El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-15
RUSSIA YOUNG
AMONG NATIONS
Is Tremendous in Size, but
Is Just Beginning Real
Development.

~
how Russia is larger than the entlre
continent of North America. with the
islands of the Caribbean thrown IN;
how it occupies three-fifths of Europe
anw two-fifths of AsTa; how its Aslatlc
possessions are one and a half times as
great as those OF China and three LlInes
as great as those Of Great Britain now
il COMPRISES one-sixth of the landed
area of the globe and one-tentn Oh the
worlds population, Gilbert II. GrosVe-
nor, director and editor of the Natio
Geographic society, has furnished the
nearly $4,000 members Of that orsahl-
cation with a striking pen picture OF
Young Russia-a' Land OF Unlimited
Possibilities"
After giving an impression of the
diversity of the origin Of its peopleS'
who come from the Orient ana the &c
cident, the frigid north and the troplc
south; of its range of climate, Whlch
gives~the Palm Beach touch 10 us
Crimea and the Dream Of the nortn 70
its White sea region; OF It's vast agrl-
cultural wealth: of the widely varying
aspirations of it's peoples, when dlLIer
as greatly as those of the Poles and the
MonEols. as those Of the Confucians and
the Jews, as those of the Tartars ana
the Lapps: and of the vastness or the
geographic limits of the empire, Mr..
GrosVenOr says
Has Few NHtuEaA OuAAGA9s
But with all its geographic great
ness Russia is about as poor in natural
outlets to the world as the smallest
of the countries of the earth Holland
could be hidden in the vast reaches OF
the Russian plain, almost as needle IN
a haystack, vet Amsterdam does more
international business than all the ports
of Russia together. Not one Tree out
let to the open sea does European Rus
STA possess except on the lcebound
shores of the Arctic ocean The path
from the Black sea to the Mediterran-
can leads through the Bosphorus and
the Dardanelles held by alien hands.
Mr.. GrOsvenor next shows how there
lives within the boundaries of the Rus
sian empire enough people to duplicate
the population Of Germany, Great Bri-
tain and. France combined, with
enough left over to duplicate the
population Of Austria-Hungary. Fur
thermOre, If Russia grows from 1912
to 1000 as she grew rom 1872 to 1872
her population then will be upward of
600,OO0,0O
Tremendous in Size, but Young.
He then continues: From such a
record of size, of bignesS if everything,
we should expect Russia to be an old
nation, like Great Britain, with perhaps
1000 years of unhindered growth be-
hind her. But, as matter Of fact.
Russia is a youth among the nations
compared with England, a stripping
whose full stature and breadth is still a
subject Of conjecture and speculation.
Russia is young because she never
has had chance to grow until recent
years. Her geographical shape or con-
ditiOn was such that for centuries her
people were constantly being enslaved
or desr0iled by stronger neighbors.
After dealing briefly with Russia's
remarkable history, especially with
the surprising reign Of Peter the Great,
Mr.. CT OsvenOr shows that when Alex
ander II freed the 10000 900 serfs of
Russia from bondage a population equal
to that of the Il leading states of the
United States and a population more
than y times as great as was freed
by LincOln's emancipation proclama-
ton not very many months afterward
Alexander bought $4,000, 600 acres Of
land for them, permitting them to buy
He thereby carried into effect the most
extensive piece Of agrarian legislation
in history.
Can Feed Most Of the World.
with the bulk of its crops raised by
the peasantry, and for the most part.
employing most primitive means of
farming, Russia is still able to pro-
duce q very large proportion Of the
/ worlds food supply. In 1913 it gave to
civilization nearly a fourth of its wheat
full fourth of its oats, a third Of its
I barley and more than half Of its rye
Q NHN We
| 600 bushels greater than our own, its
/ oat crop equaled ours, its barley crop
1 was three times as great as ours and
l its rye crop Is times as, large as ours
Russia has more horses than any
other nation on earth, with $4,000 0OC
as compared with our $4,000, 900; more
sheep thnn any other nation, with
SO,OOO,OOO as compared with our So
| 100000; nearly as many cattle, with
! 5l,OOO,OOO as compared with our 3d.
/ OOO.0 900.
1.-THE latest authoritative information
I on Russian educational conditions, thai
/ for 1908, shows that only 2I1 out OF
| every 1000 people in the empire could
! read and write, and there were two il.
| literate women for every illiterate man
With our 100,000,00O population, in 1911.
/ we had an enrolment of 19.21S.OOl
| school children. With her population o.
| 172.000,O00 Russia's total enrolment
| was 100000, and % Of these were boy.
/ for every 10 who were girls.
Produces First Woman Engineer.
And yet the first woman civil engi
I neer in the world was a Russian, ant
| the educated woman of Russia enjoy!
Z freedom equal to that of her kind il
| any other country in the world The,
| are even allowed to become professor
! in mems universities, and after 20 year
! Of service are retired on pensions
| which continue during the lives of thei
( husbands, if they are married and ar
| survived by the beads of their houses
'I have seen the famous cathedral
| Of Europe-the noted structures o
| France, Germany, England, Italy an
/ TUrkey-but was utterly unprepare
for the splendor and brilliancy of 81
Isaacs, at Petrograd, with its pillar
so feet high and lapis lazuli an
malachite, its altar rails of solid silver
containing half a ton of this preciou
metal, and its icons of pearls, studde
with huge diamonds, sapphires, emer
aids and rubies
| His religion is very real to the Rus
! sian, and his God is really omnipresen
J to him; he sees his spirit everywher
| and everywhere acknowledges it wit
/ the sign Of the cross and the word
oh Lord, have mercy or Glory be t
Thee, Oh Lord "
TURKS TOSS SHELLS