Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-04-14

o6K bO*9Qe cnukCus AetS4I
be 1or 1 n1omxnt itaken into account
whatythis involves. The tchin q ON
ciaI section, b the largest professional
class in the country. It numbers
many millions. Everybody hungers to
become a tchinoyink of some grade or
other. But all OF this vast number are
orthodox, excepting under some privi-
legged exemption. The weekly offering
to the church never falls It is contri-
buted by the Car. by every noble, eve
ry enlisted and soldier, and by every
individual employed in any capacity
whatever. Besides this is of course to
be reckoned the stream of treasure
poured in daily by all other classes, in
Guiding the rarest maujik. The reye-
u from holy candles alone amounts
to fabulous sums.
h Go into any of the ~cathedrals, such
Is st. 1~saac's, OF the Kazansky at ST.
Petersburg or the wonderful new
church of the Savior at Moscow or the
convent cathedral al the Holy Troitsa,
on New Years day or on Easter Sun
day. There may be witnessed a sight
which is repeated in greater or less
measur all over the land. A great
cloth is spread neal the altar. Rich
and poor come by thousands and de-
posit before the "Ikona," or sacred
pictures, their most cherished trea-
sures. Gold. silver, copper copecks,
paper money, diamonds, rubies, tur-
qouises and pearls are promiseuously
heaped together till the cloth is hidden
and cannot possibly folded together.
On the great feast days the Russians
yield to a perfect mania for surrender
ing their wealth to the church. They
are the most ardent. generous, reli-
gious, and excitable people on earth.
These attributes of character are very
mixed, and morality is not at all a
fetch, neither is sobriety, but among
the outward forms of their religious
O~bseryances the conservation of their
goods to the church finds a most con-
spicuous place.
Church and State Unite. to Hoard.
One of the chief functions of the
Russian church, as the colleague of the
council of the state, is to collect and
conserve the most sacred fund of the
empire. 1t is just this function which
gives as much Importance to NJ. Po-
~biedonostsef, the p~rocurator OF the
Holy synod and Minister of Religion,
as to NJ. de Witte, the Minister of FL
nance. 1t must to these and other high
funetionaries seem not a little humor-
Gus to hear that Russia has little mo-
ney and no credit. They know that
she can entirely dispense with credit
and that Khe has, in proposition TO her
needs, more money than any of her
~neighbors. She has the largest gold
reserve stock in the world, and year by
year she is silently adding II it. The
Russian church is both collector and
custodian of the holy gold hoard. Her
expenditure does not absorb half the
ecclesiastical All that can
But here is another source of accumu-
lation. The profits from Russian mines
pass into this fund. A very .astute
system is practiced. Russia is a far
larger gold producer than is generally
supposed, for only a part of the gold
mined is reported. 1t is secretly trans
ferred to the church fund. Ever since
the burning of Moscow during the
great N~apoleonic war the accumulation
of this secret sacred fund has been one
Of the great aims Of the Government.
The growth of church wealth and the
development of gold mining have
combined TO pile up the increment.
Both these sources of revenue are fully
under control. The world knows moth
ing about them, and it enjoys the hol-
low delusion that Russia is a poor
country.
Reserve of Four Billions.
A quarter of a century ago the re-
serve in the hands of the government
from church and mining revenues
amounted to not less than $500, 0O0,-
600. 1t cannot at this momen be less
than $500. 900, 900. The extraordinary
fact is that not a ruble was touched to
meet the expenses Of the. Crimean war.
This alone speaks volumes as to the
power of the nation to endure a ire
mendous strain on its vast resources.
How vast those resources are I was
able to imagine in some degree, when a
few years ago, / looked wonderingly at
the Pan-Russian exhibition at Mini
Novgorod. 1t must be remembered
that fully half OF Russia's consecrated
hoard comes from gold not counted in
the worlds production because secretly
treasured. Bureaucracy is in Russia a
much finer art than in the rest OF the
world. And this fine art is carried to
the cfimacteric In relation to the sa-
cred fund. The propects of further ac-
emulation are very bright. There
are in the whole amni~a 951 nlanes