The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-10-04
RUSSIA A GREAT LAND.
Or. Horace NJ. Brown Impressed
with the Country of
tho Gear.

DR.. 81. NJ. Brown Of Milwaukee
returned home recently from a. sum
mer spent mainly in European Russia. The
doctor became so interested in the country
that he plans to return next summer and
visit other districts of it than the ones
seen the past two months. i
Russia is the greatest country in E'l-
rope,' said the doctor in conversation:
1T needs only few more, people and
more education. The land is beautiful
with unlimited resources. It is the only
country, except the United States, that
can raise everything it needs within its
own borders. It viii at some time be-
come a menace to Europe"
The Social Distinctions.
Social classes are very well defined in
thai that country " continued Dr. Brown;
and the very poor, Moujik, with the mer-
chant and manufacturing class between
them. The government is in the hands
of the mobiles. Most of the commercial
class is composed of descendants Of the
Firms, Swedes and Germans: These
and other languages are common knowl-
edge among the educated classes. | was
amused TO, see little tots al. play break
from Finnish into Swedish. from Swed-
ish to German and from German back
to Finnish again, as the various tongues
from one at play. Their elders, how
ever, do the same thing. %,u
The merchant and manufacturing
class is becoming more and more promi-
nent. Many factories are peing built,
chlnery and metal supplies. Russna has
discrimina ting starif on machinery and
that helps. They make screws, twist
drills, agricultural implements, steam and
gas engines and the like. Nobers fac
tory (the man who invented dynamite),
D1%N ~I l.
Of gas engine. st. Petersburg is having
many factories built within her borders.
Russia has thousands of her young men
! in the factories of this country learning
our ways and appliances. Russia i'm
ports most Of her textiles.
Electric Roads Service.
''Electric railroads are few in Russia.
There are none in Moscow and but one
in the suburbs Of St. Petersburg. Elec-
trIc lights are everywhere, however.
Wages in Russia are low, only from 25
to 35 cents day for the common labor
ers, and about $1.25 day for a ma
chinist.
1.-The country is backward in schools.
There are public primary schools open to
+ the children Of the poor. The children
Of the wealthy attend private schools
'gymnasiums,' or high schools and later
the universities. The poor boys and
girls have to hustle for their bread at
an early age.
Gossip is Not Common.
The home life in the Cars dominions
struck me as broader than with us. The
petty gossip which characterizes our az
fairs was happily lacking there. Per
maps this results from the rigid restrain
ing influenced exercised by the govern
ment.''
1.-The Finns," continued the Doctor.
ARE very apprehensive over their future
The difficulty now is to pacify them and
make them contented with being direct
RUSSIAN citizens. Before their Russian
lzatlon, they of course possessed autono-
my. Films in the army are now usually
stationed IN some part of the empire dis
tant from their native land"
Saw the Great Fair.
DIR. Brown declined to speak of Rus
sian politics or religion, explaining that
he intended visiting the country again.
While in ST., Petersburg he was adj
vantageously situated for observing COM
mercial and industrial conditions, He
stopped at the homes Of bankers and
merchants and got reliable information
at first hand.
Besides St. Petersburg the doctor vix-
tied Moscow and the great fair at Mini
Novgorod. The latter has declined in i'm
portance since the Trans-Siberian rail-
road carries eastern wares direct to St.
Petersburg, which formerly were brought
to the fair on camels.-Evening Wiscon-
sin. :.