Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1914-12-22

WASHINGTON, ID. c., Dec. 22.-The
following are pen pictures of FetTo-
grad. the history of whose laying out
is not dissimilar to that of the plan
ming of Washington; and Calais, the
centre of the lace making industry or
France. The one is the directing CEN
ter Of the Russian armies and the
other the objective Of the German
armies in the West.
"Petrograd, the city made TO the
order of Peter the Great TO serve as
Russia's political capital. is the adj
illustrative center of the mighiiest
of the worlds land empires. II is now,
probably at higher tension than any
other city on earth. performing, as
ever the work necessary To the adj
minisiratiOn of church and State over
vast distances. from the Gulf of Fin
land TO the Black Sea and the far Pa
cific. and, besides. taking care Of a
great war business, which includes
planning for the defcnses Of more
than 10000 miles Of frontier. This
10000 miles Of frontier. Of course.
does not take into account the vague
lv known northern boundary of thu
Empire
"Petrograd has always been a high
tension city II was constructed upon
islands and swamp at the behest of a
high-tension ruler; built with wide
straight streets upon a perfectly flat
country with no coftening natdral
beauty except that Of its dividing Ncva,
river that has often been compared
to the English Thames. Even the
architecture of the city is repressivo
almost wholly Of sternly chaste classic
Roman and Greek. And in this city,
the primary business has been that Of
caring for vast empire, embracing
in its far-reaching sweep many peo-
pies. numerous religions. diverse ira.
ditions, a confusion of tongues, and
widely varying ideals The RESPONSE
bilities of government have held the
city's life as tense as when its founder.
with 10000 workmen. drained the Neva
swamps and builded over night his
capital hard upon the lands 81 the
/ Firms.
The bureaucracy which governs
/ Russia in the names of the Cars,
ordering everything in the peoples
lives, even in the fartherest govern
ments. does all Of its thinking in
( Petrograd. From this city. also. the
/ Russian Church is administered. Mos
cow the ancient capital. is more i'm
portant economically than Petrograd.
Moreover, Moscow has. at least, equal
I claims as an artistic and intellectual
centre. And Furthermore. Moscow is
i the center Of Russian life and tradl-
/ ton But as the symbol Of the might
of Russia. as the city where the en-
/ pires destiny is thought out and d.
roctod, as the home Of the Cars, g1d.
consequently Of Russian society.
/ Petrograd is easily the first city of
/ the empire
"Petrograd is the greatest importing
center in the empire. A great part OF
/ the products of Europe which find Their
way to the bleak northern plain are ell
tered at the mouth Of the Neva, and
this despite the fact that the port is
| icebound five months OF the year. II
has, too, some industry, though its sur.
rounding region is not rich in any OF
| the raw materials Of industry. Some
/ 100000 of its men and women are en-
ploycd in manufacture. in the machine
and iron works, in the shipysrds, il
the cloth factories, shoe factories, an,
cigarette factories. that stand on thu
outskirts of the city, around the Fin
land Station.
"There is a certain stern beauty il
the capital. The broad, arTOw-lik
\ Ncvslly Prospect is fully as interesting
as any of the worlds famous thorough
/ fares. II Is business street, sOm'
three miles long. lined with shops o.
average appearance, churches represent
ing Greek, Protestant and Catholic
religions. bank buildings, the public Ii
brary. the Imperial Theatre, a garden
and some dark red palaces. The remark
/ bly, diversified life of the remarkabl,
empire flows in q never-ending stream
along this avenue. Upon il may be seel
the military; members of the capita
the capitals student corps of ten thous
and or more, from every government
the Finn, lap, Little Russian, Tartar
Lithuanian, Pole and 60 on; the gov
ment clerk. and members of Russia
highest nobility.
Calais. which has recently had
worldwide military prominence thrus
upon it, has ben passed, almost unsus
uected. by thousands of tourists. VIII
have given it mere chance consideration
as a necessary part of the transtio
from London TO Paris. There is n
amusement to speak of in Calais; Their
! are few imposing buildings, and onl
occasional, unheralded relics of th
achievement. effort and romance of tn
past. But Calais is an important pori
tourists threshold. a drab and carnc.
industrial city, continental Europe
nearest harbor TO England. a vital he
i'm naval channel maneuvers, the seat q
an American consulate which in norma
times watches over huge French Amer
lean business, and ono of the four grea;
est machine made cities or the worl,
II is as a center of manufactured lace
that Calais in peace times Is most wild,
" noted.
calais is a lace town. Almost ever,
thing about it has some bearing upo
the filmy, delicate webbing which
makes and distributes over the worl,
Should tourist miss his Paris expre,
thing. by the way. which is mo,
improbable, for the Calais Paris cor
3 nections are excellent and find himsc
4 forced TO spend some hours in the cit,
s the first thing he remarks is that thcl
d seems to he dozen or more women I
4 every man upon the streets While. ,
course, the relative disproportion is u,
where near so great, still girls and VI,
men do largely outnumber the men.
4 the lace industry is continually DRAWN
them from the surrounding country {
its factories Wages in this industr
arc very low, and many of its opcr,
tons can be performed as well by youn