Show THE RUSSIAN PEASANT 9t af The Three Branches of the Slavic Population Gentleness Gentle-ness of CharacterA Communistic System in the VillagesThe Penal System I Ct1t Jl Q LrDuJl Jl Jl Jl I U dllllcult for those who s live In weottiii Kurupe or I i In tin oantern part of the United Slates to realize to what mi extent Itus sin Is still an agricultural nation and to understand the 1111 nlllcnnco ot that fact In l Husula i the large cities ure few and fur between and with the exception of Moscow are almost all upon the extremes western west-ern or southern border of the Umpire hlitteiitlis of tie population Is still to be found in detutelud Hinges of from 1000 to 11500 1 Inhabitants scattered scat-tered over an area much larger than that of tIe United Slates Any speculation spec-ulation upon the political future of Itussla will be futile If does not lake t ihto proper recount the nature of these village organizations or Mlrx us they urn called and tho racial clrmictrristlcs ot the individuals individ-uals who constitute them The Slavic population of Russia is divided into three branches the Great Kiissliui he Little ltu slan and the White llusslan Of these the Great Russian is by far predominant numbering num-bering more tnan 40000000 vid occupying oc-cupying the whole talky of the Volga n large part of the basU of the Don and extending westward to the Dnie per and Dvliin Itlvcrs Tolstoy with whose picture In peasant costume every one is fgmlllnr Is both physically phys-ically anu temperamentally the typical typi-cal Great Russian Will his stalwart frame As light brown hair uud beard his mild blue or gray eye broad face and gentle expression nut hit belted blouse overhanging his trousers the Great Itusslau meets you everywhere In the kingdom Not only in his original nome but I in Vladivostok throughout Siberia and Central Asia on the shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov he is sure to greet you with the offer of broad shoulders or qf his swift droshky for the transportation trans-portation of your luagtge and your person Tho Little itussian next In Importance Impor-tance of the Slavic population often I has dark hair and dark eyes supposed sup-posed by some to have come through n slight intermixture of Trrtar blood but in general his characteristics are similar to those cr his brothers in Great Russia Ho is however cleaner in arpearance And manner ot living Mid his villages how signs of greater prosperity The Cossac of the Don and tho Ural are simply the frontiersmen of Russia with such modifications as border life produces In all classes of people They possess n mllltnry organization which is extremely ex-tremely democratic except in the appointment ap-pointment of Its higher otllcers Naturally Nat-urally they have come to be the chief dependence of the Government preserving pre-serving order throughout the Empire their relation to the ordinary army of conscripts being something like that of our regular army to tho State militia We have much the same difficulty dif-ficulty in the United Slates in suppressing sup-pressing disorders through the militia that Russia has through the regular army In repeated instances our militia mil-itia have refused to respoud for the forcible suppression ot disorders fomented fo-mented by their fcllqw citizens The refusal of Russian troops to lire upon a mob and the resort to the Cossacks as we resort to the regular army are no new things In Itussla THE GENTLE RUSSIAN Nothing can be more erroneous than the impre slon which is conveyed by picturing the Russian as a bear for really he Is a gentle creature overflowing over-flowing vth sympathy and this is the basis of his most characteristic faults Beggars are everywhere tol crated They lino the approaches to every church and stretch out their appealing ap-pealing hands from every corner Nor are they rudely thrust aside by any Their very numbers indicate the cot slderatlou with which they are treated treat-ed The exile as he starts for Siberia Is universally looked upon as the more unfortunate rather than crltniim and Is the recipient of many parting gifts In Siberia ItseU the free settler ever leaves Rome bread and water outside his door that the fugitive from Justice may find refreshment iu his lonely night matches It was In obedience to tills sentimentality of the cat i c-at large that capital punishment was abolished In Russia 20 years ago The whole penal system of Siberia has really sprung out of the same national na-tional scntlmcntallsm Exile to SI berla wltl a speedy release from close confinement and a chance to re trleve ones fortune In n nrw country has seemed to time nation more uituano than summary execution or prolonged close coutlncment However mlstakei the policy may havo been the impulse im-pulse leading to it lias been generous rather than severe while no one could well s u beforehand the IncIdental evils which have been connected with It Now that the policy Is to be reversed re-versed tho first requisite is the erection erec-tion of a large number of new local prisons where it Is doubtful if the unfortunate class will tie any better uff than they have been It 1s 1 interesting inter-esting to noio that Prince Kropotklu uponbeing confined In an uptodate French prison emphatically declared that the general effect of the Siberian prison was better than that of th 1 prisons of Western Europe The Russian neither huries himself I nor