New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1920-05-14
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction
in Europe Follow the Great
World War?
LAND QUESTION IN RUSSIA
Natural Desire Of Peasants to Parti-
cipate in Ownership Of Soil
They Till Is Root of the
Revolution.
Article XVII.
BY A

In talking with people about Russia,
! have discovered that most people in
America have only a faint, uncertain,
vague idea of the country. Gar Mich
olas, the last of the self-prOclaimed au-
tocrats. was monarch of S,660,000
square miles. One-sixth of the entire
a N surface of the earth. The great
Russian empire is spread over part Of
two continents. Europe and Asia. 1t is
almost entirely confined to the cold
and temperate zones.
Three seas bound II on the north
White, Barents and Kara of the arctic;
the seas of Boring, OkhOtsh and Japan
of the northern Pacific bound it on the
east. The Baltic sea, the CULTS Of
BOthnla and Finland limit it on the
northwest; two sinuOus lines Of land
front separate it respectively from
Sweden and Norway on the northwest.
and from Prussia, Austria and Rou-
mania on the west On the south and
east the frontier has changed frequent
ly. according to the expansion and con-
traction of the empire under the pres
sure of political ~exlgency and expedi-
ency. The Black sea Is the princi-
pal demarcating feature on the south
or European Russia. On the west side
or that sea the south frontier touches
the Danube for some 120 miles; on the
east side of the same sea it zigzags
from the Black sea to the Caspian,
utilizing the river Aras for part of
the distance. AS the Caspian is vir-
a Russian sea, Persia may be
said to form the next link I'm the south
ern boundary Of the Russian empire,
followed by ~Afghanistan. On the Pa
mfrs, Russia has since 1885 been CO.
with British India. but the
boundary then swings away north
round Chinese Turkestan, and the
north side of Mongolia, and since 1905
IL has skirted the north of Manchuria,
being separated from 1t by the river
Amur.
The total length OF the frontier line
Of the Russian empire by land is
$500 miles in Europe and nearly TO-.
100 miles In Asia. and by sea, over
1000 miles in Europe and between
1900 and 10000 miles in Asia-a
Of 6S.OOO miles.
Empires Vast Population.
The population Of the empire. ac-
to the 1915 census, was esti-
mated at 1872, 49,, 600. According to the
anne census this population was dis
ributed as follows: In European Rus
ia. l3l. 796. 800; in Poland, 12,125,OOO;
n Caucasus. 13,125,0OO; In Siberia, 12,-
in the central Asian provinces,
l,l25.OO0; Finland, 3,125.0OO.
Over 50 per cent OF the people of
'ussia are peasants. The land is their
.roblem. 1t means home to them
york, life. Their one dream has been /,
o W the land. Land ownership is /.
heir definition of freedom, their idea |
{ happiness.
The Russian peasant has been a
In his own country. The
who tills the soil and lives on the
md and yet never owns an acre OF
Is a foreigner. even though his
may have been native to the
for centuries. The Russians
ave felt this they are simple. home
wing people. From the conversations
have had with Russians OF the peas II
NJ class ] believe that they have suf- n
red more because they never had a a
to own their own homes, their II
rn farms, than from the denial to C
Of political freedom. The land I
iestion is a heart question, a hearth c
TO them. "
Crime In Land Distribution. n
Some idea of the land crime in Rus o.
a is told In the startling figures show II
g the actual distribution of arabic t.
nd. forests and meadows In Euro s,
Russia. The following table is n
ily n in the indictment: RI
European Russia. n
Percent ii
Acres age n,
able land ............ 30i. 435.0cO IS
'adows and pastures 1s5. $4,000 Is T"
rests ................ t52. l52!00 80 m
cultivated ........... 220.7s.ooo 10 HI
l.l5s.3G4.OD 100 N
This land in European Russia was re
'ided among the different classes of TO