Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-13
COUNT WITrE
COUNT SERGEI WITTE,
STATESMAN, DIES

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peace terms, Witte made ready to leave
Portsmouth. Had he done so one of the
greatest battles in history would have be-
gun a few hours later. for the army OF
General Llnevitch had been gathered in
Manchurla ready to strike what woult
have been the greatest blow of the Russo.
japanese war after the defeats suffered
by the Russian armies.
The representatives of the Mikado, un-
ablo to bring Witte to their side, finally
dropped the demand of an indemnity,
II was then that Witte emerged triumph
ant from the conference chamber leis-
urely smoking a cigarette, as if he had
been the representative OF II victorious
nation instead of defeated one.
On his return to Russia he instantly
became the man of the hour After the
revolution of 1905 and the granting of a
constitution by the Gar, Witte became
the first Premier under the new form of
government.
In his new capacity he outlined pro-
gram of reform, one of the points of
which was the abolition of the vodka
traffic. He proposed to the Car a plan
by which the liquor traffic was to be
wiped out and the yearly revenue of some
5000, 100000 derived from it obtained from
more productive sources.
AHEAD OF HIS TIME.
But Witte was ahead of his time. With
the breakdown of the revolution and the
return of the reaction into power, Witte
result of beurocratlc conspiracy against
him. In 1906 he retired from public life,
contentlng himself simply with exerting
an indirect influence upon Russian af-
fairs.
Witte was essentially a constructive
statesman and many of his ideas have
borne fruit. He lived to see the vodka
traffic, of which he was one of the most
bitter enemies, entirely abolished.
One of the things that mitigated against
him in government circles was the fact
that his wife was a Jewess. man of
broad sympathes and no racial hatred or
antipathies he fell in love with the daugh-
ter of Jewish merchant and married
her, in spite of the opposition of his
family
He was essentially a self-made man, a
hard worker, a student, with a deep
rooted belief in the final triumph of
science over the forces of darkness, Dopll-
lar superstition and ignorance,
Count Wittc was born I'm Tiilis in June.
1919, son of a director of the Depart
ment of Agriculture in the Caucasus lie
was the descendant of a Dutch family
that enigrated to Russia
After receiving an education at Kishi-
neff and the University of Novorosiesk
at odessa lie entered the Russian rail-
way service His rise in the Government
service was rapid.
lie was great personal friend of Pro-
fessor Miiukoff. the leader of the Con
stltutlonal Democrats, and one of the
foremost Liberals In Russia. He held
severely aloof from association with the
Teactionary wing of the Government. and
after his removal from the premiership in
lSo6 refused to attend court functions.
After the massacre of the ,Jeys I,
hlshlneT. in 1903, he was loudest in his
protest against the atrocities and de-
lnanded the punishment of the guilty
ones. ''
With the death of Count Sergei W,tta
thefe disappears from the arena of Rus
SIAN affairs one of the greatest, most
talented and subtle figures of the empire
Count Witte was considered bv many
as marking the milestone of the transi-
ton point between ancient Muscovy and
the great Russia that is to be.