Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-03-01
RAVE men are they that dare
keep on writing plainly in a
land where freedom of speech
is held a crime. The English
periodical. "Literature." in

an, article on Russia and
Her Prophets" SO well suggests Rus
sia's attitude towards her men of letters
We are tempted to quote at length from
the very interesting paper. IA rigid SUI
pervision and control of men of letters
has long been the recognized Russian
equivalent of the policy Of stoning the
prophets. Erudition is allowed by the
government Of the tsars, but the divine
gift of the imagination has hardly ever
failed to gets its possessor into trouble.
Pushkin was banished to some place in
the remote country. Schevchenko was
sentenced to serve as a private soldier on
the Asiatic frontier. Tourgenof had to
seek safety in fight. Dostoieffski was
exiled to Siberia and knouted. Korolen-
sko was condemned to spend three years
but lately accommodated. And now
there is the case of Cork, turned out of
St. Petersburg, kept out of Moscow, and
only allowed to winter in the Crimea on
condition that ne does not visit Yalta,
to be added to the list"
In spite of the above mentioned treat
ment by Russia of her literary men,
compared with the journalists they have
much the better show. Explanation OF
this is given in the article just quoted
from, and is as follows: The novelist
who writes whole book to convey an
idea which the Journalist could crystal
lize in a paragraph has obviously bet
ter chance of running the gauntlet. They
do not, of course, write novels with pur-
poses after the style of the late Charles
Reade. To do that would be to give
themselves over, bound hand and foot,
into the enemy's hands. 1t is enough
for them to drop hints. The censor is
puzzled, there is nothing for him to lay
hold upon, and he does not wish to pose
as the implacable enemy Of literature.
So the novelist is allowed to SOW the
seed, but gets into trouble when the
crop comes to maturity.
George KEENAN,, writing in the Out
look, calls attention to the extent to
which journalism is held down in the
realm of the car. He refers to the fact
that in the last few years 26 newspapers
and periodicals have been suppressed
there, to use his words directly, sol ad-
ministrative punishments less severe
than absolute suppression, including
suspensions that amount in the aggre
gate to nearly half a century. In the
light of these figures, We quite believe
our English contemporary when it de-
clares imaginative literature is the only
! medium in Russia for making fair and
reasonable comments on matters of pub
lie interest
Perhaps boldest, most fearless of all
Russian writer's is Tolstoi, who, from
the quiet of his country retreat, fires every
now and then ''the shot heard round the
world" Could anyone utter stronger
language, more denunciatory, revolu.
tionary, than that used in the article
written by him for the London Times on
the subject of the Russo-Japanese war?
AS We read those lines few months ago
We marveled that car, grand duke, re-
dictionary minister should allow the
writer thereof to continue to live in free
dom. It is said Tolstoi is man fol-
whom the mass of Russians feel such
reverence it would be impossible for the
government to lay hands upon him, to
exile OF imprison him. True, he has been