Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-14
op from the former in the twinkling

OPP from the former in the twinkling
of an eye.
Tomorrow may see another bloody
riot in st. Petersburg. 1t Is to be
hoped that it may be averted but that
1t cannot is very probable. The peo-
pie were quieted only by promises of
short hours Of labor and better condi-
tons generally, and now they have
found that their employers do not in.
tend to make good their promises.
So they have renewed their strike and
from strikers they will develop into
rioters at the smallest provocation
This is not because they are blood.
thirsty, warning people, but because
they have given up all hope of obtain
Ing their ends by peaceful means and
have become reckless. Their last
hope Is that In dying for the cause Of
labor they may make the way easier
for posterity.
In Poland the labor troubles are
still most threatening. At Sosnovic
this week scores Of men have been
shot down by the military. At LODI
and at Warsaw the attitude Of the
strikers is such that additions have
been made to the already large gar.
risons. The coming week will, 1t is
expected, bring crisis.
Those not of Russia do not realize
the limit to which the socialistic and
revolutionary associations have car.
ried their system Of organization. But
once in while knowledge Of the ex.
tent of the scheme is given to people
of outside nations and the realization
causes wonder. It shows that the
lower classes of Russia have leaders
who possess a genius for organization
and systematic work An example of
this fact Is shown by the publication
OF a notice received by young Rus.
sian, now a business man in, Sioux
City. This man, says a correspond.
emit, received communication from at
least three societies in his fatherland.
He will not allow the use Of his name,
and says that If his identity were
made public the secret agents of the
Russian goverpm ent would spare no
expense to reach him and to make ev.
cry effort to wiring from him the Sc.
crets of his organization. The procla.
nation in question is one in which
the reason for the assassination of
Minister Won Pleve are set forth and
it shows more plainly than almost
anything else could the extent to
which this tyrannical ruler, himself
raised by political influence from the
lowest ranks of Russians, carried his
power over his former associates. In
part the circular says:
To all Liberty Loving People of
the World: The necessary violence
of our methods should not hide from
anybody the truth. We reprove ab--
solutely terrorist policy in free
countries. But in Russia where there
Is no open political discussion, no re-
dress against autocratic power, we
are obliged to fight the violence of
tyranny with the violence Of a revolu.
ton. And revolution Is always q HUI.
man right
For these reasons was viatcheslaf
Plevhe condemned to death and exc
cuted by the fighting committee: 1t
was he who for twenty years caused
our brothers and sisters to be walled
in the cells of the fortress of st. Peter
and st. Paul and prosecuted them to
their deaths.
1t was he who, having become ON.
nipotent In Russia, revived the policy
of reprisai against all who read and
think and suffer in Russia.
1T was he who, seeking to repress
the rising tide OF revolution, sought
to oppose the different nationalities
of the empire one to another, as the
world knows in the case Of the Kishi.
nef massacres.
ut was he who organized the
worlds international spy system, and
laid snares in Germany, France, Italy,
even in the United States, for Rus.
sian liberals who had escaped his
wrath.
ut was he whose influence chiefly
caused the war with Japan, hoping
by this sacrifice Of hundreds Of thou
sands of lives Of both innocent peo-
pies to divert attention from the
things which all Russia thinks about.
This was the last and the greatest of
his crimes, for 1t was crime against
the whole world"
Reading such statements as these
can we still wonder why the common
people in Russia take such reckless
risks as they have taken since the
labor troubles began last month 2 Can
we wonder that they fee from their
fatherland as from q nation afflicted
with plague? Can we wonder that
they choose to fight the home guard
rather than take up arms for the land
that has given them birth? Can we
wonder that they rebel against their
czar. The only wonder is that they
withhold themselves as much as they
do.
E=----=-
FUN AND WORK.
The public has rather odd idea of