Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-11-17
Russia as 1t is Today.

The New York Herald's st. Petersburg
correspondent cables to that paper a
highly interesting account picturing the
strange and seemingly impossible
changes which have taken place in Rus
sia in the last few weeks since the
Cars decree giving the people political
liberty 1t is no longer the members of
the imperial family, the nobility and the
bureaucracy who are in evidence in the
streets of St. Petersburg but the common
people, bound to assert their new-found
liberty at whatever cost The news
papers relieved Of the bar Of censorship,
go to strange extremes of attack and in
sulting abuse of officials who have fallen
under their displeasure, THE Winter
Palace is occupied by that king of demo-
Gratis, Count Sergius Witte, a man hated
by the Emperor, an enemy of the Grand
Dukes. And Countess Witte, is there,
too, waited on by imperial servants"
Counte- Witte IL is who is virtually in
command of the Russian empire. "He
has shown a taste of his temper by dis
missing four peccant governors of prov
inces in one day, and at his belt hang
the political scalps of six ministers who
fell the same day" But there is a greater
than Witte The Union of Unions"
new and admirably organized combina-
ton of the labor interests of the empire,
publishes daily its decisions upon ques-
tions of political interest of the moment,
and these decisions even Count Witte is
bound to respect, for the Union has both
the power and the money to enforce its
demands.
The burden which rests on Count Witte,
II the country is TO be saved from dis
ruption and anarchy, is greater than has
been borne by any man in recent times
The terrifying truth is that at the pres
ent moment only a slender thread re-
mains between renovated, reconstructed,
liberated Russia and anarchy let loose on
a scale that the world has never known.
That thread is held in the hands of
Count Sergius Witte. Should It snap,
desolation, disorder, bloodshed and even
civil war are sure to follow" What
Count Witte needs is patience on the part
of the people, and time in which to do
the work that must be done. If these are
granted him the outcome is well assured,
for of his ability and his sincerity there
is doubt Count Witte hates the
as InS curse Oh MS country.
We will sweep their power away relent-
lessly. He knows all their tricks and
how to counteract them and will enjoy
doing so. He has the fullest faith in his
own powers. His only and his supreme
doubt lies in the question as to whether
the people will give him time"
Such is the situation in st. Petersburg
as described by the correspondent and it
is the same in all the great centres of
population in the great Russian empire.
A secret reign of terror prevails among
the upper classes, and in many cases they
are ready to flee the country at a mo-
ment's notice. Foreigners throng the en-
bassies anxious for advice, and this ad-
vice usually is that, in view of the crit
ical situation is wise to send families
away
Another political strike began through
out the country Wednesday noon, with
the purpose Of forcing greater concessions
from the government, and getting a step
nearer to the democratic republic. which
is the aim of the socialists and other rad
icals
1t is a current rumor that a ukase is
to be promulgated giving the crown lands,
said to comprise one-third of the empire,
to the peasants. 1t is hoped by this
means to stop pillaging and looting in
the distant provinces.