The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-25

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The Duma Confronting Russia's Main
Problem.
Although the members NJ the Duma
were exasperated by the Cars refusal
to receive their deputation In person,
the leaders Of the Constitutional Demo-
Gratis again gave proof Of singular dis
erection end Of ability to dominate an
excited assembly. They pointed out
that the Cars refusal 10 receive tho
address from the hands Of President
MURoMTZEFF was technically justified
by the practice in constitutional coun-
tries, though by emitting to break
through the bonds OF routine the SOW
ereign had missed an opportunity of
~endearing himself to his subjects and
Of convincing them that the rule Of the
bureaucracy was over. That was his
loss, not the Parliament's, however; and
when the Duma met on Monday it vas
pointed out that the important thing
was its declaration Of the peoples de-
mands, and that the Cars reply, to be
COllNcyCd IilOuBh tho tlCIillSl uu W
terim, should be awaited patiently.
Meanwhile, any further discussion Of the
conditions OF amnesty, or Of the political
reforms proposed, should be deferred,
and the assembly should apply itself
forthwith to the solution Of the urgent
agrarian problem. Steps to that end
were Immediately taken.
1t is unquestionably true that for a
large and increasing fraction of the
agriculturists who constitute at least
three-fourths Of Russia's population
the most pressing need is for food. not
freedom. There will be time enough
for them to formulate a Bill Of Rights
after their stomachs have been filled
with. something more n%ourishing than
straw. The famine with which many
provinces have been stirred during the
last six months simply exempliies in
aggravated form a restitution which
has been chronic for many years. If
we except the BLACK Earth" country,
which is of extraordinary fertility, there
is no part of European Russia in which
the allotments made to the emancipated
serfs rather more than forty years ago
were even at that time adequate to the
support Of their families. AS we have
formerly pointed out, the prices charged
for the holdings we're for the most part
exorbitant, and in a majority Of cases
the peasant proprietors have found
themselves unable to meet the annual
instruments Of purchase money. A pal
liative for their hardships was applied
during Count WHITES Premiership by
a ukase renting the accumulated
arrears Of unpaid instalments, but. it
WAS recognized that owing to the vast
increase of the peasant population dur
ing a generation and a half had rendered
a drastic remedy indispensable.
More than n project for a further
distribution Of land has been the subject
Of official discussion during the last six
months, but no agreement was reached,
although with strange faulty the So
called Fundamental Law, proclaimed
March Z, forbade the Duma, upon which
the solution of the problem was through
bureaucratic delay devolved, to NEEDLE
with the crown lands, which naturally
would be the first distributed. 1t cannot
have escaped attention that from the
outset the Duma has treated the Fun
damental Law as a dead letter. That
the assembly means to continue so to
treat it is obvious from the agrarian
programme drawn up and published by
the Constitutional Democrats. Should
this programme be adopted by the
Duma and approved by the Gar the
crown lands first, and next the Church
lands, will be apportioned forthwith
among the mujiks, or a~griculturists, on
extremely liberal terms; and then aE
earnest effort will be made to devise
plan for the wholesale appropriation Of
private landed estates, which, while ac-
ceptable 70 the tillers of the soil, will not
be stigmatized by the present landowners
as c~oniscatory. The task, no doubt, is
difficult, but that it is not impractioable
is plain from the operation Of the
Wyndham Land Purchase act in Ireland,
which, although it needs and will re-
oeive some amendment, seems likely to
solve that country's agrarian problem.
So far as the immediate division of
the crown lands and Church lands is
concerned all parties in the Dums, with
the possible exception of the small body
Of Reactionists IN the Right Of the
Chamber, seem to be agreed. When the
mode Of expropriating the land Of pri-
vate owners comes up for discussion,
the ability Of the Constitutional Demo-
Gratis to control the Duma may be sub
jected to a severe strain. A decision
has been already reached by the Radical
workmen and an aggressive peasant