Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-08-09

CZdr, ana the ministry 1S the impetus to his action. Witte would have been both czar and ministry. He would have told the ministers what to do, not they him. With all his imper!ousness, his uncomfortable initiative and char acteristic go-aheadativeness unmind- ful of consequences to those in his way, he Is the strongest man in all the Russlas with the progressves and the masses. They fear him, yet recognize that in and to him Is the hope of a material development that will raise the great country, rich beyond parallel in natural resources, to a recognized place in twentieth century progress.
 "As minister of finance he brought to the empire a credit 1t never before possessed. Through the policy he en- forced, as with rod of iron, of abol- ishing commercial and manufacturing concessions to outsiders and compel ling those who sought large contracts under governmental guarantee to pro- duce from plants located on Russian soil and with Russian labor, he was bringing about economic conditions so vital to the future of the empire that war to him was disloyalty fragrant be- yond characterization. This is what made him the foremost apostle of peace.
 But any impression that because of his pronounced opposition to the war his appointment assures the expediting of the peace conference to mutually satisfactory conclusion will be dis pelled when the man comes to be known-that is, unless the other side proves more disposed to reasonable ness from the Russian point of view than is at present regarded as prob able. .....
 'sWitte is not the manner of man to inspire love or adulation in any form. but he irresistibly commands respect.
 T happened to be in St. Petersburg at the time of the first strike in manu- facturing plants there. It was at the English woolen mills, the operators of which were Russians and the owners Britons. Thornton, the head of the largest mill and chairman of the dele gation going before Witte, told me that night of the interview.
 "As chairman he had, of course, primed and cooked himself so that his end would make the proper impact. He reached no further than We have come, your excellency, to say
 ''Then Witte broke in with, It is not for you, but for me, to say and there was nothing eQuivocal in what he said. It was, in effect, to settle the trouble within twenty-four hours.
 "I asked Thornton what he was go- ing to do about it.
 "'Do, dov he rejoined What can we do but as he says? Nobody can do a thing with him when his back is up.'
 "No sooner had the delegation of owners left Witte with his ultimatum as to the concessions to be made than he sent orders to the striking opera tives to immediately return to work, WuICA lucy ulu WIIuOut TeluOuSlEducc.
 ''Witte Is far and away the biggest man of his generation in Russia, and it is doubtful if the empire ever pro- duced greater as that which goes in such country to lift 1t out of the past and into the present. No act of the reign of Nicholas II. can be believed more personal, prompted by higher consecration to duty or of a larger sig nif1cance as to his tendency to inde- | pendence than the final selection of | Witte as the representative of his 1 country in deliberations and proceed lngs so involving Its future Only those who have seen bit of the inside of Russia, been in the atmosphere of which. in other words, is can have any appreciation of what Nicholas had to undergo in schooling himself to the appointment"