Bisbee daily review., 1905-03-12
The Russian POitiC0| SiU0tjOn- u,,T &9,.

St. Petersburg. Feb. 4.-Another re
 view of the present political situa-
 tion in Russia is contributed to the
 Associated Press by a prominent Rus
 sian writer. Alexander Stolypin, who
 has made special study of questions of local self-government, and has him.
 self taken conspicuous part in the
 work of the Zemstvo.
 IIr. Stolypin was formerly editor of Prince Ouktomsl1y's paper, the St. Pc tersburg Viedmosti and is now po- litical editor of the Novoe Vremya
 Mir. Stolypin attaches the greatest i'm portance to the part played by the Zemstvo in the political development of Russia" under which heading he writes as follows:
 Tn discussing the political devel- opment of Russia with especial refer ence to self-government, l propose to devote myself exclusively to the Zemstvo 'Qand council), since the po- litical significance of the Douma
 (town cOuncil) is with rare exceptions practically nil, and it is only lately that the town councils of certain large cities have joined in the general movement and have even assumed a prominent part. Such, for instance
 was the recent decision of the Mos COW Douma, demanding political rights for the whole country, and de- claring that in the absence of such rights the interests of such a large municipal center as Moscow must suf- fer. But even if the political import ance of Russian cities should at any time develop, we shall witness only its beginning; while the significance of the provincial institutions or Zemst- vos as factors of great political i'm portance is proven by forty years of struggle for a predominance which the State has been unwilling to grant AS matter of fact. the establishment of the Zemstvo on January 1st Q3th), 1864, brought the germ of conflict in the vagueness of the organic legisla- tion, which, fearing unrealizable ex- pectations and liberal tendencies among the various classes, limited the Zemstyo to an agricultural sphere of activity, but, at the time, yielding to the spirit of the time, allowed the Zemstvo almost unlimited independ- ence in this sphere. Such liberty, placed in artificial frames, such con- plete competency to a certain limit where began complete negation of rights, such an attitude towards the people, now treating them as grown up men, now as children, all this bore the stamp of unprecedented disregard of practical considerations.
 The inevitable consequence was that the administration and the free |. Zemstvo, placed side by side, began . to tresspass on each others ground. . IL was not to be expected that the ad- i would voluntarily surren- l der a part of it's political rights to the | Zemstvo and thereby extend this lat ! ter's powers, and it was equally diff ! cult to expect that the Zemstvo would allow this administration a free hand ln the matters which had been placed within it's full control. And the event justified these apprehensions; no sooner had the Zemstvo begun its work than accusations came from all sides that it was arrogating to itsell a political character; on the other hand, the Zemstvo retorted with sin cerity and justice that it's work was being interfered with.
 "The most striking of this was giv en in connection with its efforts for national education. The Zemstvo had been empowered to deal with this question, but under the foggy, bu- rcaucratic proyiso, within the limits defined by law Now, the law. not having been drafted with prophetic provision of the newly created insti- tuition, was mute on the subject of limits But when the Zemstvo be- gan to build schools and seminaries, . organize libraries, etc, the satisfaction which the Ministry of Public Instruc- tion should have felt on seeing great | share of it's work assumed by other shoulders, quickly gave place to dread . lest the ministerial progress of educa | ton might be disregarded, and chiefly | lest such a powerful weapon for polit- ! ical evolution as the education of the !