THE RUSSIAN ADVANCM 
 
 By ALBERT 1. BEVERIDG™ 
 
 nSCn^ ^f5^ ^^ ^f^ ^^f^ 
 
 .i^ 
 
 ^«,'^\\"
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE 
 
 WITH MAPS 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 
 1904
 
 T/0 
 
 Ih^ 
 
 . V J :^ 
 
 Copyright, 1903, by Harper & Brothers. 
 Copyright, 1901, 1902, by The Curtis Publishing Company. 
 
 All rights resein;€d. 
 Published November, 1903.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CBAP PAGE 
 
 I. Russia on the Pacific i 
 
 II. Russian Empire-Building in Manchuria ... i6 
 
 III. Other Methods of Russian Advance .... ^^ 
 
 IV. Types of Civil Agents of the Russian Advance 48 
 
 V. The Overlords of the Czar's Advancing Power 
 
 IN the Far East 57 
 
 VI. Results of Russian Railway Advance ... 68 
 
 VII. Manchurian Railway Results and Methods . 81 
 
 VIII. A Diplomatic Game for an Empire .... 93 
 
 IX. How Russia at Last Reached the Unfrozen Sea ho 
 
 X. Collision of Russia's Advance with Japan . 122 
 
 XI. The Soldier of the Russian Advance and the 
 
 Soldier of Japan 138 
 
 XII. The Russian Advance Paralleled by the Ger- 
 
 man Advance 152 
 
 XIII. A Chapter of Digression: American Needs in 
 
 the Orient 173 
 
 XIV. A Second Chapter of Digression: American 
 
 Progress in the Far East 187 
 
 XV. Siberia: The Highway of Russian Advance . 208 
 
 XVI. High and Low Water Marks of Siberian 
 
 Progress 224 
 
 XVII. The Red Day of Blagovestchensk 242 
 
 XVIII. Russian Capital and Labor 254 
 
 XIX. The Russian Working-man 272 
 
 XX. The Labor Laws of Russia 285 
 
 iii
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGB 
 
 XXI. The Independent Peasant Artisan .... 302 
 
 XXII. February 19, 1861, the Birthday of Russian 
 
 Industrial Freedom 319 
 
 XXIII. Holy Russia, the Orthodox Nation . , . 338 
 
 XXIV. Priest, People, and Church 354 
 
 XXV. Russian National Ideals 367 
 
 XXVI. Russian Points of View — Russian Opinions 
 
 of American Institutions 385 
 
 XXVII. Things Casually Observed 401 
 
 XXVIII. The Russian Common School and Country 
 
 Hospital 416 
 
 XXIX. Three Russians of World Fame 426 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Treaty of Shimonoseki, by which Southern Manchuria 
 
 WAS Ceded to Japan 463 
 
 Mikado's Rescript Withdrawing from Manchuria . . 468 
 
 The (Reputed) Cassini Convention 469 
 
 The Russo-Manchurian Railway Agreement .... 473 
 Anglo-Russian Agreement Respecting Spheres of In- 
 fluence IN China 481 
 
 Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance between 
 
 Great Britain and Japan 482 
 
 Spf,cimen of the Regulations concerning Foreign 
 
 Joint Stock. Companies Operating in Russia . 483 
 
 MAPS 
 
 Historic Russian Advance Facing p. i 
 
 Russia, and the Remainder of Europe and Asia " 367
 
 PREFACE 
 
 ON the author's return from a journey made in 1901 
 through Manchuria and the Far East, preceded by 
 a visit to Russia and Siberia, a series of articles was pub- 
 hshed in the Saturday Evening Post, of Philadelphia, 
 setting out things seen and observed in the regions of 
 Russia's latest Asiatic advance. 
 
 A description was also given of the apparent situation 
 of China as affected by the operations there of two or 
 three European nations; and what then seemed to be the 
 probable conflict between Russia and Japan was par- 
 ticularly pointed out, with the causes of it. 
 
 These articles form a considerable portion of this 
 volume; and, indeed, the seeming advisability of their 
 publication in book form, and certain requests therefor, 
 are the occasion and apology for this work. They are 
 reproduced practically without change. 
 
 It was believed that a more comprehensive under- 
 standing of the whole subject might be given if other 
 chapters were added briefly describing Siberia and certain 
 conditions and tendencies in Russia itself. These form 
 the remainder of the book. 
 
 It has been the earnest endeavor to treat the subject 
 with impartiality. Indeed, nothing has been essayed 
 except to give the reader a faithful report of what any 
 inquiring traveller may see and hear for himself if he 
 should take the same journey. 
 
 Albert J. Beveridge. 
 
 Indianapolis, 
 
 October 1, 1903.
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE
 
 HISTORIC
 
 VDVAXCE
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 RUSSIA ON THE PACIFIC 
 
 THE Russian has arrived on the Pacific. For decades, 
 of course, the world has been dimly conscious of a 
 gray-clad, militant figure standing on the frozen shores 
 of that ocean. But while gigantic in its proportions, its 
 outlines were vague and indefinite. Surrounded by arctic 
 fogs, it was apparently nothing more than a rraritime 
 sentinel of the ice-imprisoned harbors of the Czar. Only 
 England , with inherited apprehension , gave much attention 
 to the apparition, and even England's attention amount- 
 ed to nothing more than instinctive fear. Occasionally, 
 it is true, far-sighted thinkers divined the real significance 
 of the Russian on the north seas, but their interpretation 
 of the phenomenon fell on ears deaf to their message. 
 The world, and especially the American people, went on 
 without a thought of the spectre which, after the first 
 surprise at its appearance, became a mere commonplace, 
 without meaning or interest. 
 
 But within the last five years the Russian's presence 
 upon the Pacific has claimed the acute attention of every 
 cabinet in Europe and of every thoughtful American 
 citizen; for he is now manifest on the Asiatic shores of 
 that ocean in other guise than that of the uniformed 
 bayonet - bearer of the Czar. He is there as Russian sol- 
 dier and officer, it is true, and in portentous numbers 
 
 I
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and power. He is there on the merchant vessels of one of 
 the great ship-Hnes of the world. More important still, 
 he is there as the builder and operator of modem railways. 
 Still more important, he is there as the actual adminis- 
 trator of dominions so vast that they may of themselves 
 be called an empire. Most important of all, he is there 
 as the Russian peasant; and that means that he has 
 arrived in the form of the Russian people themselves. 
 
 In the summer of 1901, a single ship of the "Russian 
 Volunteer Fleet," which the writer inspected at Port 
 A)tft.u^, Russia's Manchurian stronghold on the ice-free 
 sea, had landed at another port 1500 Russian peas- 
 ants. These were but a single shipment from the con- 
 gested agricultural districts of southern Russia to such 
 destination in eastern Asia as the statesmen of the empire 
 thought advisable.^ And these agricultural peasants came 
 with their wives and their children, their beds and their 
 furniture, their tools and their implements. Severed from 
 the land of their birth and the ancient tombs of their an- 
 cestors by thousands of miles of ocean, they had all the 
 appearance of men and women determined and equipped 
 to plant permanently new seeds of Slav empire on the 
 fresh fields of the extending Russian dominions. 
 
 The agriculturalist and the artisan, the husband and 
 the wife, the mother and the daughter, young men and 
 young women, boys and girls, babes new-born, were 
 following so closely upon Russian military advance that 
 the world hardly noticed it. So swiftly was the humble 
 hut of the Russian peasant constructed beneath the 
 shadow of the newly unfurled Russian flag that even the 
 keenest statesman lost sight of this permanent and mean- 
 ingful fact in his amazement at the planting of that flag 
 itself. No one but diplomats and statesmen, who must 
 deal with temporary situations, need be deeply concerned 
 
 ' These peasants were not sent into Manchuria, of coxirse; they 
 were settled in the Ussuri littoral back of Vladivostock, and 
 practically on the Manchurian frontier. 
 
 2
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 with the purely miUtary advance of any nation, but when 
 a people move forward it is a circumstance of world-wide 
 significance and it is of especial and practical concern to 
 every people upon whose interests that advance impinges 
 or whose future in any direction that advance affects. 
 
 Three Russian war-ships lay in the beautiful harbor of 
 Nagasaki, Japan, in the late summer of 1899. "Oh yes; 
 we are getting used to that," said an English merchant, 
 whose attention was called to the Russian colors. And 
 it was natural enough, for Nagasaki is a coaling-station, 
 and very convenient for many purposes. But in 1901 
 the sea-flag of the Czar floated from a ship in the road- 
 stead from which the Woosung River leads up to Shang- 
 hai, the commercial clearing-house of China. 
 
 "Ten years ago that flag was seldom — in fact, hardly 
 ever — seen in these waters." Again it was an English 
 merchant who spoke, and a man who had spent his entire 
 life since boyhood in commercial enterprises in the Far 
 East. "It is a multiplying circumstance," he went on, 
 "and it has its counterpart right here among our business 
 houses. The most active, aggressive financial institution 
 in Shanghai to-day is the branch at this place of the 
 Russo-Chinese Bank. It is not yet so great as some of 
 our other banks, but is making itself felt very effectively. 
 Decidedl3^ Russia, which formerly was a subject of specu- 
 lative conversation, is getting on our nerves in a very 
 tangible and irritating way." 
 
 In Yokohama, five years ago, the only representative of 
 the Autocrat of all the Russias was the Russian consul; 
 yet in 1901 the Russo-Chinese Bank had been established, 
 and was already doing a considerable business there. Not 
 only so, but the ground had already been purchased, the 
 plans of the architect drawn on his blue-prints, and the 
 foundations laid for a building of this financial cor- 
 poration. And this building, it was said, was to be by 
 far the finest and most costly of all the banking establish- 
 ments in this principal port of the Mikado's Empire. 
 
 3
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "What — not in Hong-Kong, and already?" exclaimed 
 an American traveller when told by an officer of a cer- 
 tain banking corporation of the Far East that the Russo- 
 Chinese Bank had established a temporary agency in 
 some little offices in Hong-Kong itself; for Hong-Kong 
 is purely English. Moreover, it is in the extreme south 
 of China; and here, amid surroundings of tropical beauty, 
 and in the very centre of foreign commercial activities 
 in the Orient, beats the heart of British influence in 
 the Chinese Far East. It appeared too audacious for 
 belief that the financial arm of the Russian govern- 
 ment should so soon invade Hong-Kong; for the Russo- 
 Chinese Bank was not in existence even in Russia itself 
 five years before. 
 
 "Yes, even here in Hong-Kong, and at this early hour," 
 repeated the English banker, "the Russo-Chinese Bank 
 is doing business right before our very eyes; and while 
 as yet it does not do much business or attract much 
 attention, nevertheless it is here!" Still this branch 
 of the Russo-Chinese Bank is competing for business, 
 and, if reports be credited, getting it. But Hong-Kong's 
 great British banks have nothing to fear from this 
 Russian competition. 
 
 So the Russian advance is a commercial and financial 
 movement ; from Gibraltar-like Vladivostock, on the north, 
 all along the shores of the Pacific, into the very citadel of 
 English power on China's extreme south. It is a diplomatic 
 advance, too, throughout every province of the Flowery 
 Kingdom as well as on the Chinese seaboard. It is an 
 advance by merchant vessels and war-ships from Odessa 
 to Port Arthur; by railways through Manchuria even to 
 the gates of Pekin; by Russian peasantry, cultivated 
 farms, and permanent homes over the rich grain-fields of 
 the Ussuri littoral, and even within the borders of Man- 
 churia; by towns and cities and all the activities of peace 
 into the very centre of Manchuria, which until this very 
 moment the world's wisest statesmen have insisted and 
 
 4
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 believed, though with the faith of fear, was permanently 
 Chinese territory. And this advance, the methods of it, 
 the people who are making it, their nature, characteristics, 
 and development, are to-day, and for decades to come will 
 continue to be, the most engaging subject of observation 
 to the student of the movement of races which the con- 
 temporary world affords, as well as the most insistent 
 and important foreign problem with which European 
 and American statesmen must henceforth deal. 
 
 Let us, then, consider the phenomenon itself, and after- 
 wards look somewhat into its sources. Let us, first of 
 all, observe the Russian at work in Manchuria. Let us 
 look upon his actual deeds and achievements there. Let 
 us see him in the visible and material work of Russian 
 empire - building within a new dominion. Then let us 
 follow, as well as we can, the rough outlines of his 
 Oriental statesmanship and policy — as well as we can, 
 because it is not possible for any one to know with 
 minute accuracy the processes of statecraft by which 
 the Russian prepares the way for his subtle, and yet 
 solid and masterful, advance. Then let us note the 
 tangible effects of his activities upon the other great 
 powers now making themselves felt in a physical way in 
 the Orient. And then let us hark back on the mighty 
 trail the Slav has made across Siberia, enter his hitherto 
 suffocating, though vast, original home, and observe him 
 in the fields, villages, and factories of Russia itself. 
 
 First, then, of Manchuria. Within the last two years 
 everybody has heard of Manchuria. Even before that 
 time the popular mind had a vague idea that something 
 or other of more or less importance was going on in Man- 
 churia. Later the American man in the furrow and in 
 the shop learned that the Russians were building a rail- 
 way in Manchuria. Recently our newspapers and maga- 
 zines have been filled with editorials and articles on our 
 diplomacy as it affects Manchuria. But just what Man- 
 churia is, just where it is, and just what is being done 
 
 5
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 there which is creating this world-wide curiosity, are not 
 generally known. Even the few students who have some 
 general understanding of the events transpiring there are 
 not accurately informed of them. 
 
 The modern scientific method, first developed in the 
 German universities and now adopted by all great insti- 
 tutions of learning, rejects the more or less imaginary 
 accounts of what used to be considered the world's his- 
 torians, and requires the student himself personally 
 to examine original manuscripts, delve into archives, 
 and write anew, from first-hand investigation, corrected 
 chronicles of the past. This method not only sends 
 archaeologists to uncover the hidden cities of antiquity 
 and replace with a description of real discoveries the 
 legends of them handed down through generations, but 
 in our own country the student of the germ of our gov- 
 ernment — the New England town-meeting — is no longer 
 satisfied with inaccurate accounts of the old writers; he 
 must go to the interior of some New England State where 
 the town-meeting may still be seen, and, observing its 
 workings with the naked eye and absorbing its spirit by 
 actual contact, describe the facts as they are, and, after 
 having learned the truth, to state it, and then, and not 
 till then, deduce his conclusions. If this is the true 
 method of studying the institutions of by-gone centuries, 
 of course it is much more the true method of observing 
 the weighty occurrences of the present day. 
 
 It is with something of this spirit — though, of course, 
 without any pretension to the thoroughness and accuracy 
 required by the modem scientific method — that the 
 following observations on the Russian advance in the 
 Far East, and particularly Russia's operations in Man- 
 churia, have been made and are here set down. 
 
 What is Manchuria, and what are the Russians doing 
 there? In answer to the first part of the question, more 
 or less accurate accounts are already in existence; but 
 in answer to the second part of the question, no one who 
 
 6
 
 THE RUvSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 is not a Russian has up to the present time made original 
 investigations with a free hand. It is claimed by some 
 that no opportunity has existed; and Manchuria certainly 
 was "closed" to the world during the Russian operations 
 in settling the disturbed conditions following the Boxer 
 insurrection. While you may now board a vestibuled 
 train of sleeping - cars at Port Arthur and go directly 
 through the centre of Manchuria into Siberia and on to 
 Moscow without change, no one even now appears to have 
 attempted to do more, and it is declared that no one has 
 been permitted to do more. 
 
 An English officer, as we are informed, who attempted 
 to make such investigations, upon taking an independent 
 excursion into the country, was arrested by the authorities 
 and sent over the frontier. Several accounts have been 
 given of the great difficulty in penetrating Manchuria 
 before the road was "opened" to passengers; but it is be- 
 lieved that proper measures were not taken in advance 
 to assure freedom of observation. Certainly the writer 
 experienced no such difficulty, and on a frank statement 
 to the proper minister in St. Petersburg, was accorded 
 unqualified and absolute liberty to see what was to be 
 seen, and to hear what was being said within Manchuria 
 itself. So far as could be detected, no seal was put 
 upon the lips of any one, from Chinese railroad laborer 
 up to the highest representative of the Czar. Absolutely 
 no restrictions of any kind were imposed. No guards of 
 Cossacks or other soldiery were even suggested; the 
 authorities advised no particular route of travel, and 
 neither offered nor refused any aid. Not a single ob- 
 stacle was thrown in the way. No excuses or evasions 
 were made. With as full liberty as is accorded a foreigner 
 on a tour of observation throughout the United States, the 
 journey through Manchuria, of which these pages are 
 the imperfect narrative, was made during the year iqoi. 
 
 Let us see, then, where Manchuria is, how big it is, 
 and what kind of a country it is. 
 
 7
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 If you will take Germany and France together, you 
 will have a territory scarcely larger than the three great 
 Chinese provinces combined under the general term 
 Manchuria. 
 
 England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales are not one- 
 third so large as Manchuria. 
 
 If you will take Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, their 
 combined area is less than half that of Manchuria. 
 
 Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and all New 
 England are less than one-half the size of Manchuria, 
 and no richer in resources. 
 
 We thus see that Manchuria is, in territorial extent, 
 itself an empire. It is an empire more favorably situated 
 as to its climatic conditions than any part of Asia. It 
 is in the same latitude as southern Canada and the 
 northern portion of the United States. Its northern lim- 
 its are about the same as the northern limits of Quebec. 
 Its southern limits are about the same as the southern 
 limits of Maryland. It is bounded on the north by the 
 richest portions of Siberia, which not many years ago was 
 itself a part of the dominion of the Manchus ; for several 
 hundred miles on the east by the grain - fields of the 
 Ussuri district of Russian Siberia, also until recently 
 a part of the Chinese Empire; on the east and south by 
 Korea, over which the world's next great war will prob- 
 ably be fought, and soon; on the west by Mongolia, and 
 on the south by Korea, China, and the gulfs and extensions 
 of the Yellow Sea, which touches or commands much of 
 that empire. On these gulfs are two of the finest military 
 and commercial ports of Asia, or the world — Port Arthur 
 and Talienhwan, or, as the Russians call it, Dalni. 
 
 This enormous territory is fertilized by rivers running 
 generally both north and south. Portions of the valleys 
 of these rivers and the plains beyond the valleys are as 
 fertile as those of the Sangamon in Illinois or the Miami 
 in Ohio. Mountains traverse the northwest and south- 
 west, and again the northeastern portion of this great 
 
 8
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 region. The northern mountains are rich in gold, 
 possibly richer than the gold - fields of that portion of 
 Siberia which is just across the river from them, and 
 of the wealth of which the world at large seems to be in 
 ignorance. The mountains to the southeast and south 
 are said to be rich in iron and coal. The coal now 
 being turned out in quantities at Shanhaikwan, just 
 beyond the southwestern borders of Manchuria and 
 directly on the Gulf of Liao-Toung, is equal for all pur- 
 poses to the coal produced in the United States. 
 
 Here, then, is an empire capable of sustaining fifty 
 millions of people, and with scarcely more than fifteen 
 million inhabitants at present; an empire with two of the 
 best ports in the world for commercial and military pur- 
 poses, with coal of a high quality immediately at hand; an 
 empire which, in its strategic situation on the Pacific 
 and in all Oriental affairs is second only to the command- 
 ing position of Japan itself. 
 
 And all over this territory Russia has spread her tan- 
 gible influence in less than seven years, with the loss of 
 scarcely a man, and the expenditure of hardly a dollar 
 outside of her investment in railways and fortifications. 
 Indeed, it may be accepted as a settled fact that Russia 
 has already acquired Manchuria, if she concludes to 
 remain there, although it is still nominally Chinese, and 
 not Russian, and its governors are still appointed by the 
 Chinese Emperor. For, no matter what treaties say, no 
 matter what may be the statements of diplomacy regard- 
 ing Manchuria, the fact exists that its fate is practically 
 in the hands of Russia. It may continue as a province 
 of China; but, if so, it will be of Russia's grace and not 
 of Russia's necessity. Its ports may remain open to the 
 trade of the world; but if they do, it will not be because 
 of the limitations of Russia's power, but as a matter of 
 Russia's policy. 
 
 For Russia, for all practical purposes, holds every foot 
 of Manchuria in her firm, masterful, intelligent grasp. 
 
 9
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Russian law, in the sense that all shall have justice 
 regularly administered; Russian order, in the sense that 
 murder and outrage by robber bands and savage clans 
 shall cease; Russian system, in the sense that regularity 
 and method shall succeed continuous social, political, 
 and commercial disturbance — Russian law, order, and 
 system, as thus understood, are there, and, it appears to 
 the observer, are there forever. Chinese law still exists 
 in Manchuria; but it is now promptly and impartially 
 administered. Forever is a long time; but it is not 
 extravagant to use the word with reference to Russia in 
 Manchuria, because it is a fact, to which attention will be 
 hereafter given, that Russia has seldom, if ever, per- 
 manently retreated from any spot where her authority has 
 been established, except Alaska, which she believed she 
 was selling to a permanently friendly nation. But whether 
 she remains or departs will be a sheer question of what 
 she wants to do, and not a question of what she must do. 
 Even temporary evacuation will mean little as to her 
 ultimate purposes; for she will leave behind her foun- 
 dations of permanent occupation, to which at any time 
 she can return. An achievement so vast, so quietly 
 accomplished, so cheaply secured, so easily consummated, 
 so important in itself, and so beyond calculation in its 
 influence upon the rest of the world, compels the admira- 
 tion of every thinking mind, no matter whether you 
 regret or whether you applaud while you admire. 
 
 The methods by which it was accomplished are as 
 engaging as they are instructive. Their interest to an 
 American will increase to appreciation when he reflects 
 that for the Philippines we paid twenty million dollars 
 before beginning our occupation of the islands, and have 
 expended hundreds of lives and many millions of dollars 
 sincethen. To the Englishman,the story of Russian expan- 
 sion in Manchuria should teach something more than mere 
 inflammatory protest, when he reflects on his decades of 
 blunder — bloody and costly blunder — in learning the 
 
 10
 
 THE RUvSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 lessons of colonial government in India. To the German, 
 with his declared policy of Drang nach Osten, and the 
 development of the German mixed military-commercial- 
 diplomatic programme in Asia, the process of the Rus- 
 sianization of Manchuria should be most valuable. To 
 the student of human progress everywhere something will 
 be presented of greater moment than the story of the 
 civilizing movements of races in the past; because here 
 is the historic movement of a race in the present. And, 
 to the American farmer, to the American manufacturer, 
 to the American producer of every class to whom the 
 hard and practical consideration of where to sell his 
 goods has become, and will more and more become, the 
 pressing problem, the recent occurrences in Manchuria 
 are of immediate importance. 
 
