Show making makina tomorrows i ly as world t by WILLI WILLIAMS aims dean afa aa school chi RUSSIA A NEW NATION fijn I 1 rod russia the farm adviser bits baa arrived in russia tho the factory grows in number variety and amount of product and eul em clency the communal system of peasant proprietorship Is crumbling away the duma a nation a al 1 parliament with a 0 I 1 lipped I 1 p p a d wings has haa come these significant new nen facts with will others related thereunto a are r a t rans transforming forming russia it was a handful of scattered tribes yesterday it comprises ono one seventh of tho the worlds land surface today a muscovite giant sprawling across two continents and possesses ono one ninth of the worlds population it was agricultural yesterday today the factory Is taking labor from the farm and building groat great cities it was a land of serfs yesterday and today all russia Is freed from serfdom farming was carried on yesterday with tho the rudest implements and today there la Is american agricultural machinery in the newly cleared fields of the north and on the windswept wind swept steppes of the south it was an absolute monarchy yesterday tempered by assassination and today thanks to the fright which revolution and threatened revolution caused to the czars azars advisers it has a duma with limited powers and partial free speech and a partially free press and a modicum of manhood suffrage Rus Ru eslas show places the traveler Is first shown with their attendant beggars the cathedrals of russia many and magnificent in this land lana where the orthodox church has firm hold upon the alle A ii REH aff 4 if fi A ii ste k m afe ji b 0 IBM til russian women farm laborers Labore rc glance of the people the akon pie pic ture image of a saint has haa prominent and honored place everywhere in public buildings in railway cars in hotel rooms ori on the corners of the streets religion in its outward manifestation at least occupies largo large space in the life of the russian the palaces of the rulers are next shown from the splendid winter palace on the neva in st petersburg a capital made to order like berlin and madrid and with malice aforethought to the palace of the kremlin at the ancient and holy capital city of moscow with its red staircase stained with blood again the visitor Is shown tho the galleries where russia like older and more advanced western europe has gathered its stolen art treasures or as a climax the moscow gallery with the masterful creations of the russian artist Verest chagin arguments unanswerable against tho the syndicate syn dicato slaughter men call war but when cathedral and palace and painting have been seen the real russia a moving picture of progress economic and political lies beyond peasants becoming artisans the russian peasant with the coming of the factory has in many sections of the empire become a peasant artisan ile he works on the farm part of at the year and in the factory in the town at other times often he leaves the farm to the women old men and boys and spends pr practically the entire twelve months at th the e factory only visiting bis farm home at long intervals russian manufacturing began with the iron foundries which were designed to make cannon and other munitions of in war ar it was soon boon extended to include the manufacture of woolen goods cotton goods and latterly all the products employed in western civilization foreign capital at first largely large lyl i dominant in all russian manufacturing manu faAu rang has been gradually by russian capital most of the great factories aro are now owned and operated entirely by russians the development of the factory by creating a necessity tor for more workmen in the cities and factory districts has caused a change in the farm conditions this result waa accompanied by certain changes changed in the village or communal life which are olds aids in the transformation of russia before tho the emancipation of tho the sorts serfs tho land around a village wa was a hold bold in common tho the village assembly annually divided 1 tho he holds among tho the families of tho the village tor for tho the purpose of cultivation with the products of this cultivation each family must sup port itself under tho the present torn tom communal ownership has been theoretically v abolished but in the more remote districts not practically communal cultivation still in many places exists in tho the villages of north orn and central russia tho the whole of the cornile population arid and about one halt half of the iho malo male inhabitants aro are habitually occupied in cultivating tho the communal land or tho land allotted to them the arable part of at this land to la divided into three largo large fields each of which ta is cut up into long narrow strips the first field to ta reserved for the winter groin grain rye which in black broad bread uninviting in appearance but neither unwholesome nor unpalatable forms the principal food of tho the rural population in tho the second field la is raised oats for the horses and buckwheat for food of the men and women the third lies fallow and is IB used in summer as pasturage for or the cattle the value of rotation of crops has been long known and practiced in russia tho the triennial tri trl system Is very simple the field which Is used t this his year for ra laing winter grain will bo be used next year for or raising summer bummer grain and in the following year it will llo lie fallow every family in the two fields which it has under cultivation has one or more of tho the long narrow strips or belts belta into which they aro are divided serfdom vs v freedom the change going on from the serf labor system to a tree free labor situation may bo be compared to a certain extent to the change in tho the united states where freo free labor succeeded slave ila labor labar it if the sorts serfs had a great many ill defined obligations to fulfill commented sir donald mackenzie wallace an englishman who has spent many years in russia such as the carting of the masters grain to market the preparing of hla his firewood supplying of him with eggs chickens homemade home hoine made mado linen and the like they had bad on an the other hand band a great many lu ill defined privileges they grazed their cattle during a part of the year on oa the manor land they received firewood and logs jogs for their huts and in times of jamine famine they could look to their master tor for support now all this Is changed the serf roust must buy everything ho he uses besides this from an economic point of view village life has baa been revolutionized formerly the members of a peasant family obtained from their ordinary Oom domestic estic resources nearly all they required their domestic animals were bred at homo home and their agricultural implements manufactured at home except where iron was required little money was in use or needed very different Is the present condition tries hat bat a 3 been killed by the big factories and everything must ba bought but with the change has come