Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-14
RUSSIAN EXILE DISCUSSES
CAUSES OF REVOLT
PEASANTS WHIPPED BY HUNGER
TO REVOLUTION
Hioh Protective Tariff Introduced by
Witte the True Cause That
UnderIies the Present
Upheavai

circles east ana IN EllSldlu' P"S
through Los Angeles yesterday on ms
way to Mexico. where he is to invesu-
gate a proposition for the settlement
of a number of his countrymen. An
interview with him during the lew
hours of his stay throws light on
the situation in Russia and the causes
of the present upheaVal that Will NC
new to most people.
The count, who speaks English WIN
the greatest f1uency, is evidently III
the closest touch with affairs in MS
native country, to which he ados
knowledge of conditions in the Onlteo
States that is altogether exceptlohal.
He is a diligent reader OF the daily
papers and in fact, was far more dis
posed to turn the conversation INTO
general economic channels than to pin
himself down to reflections on the
Russian situation.
I'm my judgment" said the count
"the present upheaval must work It
self out to the ultimate, and this tor
two reasons. First, the thought, as
expressed in its literature OF the euu-
Gated class is centuries ahead of the
barbaric government under which II
groans. and, secondly, the circum-
stances in which the peasants ma
themselves are so desperate that they
must escape at any cost.
Economical Question
81 believe that the Russian question
is almost entirely one OF economies.
and while the nation has been forced
to endure vast robbery at the hands OF
the autocracy and bureaucracy 1t is
the whip of starvation, due entirely 10
the economic regime introduced by
White, that is driving the peasants to
revolt"
In this connection the count cordially
Endorsed an editorial on Starvation,
that appeared in The Herald of May
~. to which his attention had been
previously called, saying in the most
decided manner that it represented eX-
actly the present situation in his own
country inasmuch as, While famine hdd
been known in the past, what the peas
antry was now suffering from was the
fact that it was compelled to part WIN
the food supplies that it raised Tor
the sake of Procuring the money to
pay the taxes and the Increased Cost
of articles of necessity.
Witte Agreed to Raise Funds
Being asked to explain in further
detail the revolutionary changes INTRO
duced by White the count SAID: You
must understand that when Alexander
III. mad with dreams of conquest, was
eager for the construction of the
transsiberian railway his then minister
of finance Vychnegradski, frankly IN
formed him that the taxation of the
peasantry had reached point at Whlch
it could not be increased. W1tte, now
ever. undertook the task and carried
it through by methods that dazzled
the world for time and led neces-
sarily to the gigantic smash that Iol-
lowed. His system was extremely
simple, consisting of a steady increase
of the governments receipts with
view to the accumulation of a larger
and larger surplus of gold, the object
being to build UP the empires credit
with a view to borrowing from FOR
eign nations. For this purpose he
adopted the following measures:
"Much of the governments revenue
has always come from the rental 10
the peasants of the land that 1t owns
and of charges for the privilege OF
cutting wood. These charges, which
The peasantry is absolutely compelled
to pay. were increased 1000, 900 be-
tween the years 1887 and 1892.
1.-THE government has a monopoly of
the POSTAL and telegraph systems. The
increased charges for these services
within the same period amounted TO
$l5.OOO.000, the business being so ma
nipulated that 1t yielded tWo-tnlrus
profit to the state.
1.-THE governments brandy monopoly
was so exercised during the same
period as to yield an added income
of s15,000,000. 1t is so conducted that
on every cents that the peasant
spends for vodka there is a proht OF
2-3 cents to the government
FINALLY, and by far the most I'M
nortant. the tariff was so increased
that the indirect taxes received by the
government within the same period
were augmented $100,O00,0O0.
How Surplus Was Acquired
"Having thus accumulated a treas
ury surplus Witte proceeded to borrow
heavily from France and other coun-
tries. The funds so procured were
used for the construction of railroads
and factories. AS a result millions Of
Russians We're taken from the farm
and set to mechanical labor. For a
brief period there was what seemed TO
be unexampled prosperity, and then
came the collapse. Neither the INDUS
tries nor the peasants means We're
such as to be able to support the rail-
roads, and there was no market for
the goods produced in the factories.
They could not be sold abroad, for 1t
is proverbial that Russian goods are
dear and bad. They are bound to be
dear. for it is impossible to manufac-
ture cheaply i'm a country where taxes
are exorbitant, where raw materials
are high, by reason of the protective
tariff, and where the labor is unskilled,
being fresh from the farm.
"Neither was it possible to create
home market, for protection had in
creased prices to a point far in excess
of the peasants pitiful income. For
example, to select certain staples,
taxes had been increased as follows:
Tobacco 6S7 per cent, paper $50 per
cent, cotton goods 357 per cent, tea
3O4 per cent How could the peasant
pay?
ST am we'll acquainted with the dis
trict of Balachem, one of the richest
in Russia, and a great exporter of
grain. No less than SO per cent of
the gross revenue of that district is
average income with which the peas
ant must purchase all his supplies for
the year, exclusive of food. is exact
ly SIT.
"Yet the peasant must pay, and pay,
and pay. He must meet his taxes,
and, on top of this. he is expected to
pay the added prices Cue 10 the pro-
tective tariff.
at is only possible for him to get
the money by one method. and that
is the sale of his agricultural product
Years ago it was admitted by gov
eminent statistics that the people wcre
insufficiently nourished, the average
consumption of food in Russia being
only one third of what it is i'm other
European countries. Even this food
he must now export in order to raise
the money which the government de-