Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-09-19
Iowa College Sociologist Talks
of Cause of the Defeat OF
the Slavs
ARE A CARELESS P
PEOPLE
Character Of the Russian is Apt to
Make Him Self Satisfied and APP
parentIy Not Alert to Situations -
May Wear Out the Japs in the Long
Run.
Special to Times-Republican.

Sioux City, Sept. 19.-Carelessness
is believed by DIR. e. A. Steiner. profess
sor of applied Christianity in Iowa Col
| lege at Grinnell, and the biographer OIL
Tolstoi, to be one of the dominant
causes of the failure of Russian arms
lin the orient. DR.. Steiner arrived in
| Sioux City Saturday night and took
part in the dedicatory services at the
Mayfower Congregational church Sun
day.
| DIR. Steiner is we'll qualified to judge
the peculiar makeup of the Russian
| character, having in connection with
his preparation for his biography OF
Tolsto, made a cross country tour OF
the great nation little over a year
ago. While the trip afoot was tedious
in the extreme, he was given an ex-
cellent opportunity to make careful
study of the mode of living of the peo-
pie who are at present the main actors
in the great theater of war.
DR.. Steiner Is as well a trained OBJ
server and student of sociological con-
ditions.
DR.. Steiner says that the Russian is
optimistic in the extreme almost
phlegmattc. He never worries. He al
ways takes life easy, and expects
successful turn to all his enterprises.
Unlike his little Jap enemy he is care
less, shiftless, and does not care to be
burdened with the responsibility nee
essary to give his plans a successful
outcome.
Is in the Blood.
eff 1 were asked my opinion on the
cause of Russian failure, I would say
fast, carelessness," said DR.. Steiner.
THE Russian character is satisfied with
good enough, and not with the best
that could be done under the circum-
stances. Carelessness is in the Rus
sian blood. 1t has been handed down
thru the reigns of the great czars. The
people cannot help it.
There is an interdependence among
these people that would be surprising to
the average American. a Russian can
not live without the aid of some one
else. He relies on someone to assist
him in the tasks that should be done
by himself All thru their national life
this spirit Of dependence can be trac-
ed, and of course it extends to the ar
my. No amount of discipline seems
able to root it out, and the discipline of
the Russian army is severe enough, too.
while I could not put my finger on
the careless moves that have been made
by the Russians, any reader OF the
newspapers can readily see that many
of the reverses have been due to it.
Kuropatkin is an exception to the rule,
1 take it. He is a great general.
Too Much "Red Tape"
cred tape is another hindrance, not
particularly to the army of Russia, al
tho it must count some, but in all their
internal governmental affairs. We In
America are apt to criticise the meth
DDS in vogue among our own public Of
flcers, but it is no comparison to the
ridiculous manner of attending to pub
lie affairs in Russia.
ct remember in my tour thru Russia
Of entering a government building just
to satisfy myself relative to the man
ner of the performance of public work.
I was dumfounded to learn that 1T
sometimes took two weeks or a month
to transact some trivial matter os >11si-
ness. One official in a particular de-
partment, might be sitting at a desk by
the side of another, and desire to COM
municate with him about some matter.
Instead of doing as they do in this
country, the affair had to go thru per-
haps the head of the department, then
to a lot of deputies, who in turn hand
ed it to their servants, who transmit
ted it to the servants of the sender, and
it would finally be handed to the official
himself, after several weeks Duration
Now this method cannot help being a
handicap to the affairs of the Russian
government.
my opinion as to the ultimate out
come of the war would not be worth
much. The success of Japanese arms
lies in quick and decisive action. /
believe the final stand VIII be made at
Hardin. Mukden will doubtless be cap
tured by the japanese, but not without
a struggle. Russia is limitless in her
resources of men. She has never been
whipped. Even in the Crimean war,
with nearly half dozen European ma
tons on her back, she was not whipped.
She may have received the worst of it
but on account of the limitless supply
of men you could not say she was
worsted."