The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-25
An EVERYDAY MATTER.

Edward 4. Steiner got into St.
Petersburg before the duma was dis
solved. He describes his tourney
thither in the current Outlook" On
reaching st. Petersburg he started out
to find dozen men whom he wished
to see. Of the dozen he found that
only two were in the city. One of
these was newspaper correspondent.
and him he saw; the other had be-
come a prisoner in the fortress
presumably the semi-sacred fortress
OF St. Peter and st. Paul-and him he
did not see. He made an attempt, but
the authorities refused to give him
the necessary permission. Then he
found his friends wife-the i'm
prisoned man is physician-and this
is the story that she told him:
Her husband was attending one OF
his patients when the police came and
carried him away prisoner. He was
thrown into room which held two
hundred and sixty-five prisoners. in
which all the foulness of the night
had accumulated, and where he had
to remain for three days. His wife.
by her importantly and the wise use
of money, had him transferred to a
room which had but forty people, and
there he was languishing. He had
never been asked a question, nor had
he received an answer; his wife told
me that he is as innocent of wrong
doing against the government as is
their little child. Stories like hers are
so commonplace as to excite but lit
| tie attention.
The story is, indeed, commonplace.
1t runs with the habitual beginning.
OF Russian judicial procedure. 1t
seems absurd to apply such a word as
judicial to an act of this sort; but in
Russia words have to be twisted by
main force to describe acts that do
not justify the use of the words at
all. To be exact, this summary and
unexplained seizure of physician is
what passes in Russia for the first
step in judicial procedure. 1t is the
regular method. The people there are
too we'll acquainted with it-they have
had to put up with it too often-to
think very much about it.
1t would be interesting to know the
real reason for tearing this physician
away from his patient. Perhaps some
one in authority had received a bill
from the doctor that created a per-
sonal grudge; perhaps some one in
authority had been startled by the
Doctors dog and waited for an oppor-
tunity to get even with the owner;
perhaps the doctors wife wore a
hat that had disturbed the self-esteem
of the wife of some one in authority.
Under the Russian system every
thing is possible. All that is neces-
sary is for some one in authority to
take notion to arrest certain per-
son, no matter whether with reason
or without reason, and the arrest
is made. Men have been seized in
Russia, and carried off, and forgotten,
and dozen or score of years later
they have reappeared again, mere bat
tered hunks of humanity, their cases
having finally been reached by the
same unknown and malignant power
that carried them off, or it's equally
mysterious successor, and nothing
having been found against them.
All that you can truly say about
this system Of government is that
those in power do as they please, and
that those not in power have to take
what comes. The man who is over
looked is the only safe man, and he
never knows how long obscurity will
shelter him. This doctor was APP
parently seized when Goremykin was
at the head of Russian affairs
1t is fine specimen of the kind
of administration that he judged to
be needful in order to make the cars
authority stable. NJ Stolypin, who is
now the premier. and who is rated
as somewhat liberal and thoroughly
honest, frankly says that he can do
nothing with the Russian police
that they must have time to learn bet
ter! We may be sure that they will
take their own time about it. They
are In clover, but Russia herself is
in place of torment that we do not
need to name.