The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-09-09
"a Possible Russian Revolution.

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Il y The center OF interest in the worlds
politics to-day Is at ST. p Petersburg
where all tho forces for and against the
continuance of the present system of gov
eminent in Russia are making them-4
selves. felt. IS
An article from the North American
4 Review on the situation in st. Peters
burg gives almost an exact paraphrase
of the article which we recently quoted
Il in The Times Dispatch from the London
Quarterly Review. The tenor OF the.
North American article is the terrific
anlmoslty which Won Plehve aroused by
his retroactive and repressive policy. II Is
life work was to establish absolutism$ on
z firm basis and he left no stone unturn-$
$ ed for accomplishing this end. We have
already detailed how he had two promi-sg
nent professors exiled to Siberia because,
they Kissed the Kishineff massacres.
He prosecuted the Jews he abolished
\ the home rule Of the Firms; he approved
q the coercion 1; inaugurated by Bobrikoif
successor Prince Obolensky. who had had
women flogged in the south Of Russia
I he deprived Armenians of their churches,
{ schools and private endownments; he
81 created a cabinet noir in the postofiice
where private letters are opened and
copied he flooded German, Swiss, French
and English cities with spies; he gagged
4 the newspaper press; he banshed out
y spoken Journalists to Siberia at a mo-
ments notice, without ALLOWING them to
put on warm clothing or borrow aglittlc
y money: he had a girl Of seventeen ar
rested in the dead OF night, sent with
detectives to Odessa TO be confronted
With political prisoners and when She
was shown to be innocent, she was set
FREE. at II o'clock at night, a thousand
miles from her. h5me, without cent in
A her pocket or an acquaintance in the.
town; he made 1t know nthroughout the
opposition to the government is or can be
e legal and that fall dissatisfaction, how
ever expressed is criminal
But is not from Won Plehve alone that
the miseries OF Russia flow Though. the
government Is In receipt Of the largest
revenue 1t has ever known, the public
are in desperate straits and arc getting
worse every year. Between the year 1891
4 and 1903. the imperial receipts were more
than doubled; rising from $462. 42o,243 In tho
first named year TO 1913. 1877, 1854 in 1903. This
enormous increase was spent on ships,
armament and railways, which yielded
little or no return and the lower classes
from whom this great sum was wrung re-
ce!ved scarcely no benefit from their
taxes.
For during the same period. the
ccntage OF their horses and horned cat-
tie, and in many places had to discard
even cabbage and milk as articles of
food, while the rate of State expenditure
upon education fell off. Thus. the gov
eminent alots only one-half per cent,
OF its budget for elementary schools for
It's own people. while expending large
sums for the educational establishments
E OF those foreign races whose political
synpathies 1t is anxious to win. such as
3 the Serbs, Poles, Bulgarians and Lithuan-
lans. The total amount allowed by the
State for all educational objects Is about
III cents per head of tho population,
whereas The entire outlay Of the govern
inent runs up to"s7,ss. But this is not all.
i Education is positively discouraged and
tho obstacles thrown by the authorities
In Tho way Of opening schools are al
most insuperable Yet the Russian peo-
pie hunger and thirst after knowledge
But the maxim followed by The gov
eminent is that II Is easier to govern
automatically an iiliterate than literate
people.
IN proportion as education has beer
Howned down, the consumption OF Vodka
Is being actively fostered by the State
which now monopollzes the sale OF alco
hol. and relies upon IT as the most I'm
portant source OF the Imperial revenue
The c0uhll milton OF alcohol WAC on IN,