Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-22

~, lOS4-ElGdIE IA
is 'admonished" by the police. II the gov
eminent neglects to provide him with edu-
cational facilities and he undo takes to open
In his native village a small primary school,
where his own and his neighbors' children
can learn to read and write, he is at once
stopped by his bureaucratic guardians and
severely reprimanded for daring to act in
such a matter without authority.
If he desires to counteract the evil in
fuence of the kabak, or village drinking
saloon, by establishing a small village IL
Drary, he must first get special permission
and must then confine himself almost
wholly in his selection OF books to literatur
OF moral and religious character which
has been approved by the ecclesiastical as
Well as the civil censorship, and which is
ABOUT as stimulating and nourishing to the
mlno IS an infusion of bran in holy water
would be to the body. If an educated young
peasant returns from the university to his
native village and wishes to furnish his less
IoTturate friends and acquaintance with
ratlonal amusement and instruction by Civ
ing Tree public readings from popular au-
thors with magic lantern illustrations he
.hust hrst get certificate of political
trustworthiness" from the curator of the
educational district then obtain the permits
slon OF the local ecclesiastical authorities
ana the governor of the province and final
~ give ms entertainment under the super
vision of the police. In short there is hard
~ field of human activity in which the
RUSSIAN peasant can escape from the con-
troll OF his bureaucratic nurses and do as
ne would like to do. He is not supposed 10
nave ability enough to plan auythirg for
nlmself. and is officially given credit for
even less Intelligence than that shown by a
squirrel. The latter, without instruction or
n niar, t,, stores up food in time of
piehty 10 meet his wants in time of need
Dct the peasant, in the opinion of the gov
erniheat has not sense enough to initiate
.he SQUIRREL or the bee. and must therefore.
quantity of grain into a public storehonsa
uhder the supervision of officials in order
tnat ne may not starve to death as a result
VI MS own improvidence and imbecility.
frohfbited From Selling Hay.
III recent number of well-known st.
petersburg journal there is published a cir
cular letter from the governor of a Russian
province to the police of the rural districts.
directing them to take such steps as may
be necessary to prevent the peasant farmers
from selling their hay. The peasants, the
governor says. are apt to dispose of their
nay in the fall at a low price in order to
ouy with the proceeds certain useless arti-
cies of luxury and display" and unless they
are prevented from SO doing they are likely
10 part with fodder which they will after
ward need for the subsistence of their cat
Tie. Inc governor further suggests that in
iocahtleS where hay IS already scarce the
peasants be directed to pile what they have
OF 1t with straw, in alternate layers $50
that the straw may acquire by contact the
aroma, and to some extent the taste Of the
hay" and that the cattle NAV be in
duced to eat II.
Experience has shown" the governor
says IN conclusion. that the peasant farmer
needs careful guardianship. as well as pro-
lection from his weakness for drink and his
thoughtless prodigallty. All officials there
fore. who have direct authority over hin,
must constantly remind him that he has
oeen gwen an allotment of land solely in
orde. that he may live and pay his taxes
ana that the product of such land must be
ceVoted TO these purposes exclusively"
Serfs of the Crown.
IL would be hard to find a more apt Illus
tration Of the attitude of the government
toward the governed than that furnished by
this typical letter of instruction The peas
ant In the view of the Official is not an
ehfranchised citizen, born with right to
life. liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
He is merely a serf OF the crown who has
Teen given an allotment of land in order
that he may live and pay taxes" and who
must be prevented. by careful guardianship
fiom pursuing happiness in any way thai
would tend to impair his tax-paying power
or his value as domestic animal How
careful the 'guardianship' of the local
ofnciais Is We may infer from the fact that
IL extends even to the disposal of the meas
ants surplus product and TO such matters
OF domestic economy as the best means of
giving To dry straw the aroma and the taste
or nay. 1t Is vain, of course, to expect that
peasant farmers who are subjected TO this
Nexaaous system of bureaucratic control
VIII ever become either enterprisfng or pros
porous. A man quickly loses interest in
ms work II he Is not allowed to plan IL
ana the work itself soon becomes unproduc-
i've III directed by inexperienced and in
competent overseers. Russian officials as
class are not trained economists-they are
not even well-educated men. In the prov
ince OF Samara only 3 per cent of the off,
Gals appointed by the ministry of the in
terror GIL out Of 595) have had a liberal
education. ard in the province of Wilma
OILY z IL per cent of the police have had
even a common school training To suppose
that SUCH men are more capable of manage
ing the peasants business than the peasant
Is OF managing his own business is. to saw
the least, unreasonable, and to intrust such
men with discretionary controlling mower
owe the hves and the activities or SpW0.-
w OF people lis to discourage individual
enterprise, hamper individual effort and de-
prive the empire of half its productive
force.
Greater Individual Liberty Needed.
From the facts above set forth with re-
gard to the economic condition Of the Rus
sian peasant and the vexatious and Grip
ping restraint to which he is subjected bv
MS bureaucratic guardians it must, think.
be evident that one of the first and most
urgent OF the reforms needed in Russia is
a reform In the direction Of greater indi-
vidual liberty. If the government will
abolish its oppressive and humiliating pass
port system, abandon it's policy of bureau
cratic guardianship and control make the
village communes free in fact as they are
IN theory, leave the management Of local
affairs to the provincial and cautonal as
semblies, and encourage individual enter
prise and local public spirit instead of sys
tematically discouraging and repressing
them. 1t Will remove one of the causes of
national impoverishment and carry forward
the great work which the czar-iiberator
began of Transforming horde of ignorant.
helpless and dependent serfs into a nation
OF capable, energetic, self-respecting and
self-reliant citizens
GEORGE KEENAN,.
Baldeck, Nova Scotia