any one else One of the most striking characteristics observed through many nouths close assocla c QJlJlJl JlJl llll Inn with him first mid last has born he nnlfor kindness with which work IIPII are tivated by ov rseera A recent trip down the MIsKMppl upon a river itcatnboat revealed Scenes of Lord icartedupss and cruelty on the part of the overseers who were driving 11 u > gro stevedores to the utmost limit lie human cndiirinci shocking every scntlntimt of humanity The har li and rasping tones time terrible profanity and tin repented blows upon the backs of tin o overworked ncfroes contrasted In a forcible manner with the patience ibservcd everywhere here The Anglo Saxon overseer Is a lirutu compared with a HiHuliui These feelings of sympathy sym-pathy found expression In n shilling scene which I once witnessed Iu n group of ehllchen who had come out to slide upon somo newly frozen Ice at the beginning of winter A number of children were barefooted but those who had shoes Instead of monopolizing monopoliz-ing them entirely to their own bene lit nt Intervals took them off and lent them to tiiclr less fortunate companion compan-ion < THE VILLAGE SGVERNMENT Paradoxical as It tray seen one of the greatest hltultarces to progress among the Rimlnii peasantry is the amount of liberty retained by the vII lIe I commune of Mir Admirable in many respects as an organization Is it is looked U > OM by he most enlightened enlight-ened frlemls of Russia as ono ot the main oustnclos to progress in tlc social so-cial and political condition of the Em plre The Mir either owns or rents the lands whch its individual members mem-bers cultivate Annually by universal suffrage i which the womii who are widows or whose husbands are absent ab-sent take part elders are elected whose duty it is to see that each family fam-ily has its proper proportion of the land assigned to it But if there is any dissatisfaction each Individual has the right to nppeal public meeting and make n final appeal to the whole body of voters But every house has its garden well stocked with cabbages and cucumbers and other vegetables while the house itsef built of logs and covered with thatch s admirably adapted to the conditions con-ditions of life to which the peasant has become attacced It is warm in winter and cool Jn summer and provided provid-ed with a large brick oven in the prln < clpal room which wrll conserves the heat firutshed by the ocanty supply of fuel The furniture Is rmple consisting con-sisting of n few i ciches nnd rough bedsteads and a table The oven itself it-self also cfteu serves the purpose ol nifordlng facilities for the weekly steam bath which every Rufslnn is careful to take In the winter the top of the own is a favorite sleeping place for the aged members of the family fam-ily After driving over a level and treeless pnilrle for many miles without with-out seeing a single habitation as one Is ordinarily compelled to do it Is a pleasant experience to come suddenlj upon n village of such houses suugl ensconced beside son little stream which furnishes a convenient water supply Life in these villages is cer thinly much less lonely than in the scattered habitations of our own Western West-ern prairies The Mir again has the right nnd responsibility of dealing with infractions infrac-tions both of the civil and crlmlna laws up to a certain degree nnd is per mltted ns the ancient Greek cominu mites were to ostracise objectlona members Mote than fifty per cent of all the exiles to Siberia have been sent there by vote of the village communities I com-munities In which they lived When such a vote is taken the unfortunate member is turned over to the genera Government and put under police sur I velllance In Siberia Nor Is a crimInal who hrs been sentenced by the courts permitted to return to his commune except by general permission The Mir has certain common re spotihibllltles which every individual shares It owes to the gneeral Gov eminent taxes and military service This Is essential to the maintenance of the unity of tho Empire end to the fulfillment of all tho higher aspIrations aspIra-tions of the Slavic race Hence It comes about that the individual wen her of the Mir is not permitted to go and come as ho likes but upon leaving leav-ing home he must give a pledge to his fellow mcnbcrs that ho will con tlnue to bear his share of the common burdens at least until the next census cen-sus Is aken He must therefore secure se-cure leave of absence from them This Th-is the reason for that Internal passport pass-port bysUm which to outsiders seems so meddlehoine and onerous while viewed the light of the real equities of the case it is perfectly fair and just and is so considered by the mass of the Russian people The great commerclrl and manufacturing centres of Russia are filled with peasants who have obtained temporary leave of absence ab-sence from their Mlrs foi the purpose of Improving their condition in these broader fields of activity Often they continue for tho rest of their lives to reside In the cities while cheerfully cheer-fully paying their annual tax to the Mir This however Is not regarded no an Imposition but really as a payment pay-ment to secue an old ego pension for so long as they pay this tax they can If business adversity overtakes them return and bo reinstated in all the I rights of the village G Frederick krl imlithel1New Wright in the Mow York Evening I Post |