The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-25
DE WHITE AND THE CAR
CLEvEREsT MAN IN RUSSIA YIELDS
A MIGHTY INFLUENCE.
Enemies Continually Plotting Against
the Great F~inancier, Who Has BE-
come More Popular than Ever.
Pail Mall Gazette.

Pail Mall Gazette.
The character of NJ. De White. the Rus
sian finance minister TO whom In a great
measure the Anglo-Russian agreement owes
its being, has for years past been the SUBJ
ject of much lively controversy, not only in
st. Petersburg, but in Paris. Vienna and
Berlin. In certain circles in St. Petersburg
in Paris. too-the mere mention of his
name is a sure signal for an outburst of in
dignant wrath; il is the fashion there 10
speak of him as a sort of Mephistopheles,
and to deplore as a national disaster his in
fluence over the Gar. His ability is not
denied: even his enemies admit that he is
probably the cleverest man in all Russia
but that he is lacking alike in principles
| and In patriotism they are firmly convinced
there is hardly a crime. indeed, of which
they do not accuse him. The policy he Is
pursuing is one fraught with disaster Tor
the whole empire. and he knows ii. they de-
clare. and they look on him as a traitor for
whom hanging on a high gibbet would be
much too merciful a fate.
But If NJ. De White has bitter enemies. ne
| also has warm friends. Although certain
| influential members of the imperial family,
together with the army and the whoie re-
| dictionary Panslavist tribe. are against MIN,
the Intelligentia to a man are on his sioe'
and so are the money-making classes. Even
in that part of the world there are. in this.
our day, progressives among the great no.
bles and high officials, too-the Grand Duke
| Constantine is at their head--and they all
swear by NJ. De Witte, holding that If Rus
STA Is to be saved he is the man to save her,
Their admiration for him is unbounded. MOI
only Is he a financier such as there Is no
other in all Europe. but he is a statesman of
the first rank, they maintain-a refoTmer py
instinct. one with a perfect genius for max
ing crooked paths straight. Were he given a
free hand In the management OF af1airs, they
say. Russia would be completely transformed
in a very short space of lime They praise
as courage what his foes style his shame
less audacity. There Is not a more honest
man in the empire, they hold. Whereas. In
the opposition camp he is regarded as the
widest and most INSCRIPTIONS OF appropria-
tors. That at the present time NJ. De White
has more power in Russia than any otner
man is a point, however. on which friends
and foes alike agree.
BOOK AGAINST DE WHITE.
A story that is curiously characteristic Of
M. De WHITE is told in connection with the
publication of N. De Cyon's IN. Witte ct
les Finances Russes,' a book which threat
L CtiCo at OhO tAhAS " SoNSS ~
in Paris. M. De Cyon. Katkof's great friend
and ally in former days. is, perhaps, the
most vindictive of the Russian ministers
many vindictive enemies, and his book is
one long, fierce attack on him and his pol
icy. What gives Importance to the work,
and renders 1t the more dangerous, is that
1t Is a direct appeal to France to refuse TO
lend money to Russia so long as NJ. De
| White is finance minister. NJ. Cyon tells
the French nation roundly that De Witte
has deceived them again and again, that he
Russia to extort money from them, betray-
ing them to Germany the while-favoring
Germany. at the expense of France. 1t
| CHANGED that just when the book was on the
point of appearing-in January. 1854 pres
idential crisis occurred in France, where
upon N, De Cyon gave orders that the
publication should be stopped, not wishing
as he said, to add to the embarrassment or
the French government by bringing the
| Franco-Russian alliance into discredit. AT
the same time he sent conidentially copies
of the book to four members OF the Rus
sian State Council, In the hope, as he some
| might fall into the hands of the Car. In
stead Of that one fell into the hands OF M.
De .Witte, who straightway sent word to It's
Paris, and at once, he, De Witte, would
| publish ii for him In st. Petersburg-aye.
and would distribute copies of it gratis all
around. He sent, too, an announcement OF
his intention to the Figaro, and the result
| was that the book was hopeiessly discredited
before ever Ii was published.
Surgius Witte-the right to the "de" was
acquired in quite recent days--is a self-made
man. He started life without either wealth
He was born in 1919, and belongs by birth
TO the lower middle class. his father. who
was of German origin, holding some minor
| years as a student at the Odessa University.
though without, as 1t seems. distinguishing
himself there in any special degree. Wnen
| state railway department, where he speedily
won the favor of his superiors by doing their
work for them. and much better than they
could do II themselves. Promotion followed
promotion, and in every office he
held he gave proof of his MAE ne
was once installed as station master in
quite an unimportant town, and before many
| months had elapsed he had transformed his
station into a model for the whole empire:
him his great chance in life, for his chiefs
in the railway departments lost their heads
completely under the strain. OF transporting
have been disaster had he not come to their
help. But come to their help he did, and
| very effectually. for long before the war was
declared he had. 1t seems, without saying a
word to any one, quietly done what his
superior ought to have ~done-that is, worked
out the details of various schemes Tor the
transport of an army against Turkey. This
proof Of forethought on his part created
quite a sensation in official circles, where
DCORl0 dIC " ~ "a
looking ahead or doing anything else on
their own Initiative. He worked night and
day while the war lasted; and when 1t came
to an end he had already made a reputation
for himself and was on the highway TO for
tune.
HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE
Meanwhile he had married a wife, one Of
| the most beautiful. fascinating women in all
Russia. one brilliantly clever. too, with keen
wits as we'll as perfect features: and the
rapidity with which he rose from post to
post must, perhaps, be ascribed in SOM de-
gree to the influence she welded. Wherever
they went she secured for him powerful
friends.
In 1879 M. De Witte was to st.
Petersburg to take part in the great rail-
way commission, and ii was he who drew
up for the commissioners their very notable
report. He was then made director of the
Southwestern Railway, and later chief of
the state railway department. In 1892 he
became minister of communications. and in
the following year he took NJ. Wyschne-
gradsky's place as finance commissioner.
Already while acting as president of the
tariff commission NJ De White had gone
out of his way to show his disapproval OF
the lines on which Russian finances were
being managed. and no sooner was he APP
pointed finance minister than, making a
clean sweep of old traditions, he undertook
the complete reorganization of the Russian
financial system. Russia must cut her coat
to suit her cloth, he argued, for an ever-re-
curing deficit was intolerable; at the same
time means must be found for adding 10
the cloth at least enough to allow of the