The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-28


 is being discussed openly and every where by all intelligent Russians, in way that fifteen years ago was un- known and impossible. In that day no one dared to speak of reften. That the whole situatiou has libernllzed Is evident from the widespread discuss ions of today in the hotel reading rooms and cafes of St. Petersburg. which at the former period would have been held only in whispers and behind locked doors,
 There are only two classes in Rus sia, the nobles, or governing class, and the peasants The latter, as has been said. constitute nine-tenths. The re- maining tenth, outside of the nobles. is largely German. All the rich mer- chants in the largo cities arc Germans. and there is scarcely a prominent Rus sian merchant in all Russia. The hu. reaucratic class, the clerks, are almost entirely German descent. These clerks originally were imported by former Czar. partly as a precautionary meas- ure, and partly through the entire lack of clerical material at home. Nobles could not be clerks, and peasants knew too little.
 Now this bureaucratic class. the "Chinoviks." is numerically large. but totally without progressive spirit They are politically inert. their sym pathies are naturally with the govern ment through which they profit, and the radical elements, and even the better Russian element, hate them cordially as foreign intruders upon the scene. But they form an appreciable part of the educated tenth.
 As factories hs.ve developed in late years, there has grown up a working class. which now, in its entirety throughout the Empire, numbers per haps two and a half millions. These are the elements who arc striking and rioting, just as working-men. under injustice, strike and riot in all coun- tries.
 But the important point is that as yet there are only two factors in the problem, the noble and the peasant. There is no middle class. Out of the two Gnd a half millions of workingmen the future middle class of Russia is being born only now.
 Here then Is a country containing small dominant class of real Russians. a commercial class which Is foreign, d new and expanding working class whose rights their ruler Is not only ready but eager to adjust; Films with a special interest, Poles with their special aspirations, Jews who are the natural enemies of the muzhiks, or peasants. How a national revolution could arise under such conditions no one can see.
 None the less, we are hearing much nowadays about the Revolutionary Party its Executive Committee, its plans, it's overf1owing treasury and all the rose colored details of a zealous propaganda. And these statements are taken seriously everywhere except in fnfn c ply shrugs his shoulders and says: Who are they? The Terrorists we know, but there are not a thousand of them all told. The workingmen we know; but they are like the working men of any other country. and we want, as a national policy, all the worklngmen we can get; and shall treat them as well if not better than any other country in order to get them. There are certain hardships incidental to the war and the popular agitation which always attend an unsuccessful war; but the war over, the working men satisfied, who are the real serious Revolutionists, where are they. and what do they want that we are not trying our very best to give them?"
 And this is perfectly true: No bet ter proof could be offered than tho pro- posed new press law. Russia prob ably will have a free press, with the English libel law having the German lese- majesty provision superadded. The wild claimants for a free press are going to have what they desire. It is a step In advance, and an extreme ly clever one on the part of the Gov ernment. Every man will be free to speak and write, and will be held re- sponsible for all he says by a justice swift and sure.
 On that fateful January 22 when men and women. honest workers with an honest intent, fell on their knees on the and begged the Cossacks to spare them, they spoke a language which the Cos sacks did not understand. The panto- mime of terror was read easily; but the words fell on the ears of an alien soldiery, of different race. born thou sands of miles away. And the Cos sacks who fired were not French troops firing upon French people. but the men of a captive and subject race firing upon their captors. It may well be understood therefore that among the troops there was little danger of mutny through sympathy, no likeli- hood whatever of a trigger-finger par alyzed by fraternal leanings. Polish regiment keeps order among the Finns d. Finnish regiment guards the streets of Moscow; the conquered, naturally hostile races, are played off, one against the other, by the military sys- tenn.
 No bond of sympathy ever exists be- tween the troops and the people of the cities in which they are stationed, and the possibility of disaffection, or at least of the fraternity of disaffection, thus is minimiZed to the last degree And, as all the world has learned late ly. the Russian soldier is a fine soldier. He Is better paid, better fed better clothed, better housed. better situated in all respects, than he was before he entered the army or will be after ho leaves 1t. The corruption of individu- als, army officers and police officers, through money. Is always a possible contingency, but to thus corrupt the Russian army would take all tho wealth of all the Rothschilds; and the dsaff ection of it through national revolutionary principle may be set aside as a propagandist's iuIe dream.
 The same is true of the police, with its immense and ingenious organiza- ton. In Russia today no citizen cun buy q pistol or cartridge without the knowledge and consent of the police. Every mans birth, daily life and dally conversation are under immediate and constant supervision. Every Russian carries his little passport book, In which Is recorded every journey he makes, which Journey must be approved by the police. Every door of every building in every Russian city has its concierge, or doorkeepcr, who must re port immediately the arrival of any person. No man may sleep a single night in any Russian house without k ns.l 1