Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02
ST0LYP|N IS TRYING
Doing His Best to Restore Pub
lie Confidence.
THE CARS LOST CHANCES
He is Now Willing to Grant Con-
cessions.
BUT 1T MAY BE TOO LATE
Complete Amnesty to All Political
Prisoners-Premier Recognized
as Entirely Honest.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

BY WILLIAM F. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald
ST. PETERSBURG, August T. 1906
1t is due to Prime Minister Stolypin to
say that he has been doing his best to Sc
cure a liberal ministry that will command
the public confidence, but it is impossible
for him to do without accepting the pol
icy of the liberal parties in the duma, which
ought to have been done long ago. 1t is too
late to compromise.
The cars list of lost opportunities is very
long. He now is willing to grant conces-
sions that were demanded a year ago, but
the radicals will not consider them They
have raised the price of peace, and keep
raising 1t fast as he approach their
figures, while he attempts to trade on last
years quotations. and then he gets no
credit for anything that he does. When you
ask a socialist leader what the strike is for
he will usually tell you that it is intended
to compel the ear to grant the people
constituent assembly. but if forty constitu-
ent assemblies were granted there would be
no guarantee of either industrial or polit-
iCal tranquility.
Recent events in Finland are good IL
lustration. The Firms have been CRYING for
freedom for years. Like Poland and other
quest, Finland has never been on terms
with the government. The people have al
ways been in state of semireVOlution,
demanding autonomy, home rule and the
right TO make their own laws They have
assassinated their Russian governors. They
have refused to pay taxes or 70 accept the
authority of the Russians.
Finally their demands have been complied
with, although ] notice that very little has
been said about it. On the day that the
duma was dissolved the czar proclaimed
the. freedom of Finland. and by the i'm
perial edict granted that ambitious prov
ince civil and religious freedom, autonomy
and self-government on about the same
basis as that enjoyed by Canada Aus
trala and the other English colonies There
is TO be INK between the e6lof1y and
the throne in the person of a governor gen.
eral, who stands for the imperial power,
and the car has the right to VetGiegisa-
tion that he does not approve, but the peo-
pie are granted freedom of speech, press,
assembly and association, universal suf-
frage, women we'll as men of twenty-four
years of age, and a parliament consisting
of 200 members elected every two years, to
which all citizens of voting age eligible.
A complete system of government is gran
ed which will contro the police, provide the
courts and administer civil and. judicial af
fairs and it is proposed also to substitute
native militia for the Russian military
garrison.
Amnesty Granted.
In addition to this the car has granted
complete amnesty to all political prisoners.
These concessions not promised, nut
they are fact and yet nobody In Finland
seems to be satisfied. The red guard"
as the anarchist and socialist organization
is called, is parading the streets of Hell
singfors bowling for greater freedom. and
you have read the account of the mutiny
of the garrison in the harboY fortificatiOn
of lielsingfors. which was suppressed at a.
sacrifice of 100 killed and more than thou
.I.a1 fY.,..
that the czar should hesitate to make fur
theI concessions.
On the. other hand. the people have lost
faith in their sovereign, and when. that hap
pens governments are almost hopeless. But
what else can be expected? His ropea ted
promises have not been carried out; his
pledges have not been fuihiled. For cx-
ample, article - of his own fundamental
law or constitution reads as follows:
Russian subjects have the right 70 or
ganize meetings for purposes that are not
contrary to the laws, without disturbing the
peace and without arms.
And yet the police suppress every political
meeting that is held in St Petersburg and
other cities and arrest and send the speak
ers TO jail.
They have closed every political club in
the city.
Article 81 Of the fundamental law says:
Everybody Is free within the limits pro-
vided by law to set forth his ideas by word
OF mouth or in writing, by the press or in
any other manner of publicity"
burg has been suppressed for crticising
the government and all uhc printers in the
city have been notified that they will be
sent to prison IL they publish the mani
festo adopted by the constitutional demo-
cratic party. With these examples contin-
ually before them people can scarcely be
blamed for losing their confidence in the
sincerity of their sovereign.
Mr. Stoypin defends the suppression of
the newspapers and the prohibition of po-
litical meetings on the ground That before
he can accomplish anything in the way OF
reforms order must be restored and the
confidence of the people must be recovered.
This. he contends. cannot be done as long
as ten or eleven radical newspapers appear
every morning filled with attacks upon his
motives and criticisms of his. policy, which
are intended to make the people distrust
him.
Stolypin Uses Force
Mr.. Stolypin is everywhere recognized as
a man of integrity honest intentions and
liberal views. but he is a Russian, and his
ideas are those of the bureaucracy. He
does not know how to do anything without
the use of force. and when he Is told that
tyranny and oppression are poor peace
makers he replies that foreigners cannot
understand the psychology of the Russian
character. His methods are those of the
hated autocracy. He cannot understand
why the people object to the use of police
men as ambassadors OF peace and good
will, and he wonders why their indignation
has been excited by the suppression of
newspapers and the arrest of unoffending
citizens in violation of the car 8 promises
He cannot understand that the liberal ele-
ment of the population will not trust him
as far as he could throw a royal Bengal
tiger by the tail.
Thus far Mr.. Stolypin has directed all of
his attention to the arrest and imprison-
nient of the leaders OF the liberal and So
ciallst parties and none to the rottenness
OF his own government He is familiar with
the character and the crimes of his subordi-
Mates and yet he does not turn the rascals
out. Before he accepted office few months
ago he was as earnest anybody In de-
= nouncing the conspiracies of the bureau
Gratis and the corruption of the office hold
ers, but since the authority has been in
his hands he has not disturbed one of them.
He dare not do II. He feels that they are