Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-13
Tow The lead OF the ! Sar S
Peace Commission Rose from
a Humble Occupation To Be
Russia's Great Statesman
and DiplQmat
and Diplomat

n the powers that be in Russia,
which is not one man power
whatever else 1t may be, have
selected Serge Julievich Witte, the
maker of modern Russia, as the
chief plenpotentiary to the peace
conference in Washington. Tie
patriotic duty now devolves on Witte
to save what he can from the wreck
age of an unsuccessful war, the incep-
ton of which he combated with a
vigor and boldness which led the St.
Petersburg courtiers to rub their
hands with glee and say: "Witte has
killed himself; the house of Romanoff
can never forgive such unruly opposi-
ton; he is finished" And so, courtier-
like, they passed him by with averted
faces or with supercilious smiles.
Whether they have forgiven him or
not is another matter and remains to
be seen, but they sit at his feet today
and no other one man counts for so
much in the empire as he He has
fought his fight alone. as did Vladi-
mir Monomach, the "stalwart alone
standing" Duke of Moscow, whose
namesake, a great cruiser went down
III the Sea of Japan the other day with
her colors flying and her orders to
fight to the last nailed to the fighting
tops.
A great many wise men believe that
Russia is ruled by those who are born
@fx h1rae and de-
grees of richness, of course-but born
to the purple he must be If he would
rise in Russia. On the other hand, a
great many Russians believe that there
IA no other country in the world where
the administrative career is so widely
open to the talented of whatever social
category as is Russia. The truth prob
ably lies somewhere between the two
contentious. At all events, 1t is quite
certain that there is not single MEM
her of President Roosevelt's cabinet
who began life upon such lowly rung
of the ladder as did Prince Khilkoff'
the railway minister of the great en-
pire. and M. de Witte, the former
chancellor, who is summoned from
disgrace to bear the brunt of the peace
negotiations with Japan, which Will
shortly open formally in Washington
and actually in Portsmouth. N. H.,
where cooler breezes blow than In the
national capital on the Potomac.
An American Career
Khilkoff, the prince today and. bet
ter than that, the man who will live
in history as the great organizer CT
transportation, the ruler of the Trans
Siberian railway, the one man on the
Russian side who comes out of the war
with his reputation not only intact but
deservedly increased. began life as
NAVY. Many Americans who have
had the good fortune to meet him he
has delighted with the stories of his
adventures while a section hand on
the Pennsylvania system and ma
chinist in the shops of the New York
Central He rose to be contractor on
a small scale in Venezuela, where he
helped build the wonderful railway for
which the German bankers have never
been paid. Then he returned to Rus
sia and began at the bottom, at about
the same time that Witte, though he
had enjoyed a fairly good education
found that for want of influence he
could not enter the civil service, which
was his dream, as it is that of mosi
Russians, but needs must enter the
employ of little private railway in
the province of Odessa, where he be-
gan that career which has carried hin
SO far, as freight clerk, and indeed
at times as a baggageman. His op'
portunity soon came, however, fortu'
nately long before his spirit was
crushed and his initiative dulled by the
hopeless routine of his monotonous
duties. He averted grave disaster
by presence of mind in crisis, and h'
was Immediately promoted to be sta
ton master. He had saved his com
pany money and safeguarded theil
credit with the travelling public, and
so won for himself the best Of creden
tials. Then the Russo-Turkish wal
came and the railways proved more
inadequate than they have done in the
great struggle with Japan, and ol
course there was not the excuse o.
transcontlnental distances to be over
come. Witte by this time had riser
10 be the traffic manager of large
section of the private railway and Il
began to be noticed that on this line
things got through while on others
they did not. Commanders OF army