New-York tribune., 1901-12-28
RUSSIA.
FURTHER STUDIES OF AN INTERESTING
SUBJECT.

RUSSIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY, Ry
Francis H z. Palmer. 12mo pp. x I'D U. r
P5okAsfter sTo. pp XXX. 5a8 Springfield Ohio
Published by the Author.
RUSSIA on THE PACIFIC AND THE TIL IS SIZE 45i
S7S Imported by Charles scribners Sons.
RUSSIA AGAINST INDIA: The Struggle for Asia
BY Archibald r. Coquhoun. l2mo PIP vi Z4o
Harper & Bros.
A RUSSIAN PROVINCE OF THE NORTH ORTIZ By oy
the Province Of Archangel Translated d., fr99 on
the Russian by Henry Cooke. sVo, pp XVI 800
PHILADELPHIA j. 3. Lppincott Company.
OPERATIONS OF GENERAL GURKos AD-
VANCE GUARD IN 1877. By Colonel Epauchin
dck 5 kne hs ssiaR moseey seTies Vol vfI1 8vo
pp. xiv. 80. Charles scribner's Sons
The steadily increasing Importance of Russia
IN the modern world is bringing forth many
books to enlighten the Western public on the
history and conditions Of the great Eastern
empire. 1t is still land dmly perceived and
alien in many ways TO the thought and under
standing Of the Western world. still
land bordering on the unknown. Its history is
an almost unopened book. its people are far re-
moved in character and conditions from those of
Western Europe its vast stretches Of territory re-
cede into the mist of the unknown, and its influ-
ence is vaguely felt disquieting and mysteri-
But this will not long continue if the writer's
OF books can throw light the subject Russian
literature and music have already made them
selves important and significant facts in mod
culture, and the Western world is being
rapidly instructed in the history and signifi-
cance OF the people. and their relation TO modern
life is being set forth in many lights. To the
better understanding Of the subject these re-
cent books make important contribution.
There are two Russias in Russia and "the gulf
that separates them is as wide that which in
tervenes between the England of the present
day and that of our forefathers Of three CEN
furies ago. says the author of Russian Life
in Town and Country" For which reason he
has a harder task than has confronted any of
the other writer's in this excellent series of
books. The life that the tourist does not is
the rural life, untouched by modern develop
Inent, of which the educated Russian is
ashamed most unreasonably ashamed" and it
is correspondingly difficult of access. Yet there
is much in it. thinks Mr.. Palmer, with which the
Engshman would be more in sympathy than in
the artificial existence which the town Russian
thinks makes good his claim to belong to an ad
vanced and enlightened nation. This same town
Russian on his landed estates, leaves the town
life and ways Of thought behind him. and is
Boyard like his fathers before him. The coun-
try life in summer is one of feverish haste and
anxiety for all-anxiety to utilize every moment
OF the brief planting and il is significant
in connection with this that almost every pro-
pretors estate is buried under mortgages. The
conditions of farm labor are strange to Western
eyes. primitive unhygienic, wasteful. There
are peasants who receive no wages-former serfs
who own the land they belonged TO. and who
now do work for the landlord TO exc out their
own small harvests; and there are tenants who
pay no rent taxes, but who work under an
other form of profit sharing. Though serfdom
is abolished, many Of its conditions still exist,
while and perhaps not less dangerous ones
have been created by industry and capital in
the towns especially the power Of the money
lender under whose yoke the peasant often falls,
The country towns afford dismal and depress-
ing picture; the houses low and irregular.
the shops small and dark, the sidewalks of
trustworthy planks; drainage and water supply
are of the most primitive.
1t all seems like temporary makeshift The
Jewish towns form class by themselves. set
Elements of unspeakable squalor almost
clusively situated within the Jewish pale of
. settlement" of Western Russia. The great gulf
between the keen Jewish traders and the dull
Russian peasants explains the antipathies that
have had such disastrous results, and the pres
ence OF the Jews gives rise to problems such as
no Western country has. The one great ma
tional institution of Russia that has never yield
ed to the outside influences profoundly inf1u-
encing the court and the civil and military gov
ernment OF the empire is the Church. The
Church is more than a dogma; it is a symbol of
victory over alien oppressors; and herein is to
be found the reason for the unshaken attach
nnent Of the people to It, in the face of the fact
that the clergy are universally disliked and
shanned, and have no personal influence These
are but few of the anomalies and contradic-
tions that govern the real inner life of Russia.
Mr. Palmer has written of them with knowledge.
and clears up many puzzng features of that
life. The picture is enlivening one. but
he has managed to make it full of human in
terest, even in its most unsympathetic aspects.
Mr. Bookwalter's portly volume is another
travellers record this time of journey through
Siberia and Central Asia 1t consists chiefly Of
newspaper letters sent by him TO several West
ern Journals; but this material has been greatly
enhanced in value by the numerous illustrations
well reproduced in the main, and exhibiting
types OF people. buildings and features of the
landscape in great variety. Mr. Bookwalter has
observed with sharp and inquisitive eyes, and
much Of what he has is important. His
account OF Baku, the great petroleum town on
the Caspian Sea. gives a clear view of its
growth in many respects like that Of an Amer
lean boom town: and there tales Of sud
den transition from wealth TO poverty like those
Of the American oil fields. 1t IS interesting to
note that Mr.. Bookwalter found throughout the
great empire many evidences of Russian fond
ness for American products and machinery; and
he trusts that even If the trade opportunities
are not properly seized. We shall not suffer our
selves TO be "decoyed into an attitude of hos
tility 10 Russia. with no better result than to
play into the hands of some ambitious and