The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-28
THE REAL RUSSIA
How is Revolution to Occur Among a People Nine Tenths of Whom Are
 Plunged in Ignorance"
"The Only Forces Which Can Maintain Russia of Today Russia of Tomorrow is the Hand of
 an Autocrak"


 Record-Herald.
 It Is most difficult if not. impossi- ble, for any American or Englishman who has not been in. touch with the Russian people to understand the pres- ent situation in Russia. For one, who lives in a country where nine-tenths of the people read newspapers, and are au courant with all the daily happen penings of the world, to realize the actualities of country in which nine tenths of the people can neither read nor write and evince not the slightest interest in public affairs Is beyond the practical limits of the imagination.
 Of the one hundred and forty mil lions now composing the population of Russia one hundred and twenty-six millions are entirely illiterate, and take no interest in and exert no in- fuence upon public affairs whatever.
 once Just prior to the beginning of the war with Japan, suggested to the Czar in a jocular way that there seemed to be some room for improvement in the Russian method of government.
 He said in reply, frankly and with unmistakable sincerity: You say there are some things which might be done better than they are: but you do not know our conditions. The problems presented to us are unlike those of any other government in the world. When tell you that a hundred and twenty six millions of people are illiterate, and that the great majority have only just emerged from barbarism, while of many even that could not be said, you can understand some of our difficulties. We have found in experience that 1t we take young men without fortune and put them In universities and grad .uate them, give them the higher edu- mi Of Knowledge or of earning a livelihood, they become unhappy, discontented and revolutionary.
 We consequently have adopted a plan which we think better. Every year we draw as many as possible into world knows we'll that I desire peace, but for education. We require every one in the army to learn at least to read and write, to have the rudiments of an education. before he can gain freedom from military duty. If he can attain this in three years, well and good; if not, he Is compelled to remain for four or even five years. And 1t Is our experience that when we have given him this elementary education and the discipline of army life we have done a great deal toward mak- ing him a good citizen"
 This Is the governmental view and the governmental plan. But to realize the inertness and ignorance of the peasant class with which 1t has to deal. the real Russia of the peasant, the stationmasters ae Wilma and Dvinsk are not a bad illustration. Four days after the war broke out, I left St. Petersburg for Berlin, and all the way down to Wirballen, on the Rus sian side of the frontier, was naturally np wi n Of ments at Port Arthur. While the whole civilized world outside of Russia was throbbing over the dramatic story of the torpedo attack upon the Russian ships of war and the destruction of the Variag and Korietz at Chemulpo, while this exciting news was known in the homes of every town in the United States, left the train both at Wilma and at Dvinsk to ask the sta- tion masters: Have you any late news
 News or whatT'
 "The war"
 What war;?
 They stared at me with polite sur prise and stolid ignorance. I did not answer, because as they were merely Russians I feared that the facts might not interest them.
 went back to the train and waited for Wirballen. At the news stand of the station I asked for the French and Genman papers. They offered me the illustrated papers and comic journals of the week preceding. I explained that I wanted the daily papers, and they promptly offered me a Berlin pa per four days old. But it had been to St. Petersburg before 1t returned to Wirballen on the train preceding mine, and contained no reference to the war.
 All the peoples of the world knew of the war except the Russian peas ants. The great current of their com mon life moved on without disturb ance. Men came and went to their ordinary avocations; few knew that there was a war, and all were entirely indifferent respecting 1t. So they have moved ever since, and it would be en- tirely safe to say that a vast num- Der of the people of Russia do not know today that a war has been in progress. And when one talks of revolution. which is either a great pop ular movement or nothing. how Is revolution to occur among a people crass ignorance whi-h Is equaled only by their utter indifference?
 In such q country reforms are dlffi- cult and a revolution is impossible. We read and hear daily that Russia Is on the verge of a great upheaNaI similar to the French revolution. But in France there was in intelligent peasantry, educated by Voltaire and Rousseau and intellectually ready for revolt It was homogeneous popula- tion. the people were compact, and the distances were short. Men coulu march. if necessary. from BordeauN and Marsenles upon Paris. The army was under the command of Lafayette himself a Republican, educated to Hb- eral ideas in the United States. And the army spoke the language or the people.
 Now Russia is a country of many races and many tongues and many re- ligions. It is a country of vast dls- tances, and even if any man were able to walk from Odessa or klen 10 St. Petersburg or Moscow, he couio passport vised by the police, po- lice too, which stand solidly for tho government and could not be induced to stand otherwise. There Is no temp tation which can be orfeGed tnem' as class, to stand otherwise,
 It is the principle which is lack ing. What Is that principle to Der IL cannot be a government by the peo- pie, for nine-tenths of the people would not know the meaning Of the phrase. All the intelligent people m Russia, from the Czar downward re- cognize the necessity for a chahge' But what the change is to be not one of them can tell.
 had talk not long ago with M' de Witte, admittedly the ablest states- man in Russia, and he said without i hesitation The conditions are very