The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1914-02-28
RI LACK CABINET Of RUSSIA HAS
BRANCHES IN OTHER COUNTRIES
emissares of Gar Nicholas Search Private Correspondence tor
Evidence of conspacies-A Law to Do Away With lamp
erno of Letters Failed to Pass Duma in 1so5-spies in
Other Nations.

They do this in the conviction that
the letters will be opened and the po-
lice and spies thus baffled. Desyatin-
sky says that there are 1900 persons
in Russia whose letters are always
opened and he estimates that at least
year.
This system accounts for the long
delay in the delivery of letters. for in
dependent black cabinets" exist only
at the post offices of Moscow, st. Pc
tersburg, Warsaw. Odessa, Kharkoff,
Saratoff, Tomsk and Irkutsk. Subor-
dinate black cabinets" which act only
on instructions, are attached to the
post offices of Ii European provinces;
to all the ten Polish provincial post
offices and to certain post offices in ST.
IBERIA. There is also a black cabi-
net" at Tashkent, in Central Asia.
Where no black cabinet" exists To-
cal correspondence, which does not
pass through the black cabinet" post
| office is often opened on special in
gendarmes simply call at the post Of
| flee and demand certain letters. Some
| times instructions are sent to a local
| post office to send all letters TO the
nearest black cabinet" and the result
is that letters written to friends who
live ten miles away may be sent 200
miles into another province, and so
take days to deliver. The system OF
opening is by steaming.
The second work of the black cab.
met" is known as 'ruibolovlya," that
is, fishing" 1t consists in opening let.
tiers addressed to persons not suspect
ed; this on the mere chance that they
may contain political matter or reveal
anti-governmental plots. The black
cabinets" principle is to open one out
of certain number of letters. The
number has varied. Car Nicholas
gave the chief of his BLACK cabinet,
Colonel Karamuischeff, orders to open
all letters. This system proved toe
cumbrous. Under Alexander H. fish
ing was abandoned. but 1t was re
|
every $50 letters was the rule.
During the first part of the revolu
tionary outbreak of 1904-06, one letter
in every 100 was opened. At present
the rule is one in every 1000. This
practice has very little value. The
chances are 100 to / against any dan
gerous letter being opened as long as
it is addressed to a person whom the
black cabinet" does not suspect.
st. Petersburg has the largest "blacl
cabinet" When the central post office
was rebuilt decade back, a fine suite
gendarme officers in charge and theil
subordinates. Letters of specially in
teresting character are sent to the
gendarmery, or to the "Okhrana," the
detective center, and there they are
photographed and in most cases sem
| on.
Post cards on the Siberian railroad
are infested with the black cabinet
Russian railroads, all round, are nests
Of "perlustration," and this is SO vel
known that the European embassies
never use the post even for private let
tiers. The Siberian mail cars were
given over to the black cabinet" dur
ing the revolution.
Behind this storm in a teacup are
certain private interests. and in par
ticular there is the zeal of Maklakof
to justify his claim to have made the
spy system more efficient
The third and most dangerous sec
ton of the black cabinet" is at worl
in foreign countries. The cabinet IL
active in every great European CAPT
tai, and its work is to watch the cor
respondence of exiles and of Russian.