Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-05-30
SOME THINGS ABOUT RUSSIA

Evening POST.
have just left RUSSIA, after llvinl
there seven years. when | rcachc,
St Petersburg observed signs tina
led me to study the ways Of the polit
ical molcs. After ! had looked on fo
shout six months. was asked enc daS
In a cottage In Finland what thought
or the chances Of reforms. | answered.
without hesitation that | expected 9
constitution within i've years. Thl
caused good-naturcd laugh but Il
cheered the patient toilers for liberty
They said they would be satisfied Il
success came In 25 years.
Events were more rapid than l an
ticipated. The sumptuous foreign poll
icy, a corollary to the effect TO Russia
Poland and Finland, brought Russia
within siwht OF war, and Minister
Plehye helped to make IL unavoidable
in the mistaken hope that patriotism
would smother the growing discomfort.
we are praying for war and Japa-
ness victories" revolutionsts and even
moderate liberals told me without a
blush.
The revolution came, the revolution
went. The cycle Is now complete. Sc
dition Is not merely QuiesCcnt; IT'S
fires scarcely smOldcr Tho revolution
lists have accepted defeat. No conceive
able chain Of circumstances could give
them a victory now. The breakup OF
the army, itself hard to Imagine,
might plunge the country into chaos.
il could not bring back that annus
mirabllis, 1905. nor revive the hrsl
duma-
The revolution failed because the ma
tion was unprepared or rather non
10 Ia II falf
of the peasants and workngmen and
the boundless shallowness ana hekle-
ness of the half-oducated intellectual
middle and upper classes, except saw
ing remnant. Nowhere is politics such
IL thing of fashion as In Russia, toi
nowhere can so many people be tound
without self-disCipline, fixed views OF
permanent standards OF right and
wrong. In Russia nothing is fundA-
mental A man viii debate with you
about the validity of any one Of the
ten commandments as choerfully as
he viii about new play. Know
whole families, ardent constitutional
lists two years ago, who are now con-
WINGED reactionaries.
THE fashion has changed" they say
with n laugh.
sPASMODIC ENERGY.
The temporary successes OF the re-
formers were a tribute to the capacity
of the Russians for brief and terrible
energy / have a friend who could not
be dragged from his studies this win
ter.
II know my fever for work will not
last long he would say sadly. II am
quite sure that in Il few months ! shall
be ncurably idle. We are all like
that"
After six months preparatory work,
Of sfnf ssftf ah
brought TO and kept at fever heat for
II months. An unexampled conspiracy
IF brain and Drawn paralyzed the gov
erment's arm, inspired n nameless
Tread. and won great victory-at the
cost of the country's nervous energy.
The thundcrbolt was spent, and all too
frequent and all too local flashes
Trained the rain-clouds OF their men
ice. Still, fear froae the governments
narrow for six months more.
| shall not say the revolution could
not have succeeded. for fear has big
eyes, and the government might have
kept on running, II the revolutionists
could have kept on pursuing. The old
regime and the malcontents were like
two guinea cocks, 1 have seen these
fowl night all day long. One would run
until he came TO the baruyard paling
and had to turn. His pusuer would
then fly in the opposite direction, and
ne become inc AEBleSShT.
The revolution failed, and still II sue
ceeded beyond any reasonable eXpecta
lions. When 1t was at its height ] was
again asked for forecast, and / said
IL would be at least 20 years before
the old order would yield to the new,
and ] saw my friends countenances
drop. Failure was due mainly to the
fact that the people were too lily edu-
Gated TO understand the issues and too
poorly disciplined to be able to sacri-
1ce desire to the possible. 1t WAS n
great success. because 1t was the great
est educator the country has ever had,
We all know that autocracv is no
friend of schools. Emancipation left
he peasants enchained by the cruel
,st of oppressors, Ignorance. The Rus
sian vlllager remained more backward
han the English plougman OF Edward
II s reign. The climate co-operated
with Tartar, grand duke and czar TO
eliminate progressive aspirations. SIX
months of furious toll, spring sowing,
laymaking, harvesting and fall SOW
ng, all in one breath, call for long
rest which hunger only too often
hanged to a period of Information.
VILLAGERS LEFT TO WALTON.
The ambitious were automatically |
sifted out. No graduate of high |
school was tolerated IN a village. An !
proletariat was created. |
but the villages were left TO wallow In |
their own mire, They We're often
made To low like cattle" In the Ian
,uage of Constable Abramoff of Tam
,off, who paid, with his life FOR the tor
ure of Maria Splridonova the assas-
I'm of his official master, They would
axe revenge, too, occasionally by |
burning the barns, the homes or the
layricks of their tormenturs, but they |
Fever learned how TO combine TO rem
ady their condition Those who tried |
o set up "get-wisc quick" schools for