 In investigations of this kind, quite as much as in the 
 scientific examination of any subject, we must reason 
 back from the smaller facts to the larger ones, and from 
 all of them to general principles. The Baconian system 
 of induction is the only scientific method of thought in 
 the science of States as well as in the science of matter. 
 Let us, then, begin with the small and apparently inci- 
 dental observations of a journey. 
 
 First of all, for hundreds of miles along the northern 
 border of Manchuria not a Chinaman was visible two 
 years ago. Three years ago, Chinese villages, though not 
 numerous, nevertheless existed on the southern bank of 
 the Amur. To-day, not one can be seen, and even the 
 ruins of only one can be detected along the banks of that 
 great but vexatious waterway of northern Asia. But 
 the Cossack is there. He is not there in large numbers. 
 The Cossack is never in any place in large numbers. One 
 Cossack is as valuable for thrusting forward the boun- 
 daries of Russian dominion as a hundred ordinary sol- 
 diers; and yet the Russian ordinary soldier is superb. 
 
 But the Cossack has inherited from father to son. 
 through generations running back for hundreds of years, 
 
 XX
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the instinct of the frontier. He knows intuitively how 
 to inspire with fear or affection the senile or savage tribes 
 with which his ancestors have for centuries been coming 
 in contact. He impregnates the very atmosphere with 
 the authority of Russia. And so not many of him are 
 necessary, and not many of him are used along these 
 interminable stretches of frontier which he sentinels and 
 safeguards. Sometimes you will see him standing alone, 
 silently gazing at you from the Chinese shore. 
 
 Sometimes you will see him with two or three com- 
 rades. At two points only in many days' journey will 
 you find a larger number of him than half a dozen at one 
 single place. One of these spots is opposite Blago- 
 vestchensk, where, in 1901, a hundred Cossacks were en- 
 camped; another is near Aigun, ten miles down the river, 
 where barracks have been erected on the Manchurian 
 shore, as the general headquarters of the entire military 
 of that region. Without further than noting that the 
 northern frontier of Manchuria is patrolled by Cossacks, 
 let us pass this most dramatic figure of Russia for the 
 present, in order to observe him more adequately here- 
 after. 
 
 Though Russia's natural and most employed road into 
 Manchuria is by the Sungari River, navigable for hun- 
 dreds of miles from the Amur into the interior, the real 
 door to Manchuria is Nikolsk, the centre of the grain- 
 fields to the north of Vladivostock. It is over fifty miles 
 from the Manchurian frontier, but it is the point where the 
 Vladivostock branch of the Manchurian railroad joins the 
 Ussuri railroad into Vladivostock. You will find Amer- 
 ican ploughs, reapers, and threshing-machines for sale 
 in Nikolsk. It is the local commercial centre of the 
 district. It is the rendezvous for immense military 
 forces, and it was the general administrative headquar- 
 ters of the great Manchurian railway, under construction 
 when the author made the journey through Manchuria, 
 and now completed.
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "Yes," said an intelligent Russian commercial man, 
 referring to the prairies north of Vladivostock, "these 
 fields were all once occupied by Chinamen; but now, as 
 you see, they are as fully occupied by the Russian peasant, 
 his wife and children, as if this land had always been a part 
 of Russia. That has not been so very long ago, either. 
 It is quite impossible to explain the retirement of the 
 Chinese. There was no friction between the people and 
 the Russian peasant." 
 
 This singular fact, which repeats itself in many differ- 
 ent phases, is one of the most significant truths in the 
 peculiar progress of Russian expansion — "never any fric- 
 tion between the Russian and the native." The Russian 
 moujik, stupid and ignorant man and ruinous agricul- 
 turist as he is, yet wins his fields from man and nature 
 by two invariable qualities — his fixedness to the soil and 
 the stolidity of his good-nature. 
 
 The merchant who pointed out the fact of the disap- 
 pearance of the Chinaman and the appearance of the 
 Russian agricultural peasant throughout the grain dis- 
 trict surrounding Nikolsk was a German. That is a fact 
 which has nothing to do with the Russian problem we 
 are examining, but a great deal to do with the general 
 situation of the Orient and the world. It is a fact to 
 which the American business man must give almost, if 
 not quite, as great attention as to the steady advance of 
 Russian influence over the only remaining unexploited 
 markets of the world — the markets of China. The princi- 
 pal merchants of Nikolsk are German ; the principal mer- 
 chants of Vladivostock are German; the principal mer- 
 chants of Blagovestchensk are German. In the heart of 
 Manchuria, the manager of one of the commercial estab- 
 lishments which supplies the railroad with provisions of 
 every kind was a young German, twenty -four years of 
 age, handsome in appearance, American in alertness, 
 brilliant in speech, encyclopcedically informed. These 
 are no accidental illustrations. All over the Orient they 
 
 13
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 exist ; all over Siberia they exist ; all over the world they 
 exist. It is sufficient for the moment to glance at this 
 commercial phenomenon as we pass, that we may return 
 to it with the seriousness its importance deserves when 
 we reach it later. 
 
 About Nikolsk are military barracks and storehouses. 
 Whatever you think of the policy and character you 
 cannot but respect the power and strategical far-sight- 
 edness of the men who erected on this spot the tremendous 
 and substantial military buildings that exist there. From 
 Nikolsk, Russia can pour her warriors into Manchuria, 
 Korea. Japan, with almost equal facility. At Nikolsk 
 Russia's martial thousands can be fed more easily than 
 elsewhere in her Far Eastern dominions. And so Nikolsk 
 is full of barracks. And these barracks are full of soldiers. 
 
 And these soldiers are drilling, drilling, always drilling. 
 Drilling, that is, when they are not on active duty. You 
 may drive to one side of the city until you emerge upon a 
 great open, surrounded by barracks and arsenals, and on 
 every side there is preparation — practice. From one 
 building come the strains of music of a military band — 
 it is practising. From another a company of white- 
 capped soldiers are issuing and falling into line — they are 
 practising. Yonder comes the artillery with all the haste 
 of battle — it is practising. Scatter and skirmish Une, 
 close order for cavalry attack, sudden whirl from one 
 position to another — all the evolutions of actual fight are 
 before your eyes. 
 
 But where is that stern secrecy, that black and for- 
 bidding hand which thrusts the observer from out her 
 gates or blindfolds him while he remains inside, which 
 the Anglo-Saxon world has been taught to associate with 
 Russia and all things Russian ? You have asked no per- 
 mission to drive upon this field of Mars. You have shown 
 no permit. Yet your appearance is taken quite as a 
 matter of course. Officers attend to their martial duties 
 vidthout appearing even to notice you. No frowning 
 
 14
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 policeman asks your business. No polite messenger re- 
 quests you to retire. Observe to your full; make notes 
 to your full; the Russian bear is very clearly asleep. 
 
 But to find out whether he is really asleep is more 
 valuable even than the privilege of undisturbed observa- 
 tion. Let the interpreter take pocket-camera and try 
 to photograph them; surely that will be forbidden. But 
 they do not appear to notice him. Go up to an officer 
 now, call his attention to the fact that you have a camera, 
 and that you would like to photograph these warlike 
 manoeuvres, these throngs of soldiers, these barracks, this 
 astonishing permanent camp. With a pleasant smile he 
 tells you to photograph what you please and as much as 
 you please, and the illusion of the black and forbidding 
 hand begins to fade. The bear is not sleeping then; so 
 far as this incident reveals him, he is merely a very good- 
 natured, a very sensible, and a very powerful creature, 
 whose consciousness of his power makes him welcome 
 your observations, and smile at your criticism and the 
 world's. 
 
 There must be a meaning in all this. But, if you ask 
 what that meaning is — if you ask why all these prepara- 
 tions, why these storehouses, why these drilling hosts — 
 you must again look at the map of the Far East and 
 write across the whole of it the words of Washington, 
 "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual 
 means of preserving peace," and then reflect that, 
 perhaps, the same thought has occurred to Russian 
 statesmen, too. Yes, study the map of Asia, and run 
 back over Russia's far-sighted and patient policy, which 
 has always looked ahead and considered the needs of the 
 Russian people a century beyond the immediate moment, 
 and perhaps an explanation will spring from these com- 
 bined considerations.
 
 II 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE-BUILDING IN MANCHURIA 
 
 STRANGE companies were they that, during the sum- 
 mer of 1901, proceeded daily from Nikolsk towards 
 the Manchurian frontier; strange companies that, during 
 the same period and for three or four years before, floated 
 down the broad and treacherous Amur. But that is an- 
 other tale. Going into Manchuria from Nikolsk, the ob- 
 server might, any day during the summer of 1901, have 
 witnessed Russian soldiers, of course — not in troops or 
 companies, but in twos and threes, or in little clumps of 
 a dozen, perhaps; Russian officers, of course; here and 
 there a Chinaman; and, most significant of all, and per- 
 haps most numerous of all, the wiry-framed, contemp- 
 tible-looking Koreans. 
 
 And you are struck by the fact (nay, if you be Anglo- 
 Saxon, you are startled by it) that all of this mingled 
 motley of humanity get along in perfect harmony. The 
 bronzed Korean, the queued Chinaman, and the blue- 
 eyed, yellow-haired Russian soldier arrange themselves 
 on an open flat-car in a human mosaic of mutual agree- 
 ableness. There is no race prejudice here then! Supe- 
 rior to all the world, as the Russian believes himself, he 
 shows no offensive manner towards the other races with 
 which he so picturesquely mingles. It is a thing you 
 must have noticed up in Siberia, where the Russian 
 peasant is also coming in contact with semi-Oriental 
 peoples. But, with the blood of racial bigotry coursing 
 through your veins, here this social fusion of races startles 
 you. It is a strange page suddenly opened before you. 
 
 16
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 And it is a page you will read again and again every day 
 as long as you are in Manchuria. And from a reading 
 of it a lesson may be learned, and part of Russia's secret 
 of dominion revealed. 
 
 Grodekoff is the name of the pleasant little Russian 
 town which stands at the frontier of Manchuria, so styled 
 in honor of the Governor-General. Its streets are broad 
 — broad as the streets of an American frontier town. Its 
 surveying is regular — regular again as that of an Amer- 
 ican town. Common features, these, of Russian towns 
 with American towns. But for the speech of the people, 
 the white-uniformed oflficers, and the touch of Orientalism 
 which every cottage suggests, a town of Russia or Siberia 
 might be an American town; and this is repeated on the 
 borders of Manchuria. Civilization, then, is pushing for- 
 ward by forced marches into northern Asia. You can 
 see that easily enough; for here, at the gates of Man- 
 churia, near a region which ten years ago was the haunt 
 of robbers, are a modern town, modern commerce, mod- 
 ern order, and that modern safety which comes from 
 regular laws regularly enforced. The word enforced may 
 be repeated, for, with all his defects, and he has many of 
 them, the Slav administers his laws. He does not ad- 
 minister them brutally, as is supposed, nor even sternly, 
 except when he must. 
 
 For example, under the electric lights of the railway 
 station at Grodekoff two Chinamen were fighting fiercely. 
 Chinamen are very quick in wrath, and fights among them 
 are frequent. The Russian soldier acting as policeman 
 did not separate them with bayonet, did not use a club, 
 or even a whip. He sprang forward, and, with his open 
 hand, slapped one of the Chinamen on the cheek, whirl- 
 ing the other one with his other hand away from his fellow- 
 rombatant. That was all. It was the prompt stopping 
 of a row that might have ended in a riot. In Hong-Kong 
 or other English-governed portions of China a cane on 
 the back of a Chinese jinrikisha man who insists on what 
 
 2 I'J
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 is thought too large a fee is a common occurrence. On 
 a first visit to the Orient, five years ago, one of the first 
 European business men of the Far East, in the presence 
 of ladies, was seen caning a clump of Chinese jinrikisha 
 men who had irritated him by clamoring for his patronage. 
 
 But inside Manchuria we shall surely see deeds of real 
 cruelty, for we all know that Russia is establishing her 
 authority there. And is it not the understanding of 
 every one that Russia plants her power in the soil of 
 desolation and fertilizes it with blood? She is successful, 
 however, all will admit; and, since she is gradually ex- 
 tending her control over the future unoccupied markets 
 of the world, it is interesting to observe the processes by 
 which she advances her influence. 
 
 There are large numbers, and of various nationalities, 
 on the construction-train which through the night creeps 
 towards the Manchurian frontier, but a few miles away. 
 You do not understand this, for has not every one heard 
 that Manchuria was "closed" to the world during the 
 period of railroad building and military settlement, of in- 
 surrection and disturbed conditions generally? Still, no- 
 body has been put off the train as yet. To be sure, scores 
 of Chinamen are doing work on the railway, and the 
 other scores of Koreans appear to go where they wish 
 within the limits of Russian authority. All these, you 
 are informed, are being conveyed thither for particular 
 purposes. 
 
 But there are other people on that train, too. Three 
 men, very well dressed, of some foreign nationality, but 
 certainly not Russian, attract your attention. There 
 I are several women, too. To be sure, all these are sitting 
 on the railway material piled on the flat-cars; but, never- 
 theless, they appear to be going right into Manchuria. So 
 this forbidden land does not seem to be so very much 
 "closed" after all. But the train stops at a point where 
 there is a single station building; high hills, which in the 
 moonlight seem mountainous, are on every hand. At 
 
 i8
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 this point you find out how much Manchuria was "closed " 
 during 1901; for every human being not especially 
 authorized to proceed is ordered from every car. The 
 protestations of the well-dressed, non-Russian foreigners 
 fall on deaf ears. The pleas of the women, emphasized 
 by their tears, are utterly unheeded. Off they go, and 
 there in the night, without shelter, they are left. They 
 should have remained at Grodekoff. But they took their 
 chances of passing unobserved in the large throng through 
 the gates of Manchuria, and they must suffer the conse- 
 quences. 
 
 Men who were apparently foremen of the Chinese seem 
 to be marshalling their groups of men and answering for 
 them. Others do the same for the Russian peasant work- 
 men. The soldiers pass, as a matter of course. But every 
 one else is ejected in a very business-like and very rough, 
 perhaps though not unkind, manner. Upon the refusal 
 of one person to get off, he is peremptorily thrown off by 
 a Cossack. Another person had hidden himself in one 
 of a pile of great drainage-pipes with which a certain car 
 was loaded. He was located by a soldier who was en- 
 gaged in finding just such stowaways by thrusting his 
 gun, with bayonet fixed, into every one of those drainage- 
 pipes. Clearly, the Russians did not intend to take any 
 chances on having their work in Manchuria disturbed by 
 unknown persons going into that land at a time when 
 they were settling its disturbed conditions and con- 
 structing their great steel highway. 
 
 And when you reflect upon the reign of terror which 
 the Boxer uprising had spread all over Manchuria, and 
 the difficulty which had thus been caused the Russians, 
 your disapproval of this policy of "closing Manchuria to 
 the world" was softened. They could hardly be blamed 
 for taking every precaution to prevent the agents of 
 those who wished to stir up further disorder from enter- 
 ing the very region where the Russians were bending 
 every energy to restore order, and restore it permanently. 
 
 19
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 This incident, however, does not diminish your apprehen- 
 sions as to what you will see in Manchuria. 
 
 But, in spite of your sanguinary expectations, the first 
 thing that strikes you in the first beautiful valley through 
 which you go, after you enter Manchuria, is cultivated 
 fields and peaceful people. In China itself you will not 
 observe greater liberty of action among an industrious 
 population. As a matter of fact, the Chinamen who have 
 returned to their fields are enjoying a peace and un- 
 disturbedness of industry never heard of before in this 
 part of Manchuria. 
 
 Chinese towns are organized filthiness. They are quite 
 impossible of description. The streets are rambling and 
 sickening; in rainy weather they are miry, with a slime 
 compounded from all the elements that might offend 
 both sight and smell. You see mixtures being made on 
 the soil in front of Chinese shops and stores in the ordinary 
 Chinese commercial town (not in the great cities, although 
 these are hideous enough, as the ordinary traveller will 
 tell you, nor yet in mere rural villages) which will nause- 
 ate you if you do not pass by rapidly. The shops are 
 poor structures of wood and earth; the homes themselves 
 are of mud. This is the kind of town you will see all over 
 Manchuria, and this the town you will see all over China. 
 
 But side by side with it in Manchuria you will behold 
 something that you did not see in China — something so 
 surprising that it seems almost unreal. And, indeed, it 
 is a miracle — a modern European town planted adjacent 
 to the congeries of hovels which comprise the Chinese 
 towns just described. Brick buildings of substantial 
 construction and not uninviting architecture stand 
 completed, and others are rising by their side. Broad 
 streets, regularly laid out — not paved yet, of course, 
 for the town itself is only building — but streets with 
 gutters along the sides and with hard-beaten gravel cov- 
 ering convex surface, and in far better condition than the 
 Streets of most of the cities of modern Russia. 
 
 20
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 It may be that the attractiveness of the Russian towns 
 in process of erection in Manchuria in 1901 was unduly 
 magnified by the hideousness of the native villages reek- 
 ing with offensiveness which stood by their side. It may 
 be, too, that the newness of the Russian's handiwork 
 added an element of charm not permanently belonging 
 to it, or that the atmosphere of pioneer occupation and 
 achievement deflected accurate and steady judgment; 
 but one can only set down exactly what one sees at the 
 time he sees it, and certain it is that Russian town-build- 
 ing in Manchuria in 1901 was a comfort and a delight to 
 behold. 
 
 It is more than a hundred miles into Manchuria that 
 you encounter this striking material evidence of the Rus- 
 sianization of the country — a Russian town being built 
 side by side with the decaying, germ-infected collection 
 of hovels which compose the Chinese town. The resi- 
 dences of this Russian town are of wood perhaps, or stone, 
 as taste determines. They are pleasant to look upon, 
 too. Indeed, the homes of merchant or miner or officer, 
 or even of moujik in Siberia are often much handsomer 
 than those ordinarily occupied by the same class in 
 Russia ; and it would seem that this comparative superior- 
 ity is to be repeated in Manchuria. Generous verandas 
 circle the home of a railway official ; cool awnings of blue, 
 shifting with the sun, protect these porches from its rays. 
 Young trees are planted along the new-made streets. 
 Occasionally a block is reserved for a miniature park; 
 and, again, there are trees fresh planted, and the color 
 and fragrance of flowers. This, in contrast, is the order, 
 the loveliness, the system, the cleanliness which Russia 
 in Manchuria is building over against Chinese aggre- 
 gations of corruption, disease, disorder, and all unsight- 
 liness. If the Russian is uncivilized, as it has been the 
 fashion to declare, at least in Manchuria he is erecting 
 precisely those very things which, in America, we look 
 upon as the results and proofs of civilization. 
 
 21
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 You go into the Chinese town and ask for food. It is 
 there in abundance, but you will not eat it. There is 
 nothing familiar, nothing appetizing, nothing that sug- 
 gests the food products of America. But you will find a 
 European restaurant in the Russian town, and there you 
 may have what you like ; quite as much, indeed, as you can 
 get in an American town of ten times its size — bread 
 made from American flour, American sugar-cured ham, 
 American canned fruits from the Pacific coast, and so 
 forth. If you will go up the street to the Russian store, 
 you will find American salmon from the Columbia, 
 American canned meats from the Central West, and 
 American condensed milk and cream from Illinois. 
 
 Clearly, American trade in Manchuria does not, as yet, 
 seem to have been injured by this Russian invasion. If 
 conditions could only continue as to the American ob- 
 server they presented themselves in 1901, none of us 
 could find cause for commercial alarm at the sight of the 
 Russian flag in Manchuria, for it appears to the investiga- 
 tor who has in mind America's commercial interests 
 that, for the moment at least, American markets have 
 been increased by the forward movement of the Musco- 
 vite in Asia. It does not accord with our former notion, 
 of course, but there is the fact, and it is from facts that 
 we must reason to theories, and not from theories that 
 we must reason to facts. It is a fact — deceptive, perhaps, 
 and misleading, maybe — but such as it is, it is there. 
 
 "Why should you be astonished at these signs of 
 peaceful activity?" said a Russian officer. "Why, man! 
 peaceful activity is what we are after. Our soldiers clear 
 the way for our families; they create conditions which 
 make roads possible, towns possible, commerce possible. 
 We have our notion of civilization; we think it is as 
 good as yours, and you must admit that in its external 
 features it is very like your own. The soldier helps 
 to make it for the people of Russia; the people of Rus- 
 sia do not make it for the soldier." And much more to 
 
 22
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the same meaningful purport. "And," he added, with 
 a trace of bitterness, "we do not march up and down 
 with torch and sword, slaying, pillaging, desolating. That 
 is not our purpose. What good would that do us or 
 anybody? And yet that is the story which animosity 
 tells of us. We have been misrepresented so long that 
 we are used to it and are silent before it." 
 
 It is not intended in this noting of Russian peaceful 
 activities to minimize the soldier in Manchuria. He is 
 there, and there in large numbers. He is there with his 
 gun, with bayonet always fixed (it is a singular circum- 
 stance, and more typical of Russia than any one fact I 
 can select, that the Russian bayonet is always fixed). 
 But the Russian soldier is in Manchuria, not with rifle 
 and sword only, but with shovel, and pickaxe, and adz, 
 and all the implements of toil, as indeed is the case in 
 Siberia and in Russia itself; for the Russian soldier is 
 more of a laboring man, after all, than he is a military 
 man. He digs and builds and plants far more than he 
 fights. Russian soldiers were seen digging a drain on the 
 grounds of the excellent museum which Grodekoff has 
 erected at Khabaroff. 
 
 Yes, the soldier is there, and his bayonet is there, and 
 the shot which means death is there. But though all 
 these signs are present in Manchuria, they are, combined, 
 but the single crimson thread of the fabric of empire 
 which Russia is weaving throughout that mighty domain. 
 The martial note is not dominant. The thud of axe in 
 forest and thump of drill in quarry, the grating swish of 
 the mixing mortar, the click of mason's trowel on bricks 
 of rapidly rising walls, the drone of the saw, and the drum 
 of hammer from one end of Manchuria to the other — 
 these are the sounds which greet you. 
 
 Again and yet again you are impressed with this — the 
 Russian soldier in Manchuria is a laboring man first and 
 a military man afterwards. It is an item not to be over- 
 looked — indeed, the Russian soldier must be most care- 
 
 22>
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 fully considered by those who are estimating the forces 
 influencing the world at present. No toil is too heavy 
 for him; no hardship is to him a hardship at all. He will 
 fell trees, excavate ditches, build houses with the same 
 good - humor with which he will go into action where 
 wounds and death are his sure reward. 
 
 In Manchuria there are three classes of the Russian 
 soldier: the Cossack first, then the railway -guard, and 
 then numbers of that host of which the Russian army is 
 composed, the common soldier of the empire. The rail- 
 way-guards are of first importance in this connection, 
 because they are the second visible instrument of the 
 Russianization of this dominion, the first visible instru- 
 ment being, of course, the railway itself. But, having 
 the railway, it becomes necessary to guard it, and that 
 not for to-day or to-morrow, but so long as danger exists; 
 and of the existence or probability of danger to her in- 
 vestment Russia herself, of course, will insist upon being 
 the judge. 
 
