Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-05
FOR THE SECOND DUMA
Members Will Be Elected Feb
ruary 10.
FIGHT MADE BY ST0LYPIM
Efforts Being Made to Keep Out So
cial Democrats.
EXCLUSION OF MUROMTsEFF
Passport Restrictions Unrelaxed-
Russian3 Not Respecters CT Per-
sons in Their Treatment of Jews.
BY WILLIAM z. CIfRTIS.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald
The election for members of the second
duma in Russia will be held February 10,
! and the assembly is called for the list
| of March. The government is still reach
| ing in every direction and adopting every
possible preteXt to disqualify socialists and
other radical leaders and hopes to secure
the conservative majority which Prime
Minister Stolypin considers necessary to
carry out his forms. He has had Paul
Milukoff and Serge Muromtseff, the most
important men in the constitutional demo-
cratic party. declared ineligible to election
on very slim pretext-because they have
not resided a sufficient length of time in
the districts where they are candidates
Both of these gentlemen dispute the de-
cision of the senate, but it is idle for
them to do so, there Is no tribunal to
which they can appeal. Mr.. Milukoff was
declared from the first duma in a SINH
lar manner, having been arrested on a
charge OF reasonable publications in his
newspaper, Reich. the organ of the con-
stitutfonal democratic party, of which he
is the acknowledged leader. But, although
he was not a member and could not speak
from the floor, he was the most influential
man in the duma and directed the policy of
his party from a seat in the reporters
gallery. He was always at the caucuses
and was consulted by the nominal leaders
upon every question that
Milukoff Once Ban1shed. -.
Professor MEukoff expected to be a mem
Der of the second duma, but the govern
| ment does not want him there and his name
| has been stricken from the list of candi-
dates by the order Of the senate on the
pretext 1 have mentioned.
Milukof has been three times imprisoned
and was banished from Russia in 1898 for
his liberal views. For several years he was
professor of history in the University of
Moscow. When he was banished he went
| to Bulgaria and had a chair in the Univer-
sity of Sofia. Then he went to the Univer-
sity of Chicago, where, in 1903, he delivered
| a series of lectures on the Charles r. Crane
| foundation. These lectures have been pub
| lished in book form under the title of Rus
| STA and Its Crisis" After the emperor man
! festo of October, 1905, he returned to St.
Petersburg, organized the constitutional
democratic party and conducted the CAM
paign by which it secured a majority in
| the first duma. Prof. Milukoff is a very
| able learned and patriotic man, but, like so
| many other patriots of his kind. is vision
| AIRY and impracticable. If he had been will
| ing to accept the theory that part of a
| loaf is better than no bread he might be in
the cars cabinet today. assisting Mr..
| StOlypin in carrying out reforms for the
benefit of the people; but he demanded all
or nothing. He Insisted upon a program
1 that was not only impra cticable but mpOS-
sible He demanded that the entire gov
eminent of Russia should be revOlutioniZed
| in day. His Impotence and excessive zeal
| defeated the purposes for which he has
| been striving all his life.
President Of First Duma.
Serge Muromtseff, who has also been de-
| barred from candidacy, was president of
| the first duma and is one of the foremost
| statesmen in Russia. He belongs to the an
| cent nobility, was born in 1850, and edu-
| Gated at the universities of Moscow and
| Gottingen. He was professor of Roman law
| at the former, editor of The Law MeSSen-
| ger" the most import legal publication in
| Russia and president OF the bar association
| of the empire. when the late Grand Duke
! Sergius ordered him to stop talking politics
| and threatened him with Punishment If he
! did not obey the order. Mr.. Muromt seff,
| who had always been a loyal subject of
! the ear, but at the same time, had never
| concealed his opposition to autocratic
| form of government, took this order for
| the text of an article in his paper and ex-
| piained at length his views concerning the
| form of government best adapted to the
| Russian people. He advocated a liberal
monarchy similar to that of England, and
| a ministry responsible to parliament. This
| was interpreted as defiance of the grand
duke, and Prof. Muromtsen was dismissed
| from the faculty Of the university; he was
| removed from the presidency of the I'M
peral Bar Association and his paper was
| suppressed. To show their sympathy for
| him and his views, four of the largest cor
porations in Russia Immediately retained
| him as their legal adviser; he was imme-
diately elected to the city council of Mos
| COW and the zemstvo of the province, and
| several public demonstrations were made in
| his honor. Of which the government took no
| 10 ANT tn he Arct I,,,.a
| one of the representatives from Moscow
| was unanimously elected president OF that
| body. and presided over its delibera tons
| with great dignity. The respect and conf
dence which the members felt for him was
| manifested in various ways and on two
| occasions, when the car decided to offer
the government to the liberals he selected
Prof. Muromtseff as the medium of COM
munication. If those olive branches had
been accepted Muromtseff undoubtedly
| would have been prime minister of Russia
today. Yet Mr.. Stolypin has considered II
! necessary to debar him from the next mar
lament, which is a great mistake, because
his opinions and his attitude toward the
government are welldefined and his influ-
ence has always been on the side of law
| and order.
Stolypin's Fight for Conservatism.
Mr.. Stolypin, however, is determined to
abolish the constitutional democratic
| party, and evidently considers it necessary
TO prevent that organization from sending
! any representatives of ability or characte,
to the duma. The Cadets as the party
is called. are not permitted to hold meet.
| ings to circulate campaign documents
| notwithstanding the October manifesto
| and the Russian constitution, which guar.
antees free speech. free assembly and free
| political action.
Mr.. Stolypin has introduced several i'm
| portant reforms recently, which ought tc
| crafty the masses of the people, because
they bring greater liberties and privileges
| than have ever been enjoyed in Russia be-
fore. He has also announced a liberal pro.
! gram of legislation for the duma, and
evidently desires to make it a genuine par
| lament although he frankly announces
| that If the radicals and revoIutionists secure
| a majority it viii be promtly dissolved and
anothtr election ordered. If the third
| duma is radical, the same measures will
be adopted and the franchise will he lin.
tied until he gets a Legislature to suit him
| From the American point of view this ar