The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-09-27

sure that the reader of these paragraphs
has found himself already making the
comparison. In certain respects the par
allel becomes contrast The church and
the army are with the empire to de-
gree far greater than prevailed in France;
but the burdensomeness of taxation, the
extravaganza of the court, the suffering
of the peasant class. and the weak char
acter of the sovereign represent singu-
larry identical elements
There is one part in the parallel which
Is at once a contrast and comparison
One hundred and twenty-five years ago
France like practically every other ma
ton, had no free press today Russia has
a press but it Is not free. All the lead
ing cities publish papers daily; but the
topics of news are relatively few and the
Interpretation and discussion OF the new
are limited 1 asked a gentleman at
tached TO the best paper in st. Peters,
burg what he could write on and his
answer was that he was obliged to be
most guarded in regard both to subject
and treatment. News regarding such
matter as famine is not spread abroad;
each province seems to be singularly ig-
norant of each other province. The news,
too, regarding that little world lying out
side of his own great world which the
Russian may find in his own papers is
slight in amount and not usually signi-
ficant When single paragraph. or
even an anecdote, may result either in
the suspending of publication for time
or even permanently. or in the exclusion
of all advertisements. or. as one news
20
may cause the editor to reside in ST.
IBERIA forever, both business and editorial
management is inclined TO be conserva-
tive and hesitant. OF course, the foreign
journals are usually inspected with care,
and dangerous paragraphs are caviar
ed" At the present time the dispatches
published in the London Times regard
ing the relation of the United States and
Russia seem TO be the special object of
the censor's black wrath
| have intimated that revolution is
more or less imminent in Russia. 1t is
as imminent as the general European
war" and no more. So long as the mill
tary and the ecclesiastical forces are
with the Car. SO long any revolution Is
impossible Any attempt at a political
overturning would be promptly and ruth
lessly crushed; and any general attempt
is practically out of the question, 50
heterogeneous and so widely scattered
are the people, and so dominant is the
Church But if that black day should
ever dawn in which should begin war
a. the half dozen great Powers of Eu-
rope with China and Japan as either
participants or most deeply Interested
spectators. and II such a war should be
prolonged Russia would find an enemy
in her interior provinces more menacing
than the allied enemies on the Black
Sea Such a war would mean the stir
ring Of revolutionary ZEAL and would
also mean the removal of the military
forces which in times of International
peace would put down that zeal. Then,
and not till then. will come the French
revolution.
Yet. be it said ] find an absence of
any feeling OF hatred against the govern
ment. The opinion seems to be more or
less general that the government desires
to treat its subjects kindly. 1t does not
send them to Siberia for its own pleasure
Civil order and the present governing con-
ditions are to be maintained, and for such
maintenance il is desired to use no more
force than is necessary. A large share OF
the freethinking and revolutionary ele-
ments is centered in and goes forth from
the universities. Among the students the
government is said to have its own Sc
cret police. The students scandals as
/ have heard the political disturbances
made by the students called. usually re-
suits in arrests and punishment, but the
impression prevails that the methods of
prevention and of chastisement are not
unduly drastic-unduly drastic, l mean,
according to Russian standing.
CHARLES L. THWING.