Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-23
PRICE OF AUTOCRACY
IN STRICKEN RUSSIA
Increase Of Prosecutions for Alleged
Political oHenses Under the
Present Gar

| LOS ANGELES, March 21.-(Editor
Herald) - The Los Angeles Herald
of the goth inst. contained an article
by Vladimir Gringmuth, editor of the
! Moscow Vedomosti, one of the leading
| conservative newspapers of Russia.
| The pith of that article was that the
maintenance Of the autocracy was alb
solutely indispensable to the integrity
of Russia, and that the substitution of
| a parliamentary system would mean
| the shattering of the empire into
number of fragmentr Russia, as such.
ceasing to exist. The writer says:
1.-THE Russian empire Is vast, but its
vastness is still of very recent origin.
It's western and eastern frontier pos
sessions, Finland, the Baltic provinces,
Poland, the Caucasus and the central
regions have not yet assimilated them
selves with Russia proper, but they do
not even desire to do so; they entertain
hopes of an independent national and
even political existence"
This is the pith of the article and this
| is the plea that autocracy puts for the
support of the world as against the
forces now working it's destruction; the
plea that it has not yet had time to
assimilate what it so remorselessly
swallowed; that it should be allowed to
live at least until it shall have fully di-
gested its meal
The destruction of the independence
! nj, ..f 1,,te
| So excellent an authority as Andrew
| White, for many years our ambassador
to Russia and anything but hostile
witness, has denounced it, and the part
that the present czar played in con-
nection with it as the most defenseless
crime of the nineteenth century, which
is saying much when we consider that
the last century also saw the absorp
ton of Poland.
1t is a good saying that bygones
should be bygones, and that the mem
ory of even the foulest crimes should
| be gradually wiped out by the finger
of time. But the life of the nation is
longer than that of the individual, and
in the history of countries such as
Finland and Poland their absorption by
Accordingly we find in both those
countries today, when for the first time
an opportunity of successful revolt
seems to have shown itself, riot fol-
lowing riot and assassination treading
on the heels of assassination. All of
which is simply 1.-The breath of life that
pants and struggles for relief"
To give Russia time to digest these
indigestibe morsels is to ask us to
give the autocracy further lease of
life, at the very least, of another CEN
tury, and the question Immediately
arises whether the game is worth the
candle.
Much has been written lately of the
poverty Of the Russian people, of the
load of taxation beneath which the
but in spite of all this there persists the
thought that, so far as the czar is
concerned, weak though he may be,
he is liberal and peace-loving to fault.
We have now to thank Vladimir G..
Simkhovitch for an article in the
March number of the Worlds Work
which completely skaters that delu-
sion.
Simkhovitch states that the reign of
Alexander II was noted for the sever
ity with which political offenders were
treated. He then gives, side by side,
the official figures showing the num-
ber Of political prosecutions during that
reign, and the number of people direct
iy involved in them, as compared with
the ten years of the present czar's
reign, ending with the year 1903.
During ten years of Alexander's reign
there were eighty-four prosecutions for
political offenses, and the number of
people involved was 1884, But-during
the ten years of the present reign
there have been S46S political prosecu-
tions, involving no less than 55636 per-
sons. In other words, during the ten
years of the present reign there have
been more than one hundred times the
number OF political prosecutions that
there were under Alexander III, though
the last named was noted for his Sc
verify. and the number of persons in
volved has grown from less than 1000
to over $4,000. During the last year of
Alexander's reign there were eleven po-
litical cases, involving thirty-four per-
sons; during 1908 of the present reign
there were 1898 such cases involving
1885 persons
1t is evident from the above figures
that the indispensable" autocracy
comes high. and that ii the Russians
will put up with II 1t must be at a
yearly increasing price.
II IER AI.In uRImAIIo