The Washington herald., 1915-05-09

example Of the autoTacy which Is INC as the
strength Of the empire the It'll law I,5 ut the
a wonderful national de.tin%. Inc me- So .o ar.. out
lined ., ...,o,,s, If tho
hsst,e1ds u the var as Mr. Morgan "a" thSm
in the OF his journey aiSIis sie xt sunday
poleons campaisns Will De puoi1neu ~
,rxurious Russian train. with com
for+a hIe lounges and easy chairs ana
with electric reading lamps on the taoies
In IFS sImptuouS compartments, Will
steaming samovars In IT'S every coa:i
md With a neycr-ending conviviality in
It's dining car, rolls smoothly, almost
noisclessly onward along the WlSe-sased.
well ballasted rails into an ever oepen-
ing desolation. The hiShroads II crosses
are hardly more than cart tracks. Ihe
farther it goes, the farther and farther
apart are the forlorn little log towns
AS the train enters White Russia, the
huts Of the peasantry in the melancholy
countryside appear even more st<lahd
than those left behind In Llthurla. ne
limitless forests of fir. alder ana willow
are more stunted and increasingly drear
Sander and sander is the ever-thnnine
soil. The wheat fields grow smaller ana
smaller. poorer and poorer Inc Siass
becomes mere scattered tufts. But Just
as the dead level, poverty-strickcn land
scapc threatens to overwhelm with It's
monotony the man at the car car VIII
dow, he sees rising out OF those morose
and Doggy solitudes, like phantom city
Of the desert mirage, the gray. purple
and golden domes OF Petrograd
A Czar-made City.
have chosen the city of the Cars as
the first example in outline or the
strength and weakness of the Russian
autocracy, the Russian army and Inc
Russian nation. Genera lions before tnere
was an English King there was Lon
don There was Paris long before the
birth of France Vienna fourishe1 WINE
the HapsburSs yet were IN tnelr hawhs
CUrtc mo
before a Pope or a Caesar. Rome was.
The Russian capital, OH the other hand
was made by the ukase of Car and
the decree of a Gar can unmake IL. mat
imperial city, indeed is the Cars look
ing glass in which the autocrat OF all
the Russias may see renected the power
of his arbitrary will: And DID not Men.
olas II rename it in a flash only last
summer?
Washington is the only other import
ant capital that was made to order. the
American nation, however. was new ana
had to create a seat of government
somewhere when the District of Column
bia was chosen. Russia, on the contrary.
had an old and rsvered a.. CAPITA pr hsa %hs IN
forsake Holy Mother Moscow and. re-
moving 40 miles north, erect his throne
in a wilderness And after 200 years the
Cars still dwell in those primeval Wilds
on the frozen frontier of civilization.
near neighbors of tho polar bear.
A line drawn through PctroErad and
around the globe leaves hardy an I'M,
Of it. That line intersects Ch1istiania.
the Norwegian capital. but elsewhere
from Kamchatka TO Greenland, TO Hud-
son Bay and Alaska, It skirts the sub
arctic wilds.
The Turk had driven the Bear away
from the coast Of the Southern sea when
Peter turned to the Northern and wrest-
cd from Charles MI of Sweden a mere
foothold az the head OF the Finnish Gulf.
Thither he determined to transfer the
and erect a now city of palaces and
churches and warehouses on the verge
of the OCcident.
Building of PetroErad.
The Finnish fishermen showed him a
high-water mark on tree and warned
him against the overlooking Neva, nut
he replied by ordering them to remove
the tree. His builders declared that II
was impossible to find a foundation in
the fathomless marsh, hut he command
cd them TO cut down the Scrubby forest
that covered the ground and sink the
trunks of tho trees in the mud. They
protested that there was no building
material. 10 clay, no wood suitable FOR
construction and no stone; but he or
dcrcd every boat that entered the new
port to bring the stones that abound In
Finland and along the Baltic shore ana
with them pay their port dues
There were no laborers. but the Gar
Corrihly brought them there by the tens
OF thousands from all parts of the ON
miro He forbade a stone to be laid in
any other town in Russia. and the idle
uasons hockcd 10 him for employment
lie rescindcd the licenses of hundreds
"r the most rnterprising merchants IN
tho ccntcrs whore they were established
and renewed them only on condition
that they transfer their business to his
nov city The aristocraCy shuddered a
tho thought of exchanging their Villas
and gardens at Moscow to dwell In
gloomy desert Of ice and mud. but he
commanded the members Of his court
each to construct a palace there and live
in 1t throughout tho season.
IT Rome was not built IN day. Pot |
rocrad was huilt in year. when no
fcwcr than 3nm0 structures rose in n
swamp. In his furious energy. Peter |
himself seized the workmans ak and
expert he continually went the rounds |
Of his 5000 laborers. who dug the Garth |
with their hands and for lack OF wheel |
harrows carried it away In aprons or
bags.
although Potter did not lay the first
stone until 1908. at his death in IFS. he
died in tho midst Of a city Of 15"n' popu-
iation. a number that was doubled in the
reign Of mis- daughter Elizabeth. After
100 wears from its foundation. Petrograd
had ::rn.Ca0 people and had distanced the
ancient capital of Moscow. Today, with
its manufacturing suburbs II IL a city
Of moro than c,:Oo.ooo and perhaps sec
ond only 10 Paris on the European CONT
nent.
Monument of DespOtIsm.
1t is an amazing monument to the
despotism of the Cars. For the city
has huurishcd il was built. in de-
fiance of the laws of trade and of ma
iurn herself. AS a port. it is immeasur-
ably inferior to Riga, which has a
much longer open sea son, for Pctrograd
Is ice bound from carly November to the
rnd of April As building site. II has
heen repeatedly and disastrously flooded
nv the Nova. The highest elevation
within the bounds of the city is less than
fifteen feet above sea level and the cell
lars have TO be baled out nearly every
spring when the ice melts and the wind
blows.
The rigorous climate constantly gnaws
at walls and columns. until the city has
been twice and thrice rebuilt by the
Cars. Many of the most imposing struc-
,urcs are held together only by means
nf iron clamps. and the huge boulder on
which Peter rides his bronze horse is
ever crumbling away. The stones of the
streets are continually sinking below the
level and the great Cathedral of st.
1ssacs never ceases 10 settle on a foun-
dalton in which nearly s10o0,Oco was
sunk. No less than six tiers OF piles
were driven for the beautiful column Of
Alexander j. yet that eighty-foot mono
lith, the tallest and largest IN Europe.
has to be clamped in iron
AS dwelling place. Petrosrad rel
s@e