Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-04-28
AN UNKNOWN EMPIRE
CUSTOMS AND CONDITIONS OF
RUSSIA INTERESTING.

CUSTOMS AND CONDITIONS OI
RUSSIA INTERESTING.
Further Review by One Who Has Given th'
Matter Much nsideration-Profound SchoI
arship in Evidence. and Principles Of Broth
Brotherhood and Mutual Aid Held in High
Rsspect-Co, Operation a Matter Of Natural
Growth.
BY BYRON MILLETT.
In these days of great tribulatior
within the borders of the great empir,
OF Russia, as given out by the press re
ports, we are inclined to think every
thing "has gone to the bad" in tha,
country; many are inclined to believe
that the people living therein are in 6
semi civilized state, ignorant and bru
tai. A comparatively few thinker;
give this vast empire any credit fol
the sprinkling of profound scholarship
IN evidence among the privileged
classes and proletarian students. Nc
country on the globe presents better
field for the study of the principles OF
brotherhood and mutual aid under a
variety of conditions in the face of lie.
gal difficulties. Cooperation is a mat.
ter OF natural growth, a heritage from
the middle ages when the guilds were
in full bloom in the countries OF con.
tinental Europe.
The principle of cooperation is in.
herent in mans nature. 1t may be
undermined and perverted under des-
potic rule, but cannot be obliterated.
There is always present core OF good
ness in things evil. No government,
absolute or democratic, could exist
with this underlying principle elimi-
mated. 1t would seem probable that
any formally constituted cooperative
society among the common people OF
Russia would meet with legal inter.
ference; still the artel, which signifies
informal cooperation, and which has
existed from time immemorial is in
evidence in all localities within the
empire, particularly in European Rus.
sia among the peasantry and produc-
ers OF wealth; among these classes, the
artels form the very basis OF Russian
life.
The history Of that country abun.
dainty shows, that for many centuries
small groups of peasants, usually num-
bering from twelve to fifty persons
would come to certain village, town
or city to perform labor for the gov.
ernment or in the building trades.
Hunters and fishermen form them
selves into artels to ply their vocation,
also convicts on the road to and in
Siberia after their arrival at the mines !;
custom house and railway employees
form themselves into such associations,
as we'll as the peasants engaged in all
village industries, which give occupa.
tion to seven million men, who pro-
duce vast quantities of wealth for dis
tribution and consumption throughout
the empire. A dozen or more peasants
coming from some locality to a city to
work as carpenters, stone masons,
weavers, boat builders, or in any OF the
building trades, organize themselves
into an artel, elect an elder, hire apart.
ments and cook who is frequently
the wife Of one OF the members, take
their meals together in common, each
pays his proportion of the expenses to
the association for food and lodging.
Vast areas of fishing grounds, in the
region of the tributaries to the Cas-
plan basin, are held by extensive ar.
tells. The Ural Cossacks along the
banks OF the Ural river allot and re.
allOt from time to time among the
villages vast areas of fishing grounds,
said to he among the richest in the
world without interference OH the
part OF the government; at the same
time the most amicable relations pre-
vail among the inhabitants OF these
villages. Convicts on the way to ST.
IBERIA form themselves into an artel,
choose their elder who has official rec.
ognition with the military official in
charge of the party. Railway con.
tractors prefer to deal directly with
the artels than with individual work.
men; the artel being collectively re.
sponsible for the conduct OF each
member. Those associations possess
such reputation for honesty and fair
dealing among capitalists and mer-
chants that large amounts of money
are placed in their care and at their
disposal. The War Department about
twenty years ago dealt directly with
certain artels, gave large orders for
boots, iron and copper, with highly
satisfactory results on both sides. About
the year 1885, the renting and working
of crown iron lands by artel laborers
proved decided success.
Thus we are able to see how this old
medieval institution founded on the
principle Of cooperation has survived
in a country supposed to be the most
tyrannical on earth.
Some years ago, several Zemstvos
County councils), made a house to
house canvass on an extensive scale
among twenty millions of the peasant.
ry, gathered macs of important data
relative to the actual condition of the
people. Illustrations must be abridged;
these census returns are comprised in