The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1909-06-24
BILKINS IN RUSSIA


RUSSIAN BEAR A GROWLEk
Japan and Russia Went to War-Re-
suit Of War The Making Of Russia.
Peculiar Customs i'm Russia-When
French Soldiers Equaled Spartans.
When Nye Came to America-Rus-
sia an Immense Country-A Few
Comparisons That May Prove In
teresting.
Correspondence of The Caucasian
Enterprise.)
st. Petersburg, Russia, June Is,
1901 hev tackled the Russian
bear. the biggest ov them awl, an hit
liz givin' me a purity hard russell.
Yes, the bear liz an animal that hez
long had a reputation fer a mean
style ov fitin' an quarrlin'. But the
little Japanese fox fixed hit, fer hit
wuz too cunnin' fer the bear.
/ think I know why an how the
Japanese whipped Russia, an still, I
don't know. I<hev not bin ter Japan
yet. But they tell me, an I hev read
hit, too, that the Japanese air a ma
ton ov erbout forty millions ov peo-
pie, huddled up on a little chain ov
islands. They haint got hardly room
ter turn erround. An they wuz an
ignorant lot ov folks up to few
years ergo. But in less than fifty
years they hev drilled an army an
hev bought an built navy that wuz
able to whip the army an navy ov
Russia in the space ov a few months.
An they made a first-class job ov hit,
too. From our standpoint the Japan
ese air not Christians, bein' further
from hit than the Russians. But the
great ruler ov the universe must hev
had much to do with Japanese sue
cess; there must be crate problems to
solve in the near future in that part
ov the world, an possibly the Japan
ese air ter be instrumental in some
way to us unknown. But the young
man and woman ov today may live
ire see what great events air ter be
developed. In America we've had two
or three great wars in a little more
than hundred years, one civil, an
the others with foreigners. Without
them, or somethin' equal, what would
we now be? They wuz cruel wars,
they wuz terrible wars. But they
blazed the way fer the progress we
hev made, that we air maxim an that
we will make in the near an dis
tant future.
An Russia haz improved; is i'm
provin'. She wuzfiike seme big, bur-
ly ruffians we all know. She was con-
scious ov her strength, her power, but
didn't know her own weakness. Her
people were strong physically, strong
in numbers. But they lacked that
quality called patriotism. Her Of
fcers lacked much in the same quail
ties. They would not lead and the
men would not follow. In many, il
the truth wuz told, the Russian Of
f1cers, army and navy. an even the
soldiers an sailors on the warships,
were drunk at critical periods durin'
the short war. Then, too, Russia IL
an immense country with but few
railroads, badly managed. They
could not recruit the army rapidly
under such circumstances. The SYM
pathy ov the United States and Eng
land wuz with Japan, not because
they loved Japan, but because they
didn't admire Russia an her meth
DDS. What ov Japan? She had a
small but first-class navy. In short
time her higher naval officers had
mastered the art of f1tin' with war
ships. Her gunners could shoot an
shoot straight. Every man knew hiz
place an Wuz in hit. When the first
clash came hit wuz soon over, an the
boasted Russian navy wuz mostly at
the bottom ov the sea. A few months
later the remnants ov the Russian
army wuz in mad retreat toward st.
Petersburg with Japanese soldiers in
pursuit, pouring in a deadly fire at
every turn in the roads. The little
Japanese soldiers only averaged a
little more than five feet in height
but they wuz human hornets. Every
time Japanese gun would fire, awl-
most, down would go big Russian
soldier. It didn't last, it couldn't
hev lasted, long.
But, az I sed before, hit will be
the maxim ov Russia. They air be-
havin' better, treatin' other people
better. At one time a stranger, 9
foreigner, couldn't hardly get thru
Russia, even with a passport, fel
| their laws an rules wuz such thai
every stranger frum foreign lant
| wuz looked upon with suspicion
wuz watched constantly by Govern
| ment spies. To-day they air glad tel
see strangers an, the spy system he,
bin toned down till you hardly mott.
hit. When I crossed the Russian
line near Warsaw hit wuz not lon,
| till Russian official ov some sort
possibly deputy sheriff, fer didn'
ak him, halted me an hiz face wu
full ov questions. He wuz not use,
ter seein' an American travelin' OF
mule-back in these diggins. I ha,
fastened small u. s. flag on tn
lapel ov my coat an had fixed one il
the top ov Bob's briddle az soon a
/ crossed the line. He began ter rat
tie of somethin' in Russian. Whel
L rr<< =. Ia Ia