The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-17
SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF
 RUSSIAN sFREEDOM '

It was seven years ago today that
 the Great White Czar of all the Rus
 will"CD issued an imperial manifesto
 granting to his subjects public lib-
 erty, based on the principles of the
 invfolability of the person and of free
 and association Thus Russia's fifty
 provinces and the conquered countries
 of Poland. Finland, Caucasia, Siberia
 and Central Asia came to know the
 blessings of liberty and the benefits
 of a constitutional government.
 What has the much vaunted freedom
 accomplished for Russians. Has it
 given them freedom of worship? Yes,
 provided one worshios in the Greek
 Catholic Church of which the Czar is
 the head The Jews. murdered, plum
 dered and expelled, have little Iiber-
 ality to boast of under the new regime, and even Roman Catholics and Pro teStantS find their work in Russia han dieapped in every way possible. Have and of assembly? Yes. if they refrain from discussing RepubIicanism or So- cialism and gather only for the pur- pose of ,praising the government. Has constitutional Russia granted. the in estimable boon of free press? As suredly, provided the newspapers print nothing objectionable to the official censor, and refrain from criticism of the powers that be. Have Russians freedom of association? Of course under certain wise restrictions,'' pose of improving wages or bothering conditions And the finvtolability of the peEson''-is that promise strictly kept? Why, assuredly, unless the
 person. be that of a Jew, or a So- cialist, or a pestiferous agitator, for who stays these is rewarded and pro noted and honored by the agents of the Little Father.
 What, then is Russian freedom ?'' Has it freed the millions of serfs from their thral1dom to the land. That, 1t least. be answered n the ative. Any serf may now leave the land of his Iord-and if he is black listed by other lords, and starves to death, he has at least tasted of lib- erty. The Russian agricultural work CT is paid as much as eighteen or twenty cents a day, while his more pr other great industries may get as much as from fifty to eighty cents.
 The story of what has been called the Lena massacre forms an enter | taining chapter in the history of Rus | sian freedom" Lena is a mining | town in Siberia. about a thousand ] miles from the nearest city. The l miners are forced to work standing to l heir knees in water that is only a | title below the freezing point. Their l hours are from ten to twelve a day, md their pay from fifty to eighty ,ents. They received no money, but | were paid in checks on the company tore. Last March they went on a trike-prob bly, urged thereto by some ow agitator-and demanded in rease in wages and that payment be made in money, and also an eight lour day. Russian troops were sent o settle the strike, which they did by ring on and killing about 200 men.
 Makaroff. Minister of the Interior nder the regime of freedom inves- igated and made a report. In it he aid:
 '<Workers have always been killed pon similar occasions, and they will ontinue to be killed. The Lena nin- ITS did not it is true, do anything legal before the 17th of April. but hey might have destroyed property fter the 17th. One thing we can guar ntee to you: those whom we shot own on the 17th of April =-tfl make 0 more demands. This is the only bsolute1y reliable way of dealing rith such a situation. The dema ands f the workers may have been modest nough. But for us every movement mong the workers is matter of ravest political danger