 Therefore in Manchuria there are tens of thousands of 
 railway-guards. In 1901 the railway-guards with which 
 Russia was protecting her railway construction formed a 
 military force of sixty thousand men. M. Leroy-Beau- 
 lieu estimated that there were this number in Manchuria 
 early in 1900. In certain particulars they are picked men. 
 To a man, they are large men physically; almost to a 
 man, they are below thirty years of age. Man for man, 
 they are of higher intelligence and greater ability than 
 either Cossack or common soldier, and, without exception, 
 share with Cossack and common soldier the characteristic 
 Russian indifference to danger and death. All soldier, 
 each of them, and yet all farmer, each of them, and, by the 
 same token, men of all work at your service, are these 
 permanent makers of empire. Every man of them who 
 is married has his wife with him and his children and 
 all his earthly possessions. Every man who is not mar- 
 ried is thinking of getting married ; and one cannot resist 
 
 24
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the feeling that in its unseen and tactful way the govern- 
 ment is encouraging each bachelor guard who sentinels 
 the railway in Manchuria to take to himself one of those 
 round-cheeked, broad-backed, deep-breasted peasant girls 
 of Russia. 
 
 The Russian women in the interior of Manchuria are 
 wives of those hearty, wholesome-looking, bearded giants, 
 the railway-guards. Even at the dangerous period, when 
 the journe}^ was taken which these chapters chronicle, 
 and at points hundreds of versts in the interior, these 
 women-mates of Russia's workingmen-soldiers were seen 
 at the scarce-erected stations of the railroad which was 
 then being constructed. They were there selling milk or 
 melons or berries or quass (a non-intoxicating Russian 
 drink made out of black bread or berries). So far 
 have Russian and Siberian conditions reproduced them- 
 selves in Manchuria that the only difference observed 
 at the railway -stations was the unfinished nature of 
 the road and the increasing number of Koreans and 
 Chinese. 
 
 For the Russian peasant is there, as he is in western 
 Siberia, and the Russian peasant's wife is there, as she is 
 in Siberia, and the little, white-haired children, with the 
 pale-blue eye of the Slav, are there, as they are in Siberia; 
 and, as in Siberia and Russia, the little girls from eight 
 to twelve are universally carrying in their arms infant 
 brothers and sisters of as many months or even weeks, 
 for Russian children are being born in Manchuria. And 
 a land where a people's dead are buried, where a people's 
 children are born, becomes to that people sacred soil. 
 Russian homes, not for railway official only, but for the 
 "peasant guard," are springing up throughout Man- 
 churia. Manchurian fields are being languidly cultivated 
 by Russian hands. It is all quite "temporary," of course; 
 you can read it for yourself in the treaty. And, besides, 
 the railway-guard's term of enlistment — or, rather, his 
 contract — is for only five years. But the Slav root strikes 
 
 25
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 quickly into new soil, and having struck, history tells 
 us that, usually, it stays. 
 
 And so it is that, gradually, naturally, physically, 
 plausibly, with appearance of entire good faith (not that 
 it is denied that it is good faith), the master-mind that 
 has planned this extraordinary semi-conquest of territory 
 has provided the elements of permanent occupation and 
 unbreakable control, should that course later appear to 
 be dictated by events. For your Russian statesman is 
 a great consulter of events, and so is every public man 
 who deserves that large title — statesman. 
 
 The land occupied by the Manchurian railway-guards 
 and their families is only, so far as could be found in 1901, 
 along the northeastern and northwestern portions of the 
 railway. It was vacant land. There was no external 
 evidence of its having been previously occupied. A 
 gentleman connected with the Chinese telegraph service, 
 and familiar with every foot of Manchuria, said that 
 many tens of thousands of acres of fertile land in Man- 
 churia have not been occupied within his recollection, 
 and his personal observation extended back over a period 
 of forty years. It was a strange state of affairs. But one 
 explanation exists, and that only partially accounts for it. 
 That explanation is that all eastern and northeastern 
 Manchuria was so terrorized by the robber bands which 
 for more than a century have had free hand there that 
 the farmer, trader, and merchant abandoned the soil. 
 In lower Manchuria the robbers had, up to the time of the 
 Russian occupation, licensed commerce so as not to kill the 
 goose that lays the golden eggs for them, as their un- 
 restrained outrages did in the territory now referred to. 
 It is on this land, from which the inhabitants have long 
 ago been driven by fear, that you may find the families of 
 the Russian railway-guard established. 
 
 "How much land do each of you have?" was asked of 
 one of them. 
 
 "All we can use. And why not? This is nobody's land." 
 
 26
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 And so it is. One of the most inviting valleys within 
 the length and breadth of Manchuria was found to be 
 uninhabited and with little trace that it had been in- 
 habited within recent times. And yet that valley is a 
 natural granary. Climate and soil make it equal, for 
 agricultural purposes, to any part of the United States, 
 and its charming frame of mountains, which, when you 
 reach them, you find to rise abruptly from the level plain, 
 gives to this natural home of industry an engaging and 
 varied beauty. 
 
 We are now about one hundred and fifty miles into the 
 interior of Manchuria. We find it rapidly undergoing 
 the same process with which we in the Philippines were, 
 with so much difficulty, engaged; with which Germany in 
 Shan-Tung, with so much outlay of wealth, is engaged; 
 with which England in South Africa was engaged with 
 blood and bayonet, and burning villages, and conquer- 
 ing hosts, and ruinous expenditure, and dissolving pres- 
 tige. We are one hundred and fifty miles into Manchuria, 
 which is being Russianized under our very eyes; and the 
 soldier appears, as yet, to be the least important instru- 
 ment of dominion. Thus far the Russian elements of 
 empire seem to be brick and mortar, shovel and wagon, 
 quarry and wall, houses and homes, women and children, 
 order and system. 
 
 And now, piled up by the side of the temporary track 
 (one hundred and fifty miles into the interior, mind you), 
 you behold another Russian element of empire. It is a 
 great, white monument, covered with canvas. It is im- 
 portant that you should know what this is, for the 
 traveller soon acquires the instinctive understanding that 
 things vital and full of meaning must be looked for in the 
 incidental and occasional. Some Chinamen, at an officer's 
 request, remove the canvas which conceals this great pile, 
 and you find that this monument of Russian progress in 
 Manchuria is built of five thousand sacks of American 
 flour. It is a strange feeling which steals over you when 
 
 27
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 you read on the sacks the name of the mills and the name 
 of the State, "Washington, U. S. A." — a strange feeling 
 and a sense of confusion, for you are in Manchuria, that 
 forbidden land, that region concealed from the eyes of the 
 remainder of the world by black clouds of terrible rumor. 
 But you have beheld nothing thus far but peace and 
 industry; and perhaps an idea steals imperceptibly over 
 your mind that you have been mistaken in your under- 
 standing of Russian methods of expansion. At all events, 
 one thought repeats itself in your mind, whether you will 
 or no, and that thought is that here, with all the outward 
 necessaries of civilized life about you, among which are 
 five thousand sacks of American flour from Washington, 
 U. S. A., you stand in perfect security, where ten years 
 ago you probably would have been murdered by bands of 
 brigands. 
 
 Chinese working-men were building the railroad. There 
 were hundreds of them, thousands of them, tens of thou- 
 sands of them. Let us bring them before the eye. They 
 are busy constructing grades, not with horses and scrapers 
 and all of our modem labor-saving devices, but each man 
 bearing two baskets of earth (each basket at the end of 
 a bamboo pole across his shoulders), from where it is 
 dug in the cut to where it is emptied on the fill. These 
 Chinese laborers look good-humored; they appear well 
 fed; they give all the evidences of happiness and con- 
 tentment. They laugh at you, joke with you, say things 
 to you rough and unrepeatable, but yet kindly a^id 
 without meaning to offend. 
 
 They are at work on buildings, too. Excellent masons 
 they make; and above all superb stone-cutters. In this 
 last occupation their patience is invaluable. You cannot 
 imagine how independent they are. It is said that the 
 railroad company experienced a serious difficulty at one 
 time because the Chinese laborers struck. These laborers 
 were paid eighty copecks a day in winter and sixty 
 copecks a day in summer (two copecks make a cent of our 
 
 28
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 money). Such wages were never heard of before in this, 
 or, indeed, any portion of China. It is many, many times 
 the pay of the Russian ordinary common soldier, and 
 almost equals the pay of the Russian-Manchurian railway- 
 guard. It was too heavy a drain upon the railway re- 
 sources, and in the summer of 1901 the company at- 
 tempted to reduce the wages to forty copecks a day. 
 
 One hundred thousand Chinamen and more instantly 
 quit work. The alternative was presented to the govern- 
 ment of restoring the former, and as the Russians thought 
 exorbitant, wages or abandoning work upon the road. 
 The men won; the wages were restored and work was 
 resumed. Astonishing, is it not? — a strike of Chinese 
 laborers in Manchuria, and a successful one. Undoubtedly 
 the desire to hurry the railroad to completion, the utter 
 absence of all labor but Chinese labor, and, lastly, the 
 care exercised by the Russians not to offend a people they 
 have subdued, influenced the railway company to yield 
 to the demand of the Chinese laborers. For such a 
 strike in Russia itself would be put down by bayonet and 
 ball. 
 
 All of these Chinese laborers, as before remarked, 
 seemed contented and happy. They were found, among 
 other things, building a church in the new town of 
 Hmanpo, two hundred miles into Manchuria. And these 
 same men only a year before were Boxers, frenzied 
 fanatics, butchering without mercy man, woman, and 
 child, slaying even their own kind who refused them 
 active aid. It is a method worth considering — that of 
 changing these furies, these demons (for such only twelve 
 moixths before they were), into peaceful and happy 
 laborers, apparently not only pleased with their lot, but, 
 as it seemed to the looker on, rejoicing in it. 
 
 What, then, is that method? It is the simple and tra- 
 ditional method of Russia to strike when you strike, and 
 to spare not when you are striking. It is to wage war 
 while war exists, and to employ the methods of peace 
 
 29
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 only when war is over. Skobeleff at Goek Tepe refused 
 to accept the surrender of the heroic Tepens, who had 
 terrorized Central Asia for centuries, and he slaughtered 
 more than twenty thousand men, women, and children in 
 twenty days. (The siege lasted exactly twenty days, 
 and Skobeleff's estimate of the number slain is twenty 
 thousand.) It seemed quite terrible, and was as terrible 
 as it seemed; but it is hard to see that it is much worse 
 to destroy twenty thousand men, women, and children 
 in twenty days and secure peace for all time than it is to 
 kill that number during twenty years, and in the process 
 increase the irritation, the disorder, and the feud. For 
 from the red day of Goek Tepe to this hour, order, law, 
 safety to traveller, security of commerce, and all other 
 things which help to make up civilization, have existed 
 in Central Asia, as firmly guarded as they are in the 
 United States. War is bad under any circumstances, 
 but if it must be it should be thorough, that it may be 
 brief and not fruitless. 
 
 And so in Manchuria, when the great Boxer uprising 
 began (and it began in Manchuria with the historic attack 
 on Blagovestchensk), the smiling Russian, with his mild 
 blue eye and his kindly bearing, became, in truth, what 
 rumor pictures him to the Anglo-Saxon world — a man of 
 the sword and of blood. Russia was caught unprepared. 
 The diabolism of some of the massacres by the Boxers 
 does not admit of description ; but Grodekoff at Khaba- 
 roff, Chichagoff at Vladivostock, and Alexieff at Port 
 Arthur poured every available man into Manchuria. 
 Five Russian divisions entered from different points, 
 and, sweeping all before them, converged upon Kirin. 
 It was fire and sword and death. It was war. There were 
 no attempts to pacify or cajole while villages were burning. 
 While the conditions of war lasted, Russia waged war. 
 And she waged no "milk-and-water" war; she waged 
 a war of blood. And when she had finished, she had 
 finished, indeed, just as everywhere Russia's task has 
 
 30
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 been finished when once she has conckided a border 
 conflict. 
 
 For it is worth the attention of all men that when 
 Russia has once inflicted her punishment there has seldom 
 been any recurrence of insurrection. Where Russian law 
 and order and system have been established they have 
 remained, upheld not by the bayonets of the soldiers 
 who established them, but by the hands of the very 
 people among whom and against whose resistance they 
 were planted. Among all the defects of Russia's civiliza- 
 tion, its virtues are striking and elemental, and one of 
 the chief of these is stability. 
 
 And so in Manchuria, thousands of men, who bear on 
 their foreheads the scar which distinguishes the Boxer 
 of the most ultra type (for, it is said, the radical, de- 
 termined, genuine fanatic wears a peculiar scar made in 
 the forehead next to where the hair begins to grow) are 
 now smiling, chaffing, even jolly laboring-men upon the 
 Russian railroad, constructors of Russian buildings, and, 
 most striking of all in its antitheses, the builders even 
 of a Russian church; for among the working-men who 
 were building this church at Hmanpo were several Box- 
 ers. Thev confessed it cheerfully. "Why not? Every- 
 body did it!" said one young former Boxer to the in- 
 terpreter. Oh yes; everybody did it! Also, everybody 
 knew, too, that they never would be Boxers again, or 
 anything else but the loyal adherents of Russia. They 
 understand her now. They understand that she is not 
 to be trifled with, and that whoever touches Russian 
 authority with violent hands has seized the currents of 
 certain death. And, equally important, they understand 
 that with Russia, when war is over, it is over, and that a 
 kindly treatment, as natural, unobtrusive, pleasing as if 
 they and the Slav had always dwelt together, is the char- 
 acteristic of Russia and the Russian in time of peace, as 
 death without mercy is the characteristic of Russia and 
 the Russian in time of war. 
 
 31
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 For here again you are dazed by that phenomenon 
 which startled you at Nikolsk and attracted your atten- 
 tion with less sharpness in Trans-Baikal Siberia: that 
 Russian peasant and Chinese working-man and Korean 
 laborer mingle together as though they were all of one 
 race, one blood, one faith, and even of one nationality. 
 It is a phenomenon to which attention will be called again 
 and again, because it is fundamental; because it is one 
 of the profound elements of Russia's power in Asia, with 
 its curious causes running far back into Russian history 
 and character.
 
 Ill 
 
 OTHER METHODS OF RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 GREAT railways through the heart of Manchuria, 
 with bridges, Roman in their massiveness, with 
 heavy grades and deep cuts, with buildings for engines 
 and equipment solid as fortresses — all this looks as if 
 Russia intends to remain in Manchuria (and, by the same 
 token, all of this appears to indicate that Russia thinks 
 Manchuria quite valuable). Brick and stone buildings, 
 homes of officials, cottages of peasants, the blond wives 
 of a majority of the sixty thousand railroad-guards; the 
 tow-headed children brought with their parents, and the 
 still younger ones bom on the soil of Manchuria itself 
 — all these things indicate permanency of Russian oc- 
 cupation. And, above all, Russian churches, raising 
 their semi-Oriental spires to heaven in the centre of every 
 Russian town, point to permanency of Russian occupa- 
 tion. 
 
 Let us not pass so hurriedly these Russian churches 
 which former Boxers are building, not by compulsion, 
 but for wages, in Manchuria; for with the Russian 
 Church the Russian priest has arrived in Manchuria, too. 
 He is not there in droves or flocks or communities of 
 monks. He is there only very occasionally and very un- 
 obtrusively. He acts the part of the apostle of peace — 
 and he looks the part. Clad in a long robe of black, his 
 blond hair combed straight back from his forehead and 
 falling in picturesque masses of yellow curls on his sombre- 
 clad shoulders, his abundant golden beard covering half 
 his breast, his mild blue eyes full of languid benevolence, 
 3 33
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the Russian priest in Manchuria is a circumstance as 
 soothing as it is picturesque. 
 
 He appears to be attending only to the orthodox 
 Russian flock of his Church. There is no irritating zeal 
 for converts manifested by the priest which the national 
 Church of Russia sends to her frontier. He is in no 
 feverish hurry to convert the heathen. It is not necessary 
 'for him to be in a hurry. Seemingly — perhaps really — 
 he respects the religious opinions of those among whom 
 he is placed, as highly as he wishes them to respect his 
 religious opinions. He is apparently very tolerant. A 
 Mohammedan mosque does not offend the Russian priest, 
 a Chinese temple does not offend him. Nothing in the 
 faith of others offends him. To the unconverted, to the 
 followers of other religions, he is all consideration and 
 courtesy and sweet agreeableness. Above all, he does 
 not debate, contend, argue. 
 
 And yet the Russian Church, with methods such as 
 these, succeeds in gathering communities, provinces, 
 tribes, and peoples within her fold. It is done by the 
 combined influence of those thousand incidentals which, 
 united, are so irresistible in human thought and feeling. 
 The beautiful service of the Russian Church; the semi- 
 Oriental adoration of even the most highly educated and 
 refined Russian worshipper; the unobtrusive kindliness of 
 Russian priest towards the unbeliever, combined with a 
 certain stately attitude of superiority — these and innum- 
 erable other circumstances create an atmosphere of gentle 
 and reposeful and alluring Russian orthodoxy. Even 
 the antagonism of the priests of other religions is lulled, 
 first into quiescence, and then into actual friendliness. 
 ' Three hundred miles and more in the heart of Manchuria 
 a converted Chinaman was met. He had become a mem- 
 ber of the Russian Greek Orthodox Church. He had cut 
 off his queue; he wore his hair like a European, dressed 
 like one, and made the elaborate Russian sign of the cross 
 on greeting you. And you observe a striking fact on 
 
 34
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 looking into this converted Chinaman's case — his Chris- 
 tianization has not made him unpopular with his fellows. 
 And this fact, when followed up, reveals the most remark- 
 able situation of which there is any record ; for, mirabile 
 dictu, the Chinese Buddhist priest at this particular place 
 comes to the Russian orthodox priest and gives him the 
 name of any Chinaman who wishes to embrace the 
 Christian religion. This was hard to believe, but in- 
 quiry tended to confirm it. 
 
 Here, then, is one clew to the secret of Russian success 
 in " colonization." The apparent brotherhood of Russian 
 peasant, soldier, and officer with all classes of other na- 
 tionalities, which we have twice noted, is another clew. 
 The progress of actual, material improvement — build- 
 ings, streets, parks, roads, railways — is still another and a 
 greater. The intelligent ruthlessness of Russian warfare, 
 when warfare must be waged, is a still more important clew. 
 
 But the conduct of the Church is even more enlighten- 
 ing. There is no preaching of the gospel to these Asiatic 
 pagans as you would preach it to New-Englanders, any 
 more than there are sentimental attempts to realize aca- 
 demic theories of government. There is nowhere pro- 
 fusion of words ; there is everywhere profusion of deeds. 
 There is the powerful teaching of example. 
 
 "You see," explained a Russian priest (far and away 
 a superior man to the Russian priest you ordinarily meet 
 in Russia), "we Russianize and Christianize, and, if you 
 please, civihze by natural processes and silent influences. 
 After they have been taught that there will be no trifling 
 with interference to our authority (and we never teach 
 the lesson more than once) the people come gradually to 
 like us. We do not interfere in their worship of their god 
 in their own way. In our Church affairs we do not offend 
 the eye or ear or any of their elemental prejudices, and the 
 Church gradually becomes pleasing to them. In precisely 
 the same way they soon get accustomed to our railway, 
 and are quick to catch its practical advantages. They 
 
 35
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 find that if they are orderly and obedient to the common 
 authority, their treatment is that of all the remainder of 
 us. And so, gradually and by natural adaptation and 
 adjustment, they become what you call 'Russianized.'" 
 
 It is merely observing a proper proportion, in examin- 
 ing the Russianizing of Manchuria, to give this much 
 attention to the Russian Church and the Russian priest; 
 for the Russian carries his Church, his religion, his wife, 
 and his bayoneted rifle with him wherever he goes. It 
 is idle to debate whether his religion is as genuine as 
 yours. You certainly cannot answer the question 
 whether it is a mere empty form or a profound fervor 
 which each individual feels in common with the great 
 race of which he is a unit. These refinements are not 
 useful in considering the part it plays in the advance of 
 Russian dominion; for, whatever its nature, it does the 
 work expected of it. It is the centre of that social order 
 which Russia begins to establish the very moment she 
 lays the foundation of a building or surveys the line of 
 a railroad. It is the centre from which radiates an inde- 
 scribable but very real human gentleness, inferior to ours 
 if you like to have it so, but a distinct improvement over 
 the atrophied human conditions of Asia. And for the 
 Russian himself, it is enough to say that at least he lives 
 in its forms and observances, and in its articles he smiling- 
 ly goes to his death. 
 
 Wherever Russian improvement may be seen in Man- 
 churia, there may be seen also the wooden Greek cross 
 which Cossack and guard and common soldier have plant- 
 ed above their slain comrades. Wherever a Russian home 
 has risen, wherever a telegraph - ofhce has been erected, 
 wherever even the Cossack has built his watch-tower, 
 from which by day and night he sweeps with watchful eye 
 the surrounding country, wherever a Russian is housed, 
 there hangs the holy icon. And before that sacred 
 image every Russian, noble or peasant, general or common 
 soldier, governor or servant, bows his head and makes 
 
 36
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the holy sign ; for the Prince of Peace, wherever the sons 
 of Russia have raised the empire's flag, is acknowledged 
 Lord of all, even by the Czar himself. Whatever may 
 be said of the Russian Church by its critics, it must be 
 admitted that the religion it teaches has a certain carrying 
 and sustaining power which bears the Russian up in his 
 most desperate trials, and repels not the strange people 
 among whom he plants his law, his authority, and his 
 faith. 
 
 It had been a day of hardship and labor. The floods 
 had cut us off from food. Temporary bridges had been 
 swept away by a sudden rush of waters from a series of 
 cloud-bursts in the near-by mountains. The deluge of the 
 seventies, when thousands lost their lives, was repeated in 
 Manchuria in the dreadful summer of 1901. One had to 
 drink tea made from muddy waters, along which now and 
 then a drowned Chinaman floated by. Rivers ran so swift 
 and wide that it appeared impossible for a boat to be 
 propelled from shore to shore. Once, when a too-daring 
 party of three attempted the hurrying waters, the racing 
 rapids snatched the boat from their control and death 
 seemed near. High winds blew bits of sand into your 
 face until the skin felt perforated as by a hundred needle- 
 points, and the blazing sun stung and burned and 
 blistered; to be succeeded at evening by currents of air 
 so cold that you shook with ague as you lay down to 
 rest on the rain-drenched earth. 
 
