Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-11-29

/ Gals has quite probably increased.
ALI officials have the same rights to
advancement toward even the topmost
ranks of the tchine. That is a bad
sort Of equality. In Germany, Austria,
England and Italy, the higher Of
feials of the bureaucracy form class
| by themselves and, instead of being
recruited from the lower grades, ad-
init new members only on the basis
of specia' tests and draw them from
| the lppeI class, an arrangement which
prevents intrigue and keeps the d.
Irection of the services for the elete.
| Tourgueneff-in his book. Russia and
/ the Russians outlines a plan to sub
/ stitute for the tchine tripartite divi-
sion of grades-upper, middle and
subaltern-each category to have its
own method of recruiting. You per
ceive that in Russia the principle that
each grade in the tchine serves as a
/ stepping stone to the next IS open TO
serious criticism 1t may have had its
value in Peter the Greats rudimen-
/ tary administration, but it's an out
and-out anachronism in modern ad-
ministration.
/ A peculiar thing about the Russian
bureaucracy is the ease with which
the military are taken into it. They
may be appointed to membership in the
four upper grades of the tchine. So
| we often find generals occupying high
positions in the bureaucracy. More
over, they may be given civil offices
in the Caucasus, Turkestan, the
Amour and Finland, almost every
sort of position in the police, court Of
fees. customs offices, places as educa-
tional administrators, etc, etc. This
invasion of civil functions by the mill
tary is another relic of antiquity; to
facilitate recruiting in the army, Peter
the Great kept places in the civil
service open for retired veterans.
Finally, we find at st. Petersburg
| collegiate institutions whose purpose
lis the preparation of the sons of noble
families for public office 1t is chiefly
from these institutions that employees
are obtained for the central admins
trations, which, in the absence of cleo
tive assemblies, are the true wielders
of power.
AS all officers are included in the
general scheme of the tchine, adj
vancement comes about not by promo
ton to this or that Office, but by up
ward progress within the tchine. Such
upward progress is the result of Sc
lection. but from grade to grade and
allotted length of time, which varies
according to the grade, but is general
ly from three to four years. For state
reasons an official may be called to
position representing grade or even
two grades above that which he holds
in &c tchine.
This business of advancing men is
centralized in the hands of a special
organization called the committee of
civil service and emoluments," under
control of the cars private secretary.
Promotions to the three uppermost
grades OF the tchine are Invariably
made by the emperor himself and are
not left to this committee
Aside from misdemeanors covered
by criminal law and subject to repres-
sion exercised by the judiciary, Rus.
sian legislation (as it bears upon the
public service) provides that an Of
fetal may be punished merely for the
sake of discipline. The exercise of
I the disciplinary power, ON the part of
his chiefs. In Russia guarantees of this
scrt seem to be far from efficacious.
tie extreme dependence in which,
under pretext of discipline, the subor-
dinate officials are kept by their hier
archie suberiors is one of the numer-
Gus cases of abuse of power and OF
/ the altogether too frequent cases Of
administrative corruption, wrote M.
Leroy Beaulieu, and he describes this
arrogance and arbitrary behavior Of
1.-THE chiefs and this humility and SER
Witty of their subordinates as a uni
| form trait of the. Russian bureauc-
Tracy Moreover, the officials are no
more protected than the rest of the
population against that Russian
scourge, the tyranny of the political
police and the spy system by which it
does it's work.
The Russian bureaucracy IS notori-
ously venal, says M Kovalevsky, in
his Political Institutions of Russia.
When you look back to the days
when, on the appointment of voivodes,
/ it was formally announced that such
and such provinces or cities were
given the.l for their maintenance,
you won't have muuh doubt that this
Ilegalized corruption was thus made
1.-THE successor of pre-existent sys
tenn of Illegal corruption"
Salaries are extremely low and very
inexperienced Perhaps this ex
plains. though it can't possibly ex-
leuse. the persistence of corruption.
Such, then, are the characteristic
TRAITS of the Russian bureaucracy. It
would probably be unjust to damn it
in toto. 1t has given Russia men who
were a9 genuinely able as they were
devoted to the true interests Of the
lnation-men like Milutine, wLo map
Eped out the great reforms of Alexan-
ider lis time. But 1t must at the
same time be conceded that its con.
TROLLING spirits have never understood
1.-THE part they ought to play.
You hear il said thar Russia isn't
| ripe for a representative reStne. Per,
lhaps that's true. But in that case,
while Russia IS waiting for freedom, It