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Show , JEWISH MASSACRES WITH OFFICIAL APPROVAL. Tho friends of the Russian autocracy auto-cracy who aro displaying their loyalty by wholesale slaughter of tho Jews arc proving to tho satisfaction of a number of our newspapers that almost al-most any kind of despotism Is better than liberty for them. Thoso massacres massa-cres "reopen the question whether tho , people of Russia can properly appre ciate liberal rulo ami aro capable or anything like solf-government," remarks re-marks tho Nashville Banner; and the Hosf-n Herald agrees that they show "how ent'rely unfitted tho Russian people aro for absolute democratic control." Tho dispatches namo about Rosello Knott as Mary Tudor in "When Knighthood was in Flower." I twenty towns where tho Jewish quarters quar-ters liavo been given over to murder and plllnge, and tell or thirty more. A correspondent of tho Paris Auroro says that 25,000 Jews have been killed and a correspondent or tho London Standard puts tho number killed at 15,000 and 100,000 wounded. Tho most horrible ntrocltles aro said to have marked tho slaughter. Premier Witto says in a cablegram to Jacob II. Schlff that "the government govern-ment is horrified nt these outrages," and n corespondent of tho New York Sun i epulis that his first act as pre-' pre-' mlor "was to dismiss tho governors of eleven provinces where tho anti-Semitic anti-Semitic outrages have been tho worst" a phaso that gives an idea of tho extent of tho troubles. It is admitted j In an cfflclal note issued nt St. Peters- burg, however, that tho local officials may have had a hand In this dreadful work. It says: "Tho tragic and deplorablo events of last week in Boveral places In the empire can be considered as the spontaneous spon-taneous reaction of tho conservative element of the population against the perhaps exaggerated demonstrations of the radical clement. "On the other hand, it Is Impossible to deny that In certain cases this reaction re-action was encouraged by tho local administrative ad-ministrative officials. Tho present government is far from Ignoring or concealing this fact. Wcro It to dc so it would bo going in the old way, while professing Its firm determination determina-tion to follow tho rond of progress. Among administrative officials there aro enemies of tho new system, who aro opposing by every means In their power tho realization of reforms." Mr. T. W. Stead predicts that 100,-000 100,-000 lives must fall before order is restored, re-stored, and possibly 2,000,000. Ho is quoted as saying: "Tho coolest man in Russia is tho Emperor. God grant that ho may keep his seat, that tho Liberals may gather about him, and that they may resist tho forces of dissolution! His authority is shaken, passions nro loose and things aro likely to bo worse. There may bo fearful slaughterings. As nn optimist, I think a hundred thousand may fall. If I woro pessimistic, pessimis-tic, I would say two millions. Tho situation is something like this: "Tho police, gendarmes and Cossacks Cos-sacks have been suppressing a revolution revolu-tion In tho namo or the Emperor. Suddenly, Sud-denly, they say, tho Emperor goes over to tho Liberal side, and he thinks moro ot those who want to voto and who nre doing everything In tho way or meeting and agitation which tho police were taught to believe was unlawful un-lawful than he does of them. Tho police and gendarmes say: "'Oh! Very well! If the Emperor's now friends act like this, It is no concern con-cern of ours.' "And when the police aro Indifferent the hooligans break loose and torylsm in society also breaks loose. That mass of Ignorant conservatism which thinks only or killing the Black Hundred Hun-dred In Moscow aro conservatives who are offended by the liberals getting get-ting tho upper hand. All through the Russian emplro authority as represented repre-sented by the police, Cossacks and gendarmes Is shaken, as I have said, and tho forces that tend to tear society so-ciety apart are at work." Tho Engineers' union of St. Petersburg Peters-burg accuses the government of instigating insti-gating these massacres to accomplish a counter-revolution. It says in a resolution reso-lution adopted at Its meting on November No-vember 4: "The long and obstinate struggle of the nation with the autocracy has compelled tho government to make concessions, but the government Is seeking to resume the open conflict with the nation by organizing the dark elements, and, having armed them out of the nation's money, to Incite them ngalnst the progressive elements of society, against the Intelligent, against the students, workmen, and Jews, and so to accomplish a counterrevolution counter-revolution "At the very moment when tho revolutionary rev-olutionary movement has driven tho autocracy to surrender, when tho nation na-tion and country are on the eve of effective ef-fective liberation, we are witnessing a series of massacres or Jews carried out by the rabble, thanks to the criminal crim-inal tolerance or tho authorities. We see in these tragic misdeeds a desire to abuse the ignorance and blindness or the people Tor the purpose or the deliberate organization or a counterrevolution, counter-revolution, In tho hope or saving the remnants or the old regime. "It is resolved, thererore, that troops acting not In derenso or the citizens but against them, bo removed and that the sareguarding or tho Inhabitants In-habitants of the towns be Intrusted to a national militia." Intervention by tho powers to restore re-store order Is suggested by tho Baltimore Bal-timore American and the Brooklyn Standard-Union, but there is little, if any, indication that tho powers are considering such a move. Tho administration admin-istration at Washington has assured a delegation or American Jews, who requested Interrerence, that our government gov-ernment is" keenly sympathetic, but that it is powerless in the present situation. The Louisville Courier-Journal believes be-lieves that "we need not on account ot these excesses despair ot the ruture of Russia." It says: "They mean that the country can not go at onco from despotism to orderly or-derly liberty, but that was already known, ir tho lawlessness ends speedily, speed-ily, tho task of consolidating liberty may bo taken up and prosecuted, but not to immediate success. If disorders disor-ders run Into universal terror and anarchy, an-archy, all that has apparently been gained may bo lost. In any event, the work or regeneration will require time, patience and education in those things that aro necessary to tho success suc-cess or national freedom, or which respect re-spect for law, made by tho consent of tho governed, is an absolutely necessary neces-sary condition." Literary Digest. |