The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-04-18

est as to that Land OF Unlimited .
Possibilities"
a famous man of the hand of the I
Car writes that Russia ts not a
State; ii liz n world"' In the blood |
Of It's people is written the impress OF |
the Orient and of the Occident; of the |
tropic South and the frlgid North of |
Confucianism. Mohammedism and !
Christianity. It's range Of climate |
gives the Palm Beach touch to Its |
Crimea and the breath of the North |
to its White Sea region. Its variety !
of re. ources make 1t second only to |
the United States as the greatest food
producing country In the world, places
ii at the forefront among the nations |
as to mineral wealth. and gives II a |
greater timber supply than any other
country" In area Russia Is the great /
est compact empire on the face of the |
earth. But with all It's geographic |
greatness IL Is about as poor in nat
ural outlets to the world as the
smallest of the countries Of the earth
Not one free outlet to the open sea
does European Russia possess, except
on the ice-bound shores of its Arctic
Ocean.
A Most Prolific People.
Russians are the most prolific peo-
pie on earth If the same ratio of
birth will keep up. doubling popula-
ton during the forty years between
1872 and 1912, at the end OF the CEN
fury Russia Will have over six hun
dred million people.
With such record Of size, OF big
ness in everything. we should expect
| Russia to be an OLD nation. whereas
she is young compared to England. be-
cause she has not had a chance to
grow until recent wears
European Russia Is vast plain two
thousand miles long and about a thou
sand wide. In IL there are no noun
taIns and no hills more than a few
hundred feet high. This plain served
as a highway for the successive bar
barrie hordes on their way from Asia
10 Western Europe, and was sp1en-
did arena for figh'ing. as there were
no geogra phical fences to keep them
out, therefore there fs nothing old in
! Russia
If they had not been one OF the
most prolific races the world has ever
known, they would have been oblit-
Grated in those bitter years, Only a
race OF extraordinary vitality could
have survived what they suffered.
European Russia gradually grew
/ from Moscow az a Mother
Moscow" tho Russians call her. IT
was built on small hill, probably
! not over 100 feet high. in the heart
! of the plain. The Tartars destroyed
! it, tho patient princes of Moscow re-
| built the city. and soon Moscow be-
/ came more prosperous than ever.
/ After Constantinople had fallen be-
I fore the Turkish sword. the niece OF
/ the last Constantine, Sophia married
! the Prince OF Moscow, Ivan III.
I bringing to the Russian royal house
/ the double headed eagle which far
one thousand years had been the en-
/ hlem OF the byzantine empire; but
more important, she made Moscow
! the lawful heir TO constantinople.
| "Constantinople," as Sir William Ram
| sey has said tthis is for parenthese) /.
lis the center about which the worlds
| history revolves. 1t Is the bridge that
binds the East TO the West. the old
| to the new civilization, which must
/ be brought into harmony before the
| elimination of all civilization can APP
| pear, bringing peace on earth and
I goodwill toward men.
! Present Dynasty Strong.
! After many years OF adversely. the
! present dynasty, which has brought
| stability. immense growth and enor-
nous power To Russia, was founded
! six years after the founding of James
/ town, Virginia, Perhaps the greatest
single act OF any ruler in all history.
was that of Car Alexander H. in free
! ing the fifty millions OF serfs In 1861.
Few nations have such a great per-
| centage of their population living on
! the soil and by the soil as Russia
| Russia has the largest percentage Of
! ilIiterates of any civilized country. al
! though in recent years conditions
| have been improving,
Does Tolstoy's theory that popular