cups, the "King of Kings" rewarded winning riders with handfuls of big, soft gold pieces stamped with his hard, sharp profile.
Meanwhile in London the British Government, majority stockholder of Anglo-Persian Oil Co. Ltd., whose concession the Shah has canceled (TiME, Dec. 12), declared last week that Persia's note on this subject was "so offensive'' that it could not be published. The note charged, according to Persians in the know, that for more than 30 years Britons have exploited Persian Oil lands "in a manner grossly unfair to Persia." Though the original D'Arcy concession (now Anglo-Persian's) was signed in 1901, no oil royalties were paid to Persia until 1914 when only $45,000 was paid, according to the Persian note, and during the War payments were again suspended, being resumed only after the Armistice. Challenging Anglo-Persian's bookkeeping methods, the Persian note alleged that on the agreed royalty basis of 16% the Persian Government should have received a total payment three times greater than it has received.
In the House of Commons crusty Tories raised a cheer when Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs Captain Anthony Eden boomed that "His Majesty's Government would not hesitate, in case of necessity, to take all legitimate measures to protect its vital interests." In Teheran the arrival of Britain's words—via British Wireless News Agency—caused such official consternation that Persian newspapers were forbidden to print them and special couriers were rushed off to Reza Shah Pahlevi who was still in Mazanderan applauding superb Turkoman horseflesh and horsemanship.
Riding back next day over the Elburz Mountains, the "King of Kings" forged ahead of his suite, who found a snowstorm in Firuzkuh Pass too much for them. Pushing on to Teheran with a small picked escort Reza Shah Pahlevi stamped into his Palace, ordered every Persian newspaper to print what had been suppressed. To Britons it seemed impossible that the horsy Persian would act thus unless he had potent backing. Whose? The London Press bristled with rumors that representatives of J. P. Morgan & Co., General Motors, Goodyear and Firestone were in Teheran dickering to form a $2,000,000 "Persian-American Corp." Britons heard that this "American consortium" would "buy Persian products for American consumption" and "undertake a general program of industrialization for Persia." In Manhattan a Morgan partner flatly said that he "knew of no basis" for such reports, but by that time the House of Commons was seething over a so-called British ultimatum to Persia.