Show IS NO DARKEST RUSS ALight A-Light Thrown Upon the Domains Do-mains of the Czar PROGRESSION IN EMPIRE I I Numerous Indications of Quickened I Lifo Throughout the Vast Country I Population is Now About 136 I 000000 Climate About St Petersburg Peters-burg Similar to that of St Paul I Russians to Blamo for tho Belief that City Is Hard Frozenj Half the YearIt is Not a Dreary Placo I I Correspondence Associated Press St Petersburg Nov 19rhe population I popu-lation of Russia was estimated at about 75000000 in 1SC1 the year of the emancipation eman-cipation of the serfs It la now calculated cal-culated to be over 136000000 accordIng accord-Ing to a statement Just published by the Ministry of Finance This estimate Is obtained by adding the calculated annual excess of births over deaths I which Is certainly 2000000 to the total of 129000000 given by the census of January 2S 1807 which was 12GIOOOOO without the Grand Duchy of Finland or 129000000 Including Finland Tho 1 Slavic population is 73 per cent of the I whole Russians alone numbering SG 000000 or CG per cent and the Poles I 9000000 or 7 per cent The total Finnish Fin-nish population Is over 6000000 and I the Lithuanians almost reach the same J1gures numbering 0000009 Various Turkish peoples of the Volga the Crimea Cri-mea tho Caucasus and Siberia number num-ber 11000000 or about 9 f per cent of I the whole There are 4000000 Hebrews I and about a million persons of German descent or birth NO DARKEST RUSSIA It has so long been tho fashion to describe the land of tho Czar as Darkest Dark-est Russia or Starving Russia that most people have difficulty in realizing that there has been any progress in the empire during tho last forty years except ex-cept in population An observer who is not prejudiced readily finds proof to the contrary One who has open eyes is fairly overwhelmed with evidences evi-dences of a forward movement along a thousand lines Since the gloomier view Is maintained stubbornly In spite of the immense railway construct of recent years it may be worth while to Indicate a few of tho numerous minor I indications of quickened llfo which have come to hand unsought and to mention some of the erroneous Impressions I Impres-sions which a residence here dispels Take the simple facts of the climate One Is accustomed to think of St Pc teisburg as hard frozen more than I half the year with tho thermometer usually 30 and 40 degrees below zero Persons who think nothing of a winter In St Paul or Duluth or Canada return from a short visit to Russia with the most exaggerated notions of the Intensity In-tensity of Its winter The Russians are themselves to blame for this The houses are constructed with double windows which are rarely opened except ex-cept In midsummer and are hermetically hermet-ically sealed except fpr small airholes which in the windows of the better class of houses arc opened only once a day dayWINDOWS WINDOWS SEALED UP The windows were all sealed up two I months ago and In spite of the fact that tile thermometer has registered freezing weather only two or three days of the present autumn and winter win-ter Your correspondent has seen native na-tive Russians run from a room where the window was opened for a moment as from a pesthousc That it Is an unusually mild fall is not asserted here Winter terrors vanish upon closer inspection In-spection Col Holloway the Consul General of the United States who has lived hero three years has never known the thermometer to register be tow in nr 13 iletrroes of cold and Is I comfortable in l the consulate with no more clothing than he wore In his Indianapolis In-dianapolis home SEEN THROUGH BLUE GLASSES Many other Impressions have no nioro secure foundation They can often be traced to the influence of residents whose ideas became fixed twenty or thirty years ago A young man who spent a few weeks hero last summer fh company with one of these pessimistic authorities described St Petersburg asa as-a dreary dirty uninteresting one and twostory sort of town which resembled resem-bled a mushroom prairie city In tho early days of the Western plains lIe had simply looked through another mans blue spectacles RESTRICTIVE REGULATIONS It has proved the same with information Informa-tion about certain restrictive regulations regula-tions Ono was warned against carrying car-rying books in ones baggage since the pollee would attempt to read them all and would probably caviar blot out with an Indelible ink any passages which they did not understand The fact Is the police did not read the titles of any books in the luggage of a single sin-gle passenger the day your correspondent correspond-ent crossed the frontier Warnings were given by a Russian Journalist whose active work was finished many years ago and who has been the adviser ad-viser of numerous correspondents and writers from abroad that the supervision super-vision of