Charles Emory Smith

“ As a rule, Russian ministers are not personal favorites, but are often able statesmen, marked for their places by capacity and fitness. Their commission comes, not from title of nobility, but from the higher title of brains. Curiously as it may cross the prevailing conception of the Russian system, many of them have sprung directly from the ranks of the people. ”

“ She is paying the appalling cost of grievous mistakes ; but enormous as that cost is, it will still be cheap if, through these bitter experi- ences and this new awakening, the great empire shall be put upon the higher pathway of wiser counsels and liberal advancement. The history of Russia is a varied story. It is illuminated with the progressive measures of the great Emancipator. It is darkened with the shadows of Kishinev and the Finnish oppression. The far-reaching reforms which are now dawning on the nation give promise of a new and more hopeful era. ”

“ Russia is engaged at this hour in a foreign war which has thus far been full of surprises and disasters, and she is at the same time in the throes of a domestic agitation which, let us hope, will lead to a great advance for the Empire. ”

“ Russia presents a curious paradox. Theoretically it combines the most extreme autocracy with the most extreme democracy. The great body of the people are divided and organized into "mirs," or communes. The mir is what we would call the township organ- ization. Land is held in common and is apportioned for cultivation among the families of the mir according to their respective needs. The communal assembly makes the apportionment and the periodical redistributions ”

“ The whole fabric of society, it must also be borne in mind, rests upon the church which is the very foundation of the state and to which in its ritual and observances all, from the Czar to the humblest moujik, are supremely devoted. The first need of the people is economic improvement and their re- lease from the harsh conditions of their restricted communal life. The report of Witte on the elevation of the peasant contemplates some reconstruction of the mir and the opening of broader callings and opportunities to those who are prac- tically bound to the soil. ”

“ Russia has prodigious resources and almost un- limited power, if it can be made avail- able. She has the giant's strength, but the giant's strength enfeebled by a vicious system and an improvident sloth. ”

“ His successor, de Witte, who was so long the master spirit of the Russian government, who then fell into disfavor, and who in the present crisis appears to be again rising into favor and ascendancy, is no less a man of the people. ”

“ The weakness of the Russian system is in the back- wardness of agriculture. The agricult- urists constitute 78 per cent of the population, and for the most part are surrounded by the most unfortunate conditions. Their implements are of the most primitive character. The crop yield per cultivated dessiatin is lower than in any other country in Europe. Belgium, which ranks first, produces an average of 128.5 poods of grain per des siatin, a pood being equal to 36 pounds, while the Russian average is only 38.8 poods. ”

“ But there are obvious proprieties which follow the minister even in retire- ment ; yet while they should be re- spected, there is still large room for free expression. I did not hesitate to say in St Petersburg, looking out from the Foreign Office upon the broad Alexan- der Place, from the center of which rises the stately and splendid memorial shaft to the first Alexander, that there were things in Russia which we of the United States, in the best spirit of sin- cere friendship, could wish otherwise, and I do not hesitate to say it here. Russia does not resent honest criticism. ”

“ A large proportion of the English people, many of whom in Lancashire deeply suffered on account of our war and the deprivation of cotton, were right in their instincts. The great and good Queen was our steadfast friend. ”

“ He made his first mark as a subordinate railway official, and was rapidly promoted until he became the most powerful minister of the empire. Many others might be named to illustrate the same truth of high individual advance- ment without title or favor and solely on merit. Russia has ministers, but no ministry. There is no united, coher- ent, responsible governing body. Each minister acts only for himself and is re- sponsible only to the Emperor. Often- times ministers antagonize and intrigue against each other. Witte and Plehve were at swords' points. ”

“ She only asks — and does she not rightly ask ? — that judgment shall be pronounced in good faith, and with an honest purpose to be fair. She is often silent when in justice to herself she ought to speak. ”

