The Holbrook news., 1912-04-05


 Americans speak with well
 based pride of the immense ex tent of our contiguous territory stretching from ocean to ocean and from the lakes to the gulf, but after all Uncle Sam has only little more than 3.000,000 square miles in one block, while Russia has S,647,657 square miles, or almost three times as much. The empire comprises one seventh of the land surface of the globe, and the population which pro fesses allegiance to the Czar is esti- mated at 100000. 900, or approximately twice as many as the men and wom- en under the Star Spangled Banner. The population of the empire has in- creased at a rate which puts our vaunted increase clear into the shade. In 1722 Russia was supposed to have only 14000,000 people, and as late as 1879 she had 130.000,O0O.
 When the men who fought in the war of the rebellion were studying geography Russia's boundaries did not go as far south as the eastern end of the Black Sea, and thrilling were the stories of her war with the Circas- sians and the feats of Schamyl, the leader who defied for years the over towering forces of the great white Czar. The Caucasus has long been a peaceable part of the Russian em- pire. Years later the whole interior of Asia was occupied by wandering tribes of Tartars and Turkomans, among whom no civilized man ven- tured except at the imminent peril of his life. The first civilized man since Marco Polo to traverse this region was Arminius Vambery, Q Hungarian, who was attached to the embassy at Constantinople. This was in 1884. Since that time Russia has acquired Samarkand, Bokhara, Khiva, Turke- stan and the Transcaucasian country, and extended her borders southward until the little country of Afghanis- tan is all that interposes between her and British India On the southeast form the western boundary of China and on the extreme west she has taken of large slice of Armenia ly- ing between the Black Sea and the Caspian until she touches the border of Persia. All this annexation has been accomplished with comparative ly little trouble, and the murderous robber tribes have been reduced to comparative peace and order without any great smell of blood.
 The news of the day shows a far more startling annexation than any of her previous feats in. this direction. It is believed that she will soon have under her control the great country of Mongolia and large part, if not all, of the ancient empire of Persia.
 It seems conceded that Mongolia, which is believed to be the home of the Mongolian race, embracing near ly one-third of humanity. is an im- mense stretch of country estimated at about 100000 square miles, or much more than the entire United States east of the Mississippi. It stretches through Central Asia from Eastern Turkestan to Sungaria and the Altai mountains on the west to Manchuria on the east, and from the empire of China proper on the south to Russian Siberia on, the north.
 The people are supposed to be the original Mongols, and are described as a cheerful, good-natured and hos pitable people They live in tents lined with felt, with a hole in the roof to serve as a chimney Their ordinary food consists of preparations of milk and millet, buckwheat flour and oatmeal. Their number is esti- mated all the way from 100000 to 5, ,0O0, 900. They are divided into tribes governed each by it's own chieftain, and in the northern part of these are gathered into four Khanates, each governed by a prince claiming de- scent from Genghis Kahn, the great Women are not secluded as in China. and marriage consists in B ceremony which is based upon the old fashion of marriage by capture
 A far deeper sentimental interest Is connected with Russia's acquisition of the ancient kingdom of Persia, which for time immemorial has played B greater part in the civilization of he world than that of Mongolia. Persia is a country 600.0OO square miles in extent, or about one-ffth of 1 that of the United States, excluding Alaska. It Joins the Russian province of Transcaucasia on that part of Asia | Minor lying between the Black and | he Caspian Seas and the Russian l province of Transcaspia still farther | .o the east. On it's eastern boundary |