The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-02
HOW 3,OOO,OOO ESTHONIANS HAVE BECOME INDEPENDENT
Frank C. Carpenter Writes Of Struggle Of Great People
 Who Had Been Ensaved By German Knights Tells Of Visit To New Parliament Building Where One Hundred Congressmen Represent Ten Different Political Parties.

the slaves of the Baltic barons. They were so treated that Baron Rosen, the land councillor, reported to the Russian government that the peas ants belonged body and soul to the landowners. Said he: "The Estho. nians may not own anything. They only gather property for their lord who disposes of everything as he de- sires. The degree of their slavery is decided by the landowner, who may punish them without appeal and tax them as he pleases."
 In 1765, II ears before we declared our Independence of England. the Diet here declared that the people were slaves in the stricter legal Ro- man sense of the word, and 1t was not until 1919 that slavery was nom inally abolished. In 1880 the peas ants were given the right to buy their own lands, but legally the rights of the German Balts remained unchanged until after the revolution of 1917. Notwithstanding all this the people were able to get some educa- tion, and today they have about 1900 common schools, several acadedies and agricultural and technical insti- tutes and the University of Dorpat which was founded in 1892, closed by the Russians before the World war and reopened was national seat of learning maintained by the gov ernment. That university has almost 5000 students, of whom about one fourth are women.
 The Capital Of Esfhonia.
 I came to Reval, the capital of Esthonia, from Helsingfors, crossing the Gulf of Finland in about four hours. My steamer was the little Viola, of 500 tons. It was well filled with passengers, but we each had a 1f F. upon deck. The sea was rough and was soon reduced to the condition of the hero in "Hypatia," a young monk who, during his first trip on the Mediterranean, wrote back to his holy hermit fathers:
 After I had been out a few hours the devil entered into me and I loathed all manner of meat"
 Moving out of the island studded bay of Helsinfors we were soon in the open gulf and continued there until we came into the Bay of Reva1, which Is also guarded by islands. The harbor Is excellent and many small ships were at anchor. We could see the smoke rising from the stacks as we came in. One of these factories Is locomotive works which is repairing engines for the bolshevist government, and the man who pointed 1t out says the bolshe- VlStS send In two engines for each one repaired. They have no money, and the extra engine goes to the factory as the price of repairing the other.
 A City Without Automobiles.
 We found the customs rigid, but have laissez passer and my If pieces of baggage were passed with out being opened. It seemed strange to come into a city and find no auto mobiles or motor trucks at the wharves. My trunks were loaded on a wagon, hauled by one horse with great bow over his head, and walked behind 1t up the street to the hotel. Esthonia as yet has compara- lively few automobiles, and the ve- hicles are the same as when the coun- try was Russian. Droskies are every where, and the drivers remind me of those l saw in St. Petersburg more than 20 years ago. They wear caps with visors that come well down over the eyes, and blue coats padded out to make them fat. Each driver has red sash around his waist. Reyal Is 700 years old and the streets look it, It is paved with cobbles and the streets are so narrow that one has to step out Into the roadway where ever any building has the slightest projection. The buildings are close to the street. They are of four or five stories, with sharp-ridged roofs of red tiles. Some of them have walls of stucco painted bright colors and there are but few large windows and but little plate glass. The signs over the stores are in several differ ent languages, but the new nation in- siStS that one must be in Esthonian