Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-17
THE LAND OF THE CHAR.
It Is Not Place Ruled by a Tyrant and oz|
 Country Has No Nihilists. A

Country Has No Nihilists. ~ Dr. J. M. Crawford, who, as stated in yesterdays Tribune, has returned from abroad. after an absence of six years, during five of which he was consul-gen- eral to St Petersburg, was found at his home on Walnut Hills last night by, aI Tribune man, and for several hours he talked most interestingly of his expe- rience and observations in the land of the cZar and other European countries. Of course. the most of his time was spent Tn Russia, and he has a wonderful fund of information in regard to the country about which there seems to be so little known.
 To read George Kennan's articles and then talk to pr. Crawford is calculated to get one puzzled. The nihilists, says the doctor, are something unknown to Rus sia, and there is nothing more ridiculous than the stories that the late czar spent most of his time in lodging assassins. Russia is country that has been mis- represented by the magazines and news papers generally, and is quite different from the idea one gets of 1t from read ing the stories of eruelties practieed on political prisoners. The stories that have been printed about the czar taking such precautions against assassination are. he says, pure fiction.
 Dr. Crawford was at the funeral of Alexander, and also at the wedding of the present czar, and said he: You can un- derStand how ridiculous these stories of fear of assassination are when I tell you that the czar ordered that on his we'd ding day there should be no policemen on duty, and that for that day the people were allowed to do as they chose. When the wedding procession came along there were no lines established to keep back the populace who flocked to see the efn- peror and his bride, and pushed up un- til the horses in the imperial carriage had to literally push their way slowly through the mass of humanity. I find that the impression prevails that the Russian character is fierce, rough and with an instinct to be cruel. There is nothing further from the truth. l never knew a race so universally kind, good natured and gentle. With them the bursts of anger and wrath such as we see here every day. are almost un- known"
 Are the stories told in Kennan's arti- cles true?" was asked him.
 Well they are true, but they convey a false impression For instance, Ken nan asys that the prisoners were given nothing but black bread and cabbage soup. Now. let me tell you what l know about black bread in Russia. It and the cabbage soup are the national diet of the poorer classes. They never have any thing in the way of meat except piece of bacon once in a while, and a heartier, healthier race does not exist. For some time our servants kept leaving us and it took some time to discover that the reason they did not stay was because they wanted black bread and we had white bread. They complained that our food was not good, and when we said that they were fed as well as we were they replied yes, but that was rich peo- ple's food and working people could not perform their labor on such delicate diet
 MT. Hayward, who was abroad with Dr. Crawford, on one occasion accompa- nied him on a visit to prison where they offered the prisoners both black and white bread, and in every case the prisoner chose the black.
 The third section," of which so much has been written, does not exist, Dr. Crawford says, and the stories about people being taken from their homes in the night and started to Siberia for some political offense are pure fabrications
 "They have a censor of the press there, do they not?" was asked him.
 "Yes, and l think it would be a good thing if they had an institution like that in this country. In Russia the press cannot print any stories that in volve the privacy of the home For in stance, if bit of domestic infelicity occurs, there is nothing said in the pa pers about it, and all the laws that compel the exclusion of certain kinds of matter is for the good of society. It is not the tyrannical thing that it is popu- larly supposed to be. for if they violate any of the rules about what they shall publish they are given several warnings before their paper is suspended"
 Did you ever read My Official Wife?'" was asked.
 Yes. and the man who wrote it did not know the geography of St. Peters burg The doctor says that Col. Wii- liam Savage has apparently never been in Russia, for he goes into details about things all of which are so far from cor rect that, to one who has been there, they are ridicuous.
 Dr. Crawfords little son was born in Finland, and was the first American who ever was born there. The little chap talks in four or five languages and is now starting to learn English. He has a native Russian nurse, and to her he jab- bers in infantile Russian The doctor has returned permanently, and will prob- ably go into the practice of medicine again in this city.-Cincinnat Tribune.