The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-13
AIM OF TERRORISM,
METHOD OF ATTACKsUPON G0V-
 EMINENT ITSELF

tem-Extermination Practically I'm.
 poslbIe-Future Alone Can Determine
 Value of the Method.
 However much people of humane in stinots may deplore the activity of the Russian Terrorists they must recog. nize it as less manifestation of per. sonal antipathy to the officials at tackled than the institution of civil wal against the government itself. The bomb explosion at the villa of M Stolypin, the premier, and the killing of General Min by a girl agent of the Terrorist central committee, are parts merely of a well-deflned programme that can be pursued in spite of police vigilance, and which will be pursued until the government announces a change of front. The Terrorists expect that the government will employ the utmost severity to effect their suppress sion, but they are ready to match force with violence, and in that purpose command the sympathy of many thou sands of Russians who are not Terror ists, but who welcome the denoralizing consequences of the Terrorist policy upon an establishment they them selves detest.
 An open letter addressed 10 the pre- mier by a member of the moderate party reveals the attitude of the great mass of educated Russians, who are not allied with the Terrorists The writer points out that while troops may be used to subdue popular tu- mults they are helpless against an en- emy who strikes, as the Terrorist strikes, suddenly and without . mo- ments warning. There are So many ways in which a Terrorist may ap- proach his victim and so many meth ods whereby he may secure his de- struction that even the best organized police force is comparatively helpless Punishment Is no deterrent to assassi- nation. Repression does not repreas What is required by the go yornmeut in this crisis, as indicated by the pfe- niers correspondent, is tie co-opera- tion of society with the govavnr1ent !o the Encouragement of the Tercorists Such cooperation is impossible as long as the government alienates from itself the sympathy of society by delaying constitutional reform and restricting liberty of speech, assemblage and pdb- lie printing.
 It should be remembered thdt while the Douma was in session the en lgles of the srerrorists were held in abey- ance There vas an evident dispo.l- ton on ne 4rt If their lns3els to give an absolutely fair chaaoe to tt S unique experiment representative government. That imposition of self restraint indicates that the Terrorlsts are led by men of intelligence and judgment-lnen capable of apprecia- ting evil effect upon their own aspira- tions of crimes of violence committed at a moment when the mass of society was at least tolerant of the govern ment and hopeful of good results. But as soon as the Douma was dissolved the Terrorists made it clear that they intended to resume war and their promise has since been redeemed with startling and ghastly effect The deadly power of their internal ma- chimes Is disclosed by the long list of killed and injured at M. Stolypin's re- ception and the resolution of their agents has been once more impressive ly displayed in the conduct of the young woman who fired four shots into General Min with all the deadly accu- raoy of target expert
 Events have shown that the extermi- nation of the Terrorists is a practical impossibility Recruits are too numer- ous and the organization too secret for the police to apprehend the first or to break up the second. After the assas- sination of the present Czar's grand father by plotting Nihilists the repres- sion of the latter was successfully at- tempted. But in those days the Nihil- ists were an insignificant minority without the sympathy of any consid- erable portion of society, while the au- thority of the government acting against them was undiminished by civ- il disorder, by mutinw in the army and navy or by treaehery among the police. What was quite possible against re- 1atively small community os assassins in 1881 is impossible against the now large, well-organized and constantly increasing association of Terrorists,
 
 who believe the practice of murder is a political duty they are called upon to perform in the interests of patriotism rather than for motives of personal re- venge The Terrorists of 1906 have built on a more substantial foundation than the theories of Karl Marx and Proudhon, which served the purposes of their prototypes. They have the tremendous moral advantage that comes from the vicious character of the institutions they oppose For that reason their methods, which subject so many innocent people to death and mayhem escape the universal con- demnation society elsewhere visits upon crimes that are similar in form, but totally distinct in origin.
 It Is well to predict slowly concern ing the evolution of politics in Russia. The government retains control of the army, the navy and the police, al- though its hold upon all three has been more than once severely shaken with in the past twelve months. It is, so far back as can be judged, able to maintain itself against any popular up rising in the immediate future. But