The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-13
Dictator With a Big 3D."

Should the present dynasty be over thrown in a revolution and republic be declared, Witte inevitably would be chosen its head. Not that there has ever been a question of his loyalty or that he would lend himself to thought of the dizzy things. But he is the only really big man in the country, and he has the courage of his convictions. Nothing could keep the people. if they had the say, from demanding he should go to the forefront. But he wouldn't be a President or any such sort of head He would be . Dictator. with very big D.
 "Witte dares. and that Is more than can be said of most men in Russia when in the balance are position and power. It cost him his ministry shelved him. Very rarely does any former Minister so relegated ever af- terward come again to the front
 When Witte was the Finance Minis ter he was prettys nearly tho whole Ministry, and, while ordinarily his col leagues would have had some sympa- thy with him in the effacement that was the foreshadowing of their own eventual destiny there was none in his case. On the contrary. he carried into his retirement an intensified quality ot the exceeding bitterness created by his dominating force when in the height oi ms pOWeT 1OWoAAh6 to A0 NA0 NNSf At' mental and physical stature above them all, he fairly reveled in the an | tagonism he provoked. That the CzaI himself stood in awe of him, as was sc often said, Is quite probable. for his personality Is such as to require some thing more than the accident of birth | to withstand 1t. @.' Had Wftte been born to the purple he would have been the personihcation AL aG ha nnnnlQT | imagination pictures Nicholas to be and which he Is not Nicholas Is CZar. and | the Ministry is the impetus to his ac- | ton, Witte would have been both Czar and Ministry. He would have told the | Ministers what to do. not they him | With all his imperiousness. his uncon- | trollable initiative and characteristic l go-aheadativeness unmindful of conse- | duences to those In his way. he Is the strongest man in all the Russias with l the progressives and the masses. They fear him, yet recognize that in and to 1 him Is the hope of a material develop | ment that will raise the great country
 rich beyond parallel in natural re- sources to a recognized place in twen- tieth-century progress. War Seemed to Him Treason.
 l "As Minister of Finance he brought
 to the Empire a credit 1t never before possessed. Through the policy he en- | forced. as with a rod of iron, of abol- l ishing commercial and manufacturlne
 concessions to outsiders and compell- ing those who sought large contracts
 under governmental guarantee to pro- duce from plants located on Russian
 soil and with Russian labor, he was
 bringing about economic conditions SC
 vital to the future of the empire that
 war to him was disloyalty, fragrant be l vond characterization. This is what
 made him the foremost apostle oi
 peace.
 "But any impression that because
 of his pronounced opposition to the
 war his appointment assures the ex-
 peditIne of the peace conference to q l mutually satisfactory conclusion will
 be dispelled when the man comes tC l be known That is. unless the other
 side proves more disposed to reason
 ableness from the Russian point than
 is at present regarded as probable. 'WItte is not the manner of man
 to inspire love or admiration in any form. but he irresistibly commands re-
 "T happened to be in St. Petersburg
 at the time of the first strike in man
 ufa turing plants there. It was at tho
 English woolen mills, the operators oi
 which were Russians and the owner! l RrItons. Thornton, the head of tho largest mill and chairman of the del
 egation going before Witte, told m' | that night of the interview.
 "As chairman, he had, of course
 nrined and cooked himself so that hi lead would make the proper impact He reached no further than We hav' come. your Excellency. to say
 Then Witte broke in with Tt Is no for you. but for me to say and ther | was nothing equivocal in what h
 naid. It was. in effect to settle tn