political telegrams was so strict that It was best not to touch upon politics at all Your correspondent correspond-ent found foreign newspapers filled with tho most varied criticism of Russian Rus-sian affairs freely admitted and widely read Tho official whose duty it Is to pass upon political telegrams sent abroad was found to be a pleasant wellinformed polished gentleman whose blue pencil la not in evidence ad much as Is generally Imagined POLICE REQUIREMENTS One usually comes to Russia with the most exaggerated expectations of troubles and vexation oil icount of passport legulatlons With the exception excep-tion of having to get ones passport visad by a Russian ConsulGeneral abroad before crossing the frontier time police regulations are In reality far less onerous than those of Germany whore ono must usually appear at the police station In person If ono vlshes to stay more than a week or two EMPIRE NOT STAGNANT In St Petersburg the passport Is delivered de-livered to time hotel l proprietor who sends it to tho police It Is returned Indorsed with a new stamp for ono must pay a small fee The police look to thc hotel proprietor or to the doorkeepers door-keepers of private houses for the proper prop-er enforcement ot their regulations One could accumulate Instances of this I I kind indefinitely Without opening I large subjects a few facts Iii thom selves perhaps petty will sufllce to show that the Idea that Russia la stag nant Is equally erroneous I BUSINESS BAROMETER 1 The present period Is usually romem bored abroad as one of industrial stagnation stag-nation The word crisis Jg frequently 1 mot with in foreign reviews of Russian t business What are the facts The production of pig Iron usually regarded regard-ed ns Uic barometer of commerce rnd industry hrs been thus far during 3900 moid than 12000000 pounds greater than during the corresponding period of j 1S39 Tit Russian Iron producer however j how-ever complain of dull times because the Increase this year has not been relatively as large us during the pro 1 ceding years The Incruse ot pig Iron production In the northern district this year was 200000 poods or 19G put cent in the district of the Urala 8800000 poods or over 10 per cent and In lie southern districts MOOOQO poods or 7 per cent There was a decrease of P700000 pcods tn Poland The Incorporation Incor-poration oC pig Iron was less than In 1S09 so that the total consumption Is estimated at 1300000Q floods leas The Increase in production since 1S09 was 29000000 and there had been a steady Increase before last year There Is discontent among tho manu facturers The dividends of Industrial companies will be leas this year than bus been the average at this companys I hitherto resulting In a general cry of crisis EARNINGS OF WORKMEN The NOVOC Vrcmya the leading newspaper news-paper here given the earnings of cotton I spinners at the close of the elghtlL3 at 25 to 40 per cent annually and during I the first half of the closing decade metallurgical companies disbursed an average of 60 per cent a year and In some districts 100 per cent and the Polish sugar factories declared an average dividend of 20 per cent while I the Polish textile concerns distributed 40 per cent There is at present a crisis In the naphtha industry ft bears the same earmarks us tho other crisis Prices which have been admittedly abnormally abnor-mally high have fallen considerably though there Is good authority for the statement that they arc allll unreasonably unreason-ably high METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS The Ministry of PublicInstruction has according to todays papers ordered or-dered the establishment ot new meteorological me-teorological stations at all Important Railway stations In Siberia and upon the shores of Lake Baikal The Ministry of Railroads and Corrf munlcatJons has appropriated for the coming year 5000000 roubles for new I line principally in the Caucasus The I same authority has ordered 100 pas I I scnger cars for the purpose of extending extend-ing fourthclass service The movement of worklngmcn upon the Russian railways last year amounted amount-ed to 3000000 persons The great sanitarium for leprosy situated sit-uated at Tukkum near Riga has Just been enlarged so that it Is now able to accommodate 465 persons AN AMUSING WAR An amusing war In raging In Warsaw War-saw One of the features of life In that city Is condlttoreien or pastry cafes These cafes do a flourishing business They recently decided to still further Improve their situation by agreeing to double their price The newspapers loudly condemned this move and the people raised strenuoun clamor The cafes lost patronage They attributed this to Ito newspapers and held another meeting In which they agreed not to keep the newspapers newspa-pers which had taken the lead In the matter on file unless they apologired There has been no apology yet |