 But there was no note of impatience from any Russian 
 tongue. Only a German, an American, and a Dane — act- 
 ing as English, Russian, and Chinese interpreter — only 
 these fretted, with the impatience of too highly organized 
 nerves. Attempt after attempt is made to rescue this 
 strange company. Attempt after attempt fails. And in 
 the attempts some men are drovvmed. Still no disturb- 
 ance of the Russian phlegm. Your Dane, your German, 
 and your American may pace up and down and mutter 
 and complain. The Russian sits stolidly on the great 
 
 37
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 embankment, or firmly stands and patiently waits, pa- 
 tiently watches, good-humored, adaptable, imperturbable. 
 Note well this characteristic, even in the folly of your im- 
 patience, German, American, Dane; for here is another 
 source of Russian power which, in cooler moments and at 
 greater leisure, it will pay you well to study, and deeply 
 study, too. 
 
 At last a huge boat, hauled miles up-stream, is floated 
 down and paddled steadily towards your shore ; and half 
 a mile below you the Cossacks who are bringing it to your 
 relief succeed in running it into the marshes on your side 
 of the river. With much pains, much patience, and in 
 constant danger of being drowned, they finally bring it 
 to your feet, and you embark. With exertions which 
 make you fear for them, so mightily do they labor, so 
 swelled and congested become the veins in their foreheads, 
 the Cossacks finally reach the other side, a long distance 
 below the point from which you started. 
 
 That night you sit exhausted at the Russian local head- 
 quarters., in the heart of the most troubled district of 
 Manchuria. The headquarters consist of four long build- 
 ings, of a single story, with thick walls of hardened gray 
 bricks, enclosing a court whose sward is green with often- 
 watered grass and delicious with flowers, whose careful 
 tending tells you of the supervision and directing hand 
 of woman. It is very restful, secure from sun and pro- 
 tected from storm, and there are kindly mannered, travel- 
 cultured Russian officers about you, conversing pleasantly 
 and quite freely on any subject you like. The talk in- 
 cludes in its range even the respective merits and de- 
 merits of their government as compared with yours; the 
 wisdom or the unwisdom, according to individual opinion, 
 of the Russian programme in Manchuria; or the eccle- 
 siastical policy of the Greek Church; or, strangest of all, 
 the nature and meaning of our American industrial or- 
 ganizations known as "trusts." (The Russian is just as 
 curious and keen an inquirer as the American.) Night 
 
 38
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 falls. Heavy clouds shut out the stars. An occasional 
 drop of rain spats upon the roof, and then descends the 
 steady downpour of a Manchurian rainfall. All of you — 
 Russian, German, American, and Dane — feel very far 
 away from the world, very much cut off from your kind, 
 very much surrounded by dangers — as, indeed, you are. 
 
 Suddenly, through the darkness, which the rain em- 
 phasizes, a bugle peals across the night a few martial 
 and not untuneful notes, and then silence again closes on 
 the sound. For a moment only the stillness, and then 
 rises, strong and fervid and deep-toned, a solemn chant. 
 The talk ceases. Every officer makes the sign of the 
 cross, and the night is full of the feeling and atmosphere 
 of prayer. A strange sound surely for such a place. You 
 ask its meaning, and learn that it is the Cossacks in their 
 barracks intoning their night-time appeal to the throne of 
 God for His care and protection in toil and in battle, and, 
 finally, for the salvation of these. His servants, when, their 
 duty done, they shall stand before His face. 
 
 Go, you doubter of the sincerity of these bearded 
 soldiers and behold the faces of these men as this song- 
 prayer is chanted! Witness the attitude of adoration; 
 see the looks of humihty; behold shining from their eyes 
 the light of a faith which is sufficient for them even unto 
 death! And, however you reason it out, you cannot — 
 resist it as you will — overcome the feeling that here is a 
 vital element of Russian power and an efficient instrument 
 of Russian policy. You sometimes feel that you cannot 
 put this very real thing — this simple faith of these 
 Russian soldiers — on the low plane of a mere agency of 
 statecraft. Sometimes, in spite of yourself, the suggestion 
 forces upon you that this unquestioning belief is quite 
 as real as your own. And it is a curious confusion of 
 thoughts that crowds upon your mind when you reflect 
 that these are the men who, that very day, risked their 
 lives, just to give you and others a little comfort — risked 
 them gladly and with laughter. These are the men who 
 
 39
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 meet, subdue, destroy those bands of robbers who for 
 decades have so terrorized Manchuria that even their 
 crimes have come to be Hcensed. Study it well, you 
 German student of the elements of empire, noting, as 
 you are, the smallest incident which passes before your 
 watchful eyes. And study it well, too, you American, 
 study it well every one, for here, it may be, is a force in 
 the hands of Russian statesmanship with which the 
 world must reckon. 
 
 Later on the contract with the Chinese government 
 will be set out, under which the Manchurian railway, 
 now completed, but then in course of construction, was 
 being built. You can there read for yourself the ad- 
 ministrative power given Russia under this contract. 
 But at these Russian headquarters the actual execution 
 of her powers was observed. Two Chinese vagabonds 
 were brought in to the commanding officer. They were 
 not brought in by the Russian soldiery; they were de- 
 livered by Chinamen doing police duty, perhaps under 
 Chinese authority, but certainly under Russian pay. 
 These offenders had already been rudely manacled. Very 
 abject were they, very penitent they appeared. It seemed 
 that they had stolen some kind of railway material. The 
 Russian commander made very short work of it. He 
 merely turned them over to the Chinese Governor of a 
 near-by town for the administration of Chinese justice. 
 
 "What will be done with them?" was asked. 
 
 "Undoubtedly," came the answer, "old" (naming the 
 Chinese Governor) "will execute them." 
 
 And so it is that theft and disorder are becoming very 
 unpopular wherever Russian authority is influential in 
 Manchuria. 
 
 Now for another phase of Russian treatment of the 
 Manchurian native. Half an hour later three sick 
 Chinamen, variously afflicted, followed these evil-doers 
 who had been sent hence to their death. Two of these 
 sick men were ill of some kind of a fever, and another one 
 
 40
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 had been injured and required surgical attendance. On 
 former visits to China it had been observed that the 
 Chinese do not take kindly to the medical assistance of 
 foreigners. It has required years for the missionary 
 hospitals and dispensaries in the various treaty ports of 
 China proper to get the confidence of the people. It 
 appeared strange, therefore, that these Chinamen should 
 come voluntarily to the Russian headquarters for medical 
 treatment. 
 
 "But you see," explained the Russian physician, who 
 at once took them in charge, "it is our policy to help the 
 people among whom we have come, from the highest to 
 the lowest, in every possible way we can. If I did not 
 /'ear that you would think that I am trying to impress 
 you with our good qualities I should tell you that we 
 do this thing not only from polic3^ but also from our 
 nature and disposition. Nothing pleases a Russian more 
 than to help some other person who is in need. Ap- 
 parently the Chinese feel this, for, as you see, they come on 
 their own motion and very willingly. I shall treat each 
 of these men just as carefully as I do any of our own 
 soldiers or officers. They go away ver}' grateful and tell 
 the good news to their fellows. And so, imperceptibly, 
 but with astonishing rapidity, there grows up a kindly 
 feeling for us." 
 
 Greater credit was given to this statement from having 
 observed, again and again, in Siberia, many instances of 
 the same personal kindliness and helpful desire of the 
 Russian nature. And so, once more, it appeared that, in 
 his material advance into a dominion which he is ab- 
 sorbing, the hand of the Russian when opposed is a hard 
 hand; but when opposition is crushed, a soft, soothing, 
 and even caressing hand. 
 
 Again, it must be borne in mind that, although building 
 roads, raising towns, constructing churches, and the other 
 works of peace constitute the largest part of the method 
 employed by the government in Russianizing Manchuria, 
 
 41
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 military activity is not wanting ; for, indeed, it is not want- 
 ing. But when you compare the expenditure of energy 
 and money in the execution of her peaceful methods with 
 the energy and money expended m her warlike activities 
 the proportion is nine to one. This is true, too, in exter- 
 nal appearance, in physical manifestations, and results. 
 
 Remembering this proportion, we can better appreciate 
 at its true value Russia's military operations in construct- 
 ing her new empire on the Pacific. Never forget that 
 when Russia feels it necessary to employ her soldiers in 
 the field she does not hesitate. She uses them with all 
 the power and deadly effect possible. This is as true of a 
 little campaign as a big one. It was true of the final 
 campaign in south-central Manchuria, in the summer of 
 1 90 1, as it was of the campaign made necessary by the 
 Boxer movement. The robber bands, whose richest field 
 of operations extended from the port of New-Chwang, in 
 southwestern Manchuria, through Mukden to Kirin, in 
 central-eastern Manchuria (a diagonal line of several 
 hundred miles), had clung tenaciously to their criminal 
 supremacy. Through this territory the trade of Man- 
 churia, and even a portion of the commerce of Trans- 
 Baikal Siberia, passes. 
 
 Over this commerce the robbers of Manchuria exercised 
 such terrorism that merchants, Chinese as well as foreign, 
 finally came to recognize the authority of these powc's of 
 pillage; and it is said that an office was actually establish- 
 ed in the port of New-Chwang where persons desiring 
 to import goods into Manchuria might secure insurance 
 against molestation from robber hordes. When this in- 
 surance was paid for, the robber agent gave the merchant 
 a document and a little flag, and with this document in 
 his possession and this flag nailed to his carts or boats he 
 travelled in safety. 
 
 This was the system of crime which Russia found in 
 Manchuria, from the profits of which some thousands of 
 criminals were living in unmolested insolence. These 
 
 42
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 robbers were among the most relentless of the Boxers; 
 and, after that fanatical movement had been suppressed, 
 these Manchurian brigands did not cease for an instant 
 their activity against the power whose firm establishment 
 in Manchuria would mean the certain and permanent 
 destruction of their practices. 
 
 Russia did not hesitate an instant. She sent no com- 
 mission to treat with them. No honeyed methods, no 
 moral suasion, no "sweet reasonableness" was employed. 
 Russia understood the people she was dealing with. It 
 is said that the forces she despatched to the scene of 
 disturbance would not receive a flag of truce from the 
 brigands and could not have sent one unless they had 
 taken the white blouse of the common soldier for that pur- 
 pose. "We never carry material from which flags of truce 
 can be made," said a young officer, rather vaingloriously. 
 
 Mukden was instantly garrisoned with twelve thousand 
 Russian soldiers (this garrison was still there in igoi, 
 and has since been increased to twenty-five thousand men, 
 as credible rumor reports) ; and a flying body (none but 
 the Russian government knows how many) was placed 
 in the field, commanded by picked officers, every one of 
 whom had distinguished himself for courage and resource 
 within the preceding twelve months, either in the Boxer 
 uprising or in some of the frontier campaigns of Russia. 
 And the whole was under the command of the Kitchener 
 of Russia — General - Lieutenant Cierpitsky. This com- 
 mander is Russia's field fighter. He has given his life to 
 the business of war, and loves his profession with an 
 enthusiasm which cannot properly be described by any 
 other word than passionate. He took the field in person 
 at the head of his troops. Three thousand robbers were 
 killed in less than six weeks; two thousand were captured, 
 and the rest scattered and hunted like beasts into the 
 caves and fastnesses of the concealing mountains. The 
 power of organized brigandage in Manchuria has been 
 destroyed, it is hoped and believed, forever. 
 
 43
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 And do not forget that it was a formidable power of its 
 kind. It could even be said to have had resources supplied 
 by the fees of licensed spoliation. It was comparatively 
 a well-organized power, with captains and chiefs. And 
 now it is broken, crushed, scattered, obliterated, in a 
 period of time ordinarily required to get ready for such a 
 campaign. And this was accomplished by the simple 
 process of making war when war was inevitable, just as 
 though there were nothing else in the world to do but to 
 make war; instead of conciliating one day and threatening 
 the next; instead of entertaining insurgents on Monday 
 and taking the field against them on Tuesday. 
 
 "You seem to work at this business, General," was a 
 remark made to General Cierpitsky. 
 
 "Why not?" said he. "If it is the thing to do, it is the 
 thing to do. Is it not?" That was a simple statement 
 that put you in mind of Grant — so clear, so plainly true, 
 so free from complexities, limitations, explanations. 
 "And," added the Russian commander, "I think we 
 have pretty high warrant for it. For what is that in the 
 great book of the world's law" (rather a fine phrase, is it 
 not?) "about doing whatever is necessary with all your 
 soul — 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
 thy might.' Is not that the quotation?" 
 
 This remark of a fighting general of Russia was a key 
 to the Russian system of pacification. Also it revealed 
 the interesting circumstance that the field officer of the 
 empire knew his Bible. Further and extended conversa- 
 tion with him disclosed the fact that he knew other books 
 as well, and especially all that had been written on the 
 science of war. Of course, everybody interested in bring- 
 ing an end to armed conflict (and we are all interested in 
 that) has read the third volume of Mr. Bloc's really 
 great work on war, in which the author demonstrates, by 
 mathematics and statistics, the impossibility of any more 
 wars on a large scale between first - rate nations. No 
 civilian can read this remarkable monument of reasoning 
 
 44
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and learning without becoming convinced that the day 
 of organized slaughter on the fields of battle must soon 
 end. What more engaging subject, then, could be sug- 
 gested to this practical soldier than this book of his 
 fellow-subject and servant of the Czar? However, being 
 merely a soldier, he has probably not read it. Mention 
 it to him timidly, then. You find that he has not only 
 read the third volume, but the first and second volumes 
 too, and he overwhelms Mr. Bloc's apparently irrefuta- 
 ble conclusions by pointing out practical facts of so sim- 
 ple and obvious a nature that, civilian though you are, 
 you wonder why you never thought of them yourself. 
 Test this rough-and-ready soldier a little further and you 
 discover that there is not a work in the literature of war 
 which you can name to him with which he is not familiar. 
 
 The most notable thing about General Cierpitsky is his 
 devotion to his martial profession; the second thing to 
 impress you is his enthusiasm in Russia's work in Man- 
 churia. It is no forced ardor, no simulated interest. 
 
 The following is the way he spoke to a detachment of his 
 soldiers at the close of the Mukden campaign, in August, 
 1 90 1. As the soldiers saw General Cierpitsky walking 
 swiftly down upon them, every hand of the long line came 
 instantly and rigidly to the cap in impressive salute, and 
 from a thousand throats in unison was shouted out their 
 soldier - greeting to their commander, a free translation 
 of which is, "Hail! our General!" or "Good-morning, our 
 General!" or "We greet you, our General!" And here, 
 in free translation, is the exact speech he made to them, 
 with their responses: 
 
 General Cierpitsky. "Soldiers, I am glad to see you 
 again." 
 
 Soldiers (in unison). "Thank you, our General." 
 
 General Cierpitsky. "You have overcome the robbers, 
 armed with the best guns; you have overcome cHmate, 
 floods, and heat; and you have overcome dysentery and 
 every form of disease which vile water and viler sur- 
 
 45
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 roundings create. And, soldiers, you ought to thank 
 God for preserving your Hves." 
 
 Soldiers (in unison). "We thank God, our General." 
 
 General Cierpitsky. ' ' And, soldiers, you ought to pray 
 to God to keep you strong to fight again for Him and for 
 your country." 
 
 Soldiers. " We pray God, our General." 
 
 General Cierpitsky. " Now you are going home and 
 you deserve rest; but you must always be ready to fight 
 for your Czar, your country, and your God." 
 
 Soldiers. "We will always be ready, our General." 
 
 Can any one fail to see the significance of this brief 
 address? Here was Russia's hardest field fighter, at the 
 end of a bloody campaign made necessary for the pro- 
 tection of her railroad property, reminding his troops that 
 they had been fighting "for God and their country," 
 commanding them to "thank God for preserving their 
 lives," and admonishing them to be ready always to 
 serve "their God and their country." And there was 
 not one bit of cant in it. It was spontaneous, natural, 
 real. 
 
 And so the General closed; and, with a kindly wave of 
 his hand to the troops, whom he in person and on foot, 
 with sword in hand, had led on a hard excursion in a 
 difficult country, he turned to leave them. Instantly the 
 soldiers broke into the deep -toned, thrilling Russian 
 huzza, and the air was filled with their caps, waved and 
 tossed aloft in adieu to their leader. These soldiers had 
 just returned from a merciless campaign, yet they did 
 not look very blood - thirsty — on the contrary, quite 
 mild-mannered, quite easy-going, and quite en rapport 
 with the people themselves. This is a note touched be- 
 fore, but it must be touched again and again if you will 
 understand Russia's success in extending her authority. 
 The Russian army, as well as the Russian working-men 
 and peasants, fraternize with the conquered people. They 
 do it naturally and without effort. There is in the 
 
 46
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 familiarity of their intercourse a suggestion of kinship. 
 Perhaps, Russian understanding of the Asiatic is in- 
 stinctive and congenital; for the Russian has a little 
 Asiatic blood in his veins and much Asiatic traditions in 
 his mind, inherited from the centuries of Tartar rule. 
 But whatever the causes, it is certain the Russian does 
 understand the Asiatic as no other people understands 
 him; better than the German, better even than the 
 Englishman. 
 
 Skobeleff sounded the key-note of Russian policy when 
 he said: "My system is this — to strike hard, and keep 
 on hitting until resistance is completely over; then at 
 once to form ranks, cease slaughter, and be kind and 
 humane to the prostrate enemy." 
 
 It is a system based on very simple common-sense, is 
 it not? Certainly it is a system peculiarly adapted to 
 Asiatics. At any rate, no man can deny that it has been 
 successful wherever employed ; for be it remembered 
 that Russia has absorbed more territory, assimilated a 
 greater number of different peoples, and fought more 
 border wars than any modem nation; and that in the 
 whole course of her ceaseless march there has never been 
 a single serious uprising against Russian authority, once 
 that authority has been established. That is a fact worth 
 examining and reflecting upon.
 
 IV 
 
 TYPES OF CIVIL AGENTS OF THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 IN General Cierpitsky we observe the type of officer 
 that Russia puts in the field to conduct actual opera- 
 tions at the front. What kind of men does she place in 
 charge of the administrative functions of her forming do- 
 minions? What of the minds and characters that are con- 
 structing her railway, the mileage of which in Manchuria 
 alone is nearly half the distance across the American 
 continent? What of the subordinates in the force of 
 constructive empire — the station-agents, the "masters of 
 distance"? After all, the only three things worth study- 
 ing in any country are the soil and its potentialities, the 
 people and their capacities, and the few leaders and their 
 inherent power. All that is ancient and monumental is 
 of value only in interpreting these three elements of the 
 present. 
 
 All Russian railroads are divided into what are called 
 "distances," each distance having a master. This "mas- 
 ter of a distance" — literal translation — is a cross between 
 the division superintendent of an American railway and 
 a section boss. The same system exists in Manchuria 
 wherever the railroad is completed. Let us see what 
 quality of mentality and force of character are in this type. 
 
 "I believe with all my soul in the Orthodox Greek 
 Church, but I believe in it as an engine of national au- 
 thority more than in a religious way." It is a great, big, 
 bearded "master of distance" on one of the divisions of 
 the Manchurian railway who is talking now, as the con- 
 struction-train bearing materials proceeds slowly along 
 
 48
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the temporary track laid by the side of the substantial 
 permanent grade. Let him talk. Every word is a meas- 
 ure of the men in whose hands Russia places her work of 
 building what she calls and believes is civilization in 
 Manchuria. "I beHeve in God, of course," he continued, 
 "but not the individual God with parts and substance, 
 who was the deity of my childhood days. As for im- 
 mortality, I cannot figure that out. After a Hfetime of 
 meditation, it seems to me unthinkable. But there is 
 the immortality of the race — a divine destiny and pur- 
 pose for every nation. The Church of Russia is the 
 highest interpretation of our national unity and of Slav 
 dominion. And so I am as earnest a member of the 
 Russian Church as I am a loyal subject of the Czar, and 
 for much the same reason." 
 
 "What do you think of the divine destiny, as you call 
 it, of the Russian nation?" was asked of this railway 
 section-master. 
 
 "You mean, what do I think is the divine mission 
 of the Slav race, as expressed through the forms of the 
 Russian autocracy or nation?" was his answer (rather 
 discriminating and analytical, I thought). "Well," con- 
 tinued he, "what do you say to the introduction of law, 
 order, justice, and religion among the four hundred mill- 
 ions of China?" 
 
 Let us keep in mind this flash of imperial purpose from 
 one of Russia's humblest instruments. What we are 
 doing now is putting the tape-measure up and down the 
 spine of Russian agents in Manchuria, finding the length 
 of their arms and the stability of their legs and the size 
 of their heads. And this extract from a fascinating con- 
 versation does that very well. But here, flaming up in 
 the least expected of places, is an expression of Russian 
 aspiration which must be followed with the same care 
 with which the miner follows the first thin vein of gold 
 that points to priceless and hitherto unsuspected deposits 
 in the heart of the mountains. But that is for another 
 4 49
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 chapter. It is enough for the present that we find this 
 section-master discoursing, with sense and real depth of 
 thought, upon those abstruse questions involved in the 
 philosophy of the Greek Orthodox Church. And, far 
 more significant, we find him stating a racial ambition 
 with almost poetic power. Of course, upon the subject 
 of the railroad in Manchuria he will talk with you by 
 the rod; but that was to have been expected. For 
 example : 
 
 "The railroad is much better than the Siberian rail- 
 road," said he. " It is more honestly built, for one thing. 
 I do not think there has been any corruption in the con- 
 struction of the Manchurian road; certainly not so much 
 as in the Siberian, and particularly in the Ussuri road. 
 You notice yourself that the line is as straight as it reason- 
 ably can be." And he went on about the railroad very 
 entertainingly and very informingly. 
 
 "Ah!" said he, springing up as we came in sight of a 
 thick-walled house built for the engineers and officers of 
 the temporary work, "there is where they nearly got us." 
 (Referring to the Boxers the previous year.) "They at- 
 tacked us in force, and had rifles and some field-guns. It 
 was a surprise, sure enough, I will admit. But we got 
 our men together quickly, and I myself took command. 
 We beat them off, but since the Turkish war I have seen 
 no harder fighting. It was hand - to - hand sometimes. 
 Six men I shot myself." 
 
 He was full of tales like this; whether they were true or 
 not they were significant. Proud as he was of the railroad, 
 he was prouder of his feats as a soldier. It was the 
 soldier bubbling up in his blood from the hidden and 
 profound sources of his very soul. It was that racial 
 spirit not inherent in the Slav blood, but injected into it 
 by generations of military assault from Europe on the 
 west and barbaric invasion from Asia on the east; for, if 
 from beneath the placid and languid manner of the 
 Russian the world has now and then been astonished by 
 
 50
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 volcanic eruptions of martial spirit, let the world re- 
 member that for many centuries the Turk on the south, 
 the Tartar on the east, the Teuton and the Gaul on the 
 west, and even the icy hosts of nature on the arctic north, 
 have been battling the patient Slav. Why should the 
 world be surprised if at every point of the compass 
 Russia presents fixed bayonets ready for the thrust? 
 For from every point of the compass Russia has for 
 centuries been invaded and assaulted. We cannot take 
 up too much space with conversations, of course, but this 
 one is typical. A hundred others like it from men of 
 inferior station might be given ; and only brief points 
 from this one are referred to, but their illumination is 
 their apology. 
 
