The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-17
Is IMAM A fAklR2

is KEENAN, A fAKlR2
While monster petitions are being
circulated i'm the United states and
England for presentation to the car,
praying him to investigate the condi-
ton of the exiles i'm Siberia with a view
to its ameliOration, there arises n ii.
w. Hitler, am American by birth but
for twenty-three years a resident Of
Russia, who declares in the New York
Tribune that the sympathy for the 81
berian prisoners is misplaced; thai
they are treated with kindness and con-
s~ideration; that on the whole their lot
is far from being an unhappy one: that
the car himself is a man of progress,
philanthropy and compassion, inspired
with a pure, true love for his subjects
and ever anxious for their welfare:
that finally Russia is grossly misunder-
stood by the other nations of the world,
particularly the United States.
Mr.. Hitler says he has Travelled
through Siberia and found it a fertile
and agreeable country. People have
chosen it voluntarily as their perma-
nent home. Existence there is not
only tolerable, it is enjoyable. Danish
ment to Siberia is regarded in Russia
itself as a very mild and indeed rather
a pleasurable punishment. The "Si-
berian horrors" with which the Ameri-
can newspapers are filled are largely
mythical. by nature the Russian is
not cruel: on the contrary he is one of
the kindest and best-hearted of men
imaginable. If mor stringent meas
ures have sometimes become a neces
sity, il is because the criminals have
abused their too lenient treatment I'M
ill mild measures have lost their Ell.
cacy.
Mr.. Hitler goes on in this
strain indefinitely, slyly striving
all the time to convey the impression
that the outside world, but America
especially. is being worked by the
Nihilists of Russia or their friends.
lie is filled with horror and disgust for
the Nihillsts and all their ways:
The methods they pursue and the means they
adopt are wrong. I have never known one who
could point 10 any good results which the Mill
istic proIlgandism has brought about. The
leaders ~ the movement do not seek proselytes
among men Of mature years and cool Judgment.
Such men do not form the mass of their organi-
lation. MOI! They send their cmissaries into
the hest families of the empire, and seduce their
girls and boys into joining their ranks. Thons.
ands ~ good families of the empire have reason
Ia he nllcd with lasting bitterness against them
because of this. The feelings and passions of
the young are played upon. But such proselytes.
many ~ whom I have questioned. have no idea
~ the fundamental tcnets ~ their organization.
! could respect them, as could All good Russians,
II they sought their converts among the mature.
Boys and girls 40 not accomplish reforms: many
~ them live Ia rcr"ni, however, their youthful
follies.
II will easily be- seen that this Mr..
Hitler is undertaking to counteract the
influence of one in whom the Ameri-
cam have placed most implicit conf
dence, their " George I. KEENAN,. IL
is a big contract, and il is more than
doubtful whether he will succeed. No
one who has heard Mr. KEENAN, lecture,
or read his graphic narratives of his
w experiences and observations in
the benighted country of the car, will
readily believe that he is a fakir of the
first magnitude. The air of truth and
conviction with which he speaks can
not well be simulated. TN the other
hand, IL looks very much as ii this new
defender of Siberia was either ami
mated by motives of notoriety or was
e~ndeayoring To curry favor with the
Russian government for purposes of
his own.