Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-11

Monguls and Vandals, passed into Italy.
Hungary, Germany, and by the Darril pass,
over the Caucasus into Asia Minor. Some
remained. ali left their impress upon Rus
STA. We do not know who were the abor-
igines of Russia, but the Aryan or Sla-
vonian element is today predominant there.
as well as in other parts of Europe. The
Slavonians We're the last of the Aryans to
leave their ancestral home for Russia. 1t
seems evident that in the fifth and sixth
centuries they occupied a small region in
what is now called Little Russia. the germ
OF the great Russian empire. The AryanS
coming so late they did from the Orient
have preserved largely their oriental char
acteristics. and afterward mingling init
mately with the Mongolans of Russia
these qualities have been intensified. The
AEongolian blood and type Of mind have.
therefore, largely recOnQuered the Russian
from the Aryan race
Difference of race, and still more. diff
ference of religion, have prevented the
mingling o. these various races. and con-
tinue a great obstacle to their elevation
and civilization. Besides the races named
there are Mongolians. Armenians, Poles.
Semites, Georgians and Turks. in all.
thirty different races, with Greek Catholic,
Shumanistic. Buddhist. Jewish and Mo-
hammedan, dissenters of all kinds and pagan
religions. Although the Tartar ruled for
time, yet here as in all other parts of
Europe, the Aryan race has prevailed-they
have forced their way into northern and
central Asia.
Russia. with a population Of nearly So
only fifteen inhabitants to the square kilo-
meter. while Germany has seventy-eight
and England one hundr ID and fourteen.
The population is increasing at more
rapid rate than in either of these coun-
tries, though nne-tenths of the people are
peasants or nomads only one-tenth living
in towns and cities. while in the United
States over three-tenths live in towns and
cities. Two-thirds of the population live
around Moscow and Kief. occupying only
one-quarter part of Russia.
IN the black zone and the agricultural
steppe dwell the Great and Little Russians,
They comprise two-thirds of the inhabit-
ants of Russia all with oriental charac-
teristics and habits. A large proportion of
the peasants were formerly serfs, belong
ing either to the government or the MOBILES
but inseparable from the land. In 1861 they
ere partially enfranchised. Their educa-
ton has been neglected; their improve
ment has been very slow. The highly civil
lied man makes nature subordinate to his
convenience and necessities. but in uncivil-
lied nations, and such Is Russia. nature
dominates, and man becomes subject to
it's intlu ,nces.
'Hn Russia there are only two seasons.
summer and winter. During the long arc
tic winter the people are without occupa-
| ton, save the tending of focks morning
and night.
THE days are short and sunless, the
nights Lighthouses without ventilation.
hot, close. the air bad. They wear the
same clothes night and day: sleep all to-
gether on the large stoves; battle and wash
only on Sundays before church. They lead
idle, HstleSs lives in winter. and when win
ter ends are little inclined to work. Then
follow the long days of summer. when the
heat is fully as enervating as the bitter
cold. They have neither mental nor bodily
activity: become heavy and lethargic. For
| generations their food has been meager, OF
| the poorest kind. and almost entirely I'M
| suitable to the climate. Those who sur
| vive to. mature age have great power of
| endurance. often becoming stolid, stub
| bornsh. a passive courage resignat ton.
! They have little imagination, and there
| FORE no inventive faculty.
| Describing the government of Russia,
| Mr.. Hubbard said there are ranks of no
| bility, but. unlike those Of western Europe,
the mobiles have no political power or right
equal rank, SO that mobiles are found among
the droshky drivers of ST. Petersburg.
Their influence depends solely on their
| wealth and personal character.
Communal Government.
In Russia the village community called
the mir has been persistent. and exists to-
! dsy in a form not widely different from
that which prevailed in ancient Arya. and
| ell over Europe and Asia All the land is
held by the mir. and is divided into three
portions, arabic. waste and tillage The
| homes are all in the village. the fields be-
Ling cut into long, narrow strips, which are
| periodically divided among the families. so
| that each family shall have one or more
! strips according to it's size and numbers.
| which are redistributed every few years.
| Nearly all the women and about half the
men are engaged in their cultivation. The
| larger portion of their property is held in
| &C mnon. All the affairs and business or
| the mir are regulated in a council CON
Ecsed of the adult men and women, when
| he ads of family, OF the community. This
| village assembly has power to try and pun
ish criminals, and can even send them to
| Siberia 1t is the only government of
which the vast majority of Russians have
any experience. or in which they have any
| interest.
| The peasant being allowed to govern the
world in which he lives, does not concern
himself with that which Is unseen and far
avay The mir, with the exception of COM
munity of property and judicial authority,
| is the counterpart of the New England
! town meeting. the corner stone OF our re-
publican institutions. The brightest men
! leave the commune snd go to the cities to
] work as artisans. They must. however,
| first obtain permission from The mir. and
| return to 1t when ordered, and also send a
| Fart of their earnings to the village treas
| ury. or forfeit all their hereditary rights
and all connection with their ancestral
home and kindred.
No Nntionul Educational System.
There has never been any national sys-
TEN of education in Russia. There are
eight universities in Russia. with between
| ten and twelve thousand students, who
are mostly from poor families and often
support themselves by teaching. They
strongly desire to reform the government
and improve the people. but knowing no
other way save through nihiltsm. they
| have converted the universities into hotbeds
of nihilism. The government has conse-
quently subjected the students to very
| strict regulations, not only in their study,
but in their life outside as well as within
the university. the tendency being to re-
| strict instruction and coltine it to specified
| lines.
| There are also secondary common schools
and gymlasuns, but only 100000 scholars
| in place of 1900, 900 who would be there
If as large proportion attended school as
Do In Germany. OF every ten Russian
men two may be able to read, but of ever,
| ten Russian women hardly one. As late
a, 1900 on1,- coon nn0 NO, o,,ronr.,te5 ~,