 "I make no doubt of the permanency of Russian occu- 
 pation here," said he. "It is my intention to remain 
 when my contract with the railroad has expired. My wife 
 and children are on the way here now. The opportu- 
 nities in a hundred lines are so alluring and substantial 
 that I should feel as if I were insulting Fate if I did not 
 improve them. And those opportunities are in every 
 direction. There is mining in the mountains, there is 
 commerce, there is everything. I will show you a young 
 man about twenty-five versts from here who is getting 
 rich with his little provision store." 
 
 At dawn of a morning full of rain, the interpreter 
 routed out " the young man who is getting rich." He had 
 a little store in a Russo-Chinese village clustered about 
 a station. He was a typical, blond-haired, blue-eyed, 
 light-skinned Slav. We bought meats canned by a Chi- 
 cago packing firm, crackers made by another American 
 firm. The store was well stocked, and every item of its 
 merchandise was from Russia, Germany, and America, 
 with proportions in the order named, except perfumery, 
 which was from France as well as Russia. (No Russian 
 store is so mean and humble that it cannot supply you 
 with a half-dozen brands of perfumery.) 
 
 51
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "I am getting a little Chinese custom," the man said. 
 "They take best to American flour. Of course, most of 
 my trade is Russian [he meant that he sold mostly to 
 Russians — guards, officers, etc.]. It is hard to get any hne 
 started with the Chinese, but v/hen it is started it steadily 
 grows. But I cannot compete with the Chinese mer- 
 chants once they take it into their heads to sell the same 
 kind of goods I do. And it will not be long before they 
 do that, but by then I shall, perhaps, have developed 
 into a general merchant for the supply of foreign goods 
 to local merchants." 
 
 Here, then, was a contribution to one of the most im- 
 portant of Oriental commercial studies — to wit, to get 
 the Chinaman to buy your goods, you must induce him 
 to like them; and to induce him to like them you must 
 take the thing itself to his very table. When he uses it 
 he acquires a taste for it, and when he acquires a taste 
 for anything the Chinaman becomes a most persistent and 
 generous customer. This observation is by the way, and 
 as a reminder of a subject of immediate interest to 
 Americans when we reach it. 
 
 Frequently a gang of a thousand Chinamen have but a 
 single yellow-mustached Russian as their overseer, but 
 this single overseer keeps them at work by a system of 
 bosses. They are divided into companies, and these 
 companies into squads, and each squad has its Chinese 
 boss. These overseers you will find respectful, disci- 
 plined, of fair intelligence, but every one of them endowed 
 with the personality of command. Certain it is that the 
 multitudes of laborers are well managed. Go to their 
 huts when the day's work is done, and have your inter- 
 preter engage them in conversation. Some are smoking 
 tobacco — why do Chinamen never chew? — some smoking 
 opium, some gambling. You are treated courteously, 
 offered food and tobacco, and there is no unwillingness to 
 talk freely with you. 
 
 "We are very contented, indeed, with our lot," was 
 
 52
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the free translation of the interpreter, talking to a Chinese 
 laborer, who, with more than a thousand comrades, was 
 building an immense grade. "Many of us were Boxers. 
 There is no use going into the reason why; maybe we 
 were misled, and maybe we received orders. We like the 
 way the Russian treats us. We have work to do, are 
 told how to do it, and get paid for it. We don't know, 
 and we don't care, who governs the country. All we want 
 is to make money, so that we can buy food and tobacco 
 and opium." 
 
 Connect this remark of the railway laborer in Man- 
 churia with the observation of a highly educated, English- 
 speaking young Chinese merchant of Shanghai, met as a 
 fellow-traveller in Japan: "I don't care who governs us, 
 and I don't know a single Chinese merchant who does 
 care. All we want is an opportunity to do business and 
 make money." 
 
 We have observed the soldier, the priest, the subordi- 
 nate officials, the bosses, even the laborers. Let us now 
 become acquainted with the constructive minds on the 
 ground. At Nikolsk, Harbin, Vladivostock — wherever 
 emergency or inclination calls him — you will find the 
 engineer-in-chief in charge of the Manchurian railway, 
 that most extraordinary example in the world of what 
 is called "progress," recently constructed, on which the 
 Russian government have expended more than one hun- 
 dred and fifty million dollars. 
 
 Engineer-in-Chief Tugovitch is, perhaps, sixty years of 
 age, of powerful physical frame, face glowing with intel- 
 ligence, an eye dull in lustre but keen in suggestons of 
 quick mentality. Tugovitch is the personal selection of 
 Russia's master mind, Witte, Minister of Finance and now 
 practical Premier of the Czar. For nearly forty years he 
 has been in active service. He was a military engineer 
 in the Russo-Turkish war. He was one of the engineers 
 of the Trans-Caspian road. Again, he was employed in 
 difficult engineering work in the mountains of Bessarabia. 
 
 53
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 There is not a practical feature of railway building, from 
 the placing of ties or the bolting of rails to the planning 
 of lines and the thinking-out of systems, of which Tugo- 
 vitch is not master by experience as well as ability. 
 
 And, like nearly all the men who struggle to the top 
 through the civil-service grades of Russia's administrative 
 system, Tugovitch is a planner of empire, a moulder of 
 the future, a suggester of material schemes for the seizure 
 of power and opportunity by the Russian government. 
 For example, Tugovitch many years ago proposed that 
 the Czar should build the railway across Asia Minor to 
 Bagdad, thus controlling the commerce of the Levant 
 and holding Persia in the inextricable grasp of Russia. 
 It is said that Witte approved the scheme, but he was 
 then only the head of a department in the Ministry of 
 Finance, and the cabinet rejected the Persian proposition. 
 It was a mistake of which Germany took quick advantage, 
 for German capitalists now have the concession for this 
 railroad. It is a part of Germany's strategy, which has 
 usurped the past power of England and the future 
 possibilities of Russia in the Turkish Empire, across 
 Asia Minor and through Persia, even to the gulf. If 
 you ask what all this means, the answer is so simple as 
 to be startling. It means some twenty million of con- 
 sumers in Turkey, several millions more in Asia Minor, 
 and some fifteen milHons in Persia; and that is something 
 to interest factory owners, factory laborers, agriculturists, 
 and everybody else who has anything to sell. 
 
 Tugovitch is very frank and free in his expression of 
 opinion. More than seven 3^ears ago he went through 
 Manchuria on horseback over every possible line of the 
 proposed road. He personally selected the routes which 
 the various lines were to take. 
 
 "I know the road was not built for the purpose of 
 seizing Manchuria," said he, "nor, as dreamers declare, 
 for the purpose of ultimately controlHng China. It was 
 built for a plain engineering reason — namely, because of 
 
 54
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the impracticability of water transportation down the 
 Amur and Shilka rivers. You have been over that route 
 yourself. The rise and tall of water in those rivers make 
 navigation impracticable." (It had taken me more than 
 four weeks to go a distance on those rivers which was 
 scheduled for eight days.) 
 
 "The engineering difficulties and financial cost of con- 
 tinuing the Siberian lines along the Amur River," he con- 
 tinued, "are plain to everybody who takes the journey. 
 And yet, having built the Siberian railroad as far as we 
 have, it was necessary to complete the line continuously 
 to Vladivostock. Manchuria was between our line and 
 Trans-Baikal Siberia on the west and our port of Vladi- 
 vostock on the east. The plains, valleys, and passes of 
 Manchuria afforded a route almost straight, and one which, 
 in comparison with the difficult Amur route, is cheap 
 and easy. This fact of physical geography and engineer- 
 ing science was the origin of the Manchurian railway. 
 Of course, when it became possible to lease Port Arthur 
 and Talienhwan for a short period, and thus have a rail- 
 way outlet to the very thick and centre of the human 
 activities of the Orient, common-sense suggested the ex- 
 tension of our line to those ports." 
 
 "That," he went on, "is absolutely all there is in the 
 purpose and consequences of the building of this road. 
 Russia cannot colonize this territory if she would. 
 The Russian cannot compete with the Chinaman as 
 merchant, laborer, artisan. Now that safety and order 
 have been established as a necessary consequence of 
 guarding our railroad, Chinamen are pouring into Man-/ 
 churia Hterally by the hundred thousand. So far, then,! 
 from the Russian peasant crowding out the Chinaman 
 in this country, the very much more serious question 
 is: How shall we preserve Siberia, and even Russia, from 
 Chinese competition? The contract with the Chinese 
 government for the construction of the road provides 
 that the Chinese government may take it off our hands 
 
 55
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 in thirty years, and that in any event it shall become 
 the absolute property of China in eighty years. I think, 
 and all of the deeper students think, that exactly this 
 will occur. You ask why, then, are we expending all this 
 energy, all this money in constructing the road at all? It 
 is to complete the Siberian road, as I tell you." 
 
 This same question was asked another official, who 
 made a similar answer, but added: "I admit that is no 
 sufficient answer to the question, nor to any of the schemes 
 for the extending of Russian Empire. We are moving 
 forward, always moving forward, in each particular and 
 specific case, without knowing exactly why. The prac- 
 tical and immediate reasons against each of our advances 
 for more than a century have been overwhelming, and 
 most Russians, as individuals, have been opposed to 
 them; and yet the command is, ' Forward!' still ' Forward! ' 
 and ever 'Forward!' It is as if we were impelled out- 
 ward and onward by some unseen hand. And by 'we' 
 I include the Czar himself; the Czar and his people are 
 one." 
 
 Sure enough, nearly every Russian met in Russia and 
 Siberia was against the acquisition of Manchuria, and 
 yet all of them were willing to fight rather than aban- 
 don it.
 
 THB OVERLORDS OF THE CZAR's ADVANCING POWER IN 
 THE FAR EAST 
 
 GENERAL GRODEKOFF, Governor of eastern Si- 
 beria and Manchuria, and Admiral Alexieff, execu- 
 tive representative of the Russian government in south 
 Manchuria and upon the Oriental seas, were both very- 
 frank, very open, and astonishingly independent in their 
 opinions — astonishingly independent, that is, from the 
 Anglo-Saxon view-point, which is that all Russians, and 
 especially all officials, have the same opinion, and that 
 that opinion is formulated for them at St. Petersburg. 
 Let us observe what manner of men are these overlords 
 of the Czar's civil, military, and industrial forces in Man- 
 churia. 
 
 You will hear about General Grodekoff a thousand 
 miles before you reach the capital where he has his head- 
 quarters. He is one of those vital personalities about 
 whom there is individual interest and mouth-to-mouth 
 gossip. "He is a simple man," you will hear one remark. 
 Another will say, "General Grodekoff is the hardest worker 
 in all Russia." "A hard worker, yes; but not so hard 
 as Witte, is he?" a third will interject. "General Grode- 
 koff fought with Skobeleff," remarked a German-speak- 
 ing Russian merchant, as our boat slowly paddled down 
 the Shilka River. "He did more than that — he was one 
 of Skobeleff's favorite officers," said another. (Skobe- 
 leff is the hero of all Russians. To have it said that "he 
 fought with Skobeleff" is a greater distinction than a 
 title.) "He is a bachelor; he has always been too 
 
 57
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 busy to nlarry," said another, and much more of the 
 like. 
 
 And so, from a medley of chance remarks, more of gossip 
 and with gossip's inaccuracy, most of them praise, some 
 of them censure, but all of them personal and full of 
 color, the individuality of General Grodekoff, who wields 
 all the absolute powers of the Czar throughout a territory 
 as large as the United States east of the Mississippi River, 
 grows upon you until it becomes a living thing. And 
 how simple, how direct, how strong this man is you must 
 lose no opportunity to observe. 
 
 Ask for an audience, then, the afternoon of your arrival 
 at Khabaroff . It is customary to receive callers only in 
 the forenoon, but audience is granted not for the next 
 day, nor for that night, nor in an hour, but instantly. 
 There is no "red tape" here, then, but an air of business 
 curiously American. An adjutant meets you at the door 
 and conducts you through an anteroom into an impressive 
 audience-chamber, where the Governor-General receives 
 deputations, delegations, commissions of every kind from 
 any portion of the sub-empire which he rules for the Czar. 
 At one end of this room is a raised platform, with three 
 great chairs upon it, back of which hang the portraits of 
 the Czar and Czarina. On either side and in front of this 
 platform two quick-firing guns command the hall. The 
 impression is that of naked power. You can understand 
 that a deputation of Chinese received in the hall would 
 go away with an idea of sheer force instantly available. 
 
 But you do not stop in this audience-chamber. You 
 are taken through into a plain office, with plain desk and 
 many papers in neatly arranged bundles. In a moment 
 a quick step is heard, and through the door of an inner 
 room General Grodekoff himself comes forward to greet 
 you. He is short in stature, broad-shouldered, bald- 
 headed, full-bearded, nervous of speech. He is dressed 
 in uniform, of course, and wears his trousers inside his 
 boots, according to the universal Russian custom. He 
 
 58
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 talks quickly, with precision of idea and direction of 
 manner. Force, energy, keenness, masterfulness — these 
 are the impressions he makes upon you. He knows all 
 about President McKinley. He knew all about President 
 Roosevelt, too (then Vice-President), and speaks of in- 
 cidents in his career. Both of them he admired. You 
 get the notion, though, that GrodekofE has not been a 
 great reader of books, and that the reason is that he has 
 been too busy. He has been the maker of materials for 
 books. He was an officer under Skobeleff. He knows 
 all about Afghanistan from having tramped and ridden 
 over and through it. The same is true of Persia. On 
 all these subjects he has clear and vigorous personal opin- 
 ions formed from actual experience. 
 
 Turn where you will, you will find this deputy of the 
 Czar informed, usually at first hand and from personal 
 observation. Where it has been impossible for him to 
 see for himself, he has learned from the lips of those who 
 have seen. He knows all about our situation in the 
 Philippines, and is not reserved in his opinion. He is a 
 master of Chinese conditions in comprehensive generality 
 and in particular detail (the secret of this was learned 
 later in China itself). Most of all, you note his unhesi- 
 tating frankness. No matter what the subject, he does 
 not pause for ready and full reply, and if there is hes- 
 itation he leads the conversation himself. Above all, 
 there is no attempt to impress or to please or to do any- 
 thing else than simply to meet you face to face on any 
 ground of possible mutual interest. To sum it all up, you 
 find that he is a man so absorbed in his work that he has 
 given his whole life to it. And this is the quality of man 
 whom the representatives of other nations must meet and 
 overcome wherever their interest conflicts with that of 
 Russia. It is a consideration worthy of as much thought 
 as the subject of Oriental markets and Oriental states- 
 manship itself, for no nation will be permitted to have 
 her own way on the Pacific or in the Orient until such 
 
 59
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 highly equipped and devoted men as General Grodekoff 
 are met and reckoned with. And Germany has just such 
 men, too. 
 
 Two more examples of the intellectual agencies em- 
 ployed by Russia in Manchuria, and you have enough 
 data from which to form a fair estimate. Admiral Alex- 
 ieflf, with headquarters at Port Arthur, makes upon you 
 the impression of almost abnormal alertness. He, too, 
 is a bachelor. His life also has been devoted, with the 
 enthusiasm of a boy, to the growing power of Russia. 
 He is perhaps fifty years of age, and instinct with nervous 
 energy. His step is impetuous. The whole movement 
 of the man is full of dash. His talk is the vocalization 
 of force; his attitude, even when sitting in conversation, 
 is that of bolt-upright intentness. Alexieff is informed, 
 very frank, open, never hesitating to formulate a reply 
 and giving you his opinion quite off-hand. He is as quick 
 in speech as is Admiral Dewey, of whom again and again 
 you are reminded when talking to him. His days are 
 full of toil; indeed, most of his nights are full of toil also. 
 
 There appears to be something about these men whom 
 Russia has set at the front of her advance which fasci- 
 nates them into a passion for work. Perhaps it is that 
 they are always doing something, and not merely talk- 
 ing about doing something. Each day things are to be 
 settled. Ships are to be sent hither and yon; movements 
 of bodies of troops are to be thought out and executed; 
 information is to be daily, almost hourly, received on all 
 kinds of important subjects; decisions are required on all 
 manner of cases, many of them of far-reaching impor- 
 tance; delicate conditions, constantly changing and newly 
 forming, are to be reckoned with, and reckoned with 
 accurately. In short, the great heads of Russian admin- 
 istration have enough, and more than enough, to do all 
 of the time. And the things which they do are tangible, 
 definite. They are things which afford a man the con- 
 sciousness, when he closes his eyes at night, that he can see 
 
 60
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 where his energies have gone during the day. Whatever 
 the reason, the activity, intelhgence, alertness, and im- 
 mense information of men Hke Admiral Alexieff strike you 
 most powerfully. And when one who had come to take 
 the measure of this man departs, he will find this one ex- 
 pression repeating itself again and again, "Equipped — 
 well equipped." 
 
 In 1901 , when the writer met Admiral Alexieff , he was in 
 supreme command of the Asiatic Russian squadron, and 
 also in command of all southern Manchuria. Into his 
 hand, too, it was understood, were gathered all of the 
 threads of Russian diplomacy and statecraft running out 
 all through the Orient. It was at that time predicted that 
 Alexieff would soon be the first and highest representative 
 of the Czar throughout I\Ianchuria and the entire Far East, 
 and even in Trans-Baikal Siberia. His elevation during 
 the present year to precisely that station has established 
 the reality of the impressions formed in 1901. Whatever 
 may be the future career of this uncommon man, whether 
 he continues indefinitely to enjoy the exalted confidence 
 of his sovereign, which is now his, or whether one of these 
 strange revolutions of autocratic favor shall reduce him 
 to an humbler place, all statesmen, of whatever national- 
 ity, who may during this period be called upon to meet 
 in negotiations or otherwise Admiral Alexieff would do 
 well to understand that they are dealing with a master 
 mind, a master will, and altogether with a masterful man. 
 
 While Admiral Alexieff was perfectly unreserved in his 
 conversation, while he talked with all the freedom of Tol- 
 stoi — as indeed was the case with General Grodekoff — the 
 statement that the conversation was to be regarded as 
 personal necessarily excludes a repetition of anything said 
 by either, or even an intimation of their views, utterances 
 of opinion, or assertions of fact; and none of the extracts 
 of conversation given either heretofore or hereafter in this 
 volume came from either of them in the remotest degree. 
 Indeed, it may as well be stated here as elsewhere that 
 
 61
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 significant utterances quoted in this book are, of course, 
 given without the violation of any confidence. This state- 
 ment is, no doubt, quite unnecessary, but is made out of 
 excess of caution. 
 
 Interesting as are the personalities of General Grode- 
 koff and Admiral Alexieff, so much space would not be 
 devoted to them merely on their personal account; for 
 this volume is neither biography nor character study, and 
 either or both of these men may to-morrow be removed 
 to other fields of duty, and at best, of course, as is the case 
 with all of us, the period of human life will soon take them 
 out of active work. But these careful descriptions of 
 them are set forth because they are genuine types of the 
 highest class of Russian administrators. Should either of 
 them die or be removed their places will be filled with 
 men so much of the same stamp, quality, and experience 
 that, allowing for the difference of personality, their succes- 
 sors might be the same men. It is the type, the quality, 
 the preparedness of the men whom Russia puts in charge 
 of her foreign business that these sketches of Alexieff and 
 Grodekoff are designed to bring to the mind of the reader. 
 
 You may credit all that you read in detraction of Rus- 
 sian officials, if you like; but you may credit it and still 
 understand that, in her important positions, and particu- 
 larly at her strategic outposts of empire, where she is 
 coming in contact with the other powers of the world, 
 Russia will have just such men as Alexieff and Grodekoff; 
 for throughout the vast web of the Russian administra- 
 tive system her agents undergo every possible test, are 
 subjected to every possible temptation; and it appears to 
 be the purpose of the government to place at critical 
 points, like Manchuria, about which are swirling the am- 
 bitions, schemes, and physical activities of other nations, 
 none but those whom experience has shown to be the 
 strongest men in the whole administrative estabHshment, 
 civil, naval, and military, throughout the dominions of 
 the Czar. 
 
 6?
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Let us now take a typical railway administrator, who is 
 neither governor or engineer or soldier, and yet who is 
 every one of them in education, experience, and natural 
 aptitude. An excellent type of the civil officer that 
 Russia sends to do her work is Mr. Girshmann, the 
 administrator of the southern divisions of the Manchurian 
 railway. A very hearty, ofif-hand man you will find 
 him. He, too, was a soldier in the Turkish war; he, too, 
 has seen service in the Caucasus; he, too, has constructed 
 other railroads for Russia; he, too, has read many books, 
 and is instructed by personal experience. He gives you 
 the impression of steady and informed intelligence, 
 thoroughly awake and well in hand. Like Grodekoff 
 and Alexieff, he is an incessant worker. Having had a 
 hard day and night, the interpreter wanted a little rest. 
 
 "Why," exclaimed Mr. Girshmann, "I have not had a 
 wink of sleep for two nights running, and I feel quite 
 fresh." 
 
 The occasion for this unusual exertion was the destruc- 
 tion of his grades and bridges by the flood of August, 1901. 
 
 The energy of this administrator, his attention to de- 
 tails, and his comprehensive knowledge suggested inquiry 
 concerning him. It was found that he was at work usual- 
 ly ten hours out of the twenty-four, every day of the year. 
 Frequently he works as much as sixteen hours a day, a 
 thing you will not understand until you see with your own 
 eyes what he has to do. Every day, ten hours of work 
 always, and sometimes much more — very much like an 
 ambitious young American building his fortune in one of 
 the great cities of the United States; and yet this man, 
 more than fifty years of age, is an imperial railway ad- 
 ministrator in south Manchuria. 
 
 Such energy and application are not characteristic of 
 the Russian, however; the reverse is very much the rule. 
 Indeed, his slothfulness is one of the striking charac- 
 teristics of the Slav. 
 
 After learning about Mr. Girshmann, you would not be 
 
 63
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 surprised to find that, though the railway was then only 
 in the process of construction, it was, nevertheless, haul- 
 ing local traffic for more than two hundred miles, from 
 its southern terminus at Port Arthur. Although the track 
 was then given up to the construction and material 
 trains, the income from this local traffic, for three months 
 of the spring of 1901, was 700,000 rubles ($350,000). This 
 gives you a hint of the paying possibilities of this property 
 when completed. It gives you a hint, too, of what this 
 railway will do for the development of the resources and 
 the people of Manchuria. It gives you a further hint of 
 what the road will do in the development of the commerce 
 of the world. 
 
