Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-08
THE POOR cossAcKs.
Encreasing Military Burdens Given as the Principal Cause of
 Their Decline.

A report from the Austro-Hunga- rian vice consul at Rostoff, on the Don, contains some highly interesting particulars of the inquiry instituted some time ago by means of special government commission as to the causes of the decline of the Cossack population, says Vienna correspond ent of the London Times.
 The report, which deals more par ticularly with the Cossacks of the Don, begins by stating that in the institution of the Cossacks" there is a dominating factor which distinguishes its mode of existence from that of the other elements in the empire, and which is character ized by compulsory military service in the strictest sense of the term. For the last 30 years compulsory service has been in force through out Russia, but in accordance with certain dispositions of the law a large number of young men are exempted ns being the support of their family or in consequence of trifing physical defects and on other grounds. No such favor is extended to the Cos HtAGASs WIlO dIGs 4AnGGdg ODAkGo IO equip and mount themselves at their own expense. Their rifles and am- munition are alone provided by the military administration. Every Cos sack on attaining his eighteenth year is enrolled in the Cossack army and has to take the oath of allegiance. The special privileges which the Cos sack enjoys are exemption from taxes and gifts of land, from which he makes his living and meets the cost of his equipment. The greater part of the district of the Don is, or was, the property of the Cossacks.
 Their impoverishment is due to the fact that the material burdens inn posed upon them by their military obligations have been steadily in- creasing, while there has been no cor responding augmentation in their sources of revenue. In order to pro- vide himself with the regulation equipment the young Cossack, or, more frequently, his father, has to mortgage, let or sell his property. The lessee of the land is naturally anxious to get as much as possible out of it in a short time. The conse- quence is that it. loses much of it's fertility, circumstance which has proved highly unfavorable to the rearing of cattle, and especially to horse breeding. According to mem Der of the commission of inquiry, 40 years ago the communes made no spe- cia1 distribution of the land belonging to them. The Cossaek sowed and reaped where he liked and as much as he liked, but he confined himself to the requirements of his family, the land that remained over being used for grazing purposes. He did not need money and cared nothing for it. His farm sufficed to provide for all of his personal wants and for the ne cessities of his military service. He rode his own home-bred horse, had his own homemade saddle and wore his everyday clothes. The introduc- ton of railways brought about a complete change in. the half nomadic existence of the Cossack. The silver ruble, to which he had previously been indifferent, is now everything to him, and regulates his whole life. It has upset all his traditional habits. obliging him to draw distinct line of separation between his own prop erty and that of his neighbor. The land is no longer common property, but has been divided into individual lots The effect of this change has been most prejudicial to him.
 To make matters worse, fresh calls have been made on him for his mili- tary service. He has been reduced to altogether precarious circumstances. His military obligations practically preclude his exercising any industrial pursuit outside his own commune. With regard to trade he is handi- capped by a special impost for dis Pensation from his military duties, and is thus at disadvantage in com peting with strangers. The cultiva- tion of the vine is unsatisfactory. The Cossaclxs employ the same meth ods to-day as they did century ago.
 The report gives particulars of the successive administrative experiments among the Cossacks, all of whicE have lamentably failed If a remedy is not speedily found, and if the requisite reforms are not promptly introduced, the institution of the Cossacks" in the territory of the Don cannot be maintained for any length of time. The Russian minister of war, Gen. Kuropatkin, while on a tour of inspection in the Don district last June is said to have remarked in the aorrSe of ry-iyata cor1verca flor, tbof ;,,,