Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-10-17


gethsr, you can see how natural would
be the jealouslss. know Of two prom
insnt European newspapers thai keep
men on salaries 10 catch up everything
untayorable 20 Russia and magnify the
incident. And the stereotyped stories
Of siberian cruelty In one ease out Of a
hundred Is true, bat in ninety-nine out
of . hundred cases they are fabrication.
And Ia the one case. as soon a. IL Is re-
ported, the official is discharged Those
who have been sent ITO write up" Rus
STA and Siberia have done as that man
would DO who, sent % write up" New
York, should write mp the slums as a
specimen OF what New York Is. or, sent
10 write up the American congress.
shoald write up some deprayed politi-
clans as specimen OF American states
manship, or, ssnt 10 write up the SAM
tary condition of this country, should
send kodak picture of all the warts and
carbuncles he could find as specimen
of American health. l believe can re-
verse the opinion Of any man antagonis-
tic to Russia WAC will give me an honest
hearing, as my own opinions have been
reversed by what / recently saw and
heard.
A sLANDERED NATION.
Before passing 10 the other field Of
my summer observation give You one
little specimen of the falsehoods about
Russia. stood in London with my
tickets for st. Petersburg. Russia, in my
pocket. IL was two o'clock in the after
noon. and at three o'clock l was TO take
the train. An American physician came
in and said, You certainly are not going
TO Russia l said, "Why not% Then
morning paper was shown me. saying
that in ST. Petersburg there were 1000
cases of virulent cholera; the city had
been divided into hospital districts, and
the doctors were at their wits end what
TO do with the number of patients; the
population was flying in terror. 1t was
almost as bad in Moscow. While re-
hecting on these accounts two messages
against the foolhardiness of my rushing
into the presence of 1900 cases of chol-
era in one city. OF course halted. i
halted for four days. Meanwhile a tele-
gram from ST. Petersburg encouraged
me TO go. | went. There was nor a
single case of cholera either in st. Pc
tersburg or Moscow, and there was not
a single case in either city until four
weeks after left those cities. But the
continental falsehood had done its COM
mercial errand. Tens of thousands Of
Americans and Englishmen who pro-
posed to summer in Russia turned in
other directions.
At the large hotel in st. Petersburg
at which | stopped, though capable Of
holding 500 guests, and months before
every room and every hallway ana every
mattress and every pillow had been en-
gagged by telegraph by sightseers, all the
orders were cancelled, and instead of 500
guests should think about thirty, and
that including our party. And so it was
in all the hotels in northern Russia, and
the subtraction of that amount of CON-
mercial profit from those cities you may
imagine. But that whole subject of
systematic fabrication adjourn to some
other hour. Yet must tell you of a pic
ture of pathos and moral power i'm
pressed upon my mind so tina & ither
time nor eternity can efface it. ~.e ship
Leo swung TO the docks few miles be-
low st. Petersburg loaded with -four
from America. The sailors ON board
huzzaed as they came to the wharf.
From yacht on which we had descend
ed the river to the sea the prominent
citizens of st. Petersburg disembarked.
The bank was crowded by prosperous
citizens who stood on the wharf, and
back of them by poor laborers who had
come down to offer their services free of
all charge for the removal of the bread
stuffs from the ship 10 the imperial
freight train that took the -four to the
interior free of charge. While we stood
there the long freight train rumbled
down TO the docks, the locomotive and
each car decorated with a fag-the
American flag and the Russian flag al
ternating. Though flag to some eyes
is only floating rag, You ought to see
how the American flag looks 5000 miles
from home. IL looked that day like o
section of heaven let down to cheer
mortal vision. Addresses of welcome
and responses were made, and then the
work began. tho only contest being who
should lift the hardest and be most ex-
peditious. From ship to rail train.
From rail train TO kneading board.
From kneading board to oven. From
oven TO the white and quivering lips Of
the dying. Upon all who, whether by
contribution small or large, helped make
that scene possible, may there come the
benediction of him who declared, II was
hungry and We fed me-"
THE GOSPEL IN GREAT BRITAIN.
But / must also give word of report
concerning my other errand-the preach
ing of the Gospel in Great Britain last
summer. 1t was a tour | had for many
years anticipated. With the themes of
the Gospel l confronted more people
than ever before in the same length of
tiIne-multitudes after multitudes, and
beyond anything / can describe. The
throngs in all the cities were so great
that they could be controlled only by
plstoons of police. so that none should
be hurt by the pressure. each service in
doors followed by service for the wait
ing throngs outdoors. and both by hand
shakings 10 the last point Of physical en-
durance. From the dav in which ar
rived AZ noon in Liverpool, and that
night addressing two vast assemblages,