The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-13
A GLAD FAREWELL
Little in Russia That w. Y. Nor
gan Took a Fancy To.
What the Country Needs Is His
siOnaries and Soap.
RAILROADS ARE FAIR.
Women and Children TOiling in
the Fields.
Notable Absence Of Good Cloth
ing and Happy Faces.
wyrballen, Russia, July q.

how wise we were on departing. The
day was Sunday and we spent it at
Peterhof roaming around the beauti-
full garden and in and out of the gorg-
eous palaces, meeting no English
speaking people except our guide,
who would not have known a political
crisis if he had met one on the public
street in broad daylight. While we
were surreptitiously putting our feet on
the furniture in the palace, only
mile away Car Nicholas was making
public his decision to dissolve the
duma We returned to the city in
the twilight and noticed q strange
and peculiar feeling in the atmos-
phere. Groups of people met and
parted on the street and small COM
panies of soldiers or mounted police
kept riding through the crowds dis
persing them and keeping the indfvid-
uals moving. In other parts of the
city they were arresting suspected
people, suppressing the newspa pers.
but our road to the hotel and back to
the station was a main avenue and be-
tween soldiers barracks and was not
exciting except for the movements
have mentioned. In fact martial law
had been declared at ST. Petersburg
and the military was IN full command,
but we did not know it at the time
and 1 only had feeling Of wanting
to hurry out of Russia which chased
up and down my spinal column until
the train had gotten a good distance
from the city OF course there was
no danger for foreigners. But the
first move in the attempt at revolu-
ton if it does come will be a railroad
strike and nobody would want to be
tied up in some Russian town 500
miles from nowhere. From a passen-
ger on the train who could talk lit
tie German I learned something of
the facts but as yet l do not know near
as much about the situation in Rus
STA as the people in Hutchinson when
they read the News this evening
In other letters I have referred to
the possibilities of what would happen
in case the car dissolved the duma
and thus challenged the advocates
of a representative government to a
fight 1 do not think 1t will come to
crisis at once. so long as the army
stands loyal to the government the
people can do little except make dis
turbance. But il the-a army gets the
spirit of freedom IN its heart. then Mr..
Gar and Mr.. Autoeracy had better
hide. Coming into the port Of st.
Petersburg last week I saw a Spanish
Warship which I was afterward told
was really hanging around to give the
car lift in case he had to run.
There is a great deal of the brute il
the animal man. A little over a century
age the enlightened and cultured people
of France went crazy for blood. Only
a short time past lot Of American eiti-
zens in Missouri burned to death two
defenseless negroes and men and women
danced around the awful scene. So
what are we to expect If the poor ignOr-
ant Russians raised TO believe in brute
force. should take it into their heads to
revenge themselves upon their oppres-
sors2 Everybody I met in Russia hoped
that this would not occur but everybody
believed that it might.
The Russians have the best railroads
and trains on the continent, largely be-
cause they got their original ideas on
the subject from America rather than
from Europe. When the first railroad
was planned the car was asked what
route it should take. He laid down 4
rule and drew a straight line from
Petersburg to Moscow, and the railroad
was constructed that way regardless of
difficulties or the convenience of the
towns between The Russian govern
ment runs and operates all the railroads
in the country and it has made good
road beds and put comfortable, first
class cars on the tracks. The road that
has brought US from St Petersburg in
a nice sleeping car compartment plan) is
as good as we have in America, but al
/ have suggested IL is operated on the
American style. There are slower.
cheaper trains with poorly ventilated
and uncomfortable cars, in some Of
which the passengers roost like chick
ems in cars that are like double decked
cattle cars at home. They couldn't take
American ideas straight and had to
Russianize them for third and fourth
class passengers. There are no acct
dents in Russia suppose an employe
who left switch open would get a trip
to Siberia instead Of thirty days vaca-
ton, and consequently he doesn't go TO
Sleep Every station and / suppose eV-
erv train has it's 'ichon'' and the only
suggestion I VIII have to make to the
Santa Fe when I get home is that it
should get some ichons. Another thing:
The Russian railroads are a wider
gauge than the others in Europe, so
that in case of war Germany and
| Sweden could not utilize the Russian
roads until they had changed their
tracks
Russia is bigger than all the rest of
Europe. Russia's domain covers about
one-sixth of the land surface of the
earth being only surpassed by Great
| Britain, but the English possessions are
/ scattered in five continents and Russia :
are compact. So when Russia does go
to smash. there will be a great lot of
noise and some big pieces. Up to date
I haven't seen any of it that we want.
The church of Russia is the Greek
| Catholic. which for want of better
| knowledge on the subject / would say
/ is ike our own Roman Catholic
| church. except that it does not recog-
nfxs the pope and has its own ritual.
saints and ceremonies. There are two
/ kinds of clergy. the white and the
! black The white clergy. or resident
priests. must be married. The black
| clergy, probably similar to monks.
must not be married. Everywhere the
| churches are numerous and beautiful
and in almost every. block at st. Peters