The Washington times., 1901-10-24
FOREIGN TOPICS.

ism, Venai, tNtraVagant, and cxactins. can
prlng a population to starvation in a
land like Turkey. Grapevines run all over
the houses. The Turkish vineyards are
Incompatible. The poor Turk takes little
trouble about his agricultural implements.
His plow is much like that which Noah
must have Used. for it is simply a long
piece Of wood with yoke Of oxen at
one end Of it and n single handle at the
other With this the rayah just scratches
the soil. The crops are usually magnif-
cent, but the waste is immense. Horses,
mules, and donkeys go loaded to market.
but the road is strewn with grain leaking
from old sacks. and thousands of turkeys
which nay be bought at Il cents apiece
feed on the dropping corn
| Thousands of sheep flourish on the vast
pasture lands of the wide valleys. Yet
the people do not eat voracio1sly Of ami
NAL food. They only need little lamb
or mutton to shred into fragments. that
they may stew it with rice into the de
| licious dish called ''pilaff." The Turks
relish their glorious watermelons. They
| can contentedly live as approximate Vege-
tar1ans No nation is at so little expense
Tor dietetic commodities. The cows do
| not give much milk, but that milk is al
| most as rich as cream. Cotton grows
| splendidly in many parts of the empire
ana so does tobacco Olives. apples. pears.
| All SuflS OF plllUS, peaCnCS. apTIcplS, pom
egranates. tomatoes, melons. squashes.
| ounces, oranges, and lemons abound in
| the poorest gardens. The provinces which
| owe allegiance to the Sultan would feed
| ten times the population now inhabiting
| them.
AT the bottom of the wonderful physical
| vitality OF the Turkish race is the unfVer-
| sal abstinence of the common people.
| They are the most abstemious race on
| the earth and the healthiest. The soldiers,
peasants, merchants, and members of the
learned professions never touch alcohol.
| although the upper classes of Constanti-
| nople drink considerably
The Belgian Governments new mari
| time works at Bruges. Heyst and Ostend
are imposing A vast new harbor is be-
| ing constructed. The total length of the
quay will be a mile and a quarter new
town will soon appear in the west of the
future station of Zeebrugge-a residential
and Industrial town of which the plans
| already prepared provide for schools,
| churches, 4 theatre, kursaal, a hos
pital, n post and telegraph office, gen
| oarmerie, a police station, park, ave-
| nues and boulevards. including boule-
ward toward Blankenbergh and toward
heyst, with electric railways.
The recent mining dispute in Scotland
| consequent on a proposed reduction of
wages, failing to be settled by the con
| ciliation board" composed of masters
| ana men, the case was referred to Sheriff
Jameson, one of the ablest of Scotch
kings counsel. The arbitration has de
creed that the men must submit to a re
uuctlon OF 1211 per cent. This reduction
| leaves the wages of the miners at six
shillings Gl.25) day.
During the recent alterations of the as
sembly chamber in the town hall of Ge-
neva, Switzerland, some wood panellng
ed On he xrrbf lob.
wood screen had concealed, were discev-
cred curious paintings in the style of the
fifteenth century. Reference to the city
archives revealed the fact that the paint
ings were done in 1873 by an Italian art
ist The city has employed skilled artists
to restore this old work.
Acting upon additional information from
the Governor of the Province of Sainara,
the Russian Minister of the Interior has
officially proclaimed famine conditions in
five more districts in that province-Sa-
mara. Bogoulminsk, Navenussensk, Nicol-
aevesk and Stavropol.
This means that the bad harvest has al
ready made itself so keenly felt that
special medical and relief association is
deemed necessary for these districts. 1t
is likely that the list will be added to
from time to time during the winter.
The Minister also published a detailed
report about the relief given seven Siber-
ian districts. Twenty thousand dollars
was assigned The bad haryests in parts
of Siberia last year and this year have
had the effect of turning the tide of ST.
berian emigration back toward Russia.
According to an official source 77.774 emf
grants and 10, ~ men whom the peasant
communes sent to spy out the land, went
to Siberia between January 1 and Sep
tember Il, and 19. .72S emigrants and L ,619
ENJOYS returned.
In addition to famine circumstance
that deters emigration and occasions the
return of many is the exhaustion of avail
able farm land 1t is fact which is not
sufficiently understood abroad that many
portions Of Siberia are already fully occu-
pied This is true of nearly all good and
conveniently accessible agricultural lands
in West Siberia. Recent settlers have
been assigned lands distant from the rail-
way or nayigable rivers or have received
forest and marsh land which it would
not pay them to till under present condt-
tions.
With additional railways. with new mar
kets for West Siberian grain in the East !
Siberian, Monaghan and Manchurian min
ing regions; with better modes or culti-
waiting the ground, there VIII be room FOR
more settlers in West Siberia, but the
plain truth is that there is little room
for peasants there now.
The Government has reserved some land /
for noblemen and has sold considerable |
tracts to titled families, avowing its de- !
termination to strengthen the noble ele- |
ment of Siberia. The peasants have
transplanted their slipshOd methods of
cuItivating from one province to another |
in Russia and from Russia to Siberia, so |
that this virgin country is also reduced |
TO chronic want and periodical famine. |
The presence of large land owners is re- |
garded as a good leaven agriculturally |
and politically.
Moscow is known to the Russians as |
Our Holy Mother" 1t is the legal CAPT |
tai and the sacred city of the Empire, |
the seat of the Church and the place |
where the Czar must come to be crowned.
1t is the most conservative, bigoted and |
Slavonic of all Russian cities. The fac
ulty of the University of Moscow will not |
admit Jewish students TO It's lectures; |
pilgrims go there from all parts of the |
Empire to worship certain icons which |
are celebrated for miraculous influences
Fanatical disturbances frequently occur
there, and when the present Car was
crowned so eager were the people to
obtain souvenirs of that event that
Ia rye number were crushed to death in