Evening journal., 1917-11-10

Is mighty Russia dropping back into
the chaos OF small republics and petty
principalltlcs from which she sprang?
Is the worlds largest contiguous
nation in danger Of becoming again a
group OF minor states2
Although news from Russia today is
censored and colored by many hands
before It reaches us, there are many,
familiar with Russla's origin. who be-
lleve they see in the near future a des-
cent into the squabbling maelstrom
from which the house Of Rurik and
later the Romanon's built the worlds
first real United States"
Finland, with autonomy, is today
practically a self-governing republic.
Poland has been promised freedom,
both by the departed Romanons and
the departing Duma.
Ukrania and Lithuanis, each cohe-
sive within itself and but loosely tied
TO the great whole, are visioned as two
other usits shortly to be spilled out into
the world TO stand alone.
With such a disintcgraton OF Russia
as any continued laXity OF the central
ruling power makes probable, Asiatlc
Russia, including Siberia, embracing
+ three-fourths Of the empire, but con-
/ tanning only one-sixth Of the people,
would also largely go by the boards.
Northern Caucasia was conquered
from the Georgians and the Persians,
and a separate Georgia and Turkestan
would be a natural cleavage. Also the
/ two main divisions OF COssacks, closely
allied with the Tartar race, would
hardly remain part Of the nation by
which. even under the strictest mon
archial rule, they have never been act
ually digested.
And in a breakup Of the empire, such
semi-Asiatic provinces as Astrakan and
Kazan, as well as practically the whole
Of Caucasia, might well drift from the
central government.
An eight-year immersion in blood
and anarchy was a requisite 10 the bap-
tism Of the Russia the world knows
4 today, by the elevation to the throne I'm
1863 Of the first Of the Romanoffs.
Michael Feodorovitch. Will the dis
carding OF the Romanoffs bring a Sim
liar period OF death throes as trying as
the birth throes.?
b me history OF Russia before the ac-
- cesslon OF the Romanoffs is tumble
q Vi trlnal feuds. For Of the largo ma
S uons IN the war, Russia is the Youngest
States. 'hS United
Prior to the Russia Of the Romarors
N uieIo s Was the nucleus OF Russia fonnd
- & u the scandinavian Rurik In se5
called IN when the traders Of No,'eor5.i, =
wearied OF the warfare of ~ ~ Iu
al slavic tribes. over the repuhIic ~ W W
le gorod' nursed along under me B,,rie ~. ~
OF nasty, the conquering Moneol in,,5as..,
under Genghis Khan. built mn the r,,.
cipality Of Muscovy, and sci R,,sai.
back two centuries.
The virility Of the separate units n
Russia, rather than Of the nation .
: a whole. Is shown by the fact that m
= first dent In the Mongol dominion wa
made by the. Lithuanians, who. havir
! thrown off the German yoke, conquere
the western provinces OF enslayed Ru
sia in the fourteenth centur,
Ivan the Great freed Russ
from Asiatic domination, but q
period OF strife was not ended until a
ROmanoff line was established over
century and a half later
Il was Peter the Great, who at q
close Of the seventeenth century con
pleted the first hundred years OF RI
manoff rule by cementing Russia {,
gether on western European lines. Frol