The Osceola times., 1880-01-17
4 PiCTt RE or LIFE IN RUSSIA.
The Articie for Printing which the Colo.
WAS Suspendsd.


WAS Suspended.
Sl. Petors5urg Correspondence OF the lOninn
1mCs.
The diarist deyotes his first entry to
an outburst of complaint regarding the
enormous rise in the prices Of all the
neccssaries of life. lie especially refers
to the enhanced price of grain in the
south of Russia. and to the dearncss
also of wood. The masses have now to
consume straw in their stoves, and even
this fuel has risen in price from 30 ko-
peks to rouble and 20 kopeks per
pound. The North fares no better than
the South, for there, too. the cost OF
bread has risen, in less than two years,
70 per cent, and salt 30 per cent. The
Russian moujik eats no more meat now
than he did formerly. The cattle plague
is no new thing in Russia; meat can be
transported at much cheaper rates than
before, and yet this article of commerce
continues to rise in value. Life has be-
come dearer, and still people do not
value their lives any more. Nothing
but suicides from drowning, shooting or
from the knife are reported from every
side. Even the tallow candle has be-
come dearer. On Tuesday, agriculture
is the butt Of the diarist sarcasm. More
than year ago new statutes were es-
tablished for the lower agricultural
schools, but, as usual, they never emery.
ed from the region of project and the
ory. Materials enough were amassed
by the commission 10 convince q blind
man Of the necessity OF edurating the
agricultural classes Of Russia. But this
necessity was no novel idea. The com
mission also believes that il is also pos
sible to teach agriculture in our national
schools, but u teacher of "A 81. Peters
burg school who once took il into his
head to instruct his scholars in natural
history brought down upon his head the
wrath of the press and the Territorial
Assembly. 1t is also proposed to teach
trades in national schools. A popula-
tion, for example. is engaged in the iron
industry, and carpentry is made COM
pulsory in the schools, although there
is not tree nor a bush within miles of
the settlement. at is easy TO talk about
the introduction Of scientific agricul-
ture among the Russian rural popula-
ton. and of technical knowledge into
the national schools, but by whom is it
To De done? By the Zcms,row? These
institutions year ago spent vast sums
of money for this purpose without any
result OF course 1t cannot he done all
at once, BY degrees we shall succeed
in teaching in our schools those
trades and industries by which the
local inhabitants exist; in the course
of another ten years we may begin on
agricultural instruction, and then not all
at once. For t,Ie sake of conformity We
can commence educating the population
in agriculture in those districts where
there is not anacre of ground to plough"
The GOlOs next refers to the dishonesty
practiced in the pccuniary concerns OF
the commune authorities. The press
almost entirety ignores the malpractlces
and emhezzlements which are 80 com
mon in the rural commune. If all the
deficits disclosed by the occasional rev
sion of communal funds were reckoned
up they would amount 10 millions.
Threats of torture have been used in
certain districts as arguments for the
conversion of Stundists TO orthodoxy.
Refractory members were fiogged. One
woman, named Pruskowia Shimenko,
was ilosged to within short chance OF
her life, as testified by medical evidence.
No feeling was stirred in the breasts of
any of the 1000 witnesses of this bar
barous scene, nor even when the poor
woman cried out in pain, Lord, forgive
/ them, for they know not what they do. y
/ This castigation was evidently premedi
tated. for many of the spectators were
persons who had purposely come from
/ long distances. Nineteen years will
soon have passed since the emancipation
of the seris, and during all this time the
whip and stick have not disappeared
| from the self-administration Of the
peasant. Such barbarism does not har-
monize with the respect due TO the indi-
| vidual man. What do We see? The
| hagelation of Stundists, the burning OF
witches, the murder of dumb man sus-
pected of spreading rindorpest, the
| drowning Of man who in his cup,
/ threatened 10 burn down village. This
| is the way in which the commune ex'
| ercises its authority over the individual
/ An elder directed the auto dd f. of q
witch, and an elder the cruel treatment
| of the Stundis;s Who holds the whiT
more tenaciously in their hands than
the elders Of the village communes.
The first step in peasant reform is to
destroy this arbitrary power over indi'
viduals.