 "The road," said Mr. Girshmann, "will pay very 
 heavily. You can see for yourself, on these southern di- 
 visions, how enormous the traffic will be. Look at that" 
 — pointing to large piles of beans in bags, tobacco in 
 bales, native wine in boxed bottles and casks — "and at 
 that" — pointing to a side track crowded with cars, 
 every one loaded to its utmost capacity with freight, all 
 waiting to be moved. "Surely, you have noticed con- 
 siderable passenger traffic on these southern divisions. 
 You ask what will be the government's policy as to tariff 
 duties on imports. That is not within my province. 
 But there is, at the present time at least, no reason for 
 it; for we are as yet an importing nation, so far as Man- 
 churia is concerned. In fact, generally, Russia cannot 
 be said to be an exporting nation yet. What our con- 
 dition in that respect will be fifty or a hundred years 
 from now is a different matter. What our final policy 
 will be, who shall say ? Russian history will show you that 
 events have sliaped our policy in spite of ourselves. A 
 man like me must act — not dream. Here we are and 
 here is my daily task. I am happy in it and I hope I 
 am useful to my country and my Czar. What it will 
 lead to is in God's hands." That expression is thor- 
 oughly Russian. From priest and peasant to the Czar 
 
 64
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 himself it is always, "as God wishes," or "it is in God's 
 hands." 
 
 The passenger traffic to which Mr. Girshmann called 
 attention was, of course, almost exclusively Chinese. 
 The German representative of the great German firm 
 of Kuntz & Albers was observed; several Russian officers, 
 of course, were present; but the great bulk of the pas- 
 sengers were Chinamen. Here was a Chinese merchant 
 travelling to New - Chwang, mere a Chinese official on 
 his way to Pekin; for wherever the railroad has gone 
 in a country peopled by the Chinese, they have taken 
 very kindly to it, after they have failed to destroy it. 
 On the road from Tien-Tsin to Pekin, for example, you 
 may observe them waiting at the station, exactly as 
 Americans do here; rushing for the cars, exactly as we 
 do here; trying to get the best seats, just as an excursion 
 crowd does in our own country. But the Russian manage- 
 ment of them seems to suit them better than their treat- 
 ment by any other Europeans which the writer has ever 
 observed. Indeed, the hostility with which the China- 
 man regards European physical encroachments, like the 
 building of new railroads, etc., in any part of China 
 (which hostility you feel in the very air), was not ap- 
 parent in Manchuria. As has been observed, many 
 Russian towns were building; and the Chinese appeared 
 to take very kindly to it, even when they were not em- 
 ployed in the work. 
 
 The town of Harbin, in the exact centre of Manchuria, 
 is by far the best illustration of Russian constructive- 
 ness in the interior. It has well-built houses. It is ad- 
 mirably laid out. Its streets have the characteristic 
 Russian breadth and generosity. Its trade is already 
 active. Even in 1901, when its building was not yet 
 completed, it had well - equipped stores. The Russo- 
 Chinese Bank was already there. The Greek Orthodox 
 Church was there, too. To the person familiar with 
 Russian methods in a new country it is, perhaps, un- 
 
 5 65
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 necessary to mention that these financial and spiritual 
 agencies of the Russian people had already established 
 themselves. The Russo-Chinese bank , in 1 90 1 , was housed 
 in some not-imposing Chinese-constructed buildings; but 
 it is said that at this focus-point of constructive activity 
 in Manchuria this branch of the imperial finance ministry 
 was to have in a short season very handsome quarters. 
 The Russian church also was a temporary afifair — much 
 more unsubstantial than the church edifices of other and 
 comparatively unimportant Russian Manchurian towns. 
 But as soon as the Russians can get a breathing spell at 
 this point, about which at present their energies most 
 actively play and swirl, a cathedral of the Greek Orthodox 
 Church is to be erected, so that, in the centre of Harbin, an 
 architectural spectacle will present itself with which every 
 traveller within the Czar's dominions, whether in European 
 Russia or Siberia or elsewhere, is familiar — a splendid 
 church building, noble in dimensions and magnificent 
 in equipment. What Harbin will be eventually was, in 
 1 90 1, indicated by the extraordinary activity in the 
 construction of brick buildings in New Harbin; for it 
 must be known that there are two or three or more 
 Harbins, all within a stone's - throw of one another. 
 Eventually they will all be joined together. In short, at 
 Harbin and at Dalni, and, indeed, in other towns in Man- 
 churia, Russia appears to be doing with autocratic in- 
 stantaneousness what other pioneer peoples do gradually. 
 
 The designers of Harbin have not forgotten the amuse- 
 ments of the people; and a piece of ground where, genera- 
 tions ago, the Chinese had planted a great row of trees, 
 has been made into a park, with band-stands, children's 
 swings, seats in the shade, and all of the conveniences 
 of popular pleasure with which we equip our parks here 
 in America. 
 
 Of course, Harbin is the railway headquarters in Man- 
 churia. It is from here that the provisions and material 
 for Mveral divisions of the road, east, west, and south of 
 
 66
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Harbin are distributed. And this may give Harbin a so 
 much greater appearance of importance than it would 
 otherwise have that perhaps we ought not to take it as a 
 measure of the ordinary Russian urban achievement in 
 Manchuria. On the other hand, this town will not 
 appear very imposing to the American or European who 
 now passes through it on the completed railway, coming, 
 as he does, fresh from towns and cities long since built 
 and administered. But it is nothing short of imposing 
 in comparison with the condition which preceded it. 
 It is an admirable work, when we bear in mind, as the 
 observer of the Russian advance in Manchuria must al- 
 ways do, that on the spot where Harbin stands there 
 was little safety, either to person or property, less than a 
 decade ago.* 
 
 ' Two considerable flouring - mills have been built in Harbin 
 since the author was there, one of them, it is said, with a daily 
 capacity of several hundred barrels.
 
 VI 
 
 RESULTS OF RUSSIAN RAILWAY ADVANCE 
 
 THE results of Russian railway advance were, in 1901, 
 by far the most general and absorbing subjects of 
 conversation among non-Russian foreigners in the Far 
 East. Indeed, from the beginning of the Siberian road, 
 the consequences of this extraordinary enterprise have 
 occasioned anxious thought in the minds of every care- 
 ful student of the world's material activities. And, as 
 will be seen, Russia's Manchurian railroad is only another 
 step in her railway extension to the Orient, of which the 
 Siberian railway was the first step. The purposes of the 
 Manchurian railway, as given by Engineer-in-Chief Tugo- 
 vitch, have already been set out, as have the comments 
 of Administrator Girshmann. But, perhaps, an indepen- 
 dent analysis, illustrated by various observations made on 
 the ground, may also be helpful to an understanding of 
 the meaning and effect of this greatest agency of civiliza- 
 tion which the Czar has employed in the Russian advance 
 upon the Pacific. 
 
 To what, then, will this railroad which Russia is build- 
 ing through Manchuria lead? What results will follow 
 its completion and operation? He is a daring reasoner 
 who would attempt to deduce all the consequences. The 
 man would be called an immoderate dreamer who should 
 suggest to the world, which looks upon this industrial 
 phenomena from afar, what appear to be cer'^ainties to 
 those who survey the ground itself. No one but two or 
 three prophets of empire, such as Russia, with all her 
 deficiencies, is so fortunate as always to have about the 
 
 68
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Czar at St. Petersburg, understood the sure results of 
 the great Siberian railroad. Most men regarded it as a 
 military enterprise only; although why Russia should 
 exhaust herself in military enterprises which in them- 
 selves would bear no fruit seems not to have suggested 
 itself to most non-Russian thinkers. 
 
 But the Siberian railway was no sooner completed to 
 Irkutsk than a steadily swelling volume of Russian emi- 
 grants began to pour all over the agricultural portions of 
 western and central Siberia, irrigating that neglected land 
 with the fertilizing fluid of human effort. No sooner was 
 the railroad extended to Stretensk, at the head of the 
 navigation of the Shilka and Amur rivers (hundreds of 
 miles east of Irkutsk, and yet almost thousands of miles 
 from the Pacific), than this current of Slav peasantry 
 ran still farther eastward, spreading itself to right and 
 left, until finally the Russian agriculturist and miner were 
 slothfuUy at work, even to the very shores of the ocean. 
 
 Trade, which had been nothing but barter, rapidly in- 
 creased to the dignity of commerce. Fields which for 
 centuries had been only pasture-lands grew golden with 
 grain, even under the negligent and wasteful methods 
 of the Russian farmer. Mines which, since the days of 
 Ivan the Terrible, had been little more than rumor be- 
 came richly productive, notwithstanding the stupid legal 
 restrictions and the sleepy Muscovite inertia which ex- 
 ploited them. Cities with beautiful homes, astonishing 
 public buildings, commercial houses so considerable that 
 you must see them to believe that they exist, and temples 
 of worship magnificent in size, decoration, and design, 
 sprang into being where not so long ago the nomad camp- 
 ed or the Chinaman revelled in his village dirt. Such 
 had been the practical results of the building of the 
 Siberian railroad. Such were the results of the build- 
 ing of our own transcontinental lines, except, of course, 
 that the greater intelligence, greater energy, and higher 
 general sum of modern qualities which distinguish the 
 
 69
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 American from every other people produced along our 
 transcontinental lines consequences larger, higher, more 
 miracle-like. 
 
 But, without entering into speculation which might be 
 disputed, what are the obvious consequences, the small 
 and immediate effects, which will be produced by the 
 Manchurian railway? It is one of the few defects of 
 our race and our present system that we look only to 
 immediate results. We are intent only upon "the in- 
 stant need of things," as Kipling puts it. It is one of our 
 shortcomings, which many a temporary set-back must 
 remedy, that we do not take thought for the morrow. 
 The Enghsh look farther ahead in foreign matters than 
 do we as a nation, but even the English do not have so 
 much concern for distant results of her policies as do 
 the Russians. A keen English observer records of an 
 English Oriental merchant who, in response to the point- 
 ing out of the decline of British commerce in the Far 
 East, unless improvement occurred in the out-of-date 
 methods of English trade conditions, said: "What do I 
 care for the future? We are not here for the benefit of 
 posterity." But we Americans are already improving in 
 this, and our foreign commercial necessity will some day 
 make our foreign commercial policy rational, continuous, 
 and far-sighted. 
 
 But we are examining the railway features of the Rus- 
 sian advance towards the Pacific. Let us, then, look at 
 the immediate aspects of this railway, which is by far the 
 greatest single work of construction recently accom- 
 plished anywhere in the world. 
 
 First of all, the road branches off from the Siberian 
 railroad about one thousand miles from Vladivostock 
 and takes a practically straight course, a little to the north 
 of the middle of Manchuria, to Vladivostock. Thus the 
 port of Vladivostock, on the Pacific, is directly connected 
 with Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Paris, without 
 varying the mode of transportation, or even changing cars. 
 
 70
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 In the second place, this road, on its way to Vladivo- 
 stock, cuts a great artery of Manchuria, the Sungari River, 
 several hundred miles south of the point where this prin- 
 cipal commercial tributary of the Amur empties into the 
 larger stream. Thus, water communication is secured 
 with the rich mining and agricultural Russian provinces 
 north of the Amur River (for the Amur, impracticable 
 for most of its course on account of sand-bars and rocks, 
 is profitably navigable for several hundred miles from 
 where this Manchurian river empties into it). 
 
 But the harbor at Vladivostock is frozen part of the 
 year, and so, in the third place, the Russians were build- 
 ing, at the time of the author's investigations, and have 
 now completed, another branch of this road from Harbin, 
 the point where the Sungari River is crossed, almost due 
 south to Port Arthur and Dalni, on the never-frozen sea. 
 This branch passes through the most populous and pro- 
 ductive portions of Manchuria, and connects Russia and 
 all of Europe with splendid ports, on Oriental waters, open 
 all the year round. Changed conditions have changed 
 Russia's plans, and this new branch now becomes itself 
 the principal line. 
 
 First of all, then, Oriental passenger travel to Europe 
 is turned westward through the Russian Empire. A 
 quick, comparatively pleasant, and comparatively cheap 
 method of transportation is provided for all European 
 business-men who want to reach Asia, and for all Asiatic 
 business-men who want to visit Europe. Personal com- 
 munication is established between the civilization of Eu- 
 rope, on the one hand, and the chaos of vital humanity and 
 disintegrating institutions in the Orient, on the other hand. 
 Think of the Oriental, for ages separated from the rest of 
 the world, travelling from Pekin to Paris in a fortnight. 
 A true Arabian Nights tale this, and more astonishing. 
 The profound significance of this circumstance was prob- 
 ably not foreseen by its Russian creators. It is one of those 
 larger meanings which always accompany any really 
 
 71
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 great work of man ; the achievement of that work always 
 has results so vast and momentous as to startle those who 
 undertook the original enterprise. Witness the immediate 
 purpose and final results of Bismarck's plan of German 
 federation ; witness the original intention and the ultimate 
 result of our late war with Spain ; witness the development 
 of all large and permanent national policies; witness the 
 original purpose and final results of any of the great move- 
 ments of history. 
 
 So of these Russian railways in Asia. Already passen- 
 ger-trains running westward are well filled with European 
 business -men returning home; and among them, even 
 now, is a sprinkling of Chinese merchants on their way to 
 the capitals of Europe. Even in 1901 the passenger-trains 
 travelling eastward on the Siberian road were well filled 
 with Russians, Germans, Frenchmen, an occasional Eng- 
 lishman, and sometimes an American journeying tow- 
 ards the Orient — this, too, when the road was uncom- 
 pleted, and with days and weeks of vexatious discomfort 
 on forest-fringed rivers. For remember that, until last 
 year, a hard journey of many days on the Amur and 
 Shilka rivers was necessary before you could board the 
 Siberian train at Stretensk. 
 
 With the Manchurian line finished, nearly all the busi- 
 ness-men of Europe and China will travel by this route. 
 They can go from Pekin to Moscow in three weeks, in trains 
 equipped with most modern conveniences and luxuries. 
 Where, until now, one Chinese merchant visited European 
 markets in person, hereafter one hundred will do so. 
 Where, formerly, one European business-man investigated 
 commercial conditions in China in person, a hundred will 
 do so hereafter; and all of them who take this trip will pass 
 through Russian dominion, breathe Russian atmosphere, 
 be impressed with Russian influence and power. 
 
 A branch of the Manchurian railway has been built 
 to the port of New-Chwang, hitherto the commercial 
 door through which most imports into Manchuria were 
 
 72
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 admitted. From this port a well-constructed railroad 
 runs to the very gates of Pekin itself. This line was 
 built by English engineers, under authority of the Chinese 
 government, and its bonds were held by a British syndi- 
 cate under a contract between the Chinese government 
 and the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, 
 the great Enghsh financial institution of the Orient. 
 Rumors were current in 1901 that this English syndicate 
 was ready to sell its investments to the highest bidder, 
 just as the owners of English ship-lines in the Orient 
 seem to be willing to sell out to the highest bidder. We 
 all know who that highest bidder will ultimately prove 
 to be. It will be Russia. 
 
 The Chinese Emperor has a richly constructed special 
 car on this railroad to Pekin. Immediately after the 
 Boxer troubles the administration of this road was taken 
 over by the allies, and its active operations intrusted 
 by agreement to the English military forces. This mil- 
 itary operation of the road by the English was still effec- 
 tive in the summer of 190 1. In company with the Eng- 
 lish general in command of the British forces in China, a 
 trip was made on this car from Tien-Tsin to Pekin. Re- 
 cent from a journey over the Siberian railway from Mos- 
 cow, fresh from the scenes attending the building of 
 grades, the bridging of rivers, the laying of rails, and 
 other incidents of the construction of the Manchurian 
 railway, it was difficult not to associate this continued 
 journey to Pekin with those great lines. Other passenger- 
 cars were filled with English officers on leave of absence, 
 going to Pekin from posts at which they had been recently 
 stationed near Manchuria. 
 
 One could not help remembering that at the World's 
 Fair in Paris a rolling panorama of the Siberian railway 
 was exhibited by the Russian government, taking the 
 travellers from Moscow directly by rail to the very gates 
 of the Chinese capital. And it is not unreasonable to 
 foresee a joiirney of the Chinese ruler to the courts and 
 
 73
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 capitals of Europe. When this imperial journey takes 
 place — indeed, when any man takes this trip — the first 
 flag that greets his vision when he passes the Great Wall 
 will be the colors of Russia. As he speeds upon his jour- 
 ney he will behold at every station the uniform of Russia; 
 every hour he will hear the speech of Russia. For days 
 and nights and nights and days he will pass through the 
 unending territories of Russia. As he rolls rapidly west- 
 ward, Russian conditions increase; Russian flags multiply; 
 Russian atmosphere thickens, until finally, when he steps 
 from his train in Moscow, he feels the very beat of the 
 heart of the Russian nation. 
 
 It will be hard for that man ever to get away from the 
 feeling that the great power of the future is Russia. No 
 ordinary Oriental mind will be able to overcome the im- 
 pression that the other nations of Europe are but inferior 
 states compared with Russia and that the bearded Slav, 
 notwithstanding his defects, is nevertheless the coming 
 autocrat of all the Asias. And if that conviction is 
 once fixed in the Eastern mind it will have an important 
 if not determining influence not only upon the com- 
 mercial conditions, but upon the destiny of the world. 
 The first thing, then, that is the plain result of the Man- 
 churian road is that the quickest — and in any case the 
 only — overland business route to China is through the 
 dominions under the protection and surrounded by the 
 influences of the Czar. 
 
 An English merchant, a German investigator, and an 
 American traveller were sitting under the tree before the 
 English Club, looking out upon the charming bay of 
 Chefoo. What were they discussing? Russia, of course. 
 In the Far East everybody is discussing Russia wherever 
 you go, and the Manchtirian-Siberian railway as the most 
 conspicuous illustration of her activity. The Englishman 
 closed an intemperate assault on Russia as follows: 
 
 "She will flood Oriental markets with goods from 
 Moscow and Tver, Smolensk and Lodz, and her other 
 
 74
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 manufacturing centres, as she will flood China with her 
 soldiers." 
 
 "That opinion seems absurd to me," said the German. 
 "It is unprofitable for freight to be shipped to the Orient 
 over the Siberian - Manchurian road. The distance is 
 too great, and freight charges, if based on nothing more 
 than operating expenses only, would be too heavy. The 
 world's trade with the Orient, so far as European exports 
 to China or any other parts of the Far East are con- 
 cerned, must long continue to be by water." 
 
 The careful student of traffic who goes over the ground 
 will be inclined to agree with this German opinion. The 
 Siberian-Manchurian road will bring very little European 
 merchandise into the Orient for some time to come. 
 It is too long a haul. At lowest possible rates, the 
 freight charge is so heavy that any thought of competi- 
 tion with ship-lines for that class of business does not 
 appear possible, for the present at least. Large Oriental 
 shipments of freight will go westward by the road to 
 Europe, but not the reverse. For example, all of the 
 finer brands of tea, which are so much injured by moisture 
 when transported by- ship, will hereafter be shipped 
 very largely by this railroad. Indeed, heretofore a con- 
 siderable part of this traffic has been by camel caravan 
 across the desert for many weeks, until the Siberian 
 railroad was reached, and then by rail. 
 
 As. elsewhere. Oriental exports to Europe, and all kinds 
 of freight requiring quick despatch, will also go by the 
 Siberian railroad; but European exports to the Orient, in 
 whose markets cheapness is an element of such moment, 
 must for the present continue to be by water. This is a 
 fact of first-class importance to America. We are less 
 than five thousand miles from Oriental markets, and our 
 competitors — Germany, England, Russia, and France — 
 are, practically, eight or nine thousand miles away by 
 water. Comparatively, Oriental markets are right at 
 our door; and very far away, indeed, from our European 
 
 75
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 rivals. And, for purposes of freight traffic, the Siberian- 
 Manchurian railroad does not bring our European com- 
 petitors any closer to the markets for which we are 
 mutually contending. 
 
 "Why, then," said the Englishman, "is Russia building 
 this road? Not for fun, I think!" 
 
 "Oh no, not for fun — certainly not!" responded the 
 German, "but for very far-seeing, long-headed reasons, 
 in which Russia surpasses us all. In the first place, 
 Russia considers nothing hers which she does not control 
 in a visible, tangible, material way; in the second place, 
 she is always looking one or two centuries ahead; in the 
 third place, the Russian people are hardly a people yet — 
 they are still in the process of being compounded. Our 
 children's children may find themselves worn out when 
 these thick-skulled, hairy, no-nerved Slavs are just coming 
 into their prime; and, similarly, our posterity may find 
 themselves without markets when the future Russian 
 may find himself in the actual possession of the only 
 markets of the world now capable of seizure." 
 
 This bit of commercial philosophy is given for what it is 
 worth. But, confining ourselves to the Manchurian road 
 at present, it appears that it and the Siberian road will 
 serve as highways for the introduction of European and 
 American products into the very shops of the merchants 
 and homes of the people in the interior of Manchuria, 
 and into the markets of Siberia itself, until a point is 
 reached where American merchants cannot afford to 
 ship farther westward and where Moscow merchants can 
 afford to pay the railway freights. And since America 
 is thousands of miles nearer to the Orient by water than 
 any European rival, including Russia itself, these Russian 
 railways through Manchuria and Siberia would naturally 
 become the principal distributing agencies for American 
 goods. 
 
 But two circumstances can prevent this result: First, 
 the placing of Port Arthur, Dalni, and New-Chwang under 
 
 76
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 a Russian tariff so that American importers will have to 
 pay heavy duties, whereas Russian importers will have 
 to pay nothing at all on landing their goods at these 
 Russian-Asiatic ports; or, second, a system of differential 
 railroad rates by which, even if the ports remain open, 
 the goods of every other nation except Russia will have 
 to pay such extravagant freight charges that none but 
 Russian merchandise can penetrate the interior along the 
 line of the road. But if railway rates remain uniform and 
 ports remain open, American commerce along the lines 
 of these roads will not only be considerably increased, 
 but actually multiplied manyfold. 
 
 "Do you not think that the long-hoped-for reform of 
 internal communication in China will begin as a natural 
 result of the railroad through Manchuria?" was a question 
 asked of one of the deepest students of Oriental com- 
 merce. (The greatest practical difficulty, you know, in 
 extending commerce among China's four hundred millions 
 is to get the goods into the interior; an internal trans- 
 portation tax on foreign goods — sometimes irregular, 
 exorbitant, and corrupt — consumes all the profits before 
 imports penetrate two hundred miles from any port.) 
 
 "Yes," was the reply, "I have thought of that myself, 
 and. Englishman though I am, I will admit that if the 
 Manchurian railway would break up the ruinous, foolish, 
 and villanous obstruction to foreign commerce in the in- 
 terior, the world should accept it as a blessing, notwith- 
 standing its menace to the supremacy of other powers 
 in the Orient; and no possible help to the Chinese could 
 be of such far-reaching benefit." 
 
