The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-06-10
TODAY
St. Petersburg is as Safe as Any
European City.
No Loss of Territory, No Idemn-
ity Will be Paid.

tatOr OF London from st. Petersburg,
says: You ask for my impressions of
Russia to-day. 1t is well that you en-
phasize the last word. The situation
may change at any minute. No man
can forecast it. But this is my view
to-day"
St. Petersburg is as safe as Lon
don. People go about their ordinary
business in their ordinary way. The
war, it's effect and its cost are not
seen, save in Red Cross collecting
box on each restaurant table. People
talk and write about the war less
than in Paris. There is no running
after news. Social functions are GER
tainly suspended, but that fills the
theaters to overlooking, save in this,
Passion week, when fasting, con-
fession and prayer reign in Ortho-
doxy. Gen. Trepoff is calm, cool,
courageous and energetic. There are
few special police precautions. At
his own Office there is single con-
stable.
Nor in the streets are more than
usual to be seen. There are 700 fixed
points in st. Petersburg, requiring
2,10O men for three reliefs. This
leaves only 900 police out of the total
force of 5000 for other duties, sick,
nfn rn "a
police patrols, and military assistance
has to be involved if the slightest
extra force is required. 1t is il all
countries bad and untrustwortky in
dealing with a crowd. Serious crime
is, however, rare, thanks largely to
the licensed dvorniks, or house
porters.
The city artisans in large part are
only temporary sojourners from the
country Throughout the long snow
bound winter the wives and sisters of
the peasantry spin and look after the
stabbed cattle, and the men return
with their town earnings for the plow-
ing. the sowing and the reaping. The
strikes, which were almost wholly
political, have brought about an aver
age reduction of hours to ten and
half, With an increase of 10 per cent.
in wages. The economic situation of
some houses has not been able to ac-
cept this increased cost of production,
with the reduced efficiency due to
agitation and unrest, and they have
shut down. Their men have gone or
been sent back to the villages, for the
busy time in agriculture is close at
hand.
do not find one single Russian in
favor of peace, save on terms not
likely as yet to be possible-no loss
of territory and, above all, no indem-
nifty. Even NJ. White, the statesman
in whom popular hope for the future
lies, who was known to be opposed to
the occupation of Manchuria and Port
Arthur and to the war, and who, like
Count Lamsdorff, makes no secret OF
his desire for peace, would never con-
sent to the paying, for the first time
in the Empires history, of an indem-
nifty Russia, it is urged, has been &C.
customed to defeat in the earlier
stages OF a campaign and to a sub
sequent change in the fortune of war.
Every one believes that history will re-
peat itself. Much depends on Admiral
Rojestvensky. The successful conduct
OF his fleet to the China sea against
the opinion of every naval expert in
Europe, to say nothing of the Admir-
atty in st. Petersburg, encourages the
Russian trust that the tide will turn.
No want of money is as yet appar-
mt. l have myself seen and handled
! thousand million rubles of gold re-
,erve in the State bank. There are
many virgin resources yet open to the
Minister of Finance before he says to
he Empeorer: There must be
peace, because l can find no more
money" At the same time one ought
in justice to add that there is little
luminosity against the Japanese.
will conclude, as l began, with a
aveat against prophesy. But having
thirty years knowledge of Russia,
aving seen within the past fourteen
.ays nearly every one, Russian or for
ign, able to throw light on the situa-
ion in Russia, | come to the clear
opinion that with reasonable common
sense and promptitude on the part of
the authorities to meet with his Ma
iesty happily terms "the new condi-
tons of existence" there will be no
revolution, no violent upheaval, but
that the Russian people, perhaps
more good natured, more easily led,
more disciplined, and more under the
influence of religious rites and cere-
monies than almost any other race,
| will work out their salvation under
the paternal system of government
which they best understand.