MINISTER TO PERSIA.

Alexander McDonald Is Another Newspaper Man Who Has Been Honored.

Alexander McDonald, who has been appointed by President Cleveland minister to Persia, is an experienced newspaper man and is quite certain to prove a worthy representative of the United States government at Teheran. Mr, McDonald is a member of the Virginia state senate and was for many years editor in chief of the Lynchburg Virginian. He was a commissioner to the Vienna exposition and a special agent of the United States at the Paris exposition. He has traveled extensively, having visited Europe several times. As a newspaper writer he wielded a trenchant pen, and while always a strong party man he never forgot to be fair. Mr. McDonald is tall and fine looking. His manners are courtly, and his conversation, though not didactic, is made interesting by the immense fund of information which he has stored up in his mind.

The Persian mission is not a particularly attractive post for a diplomat, and when a man applies for it is quite certain that he possesses a taste for travel and adventure. Teheran is reached only after a tedious journey over rough roads by means of divers forms of conveyance, and even after one gets there he finds very little that is agreeable to an American except the novelty, which is about the only thing a stranger gets free in any part of Persia. But there is a great deal of novelty, and as a result nearly every minister sent by the United States to the country of the shah has made one or more interesting contributions to magazine literature based upon his observations.

The shah of Persia is a great present giver, and he is also addicted to the present receiving habit. It can therefore not be money which tempts a man to become the representative of his country in Persia, for the expensive gifts which he is expected to give the shah in return for the very ordinary ones received cut a rather big slice out of the small annual salary of $5,000 attached to the position. Outside of the social duties the minister has little else to do but listen to complaints of missionaries and write accounts of anything interesting to his government or the magazines.

Still many persons have long held to the opinion that with a representative who will zealously watch for every opportunity to establish intercourse with Persia the United States might be greatly benefited by means of concessions, etc. On the other hand, it must be berne in mind that the shah’s word is not valued above par even in his own country, due to the fact perhaps that while he is always willing to grant concessions when in a particularly ecstatic mood he has an embarrassing habit of revoking whatever he has promised while the grantee is away on a capital raising mission.

Mr. McDonald is said to be greatly impressed with the possibilities and resources of Persia, and it is probable that within a few months he will shed new light upon both in his reports to the government.

Previously published in the Fairhaven Herald (Fairhaven, Washington), June 2, 1893.