Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-15

at home and supplied the Government with
funds for internal public developments.
Indeed he so dominated tho policy Of the
empire that he may be said to have been
the controlling influence in matters which
related to his interests in public affairs, IL
not in tho Government itself. He supplied the
funds and took the leading part in the build
ing of the Siberian Railroad, which he
sidered to be one Of the great material de-
velopments, time has proved it to be- of
Russian enterprise leading to Russian ma
terial wealth. 1t may fairly be said that his
genius dominated the policies of that day
that, although he lived in comparative re-
tlrement, quite apart from the social life of
the capital, and never went to court except
when the duties of his official position re-
qured him to do so, no step was taken in
either foreign domestic affairs without the
inevitable questions, in every discussion in
st. Petersburg: What does Wltte think
of it?" What will Witte do?"
Personality and Appearance
A visitor to Russia who saw him at that
time describes him as being over feet in
height and big, bulky man. with a pair of
shoulders as thick through as those of
blacksmith; his gray head massive and
brooding; 'he is figure of the rudest full
blooded force, slow in motion, incredibly un-
calmly in every action, with vast worn hands
that swing athwartship he walks. He Is
almost contemptuously careless in all mat
ters that concern his attire or outward ap-
pearance. Hairy and hard with a beard Ill
kept, his face is stolid and deeply lined;
there Is nothing OF compromise, no art of
grace, no study in the cast of 1t. The eyes
al, I,-t,
dwels a spirit not manifested in the gross
ness and crudeness of his aspect. Shrned
under heavy brows, they are pale and inde-
terminate in color. They are lambent and
inscrutable the eyes of an Oriental, wise
with infinite subtlety, discriminating pitt
lessly, discerning infalllbly. probing without
scruple to the core of each matter that in
vites him"
The portrait is true of this inscrutable
man. No one was intimate with him; he
lived aloof. But he had sympathies for the
people, whose condition he sought to i'm
prove and whose burdens he lghtened by
better methods Of agriculture and a more
productive system of commerce and trade
He took their part. though not when they
broke out into strikes and open revolt Called
upon to decide between radical demands and
the conservative enforcement of law, he
chose the side OF tho Emperor and the con-
stituted authority; losing thereby, no doubt,
much popularity among those who looked
upon him as an advanced thinker. The truth
Is, that Witte aimed at national progress
but he was not a revolutionist. He under
stood his people, and WIS first of all Rus
sian, whose loyalty convinced him that the
great benefits of the future must come out
of the stable and natural expansion of the
Russian character itself
He had always opposed the war with
Japan, and yet It fell to his lot to make the
peace at Portsmouth which brought 1t to a
close, He hoped to make a road 10 China
and Japan which shoull open the gate 10
intercourse between Russia and the Far
East and through Russia from the Orient
into the heart Of the European Continent.
He lived long enough to much OF his
anticipation fulfilled; and by far more than
anything that he had ever imagined the
wonderful opening OF new sources or wealth
in Siberia has justified the labor as well
as the personal devotion that he brought to
that enterprise.
Among modern Russian statesmen none, II
may be said has had so thorough q COM
prehension or so broad a view of national
questions, regarded especially from the point
OF view of benefit to the whole Russian peo-
pie and their general welfare; and II seems
when time shall have weighed and balanced
the acts and efforts OF his life, that the
memory OF sergius Witte will find some day
Its true place in the national thought of
Russia,