The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-12-04
IN ARMY
OF WHITE CAR
|CHcers and Men Active in the
Revolutionary Societies
of the Empire.
HATRED OF THE SERVICE
Men Mutilate Themselves to Escape 1t
-SociaIistic Documents Circu-
lated Among Troops and
Printed by Them.

st. Petersburg Letter: With war ir
the east a thing that may come off any
time, with most of the other powers
hostile on account of Manchuria, and
with the danger Of local risings grow
ing more imminent as winter gets near
er, it is a nightly unfortunate time for
disloyalty to manifest itself in the Rus
sian m Recent events, however,
leave no doubt not only that disaffec-
ton exists among the cars forces, but
that it is increasing rather rapidly, and
the remarkable communication which
the war minister, M. Kuropatkin, has
just addressed to the commanders-in-
chief of the different military districts
throughout the empire regarding the
circulation of seditious literature
among soldiers Is evidence that the
authorities realize the state Of things
that exists and are badly frightened
thereat.
Instances have multiplied of late to
prove h a not only private soldiers,
but officers wearing the cars uniform
have fomented revolution-chief1y by
distributing infammatory tracts among
their comrades. One or two Of these
instances the war minister mentions in
his circular to the commanders, al
though for the most part M. Kuropat-
kin occupies himself with the attempts
from outside to breed discomfort in the
army. The war minister's letter, by
the way, was specially marked Csc
cret," and the act that its contents
have become public property is enough
by itself to prove that discipline is a
long way from being perfect in the
army of the Bear.
According to M. Kuropatkin, the mill
tary authorities discovered that propa-
ganda was being carried on by the SOL
diers of the Sixty-fifth infantry Of Mos
COW, the Sixty-sixth infantry Of
BoutyrsN and the Twenty-frst dra-
goons of Bialorousski, and that incen-
diary manuscripts had been written,
and many Of them ever Autographed
at the military headquarters them
selves. One of these was entitled 1.-The
Pater Noster OF a Soldier" and it's pur-,
pose was to incite the rank and file
against their commanders.
Another Case.
And here are the exact words of the
war minister concerning another case:
ut was ascertained," he says, that a
propaganda had been organized among
the soldiers of the E~katerinoslav regi-
ment of grenadiers of the Imperial
guard. This propaganda came, not
from the outside and from persons who
were strangers to the army, but from
the soldiers themselves, and the chief
of the organization was a soldier of the
said regiment named A~lchansky. He
had concealed the fact that he was
enlisted to a shorter period of military
service SO as to be able to continue
for a longer time his work of propa-
ganda among the soldiers. While he
was with the regiment Alchansky en-
ergetically propagated revolutionary
Ideas in his personal conversations
with the other soldiers and also by
distributing a great number Of PAM
phlets, proclamations, etc. A consid-
cradle number Of soldiers c%ollaborat-
a6 with him nthnrc yyhiln not +11-
Ing any active part in his efforts, toll
Grated this propaganda. It must be
observed that among the persons who
are accused of instigating the recent
agrarian disturbances in the southern
governments there is a certain sub
lieutenant Of the One Hundred and
Thirty-third regiment of infantry
named Passko. He was convicted and
he confessed that he had distributed
among the peasants Of the govern
ment of Poltava different pamphlets
and proclamations Of a criminal char
acter. These examples do not prob
ably exhaust the list of cases which
might be quoted as having taken place
Of late, which will illustrate the fact
that, by one means or another, propa-
ganda has penetrated within the army.
Socialists Among Officers.
They do not exhaust it, indeed! In
fact it is shown that two socialistic or
CARNATIONS exist among Russian Of
Ulcers, though the authorities have not
yet been able to gain sufficient inform
alton regarding them to justify ar
rests. One Of these organizations is
called 1.-THE Army League" and it's OBJ
ject is nothing less than to abolish the
autocratic form of government, while
the other, The Military Revolutionary
Organization,' breaches open socialism
and is believed to be conducting an
active campaign mons the troops. 1t
is known, too, that d%isloyalty exists in
the navy, for it was found lately that
several members of an agitation COM
mittee which was attempting to in
fuence the soldiers Of the garrison of
k~rasnoyarsk had been appointed di-
rectly by the sailors at Sevastopol.
Quite recently, too, the 'Hetman" of
the Cossacks was warned by the Rus
sian wal office to beware against the
propagation of revolutionary doctrines
IN the army and it has been observed
here that If it is necessary to protect
the Cossacks against the faint of Eu-
ropean revolutionary ideas, the infec-
tlon must be widespread, indeed.
came from Mohiloff the
other day regarding a case in which an
officer Winked at the identical sort Of
propaganda which the Russian govern
ment breads. An immense secret meeting
mad been held on the outskirts Of the town
at which the political situation was dis
eussed in a fiery manner, and this meet
ing was largely attended by soldiers, who,
on this occasion, dressed as civilians. The
next day, the captain in command of these
men called them together and told them
.hat he knew they had attended the meet
ing. adding, however, that he wanted only
10 warn them that a soldier could be con-
demned to death If he attended such a
gathering as a civilian, and that If he
went In uniform, he was liable to a pen
atty Of hard labor for life. And then the
commander went on to suggest that If his
men wished to take part in the revolution
airy movement it would be rather better
Tor them to wait till they had concluded
their military service.
Naturally the Russian government Is
putting forth every possible effort to check
.he growth of this disease in the army.
10 test individual loyalty the authorities
nave had printed a flood Of 1nflammatory
literature generally similar to that issued
by the socialistic organizations, and police
agents in the guise Of anarchistic repre-
sentatives have canvassed various army
c