The Washington herald., 1915-05-09
NzERE ZzE QN1N9 SIZ5

spired. he is at their mercy. And when
their poinard has failed to find the heart
of a recalcitrant sovereign their pois-
oning powder has unfailingly succeeded
in finding its way to his coffee cup.
The bureaucracy Of PetroGrad alone
may start anything in Russia. and nat
urally II is interested first Of all in stop
ping rather than starting things. Like
every other ruling caste. II spranC from
the past, is suspicious Of the present and
the foe of the future. In Its blind strus-
gle to perpetuate itself it has struck at
Cars and peasants. at the university
sponsible for the terror and cruelty OF
the Russian police administration. And
it is chiefly responsible for the fact that
Russia now finds herself a sixteenth
century nation I'm the midst of the twen-
tieth century.
The autocracy. the oligarchy and the
bureaucracy have been brakes on the
thoughts and energies of the people.
pulses of Russia. depressed the power OF
initiating and organizing and left the
masses dumb and helpless.
The despotism of PetroSrad Is reflected
OF the land where an autocrat reigns by
every firesidc. Each blow of the knout
has been passed on from back to back.
and as the tyrant father foGs wife and
children he feels he is dscharging a
sacred duty imposed upon him by the
Little Father of the nation. Il beat
YOU the peasant saying runs. as ] do
my fur, but l love you as my soul.
Russians Not Warriors.
Happily the power of the aristocracy
Is fast slipping away. Half century
ago a few aristoCrats owned all the land
the abolition OF serfdom. new Russia
MOBILES have steadily gone down as a
commercial class has pulled itself up.
had to establish a loan agency for poor
mobiles to save them from the shame OF
going to work.
But neither the old serf-owning arts
tocracy of birth. nor the sweaters OF
labor. who are forming the new aristoc-
racy of roubles. Is the real nation. There
are three Russias, the Russia of the
Gar. which has its reflection in Petro-
grad: the Russia of the Cossack; and the
Russia Of tn" peasantry. ! might add n
fourth. the Russia of the melodrama and
of the six host thrillcrs. Unfortunately
the outside world hears most about the
Russia OF the Car and of the Cossack.
For example. people at a distance imag-
Inc the Russians as a race of fierce. war
loving. dare devil, rough riding six-foot-
four giants. This Is the Russia that has
inspired dark forehodinss OF the "Slav
peril which Napoleon cleverly adver-
tised in his familiar phrase. In ten
years Europe can be all Cossack or all
republican
There are however. two radical mis-
takes in this picture. In the first place.
the real Russian il not a giant but only
medium-sized man. BY comparison
the Scandinavian is a colossus, and so Is
the American of the old stock. Both the
Englishman and the Prussian outclass
the average Russian in stature. The
Cars army today Is recruited under
standards Of stature lower than most
armies. A five-foot dwarf is accepted
for the infantry. and for the cavalry a
man is recruited to measure only five
feet three inches.
In the second place. the Russian is
neither a horseman nor a martial char
acter. These are the plain sober truths
OF anthropology and Of history.
In the beginning. the Russian was so
unwarlike that the Norseman and the
their alien Jokes upon him, and his mil
itary history remains the least GLORIOUS
of any of the big powers. Russia has
lost more and won fewer battles In the
course of 800 years than any other grow
ing nation.
It is true she has come to be regard
ed as uncomfortable. But then China.
unconquered. No conqueror can really
invade. however virulently he may as
sail. even 100000 square miles, not to
mention the 5000 900 square miles Of Rus
STA. Nor can he sub1u4ate 163,G00.000 peo-
pie or a nation with half a million pop
ulation.
Napoleon was overwhelmed because he
waste land is the most impossible bar.
rier that an army can encounter. And
the Grand Armee was starved rather
than frozen out In 1872. II the Germans
had only Russia to fight. however. they
we'll might do better. Now that there