The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-01-07
Short Study of Russia
(Chicago Triburc.)

or cmperor is in theory, an autocrat, who. as re-
fer the Great described him. ha, to give account
of his acts to no on Garth, but has power ana
authority to rule his states and lands as a OhrlS-
tian sovereign according to his own viii and Judg
ment.o In him are united the whole executive, leg
islative and judicial powers of the countr%. An
political power or authority which IS welded by
any other man or body OF men is derived from nm
alone and is recalled BY linn at any moment ne
wishes The laws by which he has granted PRIV
cees to all or any portion Of his subjects are like
wise but trammels which he has imposed voluntarily
upon his frcedo: of action and which his arbitrary
and sovereign will dsrcgards sets aside when
ever he JUDGES MT
But in Russia as elsewhere, political practice
often divergcs widely from political theory Inc
a1tocracv IS far from being so wholly caprlcous
and arbitrary in the exercise OF its power as might
be inferred from its theoretical basis. 1t IS doubt
less true that there is amount OF caprice ana IN
certainty in the making and administration of the
laws of Russia. which would not be tolerated by
am, great western nation. But for the most part
the Russian government is. like its western neigh
bors. government according to old and well es-
tablished laws and customs-laws and customs, too,
which strange as the fact may appear to English
men or Americans, axe heartily approved by a vast
majority of the Russian people so far as they I'M
derstand them.
The ear intrrsts the administration of his
realm to four great boards-the holy synod, the
committee of minister's the council of state and the
ruling senate The holy synod has superintendent
of religious matters. The other three boards rough
4lv resemble the executive legislative and judicial
departments of constitutional governments. But
"a the committee of ministers Is not properly caol-
net Besides the ministers. the granddukes and
many other public fuuctionares belong to it. There
is no prime minister, and each of the thirteen min
listers is responsible directly to the car Tor the
management of his department They often differ
widely regarding thepolices the government ought
to adopt and still greater differences crop up IN the
committee of ministers.
The council of state which usually has about
sixty members differs even more from true legls-
lature than the committee of ministers does from
a true cabinet. 1t does not initiate, enact or even
modify legislation 1t merely examines projects OF
laws which are presented by the ministers and dis
clsses the budget and the proposed expenditures for
the wear. II is conservative not deliberative,
body The senate promulgat all the laws OF the
empire Otherwise il is almost wholly judicial
BODY 1t Is regarded as a supreme court OF appeal,
vet its decisions may be revised by the council OF
state.
The principal exenutive departments are the
ministers of foreign affairs, Of finance of war, of
the navy. of Justice and of the interior, and of
these the ministry of the interior is IN many re-
spects the most important and powerful. The min
istrv of the interior has direction of the internal
administration. The empire is divided into seven
weight "governments.' nineteen provinces, and one
~ N~-'N
ernments or provinces united into so-called
general governments" each of which is ruled by
governor general who is considered the immediate
representative of the czar but who IS really, like
the governors of the governments and provinces,
apswerable to the minister of the interior Each
government province is divided INTO admlnlstra-
tive districts.
The administration of the economical affairs of
the provinces and districts is III some measure
guided by the zemstvos, which provincial and
district assemblies elected by the peasantry the
householders in towns and the landed proprietors.
The body which met recently in st. Petersburg and
peitioned the car to give his people more liberal
institutions was composed of representatives of
these organizations Associated with the zemstvo
in an executive capacity IS board called the up
rava" The cities and towns have municipal or
carnations which closely resemble the zemstvo and
uprava of the province
All the officials and institutions heretofore men
toned are closely connected with and subordinated
to the imperial bureaucracy. All of them have been
created by the autocrats decree; all of them are
directly responsible to the authorities at ST. Peters
burg.
We now come suddenly upon an institution
which from time immemorial has lain at the founda-
ton of Russian social and,potical life but which,
nevertheless is one of the most extremely demo-
cratic institutions in the world. In his commune
or mir the Russian peasant forgets he IS the
subject of an absolute autocracy and exercises
rights OF self government as WlQe ana SuDSldHUldl
as those which the citizen of democratic New Eng
land enjoys in his town meeting.
The legislature of the mir is the assembly of all
the community's heads of families Its executive
is not an official representing the bureaucracy but
the village elder who Is chosen by majority vote
of the assembly; and the assembly, with the elder
deciding, discusses and decides all communal af
fairs The most important of these affairs is the
distribution at irregular intervals of the land of
the community; for all over Russia the land occu-
pied by peasants is owned, not by the. peasants
themselves, nor by great landlords who rent it to
them. but by the mir or commune to which the peas
ants belong; and the amount of land which each in
diyidua or family may hold and cultivate is deter
mined from time to time by the communal assem-
blies. There are tO7676 communes in European
Russia. They are required to pay taxes to the inn
perial government in proportion to their popula-
tions. but they enjoy the privilege of raising the
money any way they please. The Mrs are united
into cantens, the assemblies of which transact the
same kind of business as those of the conlmunes.
Formerly the conlmulies hardly experienced any
from, immortal sro4arar1ent Thu