Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-22
WAR UP TO THE CAR
Rulers investments Caused
Russian-J Japanese Conflict.
MEMOIRS OF KUR0PATKIN
Great General Gave Sane and Judi
cious Advice.
WHICH WASN'T AT ALL NEEDED
Nicholas Had Millions Of Rubles in
Yalu River Enterprise and
Wouldn't Hear Reason.
WHICH WASN'T AT ALL NEEDED

In an article on kuropatkin's suppressed
memoirs that will appear in Mcclure
Magazine for September George kennar
strongly supports the contention. preva
lent in st. Petersburg. that there would
have been no war between Russia ano
Japan if the Emperor of Russia had moi
been a stockholder to the extent of mil
| lions of rubies in State Councillor Bezo
| brazOff's Yalu river timber enterprise. II
is charged that the car sacrificed his
country and his people for the sake of his
own financial interests.
The Yalu River Company was a roya
concern. 1t grew out of a concession
granted by the Korean government in
| 1898 to Vladivostok merchant named
Briner. The concession conveyed author.
| ity to exploit the great forest wealth OF
the upper Yalu river. Briner. the origi.
nal holder of the concession. being unable
! to organize company, sold out to Alex
ander Mikhailovich Bezobrazoff who had
held the rank of state councillor in the
| cars civil service and stood high in the
favor Of some of the grand dukes in st
| Petersburg. Bezobrazoff quickly was able
| to interest his grand ducal friends in his
concession, and one of them, with a view
| to getting the strongest possible support
| for 1t, presented him to the car.
Gear Risked His Money.
The councillor made very strong i'm
| preston upon the car, and it is stated
authoritatively 1t would seem-that he
persuaded the ear to invest very heavily
In the new timber concern, and it is cur
rently reported in ST. Petersburg that
through the czar, the dowager empress
became interested in the enterprise and
bought heavily of its shares. The czar
in the months Immediately preceding the
outbreak of hostilities between Russia
and Japan it was said that nobody could
| influence the car to run counter to Bezo-
| brazoff's advice and demands.
1t was Bezobrazoff who insisted upon
the course in Korea that brought about
hostilities. The minister of war, the min
lister of finance. the minister of foreign
| affairs. the viceroy in Manchuria, the
Port Arthur council and the diplomatic
| Toxic and Seoul opposed and resisted
Bezobrazof, but the car would not take
their advice: he stood by the man with
whom he was financially interested.
Kuropatkin Warned Them.
Kuropatkin in his memoirs shows that
he and the other ministers stood for
treating the Yalu Lumber Company as a
commercial enterprise. After an investi-
cation on the spot, he telegraphed to ST.
Petersburg that if Russia desired to avoid
rupture with Japan she must refrain
from interference in Korea, and must
resolutely set her face against the scheme
of Bezobrazoff to militarize his company
Kuropatkin says that Admiral Alexeiff
told him he was wholly opposed to Bezo-
brazoff's schemes, was holding them back
with all his strength. and was continually
advocating peaceful Russo-Japanese
agreement. Others high in authority in
the far east agreed with kuropatkin and
AleXeiff that the Yalu company ought to
be kept on a strictly commercial basis; but
It seemed that no amount of influence
could prevail against that exerted by the
promoter of the royal timber company"
In the words of Roslavleff Everybody
was afraid of BezobraZoff,'' and there
came a time when those who were against
his projects deemed it the part of wisdom
to cease from opposing them.
1t is probable that Kuropatkin knew,
brazoff's hold on the car was based upon,
but Mr.. kennon. who has carefully
studied the memoirs for the purpose of
summarizing them, says they do not ex-
hibit any such knowledge. But, he re-
marks, convincing explanation is fur
nished by certain confidential documents
found in the archives of Port Arthur and
published just after the close of the wal
by a liberal review at Stuttgart. These
documents he says, not only show that
Russia's policy in the far east was
changed at the behest of Bezobrazoff sc
that the withdrawal Of troops from
southern Manchuria was suspended, but
also exhibits conclusively that the car
had a large financial interest in Bezobra-
zoff's concern, certainly as large as 1000,
coo rupies.
Some Inside History.
grams and letters signed by Bezobrazofr,
Admiral Abaza, who was the cars per-
sonal representative in st. Petersburg,
and Admiral Madritoff, who was closely
associated with Bezobrazoff in the ko-
rean enterprise.
On November IA, 1903, Abaza tele-
graphed Bezobrazoff as follows:
WHITE has told the emperor that you
have already spent the whole of the two
millions Your telegram with regard to
expenditures has made it possible for me
at the same time, contradict it, Remem-
| Der that the master counts on your not
touching a ruble more than the 800 with
| out permission in every case. Yester-
day I reported again your ideas with re-
gard to the reinforcement of the garri-
son, and also with regard to tie artels
| (chasseurs or artillery0 in the basin.
THE emperor directed me to reply that
he takes all that you say into considera-
| ton. and that in principle he approves
| In connection with this, the emperor again
| confirmed his order that the admiral tele-
graph directly to him. He expects a tele-
gram soon, and Immediately upon the re-
| ceipt of the admirars statement arrange
ments will be made with regard to the re-
enforcement of the garrison. and, at the
| same time, with regard to the chasseurs
| in the basin. In the course of the con-
| versation the emperor expressed the full
| est confidence in you
Ruler Didn't Want War.
Mr.. KEENAN,. commenting on this tele-
gram, remarks:
Gen. Kuropatkin refers again and
again to the cars clearly expressed
desire that war should be avoided and
| he regrets that his imperial majestys
| CO. workers were unable to execute his
will 1t is more than likely that Nicho-
| las II did wish to avoid War-if die could
| do SO without impairing the value Of the
| family investment i'm the Korean timber
| company-but from the above telegram II
| appears that, as late as November ~
19O3-Only seventy days before the rupture
| with Japan-he was still disregarding the
| sane and judiciOus advice of KurOpatkin.
! was still expressing the fullest conf
| dence' in BezObrazOf, and was still order
| ing troops to the valley Of the Yalu.''
0
Popular Taste in Heroines.
From the Ladys Pictorial.
The ugly heroine is dying out. In mod
ern fiction the typical English beauty