Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-12-10
PEN PICTURES OF
INTERESTING PLACES
Petrograd and Calais Are Des,
cribed; Both Interesting 4.
'r. ,5-t t'Ff. .w' o. s b'
II - 49,. Places, a.&,, - +,

j., Washington, Dec. 9:-The following
are pen. pictures OF Petrograd, the his
tory OF whose laying out Is not dis
similar to that OF the planning Of
Washington; and Calais, the center
Of the lace, making industry Of France,
The one is the directing center OF the
Russian armies and the other. the OBJ.
iectiye OF the German armies in the
West. These descriptions were pre-
pared by the National Geographic So.
for it's more than three hundred
thousand members, many thousands
OF whom live in the state OF. North
Dakota. x...l.. -. .. g;s..
"PetrOgrad, the, city made, 10, the
order of Peter the Great to serve as
Russia's political capital, is the adj
ministratiYe center Of the mightiest OF
the worlds empires. 1t is now, prob
ably at higher tension than any 9TH
err city on earth, performing, as ever,
the work necessary to the administra-
ton of church and state over vast dis.
tances, from the Gulf Of Finland to
the Black Sea and the far Pacific, and,
besides, taking care Of q great war
business, which includes planning for
the defense of more than 10000 miles
OF frontier. This 80, 0C9 miles Of from
tier, OF course, does not take into ac-
count the vaguely known northern
boundary Of the empire. .a"-' ,
y 'tPetrograd has always been a high
tension city. 1t was. constructed hpon
islands and swamp at the beheSt. OF a
.high-tension ruler; built with wide
straight streets upon q perfectly flat
country, with no softening natural
beauty except that of its dividing
Neya, a river that has often been
compared to the. English Thames;
Even the. architecture OF the city is
,repressive, almost wholly OF sternly
chaste classic Roman and Greek, And
in this city, the primary business has
been that Of caring for a vast empire,
embracing in it's ~far-reachiAg sweep
many peoples. numerous religions, d.
verse traditions, a confusion of
tongues, and widely varying ideals.
The responsibilities of government
have held the city'st life as tense as
when its founder, with 10000 work
men, drained the Neva swamps and
builded over night his capital hard
upon the lands of the Firms. 4
THE >%bureacracy which governs
Russia in the names of, the Cars, or
dering everything in the peoples lives
even in the %farthercst governments,
does all of its thinking in Petrograd,
From this city, also. the Russian
Church is administered. Moscow, the
ancient capital is more Important:
economically than .Petrograd. Move.
over, Moscow has, at least, equal
claims as an artistic and intellectual.
center: IEAnd furthermore, Moscow is
the center Of Russian life and tradi-
ton. But, as the symbol Of the might
of Russia, as the city where the en-
pire's destiny is thought out and d.
rected, as the home of the Cars and
consequently of Russian society, Pet
rOgrad is easily the first city of the
empire.
"Petrograd is the greatest import
ing center Of -the empire. A. grea.
part Of the products of Europe which
find their way to the bleak northern
plain r entered at the mouth of the
Ncva, and this despite the fact that
the port is ice.bo,md five months of
the year. 1t has. too, some industry.
though its surrounding region is not
rich, in any of the raw materials of
industry. Some 200, 900 of its men
and women are employed in manufac-
in the machine and iron works,
in the ship yards. in the cloth fac
tories, shoe factories, and cigarette
factories, that stand on the outskirts
Of the city, around the Finland Sta,
ton. ig.
There is a certain stern beauty in
the capital. The broad. arrow-iike
Nevsky Prospect is fully as interest
ing as any of the worlds famous thor.