Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-11-29
REAL BUREAUCRACY
RUSSIAN TYRANNY AND IT'S
IRON MACHINERY.
PROGRESS is IMPOSSIBLE
Government by Anachronism--A Sys-
tenn contrived by Peter the Great
Still operative-Why German
Bureaucracy is Blessing and Rus
sian Bureaucracy Curse

Translated from La Revue Bleue.-
The present organization Of the Rus
sian bureaucracy dates from the time
Of Peter the great While travelling
in the west, and more particularly in
France, he discovered that royalty had
triumDhed over the teudal aristocracy
by concentrating public authority in
its own hands Though the means OF
administrative oTganl4at.c11-. In or
der to triumph in his turn over the
boiars, he likewise went in for cen
tralized administration, In 1922 he
invented a system of grades, or
"tchine," in which he included all the
military and civil authorities, setting
class above class in a sort of pyramid
with the czar as the capstone. Then,
to force the boiars to take their al
lotted place under his supreme author
ity, he declared a certain rank in the
tchine prerequisite to a title of no
bility. Before Peter the greats time
only a noble could exercise public
authority. After this nobody could
be nobleman without belonging to
the public service or without being
descended from ancestors who had
held offices giving the right of her
editary nobility. And if a family
kept alooi from the public service for
two generations it would lose its title
to nobility
At the time when the tchine was
founded 1t had certainly it's adj
gantages. BY combining the title OF
nobility to the servants of the state,
Peter the great compelled all the old
mobiles who wanted to retain their
rank to enter the public service. He
thus attached them to the fortune OF
the czars and took long stride to-
ward the realization of national
unity. BY throwing the public serv-
ice open to men without titles, and
by Immediately opening the ranks OF
the nobility to plebians who had at
tanned certain station in the public
service. he introduced both into the
public service and into the nobility.
principle of equality not to be found
at that time in any other state in
Europe BY establishing an admin
istrative hierarchy which could be
assembled only a grade at time, he
guarded it fairly effectually against
the caprices of fayoritism. And this
hierarchy, by making all the officials
depend closely upon one another, has
played no small part in holding the
various parts of the vast empire to-
gether.
Today, however, the tchine no
Ionger. answers the needs it once did.
But it is still the basis for the organ
ization of the personnel of the diner
ent services. All the civil and mill
tary offices are graded in a system OF
fourteen ranks. Promotions are not
made to such and such an office but
to such and such a rank in the tchine,
and the right to hold this or that Of
fee depends upon a mans rank in the
tchine. Moreover, the tchine con
tinues TO confer nobility: personal,
beginning with the ninth rank (cap-
tain; hereditary. beginning with the
fourteenth rank general }.
The journalistic and out-of-date char
acter of the tchine and the ornamental
titles with which it invests its offices
have done much to discredit it. I
shall never forget says Wallace,
"the expression of intense disgust
once saw come over the face OF an
American who had invited court
counsellor to dinner only to discover
that the parsonage in question was
merely an insignificant departmental
employee
I Unless a man can show a uniyei-
( sity diploma or unless he is a heredi-
I tary nobleman or can prove his de-
scent from persons now or formerly
belonging to the public service or
/ from members of the clergy or from
servants or artists, or from merchants
Of the first guild, he has TO begin at
/ the bottom of the ladder. Candidates
/ of the class known as "chancellery
employees can get into the tchine
only after a certain number OF years
Iof service. according as they come
from the universities or from second
ary schools. and also according to the
rank Of their parents Accordingly
liz two candidates come from sec
ondary school, one of them noble
mans son. and the other a school
masters son, the nobleman's son VIII
wait year and the schoolmas.er's
son four years, to be admitted to the
.eurteenth rank of the tchine. II they
have only primary education the de-
lay viii 3e two years for the former
eight for the latter.
II a man has a university diploma
his birth is not inquired into Indeed
the university diploma itself connotes
rank in the tchine-it viii even adj
nit Jew to the public service. An
lofher advantage-can candidates from the
universities take rank according g
their diplomas--doctors in the eighth
grade. Hcentiates IN the ninth. bach
elors OF the first degI ee in the tenth
land those of the second degree in the
twelfth.
Sach are the conditions that must
be fulfilled in order to enter the
bureaucracy But nominations are
made az the discretion of the powers
that be; for men with diplomas, as
for men without them. careers art
really open only to those who enjoy
the favor of the chiefs. The bureauc
racy isn't recruited by competitive
81 ,,,fr E4re