Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-10-31
RusSIA,s GREAT CORN PORT.
A Commercial Mart on the Black Sea
and Its Characteristic Features.

ldc6S, upon WHICH Tue l6pSG OI years
seems to leave no trace, and the great
corr port of Russia is certainly one of
/ them, says an Odessa letter to The
New York Times Its bombardment
by the combined fleets of France and
England In 1858 might almost be con-
sidered blessing in disguise, as tend
ing to break, even if only for time,
its deadly uniformity. But even set
ting ii on fire did it no permanent
good. The streets are just as straight,
the butter colored houses just as vel
low, the dust clouds just as sitting.
The surroundings just as outrageously
modern as when l was last here In
1873. One change, indeed. is appar-
emit, viz: That the names eff the
principal street, formerly written in
Russian and Italian, now appear in
Russian alone. But in all other points
Odessa is Odessa still. The statues
after the antique" are SO long after
it that it has forgotten all about them.
The gaunt, scaggy church towers look
| like overgrown coffee pots, and all the
larger buildings are so exactly alike
that / AN in hourly expectation OF
seeing a Eewly-arrived tourist swag-
ger into the town hail or the public
library instead of mis- hotel, shouting
to the astounded custodian to "trot
out the bill of fare"
But this universal unprogresslye-
ness is merely the natural and Inc
vitable result of the peculiar tempera-
ment which characteriZes the Slavon-
ian race. Paradoxical as the assertion
may appear, there is not enough
discomfort in Russia. There is, indeed,
misery enough, and far too much; but,
instead of being thereby goaded into
advancing, the sole idea of the suffer.
ing masses is to endure doggodly until
the evil day is past, and then to jog
on in the old ruts after the old fashion.
The Finn still inhabits the same log
hut, wears the same shoes Of twisted
bark, feeds upon the same dried bread
and fish mixed with sawdust, which
served his forefathers in the days OF
Peter the Great. The Russian peasant,
in an age Of railways and telegraphs,
is still the same careless, hosplta ol e,
thievish, drunken, good humored saw
age that he was two centuries ago.
The Tarters of the Crimea, burroWlng
like rabbits amid the ruins of Cher
sonesus or in the caverns of the mixer
man valley, will tell you, as they told
Mr.. Kinglake in October, 1854, that
they are content because their race
has lived happily under the czars for
three generations. 1t is not from such
material as this that great nations are
wrought The sheepskin frocked
philosopher of the steppes, conserva-
tive by nature nd a fatalist by creed,
accepts without uurmur the coarse
fare and log built novel which served
his ancestors in the middle ages, CON
tent to remain as his father was before
him, and as his son will be after him.
To offer civilization to such race is
like reading poetry to an oyster.
But, however morally backward she
may be, the great empire he's vislbly
advanced in material sense since the
day when I saw all Moscow mourning
for "the good czarina" four years ago.
If railways are indeed, as the we'll
known saying declares, the true
civilizers of mankind, she has con
structed enough of them lately. Apart
from the famous military railroad
from the eastern shore of the Caspian
eastward across the Khiva desert
which has Just received fresh ex-
tension whereof I shall have more to
say before long-the whole southeast
of European Russia is now being
opened up in all directions. The pro
longation of the Poti-Tifiis railroad to
Baku and the new petroleum fields
has at last connected the Black Sea
with the isolated Caspian. Along the
northern slope of the Caucasus, an
other line, running southeastward
from the point where the Don pours
into the Sea of Azof, is already open
as far as Vladkavkaz, at the foot OF
the great central ridge, and working
its way slowly among the mighty
precipicts of the Darrell Pass and
Mount Kesbek to join the trans-Cau-
casian track at Tifis, and link the
border provinces with the interior of
Russia. From the Poti-Tit1is line a
branch has been run out TO Russia
new port. Batoum coded by Turkey
in 1878, and Caspian coast railroad"
is now being projected, which is to
run southwark into Persia along the
western shore of the great lakes, al
| though Persia herself seems in no
special haste to accept the benefit.
1t is an unspeakable relief % find
ones self once more, after so many
days ans ng the unintelligible dialects
of Hungary, Pennsylvania, and Rou-
mania, in a country where one can
understand every word that is said.
When I first heard Russian spoken a
few days ago at the frontier station
of Umgheni, it was like the first
glimpse of the distant mlnarets OF
Bagdad to a traveller on the endless
plains of Mcsopotamia. But to any
one who does not understand 1T, the
grand old Slovenian tongue must
have a somewhat startling sound.
The Russian word for ''Thank you" is
pronounced exactly like "Blackguard
are you," while the phrase for Pass
me the salt, W.: "Dai mnye sol, "
is, as anyone will see who pro
nounces it quickly, suggestive OF a
very unorthodox remark indeed. The
formidable length of some of the
words, too, reminds one of the king
of Kamcoia's title, which required
three men and boy to recite it.
| all L1ab L nave SdIu respecting thC
unprogressiyeness of Odessa might as
Justly be retorted by Odessa upon us,
for just at present our progress has
come to a standstill altogether. My
draft upon the Odessa bank, for some
| mysterious reason quite beyond the
comprehension of any benighted gen
tile who has not graduated upon the
stock exchange, cannot be cashcd
without some further commercial
h1cus pocus. which l have just tele-
grapbed to st. Petersburg to obtain.
Meanwhile we are stranded here, with
the satisfaction of seeing the steamer
that should have carried US to Sebas-
topol, going quietly off without us.
Nor is this all. Our total wealth In
the currency of the realm being ex-
actly 25 Russian kopecks, about Is
cents, we may well feel like embodied
frauds in one of the best hotels in
Odessa. Every dish that order makes
me feel as if l had picked some ones
pocket, and the mere presence of a
waiter acts upon my nerves very much
as that of a detective might act upon
those of suspected burglar or muir
derer.
The Tarns in the BOheriiau Forest.