| Show RUSSIAN conditions CONDITIO is the slow alow progress of the russian footle in civilization is a fact difficult to account for it is true that since the time of peter the great whose victorious armies and mighty genius lifted the empire up to the position of one of the great powers of the world there has been steady advancement in every direction but it is equally true that this advancement can bear no Gomp companion arlson with that of the rest of europe not to mention the phenomenal growth of our own owl country and it Is in equally true that what progress has been made in russia is in confined almost entirely to the upper classes the favored few who mostly have had the he benefit of foreign influences while the manees of the people remain practically in a condition not much above semi barbarous it to Is strange that in a country with such snob vast agricultural and mining resources the bulkot bulk of the nation should be plunged in a bot bottomless pit of debt almost starving to death that the clouds of ignorance and superstition should darken the face of the land and while neighboring countries are basking in the light of knowledge and freedom of thought to say aay that all this Is ie due to the established form of government Is ie not to account for the fact it to ia but to state another fact equally strange and both no doubt being but different effects of the same game cause history teaches plainly that when a people really advance in civilization in a desire for liberty and enlightenment no despotic government caul can keep them back forever As they grow sod and expand they will burst their fetters and crush despotism with irresistible sis tible force or perish in the attempt recently some interesting figures illustrative of conditions in russia have been beai published which throw a ray of light on this subject it Is shown that the death rate in that country Is 0 enormous 1 nor according to the he reports report of the medical department the rate of mortality for the whole empire V range ele from 81 to 87 per 1000 and in the thirteen central provinces of Buro european peau russia it reaches 62 per 1000 last year in districts the deaths death exceeded the births andt indicating it would seem that the population is actually dying out the death ato ate throughout Is about twice that of great reat britain and exceeds largely that of every other european country in 1886 it was calculated that the average duration of life in russia is 29 years while in germany it is in 87 37 years and the fact Is in that the mortality is greater among the country population than in the cities proving that it is not due entirely to bad sanitary regula there moat be a cause for this and it is 11 thought to be found in the feet fact that a vast majority of the people are actually the food of the russian laborer consists chiefly of bread statistics show that the gross product of the country when the export ports and that which is I 1 reserved for seed eee are deducted leave just about pounds a year per capita or lose less than half what is allowed a convict in english prisons with all his toll toil and economy the average russian peasant cannot earn enough to pay his taxes and secure the food necessary to maintain his hi vitality the government of 58 taxes iid ID arrears and for food furnished from public storehouses all charged to the peasants ants these theme figures show even if they are but approximately correct the true cause of the enormous mortality in the country and also the condition of stagnation in which the russian people exist neither intellectual nor physical progress to is possible when impeded by hunger A people daily staring starvation in the face end and grappling appling er with the problem of were mere living as with an impossible puzzle are not likely to take much interest in ID the be higher questions of life such as education and individual human rights nor we are they la in a position po to give time and taught to such things thiner even it if they should mo menta fily tea feel an interest to la thea tl disheartened Dis heartened despairing the peu plunged in debt and slowly dying want cannot have ambition enough 9 ib a rule to rise and demand refo reforms 4 they try to forget their misery in is drinks drinkle resigned to theli thelin fal kte add accepting it as unavoidable it is of but little avail that the b biffl er classes of the people live j luxury and get the beai ban of civilization abroad they not and cannot be in touch V with suffering mawe the main body of f 1 nation these remain sick and in una to profit by the advance of civilia around them the great lesson to be drawn an fn russian conditions is that any na nata that hat will advance and maintain n position in the front ranks rankle of CIVI I 1 must see to it that all its r I 1 are so utilized as an to gives give the labor a class esthe the means of living jim in a ance amee with the requirements ot of ua it if the abe laborers and their Inte in teresta ift u so neglected that starvation to 1 choka suit bult the nation as an a whole will le athale and the outcome must be eita oali solution or a relapse to one form or another |
