Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-10
WHAT RUSSIA IS LIKE.

WHAT RUSSIA IS LIKE.
Henry NOrman's Impressions After
10000 Miles of Travel.
From the London Chronicle
After nearly 20 $50 miles in Russia-hot
and cold, river and mountain, wheat field
and cotton field, desert and steppe. empty
country and crowded town-what is the up
shot Of 1t all. what are the dominant i'm
pressions left upon ones mind?
VastneSS of area, of course, to begin with
The extent of the Russian empire is al
most terrifying. The British empire is
enormous. too. but though one may have
seen most Of 1t. the same impression is
never produced. for it Is scattered over the
world anu divided by great seas. Russia Is
a whole-you could walk from Archangel
to Kushk. and from Helsingfors to Vladi-
vostok. The great Russian mystery Is how
all this is governed from the city on the
Neva. The world has never known such
Capitalization.
Again. anu similar to this first Impression
the apparently inexhaustible variety Of
races In Central Asia you come upon a
company of recruits; they are piles and
Films. Your servant in Siberia is a Circas-
sian. The Russian officer who took Merry
Tor her is Mussulman native-Gen. Aiik
hanoff; you see-Ai Khan-off? Great Rus
slams and Little Russians, CoSsacks of the
Don and Cossacks of the Urals, Germans
and Jews and Greeks-never did so muItifa-
rious crowd bear single name.
1t is obvious, you conclude, that with so
vast and varied territory, and so huge
and ethnologicaly variegated a population,
the natural penalty of centralization-"qui
trop embraSSe NAL etreint'-muSt naturally
be in process of development. The Russian
empire from its very and promiscuIty
must be showing signs of going to pieces?
l can only say L saw no such signs. The
sacred personality of the car and the
heavy hands of the authorities in St. Pc
tersburs are just as evident and just as
inevitable on the circumference as at the
center. Russia revolveS smoothly as the
Well-welded fywheel. So long as no flaw
develops. nothing could be more impressive
or more powerful than the flywheel; if.
however, it once cracks, it goes to trag
ments, and everything around it goes to
fragments, too.
ture OF peoples. and the centraliza ton
comes the impression of strength. Russ.
Is lndescrlbabiy strong. Her strength makes
you nervous 1t is nike being in the next
field, with a golfing jacket on, to an angry
young bull. The bull does not realize that
the gate is there to stop him-therefore it
will not stop him. Russia walks roughshod
over and through obstacles that an older
more civilized. a more self-conscious
country would maneuver around for half a
century. She wants Siberia-she takes it.
she wants Central Asia-she takes it. She
wants Port Arthur-She takes 1t. She wants
Manchurla-she is taking it. A constltu-
uonai Finland is in her may-constitutiunal
flnland must become Russian province.
Money makes the mare go. and the lack of
money usually makes the would-be rider
walk afOot Not with Russia There is
an exceeding lack of cash in official Russia
one project of fresh loan after another
mas tailed Trihing sums have been byr-
rowed at high rates from American insur-
ance companies. The Trans-SiDerlan rail-
way Is eating gold. There is a devastating
coal crisis There has been series of ter
in, th1
costing an enormous sum. In view of all
TINS. you argue once more, all expensive ma
uonai enterprises must be stopped or post
pol s MOI DIT OF it. Everything pro-
pies came hOating down the Neva every
morning The Trans-Siberian railway is
neing pushed along at all speed. The army
streng thened rapidly. Railways are plann, d
In the Southern Caucasus. IL Pc. STA, in C,n-
trai ASIA. During the ten years ended in
1913 Io'Voo mics OF railway were construct
eo; Last year alone the increase was 2,u4O
miles, And everywhere that Russia rea les
sne erects handsome and permanent pui d
lhss-raAWay stations, cathedrals Admins
t dause ounces, barracks. Few provincial
towns in Europe or America have thearers
and Titiis. - ANo'sh
The strength Of Russia, again, strikes Won
In the inexhaustlble masses of her common
people. They are physically vigorous thsv
can i've on Chinaman's daily expenditure
they are wholly llIiterate, wholly suner
stltious, absolutely obedient, even to death,
10 "hat they are told is the will of the
car. If couple of hundred thousand of
them are needed to increase the army thew
weep and go. If they must be sacrificed in
shoals to win battle, we'll, they are never
missed except each group in its own viii
lage, and not much there There are two
countries in the world where flesh and blood
are cheap-China and Russia. This is the
strength of the one; 1t will be the strength
of the other If ever she is organized.
Under the fostering care of NJ. de White,
whom 1 should personally be inclined to
rank the ablest and most far-seeing
statesman now in Office in Europe, Rus
sian manufacture Is making incredible
progress. 1t has its ups and downs its fat
years and Its lean years, its crises and its
booms. but these are only serpentine move
ments, and its general advance Is unin-
terrupted. In my letter from Moscow
spoke Of the enormous dividends earned by
the cotton spinning companies there. The
iron industry has enjoyed In the past al
most equal prosperity but l think crises
in this trade is approaching now. The popu-
lation Of Russian Poland. where both manu-
facture and agriculture flourish has
doubled In forty years. In this city of War
saw the output of the factories amounts
to f6 per head Of the entire population.
learned Of half dozen industries which
promise fortune to the foreigner who first
starts them In Russia. An enormous min
ing development only awaits the moment
when foreign capitalists shall wake up to
the fact that Russia offers them by far
the most remunerative field for invest
ment. If became a capitalist the day after
1 reach home should leave for Russia the
next week. and 1t would be matter of
comparative Indifference to me whether 1
turned up in the Urals or the Caucasus or
Trans-Caspia This, then. Is another i'm
preston left upon my mind.
Finally. though I have not set about to
write of politics upon this journey. one vital
political impression has come home. with
me. Namely, that in the nature of things
there Is no immovab.e obstacle to frank,
inclusive. permanent. mutually beneficial
understanding between Great Britain and
Russia. The greatest force in Russia to-
day Is personal force which makes for
peace. II this question were approached
in the right way. that is. With full knowl-
edge and with perfect courage for any out
come. it could be settled. l am profoundly
convinced, to the infinite advantage Of both
nations and the advance of civilization.
But as the statesmen who have governed
us for the past five years have but
scanty stock OF either knowledge or cour-
age we are more likely to be wrangling
than understanding. and war is more prob
able than peace.
These are the Impressions left on the sur