Omaha daily bee., 1901-01-19
OTHER LANDS THAN ouRs.

Tor economic opportunities in China. Rus
sia has been consolidating her power in
northern Asia since the days when Ivan
the Terrible was proclaimed Lord OF
Siberia" in 1868. and Nermak, the Cossack
| chief received the aid of Russian troops
in his effort to consolidate his power on the
steppes. The Russians reached the Indian
ocean in 1899, but only became menace
to British power in India during the latter
| half Of the nineteenth century. Gradually,
with the relentless and irresistible march
OF the glacier. Russian authority was ex
tended over the wild tribes OF central Asia
until Tashkent became the capital of Rus
sian Turkestan in 1866, the khan of Box
hara acknowledged Russian power in 1868
and the khan OF Khiva accepted Russian
| protection in 1873. 1t was in vain that
English travellers and thinkers warned the
| British people about 1876 that Russia was
| ''at the gates OF Herat." Herat is now
practically under Russian control. and by
recent bold move in Persia, the British
bondholders have been handed their money
and practically told to take themselv es
out of Persia. Russia has furnished the
money to pay them off by the creation OF
n Russian bank. and her control over the
economic and political future of Persia
has been clinched by the provision that the
loan shall be secured by the pledge OF the
Persian customs receipts.
Kaiser Wilhelms enlarged canal bill as
intr roduced in the lower house of the Prus-
sian Diet provides not only for the Mid
land or Rhine Blbe canal, but for ship
channel from Stettn to Berlin. for the
Oder tidewater canal and the canalization
and other improvements in navigation of
four other rivers The plan will require
for its execution an outlay OF 3Si 900 900
marks-a stupendous sum. to be sure, but
when reduced to dollars II will appear to
be less than half the estimated cost of
the Nicaragua canal project The Prus-
star system provides network of wster
ways binding together all the Industrial
and agricultural centers Of Germany from
the confines of Russia to the foot of the
Alps and by means OF the Main Danube
canal. with Austria Hungary, the Balkan
states and the Black sea Our canal would
merely open way into that vast waste Of
water, the Pacific ocean, whose nearest
shore lies half way around the world.
When last summer It was expected that
the shah of Persia would visit London a
memorial was drawn up by prominent Ar
me mans in England, which. after alludng
In terms of praise to the father of the
present shah, begged that the Armenians
in Persia might not only be sustained
and encouraged by the knowledge of the
security OF their possessions. but also re-
ceive adequate encouragement in all their
educational, commercial and industrial en-
terprises. as Persian subjects"
When II became known that the shah
would not visit London the memorial was
conveyed to ostend. through the Persian
Dri.n ,A tlar
presented to his majesty. On his way
home to Persia the shah visited the sultan
of Turkey and while in Constantinople took
occasion to send a most gracious message
to the Armenian patriarch there. 1t is
now learned from Persia that one Of the
first acts of Muzaffer- -edDin on reaching
Tabriz has been to issue orders to the gov
errors of Persian provinces commanding
them to give every facility to his Arme-
nian subjects for opening and establishing
schools. for delivering public addresses and
lectures on all educational matters and for
forming or founding national and CONNER
cial societies without being obliged on
each occasion to make formal application
to the central government at Teheran for
permission.
While the papers OF Vienna and St.
spective governments that the Austro-
Hungarian Russian Intervention has pre-
vented collision between Roumania,
Servia and Bulgaria, or an armed union Of
two of these states against Turkey, the
Macedonian committee through its Paris
agents is publishing accounts OF increas-
ing lawlessness in the Balkans themselves,
which is attributed particularly in Mace
donia, to the encouragement that the porte
has received from the attitude of Austria
Hungary and Russia. Moreover, it is al
legged that the sultan fully believes that
the Cretan assembly, ignoring the wish Of
the powers, will presently vote for the
incorporation of Crete with Greece, when
he can with less regard for consequences
infict severe punishment upon the Greeks
and Armenans within the dominions OF
the porte. To place these people in the
proper state of revolt is said to be the
object of the recent massacres in Albania
, and Armenia In the former, 1t Is authori-
tatively stated from Constantinople one
| Mussulman chief alone, carrying on opera
, tions where 1t was said an insurrection
was meditated, put to death 200 Chris
tians. Then, again, notwithstanding the
energetic remonstrances of both Austrian
and Russian diplomacy, there have been
several hundred assassinations in Mace
, donia. In the small towns like Vodena
Coumentza and even in the neighborhood
, of Salonika, Bulgarian ruffians who are
) said to be in the pay of the Turkish Of
, fcals rob and assault respectable Greek
merchants or levy blackmai upon them
, for which there Is no redress from the
Turkish authorities. In Athens 1t is openly
charged that the Indifference manifest ed
by the Ottomans in power is directly due
to desire on the part OF the sultan to
convince The Greeks that the state of Mace
donia Is such that in case OF annexation
, of Crete an insurrection with fatal re-
. suits for the Greek population would be
inevitable.
Z The first Russian consul in India has Just
) been formally recognized by Great Britain
at Bombay, and the event is discussed as
{ one OF great significance and importance by
the st. Petersburg newspapers. The new
n officer is NJ KLEIN, who has distinguished
e himself among the many able consular
h agents in the Russian service, as an au-
G thority on almost every subject connec TED
= with Central Asia. In those remote re-
gions he has passed almost the whole OF his
8 official existence, first as secretary to th'
[ Russian political agent at Bokhara, anc
@ subsequently as agent OF the ministry fol
l. foreign affairs attached to the governor o.
4 the Transcaspian, General Kouropatkin, Wit