“ Yet it often hap- pens that in a considerable number of provinces the harvest is far less than even this meager requirement. The result is that Russia is frequently af- flicted with famines, that the consump- tion of bread has fallen off about 70 per cent, and that the number rejected from the military service through physical disqualification has increased 14 per cent within seven years. During the great famine of 1891, which extended over ten provinces, more than a million horses perished, leaving many of the peasants with no means of cultivating the land. ”

“ On the other hand it has been delineated in some quarters as a benign and patriarchal system, where the sole thought of the Little Father is the welfare of the millions of his people, and where the acknowledged grace of the throne is accepted as the proof of the general practice. It is easy to produce striking effects with strong pigments. ”

“ Even this disparity does not indicate the full gravity of the case, for Russia produces less grain per head than is consumed per head in other countries, and at the same time she is the second grain-exporting country in the world.
This fact tells the story of her own deprivation, and it is emphasized by some particular inquiries. It is esti- mated that the people on the farms re- quire from 20 to 25 poods of grain per head for their support and that of their live stock during the year, and these figures are much below the consump- tion in other lands. ”

“ The character of autocratic rule manifestly depends very much on the character of the autocrat. It is true that in these modern days even the autocrat is largely the creature of conditions. Imperial will is molded and circumscribed by historic tendencies, by overmastering public opinion, and by the spirit of the age. ”

“ Russia has made much head- way in recent years in remedying the first defect. From 1892 to 1902 more than 17,000 miles of railroad were opened. Within the Russian Empire, not including Manchuria, 4,100 miles of railway were under construction in 1 901. With his early training, M. Witte naturally made railroad develop- ment a vital part of his great and vig- orous policy of national upbuilding — a policy which was largely instrumental in this industrial and commercial ex- pansion. ”

“ The new industrial conditions of recent years, to which reference has been made, have produced a class of workmen and artisans in the cities who are more alert than the supine peasantry and who are the source of the present discontent and uprising. ”

“ They urged that elementary education should be increased ; that zemstvos should be established in provinces where they did not exist, and made more representative, with larger powers ; that the system of village communes should be reconstructed so as to give the peasants equality with others, and that free discussion of economic questions should be allowed. ”

“ There is the intrepid courage of the heroic Stoessel and his fire-tried troops at Port Arthur, which has excited the admira- tion of the world, but there is at the same time the lack of equipment which crippled his defense. The fighting quality and the latent power are there, but reconstruction is needed to bring the fruits. ”

“ It is suggested in the observations of Prince Mestschersky, the bold and brilliant editor of the Grashdanin, of St Petersburg. Writ- ing in 1 90 1, he said: "It would be more logical for the development of mills and works to begin with the de- velopment of the people, so as to create a consumer, than to begin with the de- velopment of factories, mills, and rail- roads for a people wanting in the very first elements of prosperity. ' ' His con- ception is that the hope of Russia lies in an improved condition and advance- ment of the peasantry. ”

“ The ultimate elective bodies are not large in proportion to the total population, but they are distributed among peasants, individual landholders, merchants, nobles, and urban electors. In 361 district assemblies, with 13,196 members, 38 per cent were peasants, 35 per cent nobles, 15 per cent merchants, and the remainder officials or priests. The provincial assemblies or zemstvos have over 1,200 members in all, and they operate chiefly through executive committees, of which the nobles consti- tute far the larger proportion. ”

“ In considering the character, trend, and methods of these changes the pecu- liar conditions of Russia must ever be re- membered. Whatever advance has been made there upto this time has come from the top and not from the bottom. The great mass of the people are simple, illiterate, and inert. ”

“ These demands are unprecedented in Russia, and their concession would in- augurate a revolutionary change. It was not to be expected that they would all be granted at once. The ukase which the Czar has issued in response to this call marks a large advance. It charges the Council of Ministers with the duty of framing measures to secure equal rights to the peasants ; to safe- guard law and unify judicial procedure for the protection of personal rights ; to assure a more independent and complete administration of local affairs through local institutions ”

“ It is disorganized and dis- cordant. Sometimes an individual min- ister shows tremendous energy in the administration of his department, but the coordinated work which gives united force and strength is missing. ”