Arizona republican., 1904-03-23
RAILROADS Vs. FEUDALIsM.


 Louis F. Van Norman, recently a
 traveller in Russia, tells us that Rus
 sia is struggling almost unconsciously
 with an internal problem that is pos sessed of more significance than the
 Japanese war. It is not the struggla
 presented on one side by the nihiists
 and on the other by the patricians, but
 a reorganization of the whole fabric of
 society upon more modern basis. Ac
 cording to MT. Van Norman, this
 movement is represented on its two
 sides by the country estate and the
 railroad. The country estate has al-
 ways been an expression of the inner
 most spirit of Russia. Near the bor-
 ders Of COurland,' says MT. Van Nor
 man. 1T visited an estate of 7O,0OO
 acres, the next house being twenty
 miles away. and the house in question thirty-eight miles from the railroad.
 Here are found the primitive methods. falling into the ruts of tradition and
 the stereotyped way of doing things,
 virtual imprisonment. afar from the restless. curious. inventive life of the
 rest of the orld. opposition to mate rial progress. which. while depriving il
 of some of it's ancient privileges. con- fers no adequate eturn-because no. ready to receive it-this life must needs
 be stereOtyped. The man is absolute master the woman the obedient vas sal. The man is the autocrat of his estate. He governs well because he loves his family. Why. say the Rus sians. should not the great white czar. who loves his subjects, be absolute master of the empire, and of the whole world in time? Thus aristocracy has become grounded in the constitution af the people,"
 But here comes the railroad the greatest enemy of the old feudal idea and the aristCcrat regime. It becomes an artery Of trade and brings the lat est inventions and broadens the view. The estate." says Mir. Van Norman
 uses the railroad to send its surplus to market, and the estate people must be up to date in general because of the stern rivalry Of life which is now brought to their very doors. New so- cial problems, based on hitherto un- imagined congestion of population come up: military operations are made cas- fer: the telegraph tells what the rest OF the world is dclng and saying to q simple folk who scarcely knew the e-s-H istence of a world outside the estate"
 A-GAG III <AIllGllCd we uO IlOI need 10 have the civilizing or undermining ef- feet of railroad building explained to our understanding. In the past fifty years the great highways cf travel have removed from America almost the last vestige Of a primitive civiliza- ton. They have broken down every where the local habits and traditions. They have welded the country into q hOp0OpaneCIlc whole For mcrcial. productive and intellectual life is concerned. and they make every ether influence. appear as next to noth- ing in our social organization.
 Russia engaged in railroad building to facilitate her military operations: to increase the power of her autocratic government. She did not take into calculation the fact that railroads are democratic in their tendencies: that they increase the sum of human knowledge and diminish the chance of an autocracy in controlling the peoples independence. It would be the irony of fate. indeed. if Russia should fad that her activities in railroad building designed to increase alike the domin- ion and the power of the great white | czar. had resulted in creating q condi- | ton to which her imperialistic system would have to yield And yet it is as certain as anything can be that the | forms of government are directly the | outgrowth Of the social order. and that | the Russian system of government will | have to bend itself in time to the new | feeling of independence and individ- :, uality which is bound to come
 Still we may doubt if MT. Van Nor man has correctly estimated the 'trength of the consarvatism-or rather ihe density of the igncrance-which the new order will have to overcome. Rail roads carrying trainloads of sturdy and independent people into a new region are such swift civilizers that it is al- most es if they had the genii of the