Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-21

ment of industry, or the promotion of COM
merce. Measures to obtain control Of the
government have absorbed the entire time
of everybody.
While speaking about this the other day
Prof. Milukon defended the disposition OF
the duma to devote itself to political affairs
and its Impotence to secure control OF the
government on the theory that present con-
ditions were intolerable and that no I'm
provement could be expected until the ex-
! listing cabinet was turned out OF Office and
new men, in sympathy with the sentiment
Of the people and the spirit of modern prog
ress, were installed in their places. He de-
clared that tt was useless for the duma to
discuss educational budgets until there was
q proper man at the head Of the department
Of education to carry them out. The hrst
task of the duma was to clean ont the
Augean stables. and then 1t could discuss
other necessary legislation with clear
brain and an untrammeled reason
/ When I suggested to him that the world
was not built in day. and that rcpuDhcan
institutions were mater OF growth ana
not Of spontaneous creation. he inquired
sarcasticaAy why somebody did not make
that suggestion to George Washington and
the Pilgrim Fathers. and to the members
of the First Continental Congress In Amer
lea. OF course the point was well taken.
Duma Might Have Done More.
But. at the same time many measures
which the duma might have enacted
promptly for the general good are much
more important to the people at large than
the abolition of the death penalty. the con-
sideration of which occupied several weeks.
For example, its first duty was to provide
q system Of elections for future members
of the duma which will make that Dooy
genuinely representative of the people ana
guarantee the principle Of se,f-goyernment.
Again, 1t is equally important to have
l. law making all officials OF the police, the
home office and other branches OF the gov
eminent, excepting the army and navy. re-
ell fo civil c0nrtS. At present
most Of them are immune from punishment
except by their superiors whose orders they
carry out. subordinate oftc!ai knows that
he will be protected in anything he does.
provided it pleases the men above him.
It Is imperative that Russia should have
open courts and open trials and that some
thing like the French system Of procedure
should be adopted In criminal cases so as to
insure defendants against injustice.
The police should be entirely separated
from politics. and the army should be re-
The courts should be reorganized: the
laws should be codifed and simplifled so
that the people Of Russia may know when
they are committing crime.
In two days the duma could have passed
law abolishing the odous and tyrannical
passport regulations: in two days more 1t
gious liberty and relieved the Jews from all
Exceptional laws" as the restrictive meas
ures imposed upon them are termed.
Something should have been done for the
schools. even II a compulsory education Inv
is fmpracticable at present because there
are so few schools for the, children to at
tend.
Indeed, one might suggest a dozen more
propositions that seem to be imperative and
much more important to the common good
Of Russia than the abolition Of capital pun
ishment and the attempts to show the in
competency and prejudice of the czar's
ministry.
But It should be said In defense of the
duma that 1t was made up of men who were
burning with the sense Of their wrongs.
and who were bursting with opinions upon