 Let us see just what this means. The Manchurian 
 railway runs through about seventeen hundred miles of 
 Chinese provinces, mostly populated. Over this region 
 has spread that net-work of commercial obstruction 
 which prevents internal foreign commerce all over China 
 — that is to say, that heretofore the Chinese merchant 
 who wanted to transport foreign goods from one point 
 
 77
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 to another in China, has had to do it by carts over un- 
 imaginable roads (let us rather say imaginary roads), 
 or by boats, or, what is more usual, on the backs of 
 coolies; and he has been, and still is, literally "held up," 
 every few stages, by collectors of transportation tax. 
 (This is the famous "likin" tax.) This tax, even if it 
 were legally charged and honestly collected, would be a 
 serious enough burden on commerce to discourage trade 
 for any great distance in the interior; but the "likin" 
 tax serves as an excuse for numerous irregular collectors 
 to still further burden all transportation of merchandise 
 into the interior by exacting, under the guise of the 
 tax, arbitrary, illegal, and corrupt charges. 
 
 But the irregular collector of corrupt transportation 
 tax does not "hold up" the train of the Manchurian 
 railroad; it thunders by him unheeding. Indeed, the 
 traffic over the road is free from the regular "likin," as 
 will be seen when we come to the railway agreement. The 
 merchant gets his goods as quickly as possible to the rail- 
 way, and, for a fixed and definite price, his merchandise 
 is transported to distant points. Not by any other law, 
 therefore, than the irresistible operation of practical prog- 
 ress, the reform of this ancient abuse of the whole Empire 
 of China has begun. And when you reflect that, if 
 transportation of imports were free throughout the Chinese 
 Empire, foreign imports to the Chinese people would in- 
 crease almost immediately, with little effort, from two 
 hundred and fifty million dollars a year (the present 
 amount) to a thousand million dollars a year (and this 
 is the conservative estimate of the most conservative 
 minds), you will understand what the working out of 
 such reform would mean to the producers of America, 
 who are many thousand miles nearer these markets than 
 any of their competitors. 
 
 Think of America with a Chinese export trade of one 
 hundred millions a year — of two hundred millions a year! 
 And yet, unless our statesmanship is unequal to our op- 
 
 78
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 portunit\% we shall ultimately have a greater commerce 
 than that. 
 
 The stimulus to the commercial spirit of the people, on 
 the one hand, and the deadening effect upon govern- 
 mental obstruction on the other, which the railroad is 
 producing already in Manchuria, are astonishing only be- 
 cause we do not think of these things till we are brought 
 face to face with them. The local merchant who thought 
 no market possible to him except that within the reach 
 of his cart suddenly finds commercial limitations lifted, 
 and a demand for his merchandise hundreds, even thou- 
 sands, of miles away. The agriculturist or other pro- 
 ducer who sold through his little merchant to this little 
 market at no price at all, and with no demand, suddenly 
 finds that his products are sought for, and at compara- 
 tively better prices. It would be a low order of mind 
 which did not see the cause for this, and the Chinaman 
 has not a low order of mind; commercially, he has a very 
 keen mind. He finds the cause of this in a steel railway; 
 from this it becomes clear to him that to get to that rail- 
 way is the best thing for him. 
 
 Therefore he sees for the first time in his life the ne- 
 cessity for good roads. And although in 1901 the rail- 
 road was only in process of construction, and although 
 freight was as yet hauled along the southern divisions 
 only, and then merely as a matter of obliging mer- 
 chants, and not as a matter of business, little branches 
 of highway were already springing up and out from 
 this steel spinal column of commerce like growing trade- 
 nerves. As yet, of course, the improvement on these 
 roads amounts to little. You would not notice it un- 
 less you were looking for it ; but it is a safe prophecy 
 that within ten years from the completion of the Man- 
 churian railway fairly passable roads will lead from every 
 station for distances into the interior; and from these 
 roads others will gradually branch off. And so a peo- 
 ple hitherto segregated from their fellow - men will be 
 
 79
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 brought into contact with the other inhabitants of the 
 earth. 
 
 Good roads in China! Free transportation of exports 
 through the interior of China! Five years ago no seri" 
 ous thinker upon the development of commerce in the 
 Orient would have even talked to you about those sub- 
 jects, so impossible would he have declared them; for 
 the roads of China (and Manchuria is a part of China) are 
 impassable sloughs of mire in the rainy season and almost 
 impassable rivers of dust when the weather is dry. Only 
 in winter is transportation in Manchuria practicable, ex- 
 cept by boats. In winter the solidly frozen earth makes 
 a firm road-bed, and the snow gives possibility of speed. 
 In this respect Manchurian roads are like Russian roads, 
 but in all other seasons — well, an attempt was made to 
 drive to a Chinese town three miles from the point where 
 the Russians were building a railway grade, but it had 
 been raining for two days, and the cart sank to its bed 
 and the ponies to their bellies before the start was fairly 
 made. The road was impracticable, and that town was 
 cut off from the world. 
 
 "The theory of the Chinese government concerning 
 roads has been that if there were no roads insurrection 
 would be less probable and each community would be 
 more firmly rooted to its own village," explained a gentle- 
 man of forty years' acquaintance with China and Man- 
 churia. And the following patriotic reason was given by 
 the Governor of one of the Manchurian provinces: 
 
 "If we had good roads, the Russians or any other in- 
 vader could march right down into the very heart of our 
 country. To build a fine road through Manchuria or 
 any other part of China would be to invite invasion by 
 our foreign enemies." 
 
 "So you see," said a European traveller in the Orient, 
 "Chinese logic makes the building of fine highways the 
 very substance of treason."
 
 VII 
 
 MANCHURIAN RAILWAY RESULTS AND METHODS 
 
 I CAN tell you one result of the Manchurian railroad," 
 said the principal American agent for locomotives, 
 steel rails, and the like, located at a certain treaty port of 
 China. "America has sold the Manchurian road several 
 millions of dollars' worth of engines, machinery, rails, 
 and other railroad materials. In this respect, at least, 
 the Russians are still buying in the best and cheapest 
 market, and the best and cheapest market in the world 
 is our own. It is not so with the Germans," he con- 
 tinued. "We underbid every one for the railway ma- 
 terials and other steel products for the German works 
 at Kiaochou and the German lines in the province of 
 Shan-Tung, but we did not get the contract. The Ger- 
 man official explained to me that the German manu- 
 facturers demanded that preference be given to them, 
 and it was." We shall see why this was true when we 
 come to examine the German railway concession in 
 Shan-Tung. 
 
 "Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, No. , 
 
 — 1900." This legend on an American engine, running on 
 American rails, spiked down to a Russian railway grade 
 in Chinese Manchuria! Sordid or not, the feeling of 
 national pride is strong within the American breast when 
 this spectacle presents itself. It was seen many times in 
 Manchuria during the summer of 1901. Now that the 
 road is opened, you may see it for yourself; for most of the 
 equipment for the Manchurian railway is American, a 
 small percentage of it is French, very little is Russian. 
 6 81
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Mature reflection will convince any man who has been 
 through the locomotive works of Russia, and considered 
 the extent of her railroad lines, that she cannot, for many 
 years to come, supply her needed railway equipment. 
 Certainly this is true of all the Manchurian and Trans- 
 Baikal Siberian lines. After a while, maybe, she can 
 supply her own needs. And it is the "after a while" 
 that Russia is always thinking about. If Russia would 
 think more about the present than the future, and if 
 America thought more about the future than the present, 
 the future condition of one and the present condition of 
 the other would be bettered. 
 
 But what of the people of Manchuria? Just this of 
 them, then. As has been noted, they are being brought 
 into relation with the rest of the world. And they are 
 being given work of which they never dreamed. Wants 
 are being created in their breasts which the commercial 
 activities of all mankind will ultimately be called upon 
 to satisfy. Better clothing, better food, elbow-touch, 
 and mind-contact with their fellows — so much for the 
 people of Manchuria is this railway beginning to do. 
 Fate, which is weaving its great web of civilization 
 around the globe, has picked up at last this neglected 
 strand of people, and the shuttle is already carrying it 
 backward and forward and making it a part of the fabric 
 of material human progress. 
 
 As we have seen, Russia in Manchuria appeared to be 
 exercising care not to oflend the people or their prejudices. 
 Another example of this good sense was exhibited in her 
 policy of paying for the land over which her railroad 
 through Manchuria is built ; for it is said not one foot of 
 the right of way occupied by private persons was taken 
 without compensation. Not only that, but the com- 
 pensation was agreed to — often fixed — by the owner of 
 the land. This fact is of interest because of the popular 
 belief in America that Russia built her road through 
 Manchuria by the forcible seizure of the right of way. 
 
 82
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The railway company or the Russo-Chinese Bank (these 
 are the ostensible builders of the road, and we shall come 
 to this in a subsequent chapter) left the securing of the 
 right of way to the officials of the Chinese government 
 themselves. The Russians understand well these officials, 
 and the officials understand well their people. 
 
 So the Russians came to an understanding with the 
 Chinese officials; and even before that the Russian gov- 
 ernment had come to an understanding with the Chi- 
 nese government (for this road is built under a contract 
 to which the Chinese government is a party). And the 
 Chinese officials, thus brought into sympathy with the 
 Russians, remembering the intense prejudice of the peo- 
 ple against railways, mindful of their vivid superstitions, 
 satisfied, first of all, the pockets of the land-owners. 
 It is said that not a foot of private land actually occupied 
 has been touched by the Russians for which its full price 
 has not been paid, and in some instances more than its 
 full price. For example, it is stated that three thou- 
 sand rubles were paid for one tract of thirty acres — 
 that is, a hundred rubles, or fifty dollars in gold, per 
 acre. Of course, special reasons may have influenced 
 high payments. The average price paid for good land 
 and bad land was twenty rubles an acre, or ten dollars 
 in gold. Such was the apparently credible information, 
 which, however, could not, of course, be verified. 
 
 Sometimes the railroad will make strange little de- 
 flections to avoid a clump of trees; but it is not the trees 
 which the road is avoiding. It is the graves of which 
 the little grove is the monument. (A Manchurian land- 
 scape is often made strangely attractive by clumps of 
 trees scattered over it; and each clump of trees marks 
 a burying - ground or a village. It is said to be the 
 survival of an ancient and noble sentiment, neglected 
 now in China, which makes the Manchurian wish to 
 repose beneath the shades of the green foliage.) Some- 
 times, though, the expense of avoiding these burying- 
 
 83
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 grounds was too great, and the railroad had to pay the 
 family their own price for the land where their ancestors 
 were sleeping. Then the remains were exhumed and 
 placed elsewhere. 
 
 Of course, there are long stretches of the road through 
 uninhabited plains and mountains for which nothing at all 
 was paid. Parts of the line running through northwest- 
 em Manchuria, for example, traverse prairies whose soil 
 is impregnated with alkali. Nobody lives there. No- 
 body lives in the northwestern or northeastern moun- 
 tains, either. Nobody lives in some of the extensive val- 
 leys of northeastern Manchuria through which the road 
 runs. Most of the fertile agricultural lands in these tracts 
 are, and for decades (possibly centuries) have been, un- 
 inhabited. It is estimated by experts that not more than 
 one-fifth of the cultivable land of Manchuria is occupied. 
 
 Russians are not so expert in railway building as Amer- 
 icans; they are not so expert in anything as Americans, 
 except the art of establishing authority and maintaining 
 it without friction after it is established. And though the 
 Manchurian railway does not equal our great lines, as we 
 know them at present, its construction, com.pared with 
 that of the Siberian road, or even with any road of Russia, 
 excepting only two, is very good indeed. 
 
 Of the corruption and fraud in the building of the Si- 
 berian road, and especially the Ussuri branch from Kha- 
 baroff to Vladivostock, there can be no question, and the 
 fact is not denied. In comparison, the Manchurian road 
 is superior in solidity of construction, directness of route, 
 and honesty of building. Both fills and cuts are well done. 
 Even in 1901 short sections north of Port Arthur were 
 ballasted with rock, and the bed for a new road is sur- 
 prisingly good in these places. The bridges, particularly, 
 were admirable. However, it must be admitted that 
 there were signs of waste of power and material painfully 
 apparent at many places. It is not said that the Man- 
 churian road is ideallv built; it is said, however, that its 
 
 84
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 methods of construction are a distinct advance over those 
 employed in the building of the Siberian road. 
 
 And this further and redeeming fact is noted also, that 
 corruption in railway construction is being eliminated in 
 Asiatic Russia as well as in Russia in Europe, and, indeed, 
 throughout the whole world. Honesty of method is in- 
 creasing because civilization is increasing all around the 
 globe. Men are growing more and more upright from 
 principle, and from policy also. And it is something of a 
 defence of what some harshly call " commercialism " that 
 fraud, dishonesty, and all financial unrighteousness are 
 being eHminated, and gradually being made impossible 
 even, by the highly complex organization of the com- 
 mercial world. 
 
 Out of " the chaos and disorder of things" in Russia, as 
 a keen, young Russian engineer brilliantly phrased it, busi- 
 ness method, far more than moral improvement, is bring- 
 ing regularity, accuracy, and therefore honesty. For 
 example, Witte, Russia's finance minister and President 
 of the Committee of Ministers, the master mind of the 
 empire, has, it is said, applied to all expenditures a sys- 
 tem of audit through which the smallest item of outlay 
 must pass. The chief defect of this system is the cumber- 
 some minuteness of its examination. Witte and other 
 men of his quality of mind and will are the hope and sal- 
 vation of commercial and constructive Russia. 
 
 Here again is noted that circumstance (perfectly nat- 
 ural, but which at first thought seems unnatural) — the 
 beginning of reforms which extend to the home country 
 by new work away from home. 
 
 Take, for example, a most obvious, simple, and striking 
 instance. A Russian railway-train not only moves slowly, 
 but it stops at all stations, and when it stops it stops for a 
 long time. Officials go into the station with papers and 
 telegrams and all manner of bureaucratic over-systemiza- 
 tion. You would think that enough paper had been ex- 
 changed to start half a dozen trains. Suddenly an official 
 
 85
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 with a whistle blows a loud shriek — a very needle-thrust of 
 sound; but the train does not start and nothing is done, 
 and nobody pays any attention to it. Then a loud-sound- 
 ing bell is rung; still nothing is done, and no one pays any 
 attention to it. In a few minutes (perhaps five) the bell 
 is again rung, and again nothing is done, and no one pays 
 any attention to it. And a third time the bell is rung four 
 or five taps, and the people begin to move languidly to 
 the cars; and then there is blowing of whistles. Finally, 
 the whistle of the engine itself sends up its hoarse shout, 
 and the passengers embark, and when all are onboard the 
 train sleepily moves ofif. On but three lines in Russia is 
 there any more expedition than this. 
 
 It seems foolish, incongruous, that the reform of this non- 
 modern leisurelyness of Russian transportation methods 
 should begin in that Chinese Botany Bay — that fag-end 
 of the world, called Manchuria. Yet this is precisely what 
 is going on. In the two divisions north of Port Arthur 
 Mr. Girshmann had regular passenger service inaugurated 
 even in 1901. It was, of course, merely local and unim- 
 portant, and confined to carrying Chinese local merchants 
 and Russian officers; and yet the train started off like an 
 American train, with a single, sharp, swift signal. In two 
 cases people who had been in Russia came near getting 
 left. "I am doing away with that old practice," said 
 Mr. Girshmann, "or, rather, I have never introduced it. 
 We have new ground to work on here, you see, and it is 
 easier to establish modern methods than it is where cus- 
 tom has already fixed and forfeited ancient abuses." And 
 so it is that the reform of the transportation methods of 
 the world's greatest empire has begun at its farthest ex- 
 tremity and upon its newest work. 
 
 There are other reforms which will be wrought by Rus- 
 sia's appearance on the Pacific; for this brings her face to 
 face with the world's keen competition and its invigo- 
 rating association, more even than does her railway con- 
 nection with Europe. There is an indifference to prompt- 
 
 86
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ness, a lack of enterprise and expedition, an acceptance 
 of situations without speedy efforts to improve them, 
 about Russian railway administration (except on two 
 or three crack lines and trains), which are not in keep- 
 ing with the spirit and methods of the present day. 
 And when Russia comes in contact with American 
 enterprise in the Orient (and American enterprise in 
 the Orient will predominate in a very few years) , and Ger- 
 man enterprise in the Orient (and nowhere in the world is 
 German enterprise so vivid and dynamic as in the Orient), 
 Russia herself will catch the spirit of modern things and 
 fall in step with modern methods in her entire commercial 
 economy, but first of all in her railway administration. 
 And she needs this badly. 
 
 But do not imagine that all is industry and punctual 
 alertness in the Russian's work in Manchuria. Even there 
 sloth and carelessness are in evidence. For example, a 
 young engineer in charge of a bridge construction was found 
 reading a French novel in a rather sumptuous private 
 car on a siding in central Manchuria. The floods had 
 impaired the temporary bridges some twenty miles ahead. 
 Locomotives were in the yards, some of them with steam 
 up. We had arrived on a little push-car, made by a plat- 
 form, six feet by eight, lifted upon two sets of wheels 
 and pushed by Chinese laborers. The "master of the 
 distance" was asked to take the party to the break in 
 the road with his locomotive. He refused, saying it was 
 under the command of the young engineer. The young 
 engineer refused because — "Well, because, what's the 
 use?" said he; "you can't cross the river. You will have 
 to go back and wait till the floods go down, and so there 
 is no use disturbing myself for two or three hours to 
 get you down the river, twenty miles away." Yet the 
 river was reached and crossed, though with much hard- 
 ship and some peril. 
 
 At another station the following incident occurred. 
 Connection was refused because the assistant " master of 
 
 87
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the distance " had not ordered it, and the assistant " mas- 
 ter of the distance " had not ordered it because he was not 
 yet out of bed (it was eight o'clock in the morning). When 
 he was awakened he dechned because "the master of the 
 distance" had not ordered it; and he had not ordered it 
 because he was still in bed. When the "master of the 
 distance" was aroused he declined because no special 
 orders had been received subsequent to general orders, 
 telegraphed three days before. 
 
 " Yes, it is quite true that the general orders to forward 
 you when you wish are comprehensive and explicit, but 
 that was three days ago. I must now have special orders 
 to put these general orders into effect." 
 
 But when the methods of Mr. Girshmann are extended 
 over the whole Manchurian system ; when the Manchurian 
 road makes its connections with the great American freight 
 liners ; when the current of commerce is switched on from 
 all the world at Port Arthur and Dalni, these mediaeval 
 characteristics of Russian railway administration will dis- 
 appear, because the conditions that permit them will have 
 been destroyed. 
 
 Already the connection is beginning. Port Arthur is 
 unsightly with its yellow hills and noxious with its streets 
 of filth, and yet picturesque, too, in its cosmopolitan 
 interminglings. It is a military and a naval port also. 
 But while Russia is actually creating Dalni (it was said 
 in 1901 that she had 25,000 laborers at work on buildings, 
 breakwaters, piers, etc., and in the general construction 
 of this port on TaHenhwan Bay), Port Arthur serves as 
 the commercial terminus of the railroad until Dalni is 
 ready. Its harbor therefore was, as early as 1901, 
 crowded with the ships of all nations. From Port Arthur 
 you may go direct to Japan, Pekin, Cheefoo, Shanghai, 
 Hong-Kong; sometimes direct even to Manila, and always 
 direct to Singapore and Odessa. There are the crowding 
 and bustle and jostle of commercial activity. Already 
 there are three American commercial houses in Port 
 
 88
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Arthur, conducted with vigor and push. The principal 
 commercial establishments are German, as everybody 
 who has been around the world would expect. 
 
 " If the Russians will only continue to let imports come 
 in free, I ask nothing better," said a keen American 
 merchant, who is making his mark in Port Arthur. "It 
 is the best thing for them, too," continued he, "for even 
 if we Americans and Germans do the most business tem- 
 porarily these Russians after a while will get on to our 
 commercial methods, which would be worth more to them 
 than all the temporary rubles and copecks they could pos- 
 sibly make by monopolizing trade. Russia needs modern 
 business system more than she needs anything else, and she 
 will catch it from us if she rubs up against us long enough." 
 
 This young American was quite right, for within an 
 hour a Russian railway official made this remark: "What 
 we need is more of America's business method and system, 
 more of Germany's cautious aggressiveness and laborious 
 plan . We heartily dislike many things that seem character- 
 istically American ; they seem to us irrational. But one 
 thing all men must admit, America is the business expert 
 of the world, with Germany a close second, and, indeed, 
 with some points of superiority over even America." 
 
 At the wharf in Port Arthur was a great ship of twelve 
 thousand tons burden. It was flying the Russian flag: It is 
 a member of that ambitious maritime undertaking, the 
 "Russian Volunteer Fleet." Not many Atlantic liners 
 have accommodations for first - class cabin passengers 
 superior to this Russian ship running from Odessa to 
 Port Arthur. She is fitted up to carry emigrants, too. 
 This particular vessel had just landed fifteen hundred 
 Russian emigrants, and her freight-carrying capacity is 
 also fair. These astonishing ships — astonishing when 
 you consider that Russia is a land nation, when you 
 reflect upon the port they leave and the port they make — 
 constitute one of the world's fast lines. There is not a 
 modern device which thev do not have. No twentieth-
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 century comfort, luxury, or appliance of efficiency is 
 neglected. They are fitted to be auxiliary cruisers in 
 time of war — transports, commerce-destroyers, and what 
 not. But, over all, their chief use is in commerce. They 
 constitute Russia's water connection with the Manchurian- 
 Siberian railway. They complete Russia's trade circuit 
 around the world. 
 
 This "Russian Volunteer Fleet" deserves particular 
 attention. It is not only Russia's first adventure in a 
 large way in the fields of maritime commerce; it is also a 
 great practical training-school for Russian seamen. In- 
 deed, just that is its first and underlying purpose. Its 
 officers are accomplished navigators, carefully educated. 
 The crews of its vessels are young Russians taken from 
 the shores of Russia's southern inland seas. The fleet 
 draws a continuous stream of young men, carefully select- 
 ed, educates them by means of practical service, and 
 turns the best of them over to the already considerable 
 and ever-growing Russian navy. 
 
 In this way Russia is preparing practical seamen for 
 her navy and merchant marine, with which, in the course 
 of time, she expects to become one of the first sea powers 
 of the world, as she is already one of the very first land 
 powers on the globe. 
 
 Russia's "Volunteer Fleet" is characteristic of the 
 Slav race in three particulars — patient tenacity of pur- 
 pose, aspiration towards the world's waters, and large- 
 ness of plan and execution. With her "Volunteer Fleet" 
 on the sea the Russian nation is doing, as a government 
 and a people, in the twentieth century what Peter the 
 Great did at Saardam, Holland, in the latter part of the 
 seventeenth century. This first of Russian rulers per- 
 sonified the silent instinct of the Russian people in his 
 determination to place the flag of Russia on Russian 
 vessels and launch them on the ocean highways of the 
 world. Nobody in Russia knew how to build a ship, 
 much less to navigate one. The Czar, who felt himself 
 
 90
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 inspired not only to give the orders for progress, but 
 actually to carry out his conception with his own hand, 
 went to the yards of the best ship-builders in Holland, at 
 that time the best naval constructors of Europe. He 
 worked as a journeyman in the actual building of sea- 
 going craft. 
 
