The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-26
RUSSIA IN THE GRASP
 OF RAILROAD STRIKERS
CZAR,S MINISTERS MEET TO TRY
 AND FIND WAY OUT OF CRISIS.

Count Witte at Their Head-In Session
 All Day and Long After Midnight
 General Strike Complete Except in
 Few Border PrOvinces-St. Peters
 burg Isolated Except by Way of Fin- . Iand-IndustriaI Strike Also Spreads
 Meetings of strongly Revolutionary
 Character-Famine Feared.
 St. Petersburg, Oct. 24.-4 a. m.-Con- Eronted by situation more crucial than any since the beginning of the po- litical and social upheaval of Russia, and which at the time this dispatch is filed shows no signs of amelioration, the emperor's ministers under the lead- ership of Count Witte, spent almost all of yesterday in conference in the hope of finding some way out of the crisis into which the revolutionists and social- tsts have cast the country.
 . The general strike on the railroads Is complete except in a few border provinces, and St. Petersburg, Moscow and other large cities are almost as closely beleaguered as if they were in- vested by besieging armies. At the same time the industrial strike has as- sumed large dimensions and the turbu- lent clements in several localities are offering open resistance ito the troops.
 The ministers, who had been in ses- sion during the day, resumed their meeting after a short interval for din- ner and continued their deliberations until long after midnight. The result of these deliberations is not yet known
 The ministers were summoned to meet, not as the committee Of mlnls- ters. of which Count Witte is president but as the council of ministers, Of which Count Solsky is properly the chairman, and the selection of Count Witte to preside, which was done by direction of the emperor, shows that a ministerial cabinet is actually though not formally, an accomplished fact. II is understood that an edict formally es- fablishing a ministerial cabinet, which will bear the old name of 'Sovyet, or council, will be published in the Offl- cial Messenger Saturday next, together with an imperial rescript, addressed personally to Count Witte, entrustlng < him with the simultaneously created position of premier. There appears to De some question as to whether the count will take the portfolio of finance or that of the ministry of the interior
 The Finland railroad to Helsingfofs and the steamers constitute. St. Peters, burg's only means of communication with the outer world this morning. The postal authorities are now refusing to accept ordinary mail, and commercial correspondence is at a .standstill'
 The strike is complete in the great < factory region on both banks of the Neva above the city and in several ~ other industrial quarters. Forty thou- sand men are out, but they are con- ducting themselves in a very orderly manner The Store Clerks union to- night proclaimed a two weeks -sympa- thetic strike for political reasons, but it is probable that it will be only par tially obeyed. Prudent inhabitants are laying in stocks of provisions so as to prepare for emergencies, As a conse~ uuence the prices of provisions have risen sharply
 Large meetings, mainly of workmen, S were held last night in the university, and the higher schools, at which the sentiment was unanimous for continu- ing the strike on the railroads to the bitter end. The proceedings at sev- seral of the meetings were of a strong" ly revolutionary character, the orators calling on their auditors to rise and .slay all ''chinovniks" and the police, and to meet the troops with armed force. The speeches were received with enthusiastic cheers. The police were lgpowrless to interfere, the precincts of the university being forbidden ground to them under an imperial ukase.
 The emperor is cut off from railroad communication with the capital.