freedom the russian peasant pea bowed with the weight and woo woe of centuries to is beginning to stand erect the peasantry la Is passing through a period of transition the peasant Is learning the use of at liberty and though slowly Is improving the conditions of the mhd village which in russia means rural life the farm adviser who la 18 hero here unfortunately too much of a bureaucrat reau crat Is helping the peasant to he help lp himself too the adviser Is generally employed by a large landed proprietor who wishes to obtain greater returns from his land but irr in certain parts of russia the local governments have set farm advisers successfully to work assemblies improve agriculture willo while the establishment of at factories Is making itt inroads roads upon the rural labor labar the russia of today Is and doubtless the russia of tomorrow w will ill ba b an agricultural nation hence the efforts to increase the agricultural products by better seed and improved implements are initiated or encouraged by the local assemblies interesting survivals of self government in a land of autocracy these villages or provincial assemblies in some districts love established depots in which improved implements find bettor better seed are sold cold at trin derato prices on installments introduced ole cle instruction in agriculture in the schools os established credit ties and village banks tho the peasant though slow to take advantage of these aids to progress la is gradually coming to sea eco their possibilities and to make inake use ot at them authorities progress Pro grecs A fruitful causo cause of del delay delasin ayin in Ruas laa progress is tho the opposition of the authorities thorit ties les under which general ephrand may bo be included the dignitaries pt this tha orthodox church tho the nobility and the tha bureaucracy tho the indifference of tho the majority of at the peasantry to any change and indeed its frequent revolt against change also hinders roes reea tho the young mens alens christian As AB so clation for or example amplo cx finds no opportunity to gain place for or ita work in russia except in st where it conceals itself under a foreign a name andaas and has no bible classes savo as tho the orthodox priests give alvo an occasional lecture b factory inspection was resented by factory employed emp loyes as well as aa employers when ono in tip octor recommended that tho the workmen bo be provided with individual sleeping cots instead of being given beds beda together in a adargo largo dormitory room tho the manufacturer frequently bringing babor labor from a long distance must house tho the laborer tho the workmen rebelled asking must wo we bo be cooped up like ilka cattle in stalls tho the serfs were slow in realizing their freedom and are in tho the outlying districts as aa devoted to their former mast masters erb as aa the old time darkey slaves salavea in america A domo domestic stio serf vowing a pilgrimage if her master recovered from a dangerous illness walked to Sol on tho the white sea 2000 miles in ui ailment ortho of tho auw the bureaucrats bureau crata intertwined with the ic reactionary element of 0 the orthodox church form the chletis obstacle to rapid or radical reform they fear loss of power and prestige as well as position representatives of the airov provincial assemblies met secretly in moscow to discuss nonpolitical non political measures of economic reform tor for russia and were sent home by the government the azars czars fair promises in the depression and revolt which followed the defeats of the russo J jap a 1 anfoso war the council of ministers yielded to the popular demand and sought to allay popular discontent by issuing a manifesto which declared the chats czars inflexible resolutions to confer on the population the immovable foundations of civil liberty including inviolability of person alb liberty of conscience and freedom of speech together with the right of holding public meetings and forming tor to include lu in the state duma representatives of the classes ato to lay down as an absolute absolu ie rule that no law jany could be valid without the approval of the state duma and that tha t the deputies should be able to take part in supervising the so as to ensure their acting in con with the laws duma crippled but progressing tho the russians took the czar and his bis councillors at their word and elected what was called the athe durna of the national indignation representative of all classes for your true russian is at heart considerable of a democrat ile ho does not agree with the french philosopher who preferred to be ruled by ono one lion of good family rather than ono one hundred rats of at hla his own species the first duma sought really to govern govera ru russia at which h frightened officialdom and the duma was dissolved theil camo came a second duma which a conservative ridiculed as aa the duma of the national ignorance which did nothing and a third which was of higher character and more constructive with each succeeding election while the bureaucrats seek to cripple the dumas power and control its actions eions to suit their own ends the spirit of freedom grows and measurable progress toward popular government has been made entire freedom of at conscience has not been obtained obtainer ea as aa witness tho attacks upon the jews not altogether religious persecution it may be noted entire liberty of at speech la is not yet as testify tho the suppression of 0 public meetings and the confiscation of at newspapers which make war upon the government the duma dum IL is n not 0 t free an and d th there ere is no mi ministry n responsible either to the people as a 6 in th tho e un united 1 led 8 states t a tes or ta tho the parliament as in great britain but the progress pro gresa toward better conditions la Is being befog made madd more rapidly each year the press liberal in tone in all the large cities la is a power dower tor for progress in moscow RuB Rus greatest journal Jou raal owned by an able abla journalist who thirty years ago aco a russian peasant came to the holy city with a single rouble for his entire capital leads the tha continuous campaign toward moderate republicanism A great nation in the making the giant Is blind but thinking and are growing fast the russian peasantry are strong of intellect lind and body generous seu erous bos boa bitable in tbt tb extreme good humored demply religious with education and freedom they will outrank many other peoples who have had more prominent and honorid place in history A great nation JP if la in the making in russia greater t may well be b believed ell eved than the outside world realizes great not merely because at 0 the tn alty oc at russian ter territory Atory an and d the number of I 1 att fa inhabitants but great because of at tho the strength and ch character acter of its peo pie ale and upon the russian peasant beast Is the new and greater russia to bo be bull dod in his own reverent phrana dal bog god grant tt it may be eul eo copyright 1914 by joseph B bowles |