The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-23


 of the greatest national problems of history. should read Russia's mes sage to the world summed up briefly " the author. Is the example of daily living. thipking and feeling of peo- ple ready to die for what they think and feel; message involved in every living speech and writing, in every great deed a message that goes out from Russia to travel round the world to become implanted and to take root among all peoples and individuals that deserve and will share in the new civilization of which the Russian revolution is perhaps the dawn" The author, who is deeply In earnest and straightforward in every page, dedl- cates his book as follows:
 ITO the men and women who in all walks of life are contending against the forces that are trying to intro- duce into. America the despotism and class rule of eastern Europe; to all those who, in the traditional revolu- tionary American spirit, are leading our country against the reactionary tendencies prevailing in politics, mor- ality, education literature and science, to it's great social world destiny"
 The author, young settlement worker and socialist well known in Chicago and whose boyhood was spent in Indianapolis. spent two years in Russia studying social and political conditions at first hand, interviewing revolutionists and reactionaries, mix ing with the common people and by the exercise of much tact getting some intimate knowledge of the ways and aims of the governing classes. His verdict as to the common people Is that instead of being mere clods stup- i'd and deadened in mind by long con- ditions of servltude and oppression, they are generally speaking alive to the times and awakened to the signs which point to a regeneration of the country. The author by his tact sue ceeded in maintaining friendly rela- tions with all parties while pursuing his investigations, Vet did not escape arrest for, as many will remember, he and his wife and sister who were travelling together, were put in prison for holding friendly relations with certain revolutionlsts, but they were in Entrance vile but twenty-four hours. Another young American, Kellogg Durland, whose recent book on Russia has excited much interest, was intimately associated with the Walling party In its tour of investi- gation. By confining themselves to investigation and inquiry and avoid ance of anything like interference the party got on successfully in it's mis- sion
 The author feels that "The Russian revolution Is an heir to the ages II is descended in part from primitive Christianity and partly from the Re- formation, but It's immediate prede- cessor was the French revolutions" He feels that only the first act of the rev. olution has been played and that with the restoration of the old despotism and the old oppression, there has yet arisen and is manifest a spirit that presages the doom of the autocrats and the doom of despotism at no far distant day. It Is spirit such as brought freedom to the American col onies. the spirit that brought England out of feudalism and tyranny, a spirit that will not yield in the face of bay onets or death The evils to be con tended with and overcome are much worse than in the historic cases cited but the old Russia Is dead. The au- thor has nothing but condemnation fa~ nd h tc ottt lao czar's government has piled lie on lie ia whole universe of lies" "Oficial Russia Is land of lies. The czar lies as to facts in signed documents breaks his most solemn promises tc the nation and finally. diabolicallS proclaims his God-glven right tc break his word" Continuing the all. thor adds as to the czar: All the un- limited resources and powers of 6 czars educators from infancy tc manhood were used to convince hin that he Is the God-b born superior ot every man in his empire. and tha ht has been given the right by God tc regulate to the last particular th' lives of each one. of his subjects "Unfortunately for Nicholas" he con tinues, history offered him, the choic, either to rise above the monarch tc the true man or else to sink from tho level of inhuman feeling and opnior to the definite degradation of .crimina acts Nicholas chose as a czar anC not as man. As B consequence, tn, ozarism has been preserved t a this price. that the czar has become an accessory before the fact to a poll cy as black as anything ever dreame' by Machiavelli, and to crimes mor' horrible than any that have he en per petrated in Europe since the religion wars "
 Further, says MT Walling "nearl every day shows one or more open an cold -blooded murders to be attributes directly to the unmistakable app. ova of the czar." He proceeds to suppl numerous incidents to support hi charge, and though the horrors ar we'll nigh increditable, MT, Walling information seems to be trus,worth in the main. Undoubtedly, however he paints the situation blacker '
 1t really is,
 Other chapters in the same dinisio of the book are headed How C2ar Govern" The Czarsm Struggling fo Existence" "The Danger of Progress What Happened to the Constitution, 'Prussian Reform "The People Enemes Are the Czars Allies A to the war with Japan MT. Wallin holds that this dire conflict wa brought on chiefly to further the pr vate interests of the grand duke! Admiral Alexis and other favorIte of the court "A quarter of millio lives had been destroyed and SUI calculated by leading economist { four or five billion rubles a rent of the total wealth of this impovol lshed people, had been destroyed, Th