Evening star., 1901-05-25
DECLINE OF THE CossACKs.
Celebrated Race is Starving Out
Through Its Military Burdens

| Vienna Correspondence London Times
report from the Austro- Hungarian
| vice consul at Rostoof, on the Don. con-
! tains some highly interesting particulars
| of the inquiry instituted some time ago
| by means of special government COM
| mission to the causes of the decline OF
| the Cossack population.
The report, which deals more particu-
! larly with the CosSacks of the Don, begins
| by stating that in the institution of the
| Ccssacks' there is dominating factor
| which distinguishes its mode of existence
| from that of the other elements in the en-
| pire, and which is characterized by compul-
sorry military service in the strctest sense
Of the term. For the last thirty years
compulsory service has been in force
throughout Russia, but in accordance with
certain dispositions of the law a large
number of young men are exempted
being the support of their family or in
consequence of trif1ing physical defects
and on other grounds. No such favor is
extended to the Cossacks, who are, indeed
obliged to equip and mount themselves at
their own expense. Their rifles and am
munition are alone provided by the mill
tary administration. Every Cossack on at
tanning his eighteenth year is enrolled in
the CdsSack army and has to take the oath
of allegiance The special privileges which
the Cossack 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 imposed upon
them by their military obligations have
been steadily increasing, while there has
been corresponding 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 mort gage, let or sell his
property. The lessee of the land is natu-
| rally anxious to get as much as possible
out of it in short time. The consequence
is that it loses much of its fertility, a cir
cumstance which has proved highly un-
favorable to the rearing of cattle, and es-
pecialy to horse breeding. According to a
member of the commission of inquiry,
fcrty years ago the communes made no
special distribution Of the land belonging
to them. The Cossack sowed and reaped
where he liked and as much as he liked.
but he confined himself to the require
nents of his family. the land that
manned over being used for grazing pur-
poses. He did not need money and cared
nothing for it. His farm sufficed to pro-
vide for all his personal wants, and for the
necessities of his military service. He rode
his own home-bred horse. had his own
home made saddle. and wore his every
day clothes. The Introduction of railways
brought about 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. 1t has upset
all his traditional habits, obliging him to
draw a distinct line of separation between
his own property 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 military service
He has been reduced to altogether precari-
Gus circumstances. His military obliga-
tions practically preclude his exercising
any industrial pursuit outside his own COM
mune With regard to trade he is handi-
capped by q special impost for dispensation
from his military duties, and is thus at a
disadvantage in competing with strangers
The cultivation OF the vine is unsatisfac-
tory. The Cossacks employ the same meth
DDS today as they did a century ago
The report gives particulars Of the sue
cessive administrative experiments among
the Cossacks all of which have lamentably
failed. II a remedy is not speedily found
and IL the requisite reforms are not prompt
ly introduced. the Institution of the Cos
sacks" 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 course of private conversation that
In any case the Cossacks were much better
off than the rest Of the peasant population
of the empire. The author of the report
adds that this remark is perfectly correct.