The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-11-23
RUSSIAN FREEDOM SOCIETY.
MONSTER MEETING IN COOPER .' UNION.

-COnditiOns in Russia - Branch
 Formed in New Haven.
 At recent meeting attended by three thousand persons in Cooper Un- ion Hall, New York city, the Hon. Will liam Dudley Foulke presiding, the op- pression exercised by the Russian gov ernment over its subjects was graphi- cally described. Resolutions were passed enumerating the chief crimes and cruelties of Russian autocracy, and ending as follows:
 "Filled with abhorrence for these in- iquities, we desire to express our ear nest sympathy with the oppressed peo- pie of Russia, and especially with those who are struggling in all proper ways to secure for themselves the liberties which we hold to be alienable; and we urge the organization in every city and town of the friends of Russian free dom, to aid their efforts in every prac- ticable way.''
 A branch of the society of friends of Russian freedom has just been form ed in New Haven. Whittier, James Russell Lowell. Alice Freeman Palmer, Phillips Brooks and many other emi- Ilent Americans have been members of the society in the past. President. Hon. William Dudley Foulke; vice. presidents, George Kennan, Julia Ward Howe, William Lloyd Garrison. Profess sor William J. Ward; secretary, Meyer Bloomfield, Civil Service House, Bos- ton; terasurer, Rabbi Charles Fleisch- CT.
 Its objects are, first, to spread infor- nation on the subject, and, by making the terrible facts known, to arouse the sympathy of the American public for those who are struggling for freedom in Russia; and, second, to raise relief funds for the political exiles in Siberia, and to send material aid to the men and women in Russia who are laboring to bring about more modern and civil lized conditions in that vast country.
 Tho milder measures just now used by the new minister who has succeed ed Yon Plehve are only a temporary alleviation. So long as absolute autoc- racy continues to be the form of gov ernment in Russia, and the subjects have no legal rights that the Czar is bound to respect, a liberal minister is only "a happy accident" and he is li- able to removal at any moment at the monarch's whim. Irresponsible power Is sure to be abused; and 1t Is only a question of time when the worst crimes and cruelties of the last few years may be renewed.
 Russian antocracy has destroyed the constitutional liberties of Finland, in the face of sworn pledges to the con trary; 1t discourages popular educa- tion, suppresses freedom of speech and Of the press, and applies to private houses a system of arbitrary searches and seizures which t is now trying to extend to malls carried in American ships It persecutes Polish Catholics and Protestant Doukhobars, has seized the schools and confiscated the proper 1 ty of the Armenian church, victimizes ! the Jews by many unjust restrictions, and let's them be robbed, outraged and massacred, with the connivance of it's own high officials, who go unpunished' lIt every year sends to prison or exile thousands Of the best men and women in Russia, and infiicts atrocious cruel-
 ties upon them in it's prisons, mines land penal colonies. It is to-day seek l ing to extend the blight of its benight-
 ed and medieval rule over Asia. In the face of every danger and pen
 alty, brave men and women through out Russia keep up a constant propa.
 ganda in favor of free ifAtitutions, by q voice nd pen, and especially by the dis ] tribution of literature.
 I The political exiles in Siberia now number thousands. Most of them were \ sent there for offences that would be ,l no offences at all in a free country
 They have always depended on the as. 5l sistance of sympathizers, as the gov
 ernmen: keepa them on starvation "a. 1 tions and provides them with no warn clothing, while depriving them of eve Try means of earning money. This sys \ tenn will last So long as beaurocratit 4I autocracy is in power; but some of tht l sufferings may be allevlated, and somt lof the victims altogether freed from it q clutches by pecuniary aid. The SO
 called political Red Cross still exist and works in the empire of the Czars l assisting the prisoners in their mos crying wants, Many other organiza I tons do the same, besides helping tn,
 suffering exiles to escape to freer coun VI tries. There is always a safe channe N for the forwarding of these charitable funds to their destination.
 5 We have in America societies fo lhelping widows in India and orphans il
 Turkey; we maintain hospitals ant lschools in Africa, China and at tn ends of the earth. We help Greeks
 Hindoos, Boers, Hibernians, Maeedo I nians and score of other nationalities l 1t is appropriate that there should b N at least one society to help the Rus <. siaris, who are trying so courageousls T to heln themselves.
 Those who think they might like t ioin such a society are invited to sent ltheir, names to pr. Mandell, 101 Orangt street. New Haven. Applicants fol 4 membership will be welcome to the I paxf meeting, -