The herald., 1898-10-30
AND SPECULATES REGARDING
THE FUTURE
THE INFLUENCE OF AMERICA
The Yeast Slowly Permeating the
Mass of the Greatest Political
Unit of the Earth
Associated Press Special Wire.

the captal of Russia, he remarked on ms ar
rival: L have come from country Wnlcf
lives in the past to a country whlch lNe'
in the future h.,
"Since then many years have gone pN
Spain has almost used up its past IN VAN
effort to contend with the forces OF the pres
ent. while Russia is eXhaustng the forces
of The present in order to be able to cope with
the immense possibilities of the future
Russia is the greatest aggregate OF white
men ever compacted into state unit since
the world began. The EngliSh-speak king
family alone exceeds in numbers the Rus
sian. but they know no one political aiIegi
ance such as that which binds aii the nus
slams to the throne OF Nicholas IL.
Gone hundred and twenty millions OF men
constitute a world in themselves, large
enough to absorb their energies and monop
ojize their attention The indifference OF
the Russians to what passes beyond thell
frontiers is phenomenal. Fifteen years ago
one OF the ides-de-camp OF the then I'm
peror falling into conversation with an Am
erican. asked him to what country he be-
lonSed. and was told America.
:" America. America, said the aide'de'
camp. Where is America!
An American traveller recently returned
from Siberia gvavely assured me that all
the war news he could find IN the Orenbufg
pdperS We're nflti reprints VI tNioS ''i''S ~
scribing the war which was raging between
Spain and England. The Russian peas
antrv are not apt to make fine distinctions.
Mankind for them. it has often been said,
consists only of two great dlvlslons-the
Russians. or speaking men. and the non
Russians or those who cannot speak
"The small but highly cultivated minor
ity which forms Russian society, the large
group which forms the administrations and
the officers of the army and OF the navy, are.
of course, keenly alive to the evolution CT
events in America.
fThere is NJ. Pobyedonostreff, who is uni
verssllv regarded as a kind of lay Pope and
prosecutor general throughout Russia.
No milder hammered man ever doomed a
schismastic to exile. He is keenly alive to
the American evolution, or as he thinks It,
degradation To him boss Croker is kind
OF sombre portent of the doom that awaits
parliamentarism or representative govern
ment. In his Reflections OF a Russian States
man. which has made its appearance IN
English. he expresses profound alarm at the
probable triumph Of the Roman Catholic
religion in the United States.
Prince Khilkotf pronounced Hilkof),
Minister OF War and Communications is
known az the American. He served some
years in an American railway shop and he
wears MS beard in the traditional Amen-
can fashion. His letters are written on
typewriter and he i simply burning with
desire 70 repeat in Siberia the great i'll
du<trial development that the Americans
achieved in the last fifty years west OF the
Mss sipppi.
AT the Foreign Office. Count Mouravietf,
bluff. cynical. Blsmarcklan in his ambitions,
though not in his capacity, has kept care
ful eve upon the development OF American
-l,-,
the most rigid neutrality during the war; he
had a bias in sentiment toward the United
States.
Great and growing powers have not much
sympathy with states that age monbund,
and Spain had few sympathiZers among the
Ministers of the Gar. But the Spanish
war interested them but little. 1t was
waged, as it were, in distant planet. As
tronomers might watch it. but it was not
the business of the average man.
Americans are coming well to the front
in Russia, as they are discovering more and
more what an immense and undeveloped
field the lands Of the Car offer to west
ern enterprise. Russia is but at the begin
ming of new epoch of industrial develop
ment. Before the next century closes she
hopes to have achieved a progress as great
as that which the United States has accom-
plished in the closing century. No one ade-
quately realizes the great agricultural
resources OF the immense prairie through
which the Gar and Prince Khkoff are run
ming an iron highway. 5000 miles long Am
ericans are supplying many OF the rails.
American engineers are everywhere bne
American is experimenting the construc-
ton of the new steel works near St Peters
burg. Bates dredgers are to deepen the
Nolga the Dneiper, the Don, and know not
rI he
resentative of MeSsrs. Worthington in lay
ing down POO miles OF eight-inch piping in
the lranscasplan region, through which the
Rothschlld> oil combination will pump pc
troleun by means Of four pumping stations.
all of which will be supplied with the latest
American pumps.
The other day, ! met an American geo.
loelet and engineer who. having quit the
post OF City Engineer in great American
city, has been spending the summer examin-
ing the gold MINES OF Northern Siberia and
before the day was over, stumbled ON an
other who had been reporting on conner
mines in the Kirgi steppe~ The te.tim6nq
Of these Americans Wd> favorable to the
labor value OF the Siberian Wotkmen. The
Russian Is docilc, quick to learn. and does
quite a. good work a, the skilled laborcr I'm
the States. ~ a craftsman, he /, postmaster
with his only tool. the aN. and my American
friends seemed to think that he would be-
equally deft with other tools if he had the
training of the skilled artisan.
con the other hand. another American lc
clared quite a. positively that Russian, ent
ployed III his works %ork as mechanicaIl
as the machines they tend. hey nov ermal,t
suggestion or propose an Improvement
Their minds are sluggish and they are the
most conservative Of men.
''There Is manifest in certain quarters ;
suspicion that alter time the cordiaGt,
of Russian and American friendship ma'
undergo some little change. The American
element in the country is a little yeast loav
ening the Russian mass with American
ideas Already Russian workmen here AN,
there have been heard 10 observe that the.
had no use for T,ar, a phrase which seem
almost pure American. No greater con
trast could be conceived than that betweel
The feverish, newspaper lighted. electri
driven, democracy OF the United States an,
the slow, patriarchal despotism of Russia
'Consul-General Holloway. of whom
was delighted TO receive the best accounts
subscribes regularly for nine American news
papers As the mails do not come in ever
day, 1t Is easy to imagine the peiplcXity G
the unfortunate Russian censor. who has t
examine every column ot every paper tha
passes through the post. So the censo
capitulated, and. taking refuge gladly i'm tn
rule which allows certain official pcrSonage
to receive Their papers uucen-ored. 1T wa
decreed that the ton,ul-Gcncral should re
ceive his mail intact. The incident is llu,
trative OF much. \ thousand American
scattered up and down Russia and Siberi