 Everybody is famiHar with this charming piece of biog- 
 raphy, full of human interest and appealing in a peculiar 
 way to all men of all races who feel in their blood the 
 aptitude for the practical. Everybody knows, too, the 
 story of the beginning of the Russian navy by this re- 
 markable ruler. From the days of Peter until the 
 present, Russian statesmen and the Russian people have 
 steadily adhered not only to their great monarch's Far 
 Eastern designs, but they have even more earnestly 
 persisted in trying to realize his dream of Russia on the 
 ocean. And exactly as the Russian Autocrat went to 
 Saardam to work as a common laborer in the ship-yards 
 of Holland two centuries ago, so the Russian people 
 to-day are learning seamanship by real practice in the 
 navigation of the deep, on voyages as hazardous as can 
 now be made; for be it remembered that from port to 
 port the regular journeys of the ships of the " Russian 
 Volunteer Fleet " are the longest made by any line of the 
 present day. 
 
 They start from Odessa, in southwestern Russia, and, 
 sailing across the Black Sea, pass through the Dar- 
 danelles, the Sea of Marmora, and the Bosporus, traverse 
 the Mediterranean, and, touching at but one Asiatic 
 port, Singapore, make land no more, except for coal, until 
 they tie up at the docks in Port Arthur, Dalni, or Vladi- 
 vostock, hundreds of miles north of Japan. Two of 
 these ships also start from St. Petersburg. It will be 
 interesting and instructive to trace with your pencil on 
 the world's map the course sailed by these modern 
 Russian commercial leviathans of the deep. When you 
 have traced such a line, and then remember the size of the 
 
 91
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ships, equal in tonnage at the time they were built to 
 any ship afloat, you vv^ill begin to understand the com- 
 prehensiveness with which Russia lays out her plans. 
 You will begin to discern also those contradictory ele- 
 ments in Russian policy — the element of national pro- 
 vincialism woven into world purpose. 
 
 For practical purposes, this remarkable fleet makes but 
 two ports — Russian Odessa or St. Petersburg in Europe, 
 the port of departure, and Russian Dalni, Port Arthur, or 
 Vladivostock in northern Asia, the port of destination. 
 Thus, practically without commerce except at Russian 
 ports, Russia sails almost around the world to complete 
 her circuit of empire.* 
 
 Largeness of design, comprehensiveness of purpose. 
 The Siberian - Manchurian railway from the heart of 
 Russia practically to the capital of China on the one 
 hand; on the other hand the "Russian Volunteer Fleet," 
 flying the colors of the Czar, from Russia's greatest com- 
 mercial centre in Europe to the terminus of Russia's 
 railroad on the waters of the Far East. So it is that the 
 Russian sailor and Russian railway-man clasp hands in 
 the Orient. Not that in this process they do not also 
 touch shoulders with the rest of the world. Whether 
 they will or no, these very agencies compel them to meet 
 in commercial fraternity the keen minds and daring 
 hearts of men of every other nationality. And so it is 
 that these two agencies of commerce and communication 
 are not only cementing Russian solidarity by land and 
 sea, but are also bringing Russia into commercial brother- 
 hood with the rest of mankind. And, finally, so it is that 
 the revolution of Russian commercial methods is be- 
 ginning where the hands of her commercial activities are 
 joined at the farthest outposts of her dominions. 
 
 * Russia is now beginning local seafaring service in the Orient. 
 For example, the East China Railway Company now have a reg- 
 ular line of steamers between Dalni and Nagasaki, just as Ger- 
 many has between Kiaochou and Shanghai. 
 
 92
 
 VIII 
 
 A DIPLOMATIC GAME FOR AN EMPIRE 
 
 I THOUGHT that Japan took the lower part of Man- 
 churia, including Port Arthur, as her price for ending 
 her war with China," remarked a travelled American on 
 board a great German liner bound for Hong - Kong. 
 (Among the very finest ship-lines of the Orient are those 
 of Germany.) "How, then, can Russia be occupying 
 that same land?" he asked. 
 
 It is a pertinent question, and its answer relates to the 
 most fascinating part of Russia's Manchurian advance on 
 Asia. It is a story that can never be completely told, 
 perhaps, by any one but Witte himself or the Russian 
 Foreign Office. In a nebulous way, the external facts, 
 however, are familiar to the diplomatic world, and careful 
 inqmry and the sifting process of judicial impartiality 
 give us a fair idea of those that are not in evidence. 
 Entire accuracy is not claimed and is not possible; but 
 general outlines may be drawn. 
 
 Attempts of any one to ascertain the foreign operations 
 of the financial and diplomatic ministries of Russia are like 
 the movements of a catfish in a mudd}^ pond — it can never 
 see clearly the details of its movements, and must be 
 satisfied with locating the general boundaries of its home. 
 So, in the financial and diplomatic plans of Russia, the 
 world is kept admirably in the dark till results first an- 
 nounce the purpose of which those results are the accom- 
 plishment; and even then the real history leading up to 
 them can be discovered only in large general demarca- 
 tions. The same is true, though in less degree, of the 
 
 93
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 diplomacy of the French RepubHc and of Germany, too; 
 whereas the plans of the Amercan Republic (and almost 
 equally of England) must be publicly debated before they 
 are adopted. With this admission of our limitations, 
 therefore, let us survey the head-lines of recent diplomatic 
 history in the Far East. 
 
 First of all, everybody will recall how the triumph of 
 China was universally predicted when the war between 
 that country and Japan broke out. China was big, ev- 
 erybody said; her reserve strength was so enormous, her 
 resources so inexhaustible, and so forth. Japan might win 
 at first. It would take much time to arouse the giant of 
 the Asiatic main-land. Yes, but once China was aroused, 
 impertinent little Japan would be crushed. This was the 
 belief of even the English Foreign Office. It seems in- 
 credible that the British ministry should have had no 
 better information and reached no wiser conclusion than 
 that of the rumor-fed crowd on the streets; but such ap- 
 pears, even to the warmest friends of England, to have 
 been the fact. At the beginning of the war, therefore, 
 England favored China, and, it is said, embarrassed Ja- 
 pan's naval operations on one or two signal occasions. 
 Not till the world knew that China's defeat was certain and 
 irretrievable did British statesmen appear to realize the 
 situation; and then their change of front was ineffective. 
 
 On the contrary, in this great Asiatic crisis (world crisis 
 it might properly be called) the intelligent, patient (her 
 enemies say unscrupulous) work of Russia's bureaus of 
 information throughout the Orient bore golden fruit. 
 Russia knew that Japan would win. She reasoned that 
 Japan would probably demand the cession of some portion 
 of Chinese territory, most likely the lower part of Man- 
 churia, which commands Korea; and on Manchuria Rus- 
 sia had long looked with desiring eyes. With that 
 celerity and address which make Russia's foreign states- 
 manship as much superior to that of other nations as 
 her internal and economic statesmanship previous to 
 
 94
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Witte's administration had been inferior, the government 
 of the Czar prepared for the restdt. 
 
 In this problem the Slav statesman had five factors to 
 consider: China and Japan, of course, and England, Ger- 
 many, and France. First, then, of France. Between the 
 French Republic and the Russian Autocracy exist the 
 most perfect and smoothly working governmental and 
 diplomatic understanding of modern times. It is a sin- 
 gular illustration of the influence of hatred and interest in 
 making a combination between two peoples unlike in tem- 
 perament, ideas, and methods. Their alliance was born 
 of their common fear and hatred of England and Ger- 
 many — of the numerous conflicts of German and English 
 interests with Russian and French interests. And so, 
 in their foreign policy, and particularly in their Oriental 
 diplomacy, they might almost be said to work as one 
 government. So far as the rest of the world is concerned, 
 French diplomatic agents in Asia operate in undersanding 
 with Russia; and the reverse is also true. Russia, then, 
 could count on the first trump in this game of empire. 
 
 Next, of Japan. Japan was, of course, the party whose 
 purposes it was Russia's object to defeat ; and her position, 
 therefore, was clear, and her play in the game was well 
 understood. She was a known and certain quantity. She 
 would resist to the extent of her strength when the pur- 
 poses of Russia were disclosed; but her statesmen could 
 be depended upon to restrain the national passions and to 
 prevent Japan from resisting beyond her power; and, at 
 the close of the exhausting conflict, entering upon an- 
 other war with a fresh power, her defeat would be certain. 
 Russia knew, therefore, just how far she could go Vv^ith 
 Japan. And, in connection with Japan, she considered 
 England as a quantity whose actions could be foretold 
 with minute certainty, and the limitations of whose Far 
 Eastern movements were as clearly defined as if they had 
 been traced on a map. It was taken for granted that 
 England would do nothing but protest, 
 
 9S
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 " Oho," laughed a Russian official, when speaking about 
 this very matter, "we knew very well that England would 
 solemnly protest, but we also knew as well that she would 
 also solemnly do nothing." (So far as that is concerned, 
 no nation is anxious to go to war with any other first-class 
 power.) "That is the reason why, from the day of her 
 last statesman, Disraeli, until now, we have not counted, 
 and do not count, on real opposition from England." 
 
 " If England had landed even a company of marines at 
 Port Arthur when we took possession," said a Russian 
 military authority, "we would have evacuated even after 
 we took possession ; for that would have shown that Eng- 
 land meant to fight ; and, of course, we are not going to 
 fight a great power when we can get our ends just as well 
 by waiting a few years." ^ And this is the picturesque 
 way it was put by an Englishman, disgusted with his gov- 
 ernment's Chinese policy: "In counting upon the assist- 
 ance of Great Britain, Japan believed she held a trump, 
 when in reality it was but a trick card, whose apparent 
 quality would disappear when it fell upon the table under 
 the fierce illumination of impending conflict, like those 
 manuscripts whose real writing is revealed only under 
 a certain quality of light." And so Russia did not count 
 England as a factor in the game. 
 
 But she did count Germany. Germany understood her- 
 self. Germany understood the Orient. Germany was 
 the only European power, except Russia, that had a 
 clearly defined Asiatic policy. Germany was pursuing 
 that policy with material and physical methods and 
 instruments. Drang nach Osten! Drang nach Osten! 
 Steamship lines; increased fleets; pushing, growing, and 
 gigantic commercial houses in the Orient; vast German 
 investments in Chinese enterprises; German merchants, 
 
 * On May 4, 1898, in a speech to the Primrose League, Lord 
 Salisbury actually said: " I think Russia has made a great mistake 
 in taking Port Arthur. I do not think it is any use to her what- 
 ever. ' ' 
 
 96
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 German clerks, German traders; German the keenest 
 commercial minds, and German the steadiest energy, 
 even in Siberia itself; German the best consular service 
 in the Orient and German the second best diplomatic 
 service in the Far East; and, in Europe itself, the best 
 army and the most highly organized system of trans- 
 portation ; the best - prepared net - work of mobilization 
 which the world has yet developed; a vital people, the 
 most assertive national spirit and the most vivid racial 
 esprit de corps in Europe; German one of the ablest and 
 most forcible rulers in the world ; German the most highly 
 trained corps of public men on the Continent ! Germany 
 must be reckoned with then. 
 
 Very well. Russia would reckon with Germany, and, 
 when the time was ripe for it, Russia did reckon with 
 Germany. Germany was brought to see that for Japan 
 to seal her victory with a part of China's territory 
 would be the beginning of Japanese supremacy through- 
 out the whole Celestial Empire. Japan would follow up 
 that victory with increasing influence in the affairs of 
 China. Japan would dominate the Chinese court. Japan 
 would reorganize China. Japan was herself Asiatic, and 
 the natural agent of Chinese reorganization. Japan's 
 superb statesman, Ito, was still in the meridian of his 
 wonderful constructive vigor. And with Japan securely 
 intrenched as the controlling power of China's four 
 hundred million inhabitants, the commerce of the Far 
 East would be forever dominated by the Island Empire. 
 The Japanese problem of finding soil upon which they 
 might live and resources which might be developed under 
 their direction would be solved. All of this was pointed 
 out to Germany, and all of this was believed to be true; 
 and it was just as true that these facts spelled the 
 commercial disadvantage of the German people in the 
 Orient. And, therefore, Germany was brought to see 
 that her interests and Russia's were identical. Thus 
 reasoned Russia with Germany, and thus German 
 r 97
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 commercial logic followed Russian diplomatic reason- 
 ing. 
 
 In all justice, it must be stated that Germany herself 
 is said by many to have been the originator of this alliance. 
 
 The last card was the Chinese government itself. That 
 government would be defeated. Russia knew that, and 
 was the only power that did know it, so superior is her 
 information concerning all Oriental conditions. 
 
 All that Russia had to do, therefore, was to await the 
 inevitable defeat of China, the sure and profound humili- 
 ation of the Chinese government, the consequent and real 
 danger of the overthrow of the present Manchu dynasty 
 at the hands of the outraged Chinese people. All that 
 Russia, had to do was to await the coming of all the cir- 
 cumstances which would make the government at Pekin 
 crawl on its face to any power that would save its life. 
 That power Russia prepared herself to be. 
 
 The end came. China was defeated. The hour was 
 striking for the formation of the triple alliance of Germany, 
 Russia, and France. Li Hung Chang, representing China, 
 and that extraordinary intellect, Marquis Ito, representing 
 Japan, met at Shimonoseki, and concluded the famous 
 treaty of peace which bears that name. By this treaty 
 Port Arthur, TaHenhwan, and the entire Liao-Toung 
 peninsula were ceded to Japan. It was not only a war 
 indemnity to Japan, but it secured the very points of 
 the Korean controversy which were the origin of the war 
 itself. 
 
 But now, when Japan was in the full flower of her 
 well-earned success, when the world applauded the diplo- 
 matic ability which had concluded one of the most ably 
 conducted conflicts in history (little, though, that war 
 was) ; now, when Japan stepped forth from the smoke of 
 battle, amid the applause of nations, to her place among 
 the powers of the world — a place earned by her civil 
 and industrial revolutions at home and confirmed by 
 glorious conduct in war by sea and by land; now, when 
 
 98
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 China was prostrate, humiliated, disgraced — at this su- 
 preme and psychic hour Russia made her carefully pre- 
 pared play, which in an instant deprived Japan of the 
 material fruits of her victory and the glory of her achieve- 
 ment, apparently rescued the Manchu dynasty from cer- 
 tain ruin, and bound it by the consideration of gratitude 
 and every form of obligation to Russia. 
 
 A joint note of the Russian, the French, and the German 
 governments was addressed to Japan, telling her, in the 
 politest of terms, and with the cleverest of arguments, why 
 the peace of the Orient would be permanently endangered 
 by her retaining possession of the Chinese territory ceded 
 to her, and expressing the hope of these "friendly" gov- 
 ernments that the wise, the peace-loving, and the humane 
 Mikado would save the situation by surrendering what 
 his generals' skill and his soldiers' blood had won. 
 
 At the same time there were gathering ships of war 
 between Japan and her prey. French ships came from 
 the south, Russian ships came from the north, German 
 ships hovered near. The Japanese navy was overmatched. 
 The attitude of the Russians was that of immediate and 
 determined action. Steam was kept up, decks cleared 
 for battle, and every dramatic effect of war was intro- 
 duced and employed with the skill of accompHshed per- 
 formers. It was, therefore, a lurid light by which the 
 Japanese statesman Ito read the note of Russia, Ger- 
 many, and France. He was out of money; he had just 
 finished an exhausting conflict; his navy was outnum- 
 bered if not outclassed. It is said that the Japanese 
 government in this gloomy hour of agony looked to 
 England, her natural ally; but England's face was averted 
 in indecision. 
 
 The Japanese nation clamored for war; but Japanese 
 statesmen knew that war at this moment, without power- 
 ful aid, meant defeat, and defeat ruin. Therefore, the 
 little empire broke her sword, submitted to her fate, and, 
 with her hand held in the mailed fingers of the alliance 
 
 99
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 which Russia had constructed, wrote the historic with- 
 drawal of her claim to and authority over the territory 
 China had ceded to her. 
 
 It was but two days after the ratification of the treaty 
 by which Japan became the owner of the southern shores 
 of Manchuria that she was forced to give them up, with 
 such swift effect did the triple alliance strike. Ap- 
 parently, in willing response to the note of the three 
 powers, but in reahty under duress of the alternative of 
 war, the Japanese government issued to the world her 
 withdrawal from every foot of land she had wrested 
 from China. This reveals so fully the method of diplo- 
 matic operations of this kind that the most of the Mika- 
 do's proclamation is here reproduced: 
 
 "We recently, at the request of the Emperor of China, appoint- 
 ed plenipotentiaries for the purpose of conferring with the am- 
 bassadors sent by China, and of concluding with them a treaty of 
 peace between the two empires. Since then the governments of 
 the two empires of Russia and Germany, and of the French Re- 
 public, considering that the permanent possession of the ceded 
 districts of the Feng-t'ien peninsula by the Empire of Japan 
 would be detrimental to the lasting peace of the Orient, have 
 called, in a simultaneous recommendation to our government, to 
 refrain from holding these districts permanently. 
 
 "Earnestly desirous, as we always are, for the maintenance of 
 peace, nevertheless we were forced to commence hostilities against 
 China for no other reason than our sincere desire to secure for the 
 Orient an enduring peace. The governments of the three pow- 
 ers are, in offering their friendly recommendations, similarly actu- 
 ated by the same desire, and we, out of our regard for peace, do 
 not hesitate to accept their advice. Moreover, it is not our wish 
 to cause suffering to our people or to impede the progress of the 
 national destiny by embroiling the empire in new complications, 
 and thereby imperilling the situation and retarding the restoration 
 of peace. 
 
 "China has already shown, by the conclusion of the treaty of 
 peace, the sincerity of her repentance for her breach of faith with 
 us, and has made manifest to the world our reasons and the ob- 
 ject we had in waging war with that empire. 
 
 "Under these circumstances, we do not consider that the honor 
 and dignity of the empire will be compromised by resorting to 
 
 lOO
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 magnanimous measures and by taking into qojjsjdpration the gen- 
 eral situation of affairs. ,«':';. 
 
 "We have, therefore, accepted the- advice of the frierdly pow- 
 ers, and have commanded our governm?T.t to reply c6 'the 'gov- 
 ernment of the three powers to that effect." 
 
 The next move in the game was to secure from China 
 authority to extend the Siberian road across Manchuria. 
 In further preparation for the accomplishment of this 
 end and object of Russian poHcy, the Czar's good offices 
 to China secured a reduction of one-fifth of the interest 
 on China's war debt and guaranteed the loan which the 
 Pekin government was forced to make, and without 
 which, or a similar guarantee, China could not have 
 negotiated it at all. Indeed, you will be informed on 
 high authority that this was the sole consideration for 
 the concession by China to Russia for the building of the 
 Manchurian railway ; that the rescue of the Manchu dynas- 
 ty had nothing to do with it; and that the "Cassini Con- 
 vention" and all rumored secret understandings between 
 Russia and China are purely mythical. But the course of 
 events gives credit and plausibility to the other view.which 
 well illustrates the ability of Russian foreign statesmanship 
 to "sense a situation" and anticipate unborn conditions. 
 
 The enemies of Russia say that it was in anticipation 
 of the difficulties, diplomatic and others, involved in such 
 a grant of powers that the Russian government (and, 
 if true, it shows how superb their resource is in foreign 
 affairs) caused the famous Russo-Chinese Bank to be 
 incorporated. The writer does not credit this statement; 
 it is here given only because it is current. But, even if 
 true, it does not appear that such a step is anything to 
 Russia's discredit. If true, it would appear to unprej- 
 udiced minds to be quite the contrary, and to display a 
 far-sightedness worthy of emulation by those who look 
 only upon to-day and then complain if the conditions of 
 to-morrow are not to their liking. 
 
 But it is not important whether the Russo-Chinese 
 
 lOI 
 
 LIBRARY 
 DIVERSITY OF OMmmA
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Bank was evoh e-d ,by Witte as a factor in this game or 
 not; it existed when wanted, and that was enough. Ap- 
 pHrent])^it.i,s nothing bat a private banking corporation 
 with capital, stock, stockholders, board of directors, and 
 all the other machinery of such a corporation. "In 
 reality," said a credible banker of the Far East, "it is 
 the financial agent of the Russian government through- 
 out Siberia, and especially the Orient. In reality it is 
 the financial end of the diplomatic machinery of Russia 
 in the Far East. In reality it is the empire of the 
 Czar engaged in the banking business." 
 
 All of this appears to be admirable rather than repre- 
 hensible; for Russia cannot be blamed for looking after 
 her own interests, and such a bank is the most powerful 
 of all agencies for the material advancement of Russian 
 trade and prestige. This bank, therefore, secured from 
 the Chinese government a contract by which to extend 
 the Siberian railroad across Manchuria, the Chinese 
 government giving the necessary authority. The founda- 
 tion or beginning of this concession is said to have been 
 the famous "Cassini Convention," negotiated by Count 
 Cassini, present Russian ambassador at Washington. 
 When the diplomatic world first heard rumors of the 
 " Cassini Convention " there was something like consterna- 
 tion in the cabinets of Europe, and notes of inquiry were 
 addressed to the Russian Foreign Office, which denied 
 the existence of such a treaty. But while the "Cassini 
 Convention" as reported may not have been concluded 
 in the terms reported in the newspapers, the concessions 
 were granted, and the road is now an accomplished fact.* 
 Thus does Russia proceed, where her foes inquire and pro- 
 test. It is not here stated that Russia ought to be checked ; 
 but if she ought, she must be confronted by a clearly 
 thought out policy, continuously adhered to and backed by 
 the certainty of something more than paper hostilities. 
 
 ' See the reputed " Cassini Convention," in the Appendix. 
 
 I02
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 You can hear all sorts of rumors concerning secret 
 understandings between the Russian and Chinese govern- 
 ments; it was at one time said that Li Hung Chang had 
 concluded a secret unwritten arrangement by which the 
 Czar was to be suzerain of Manchuria. Of course, all re- 
 ports of such secret understandings are rumors, and it is 
 impossible to tell whether there is any truth in them. 
 It may be said, however, that the observer becomes im- 
 pressed with a sort of atmosphere of Russo-Chinese unity 
 quite impossible intelligently to analyze. Despite Chi- 
 nese protests against the Russian advance and all the 
 hostile words exchanged between the two governments, 
 things usually come out as Russia wishes. Of course 
 this may be due to the superiority of Russian diplomacy, 
 backed as it is by armed force; but the rumors of a 
 secret understanding between the two governments are 
 worth noting merely to fill in the general picture. It 
 is again repeated that any unspoken, unwritten alliance 
 is not stated to be the fact, but merely the suspicion of 
 intelligent men familiar with the Far East. 
 
 Under concessions granted by the Chinese government 
 to the Russo-Chinese Bank, this financial arm of the 
 Russian government organized, under Russian laws, the 
 East China Railway Company. This company is the 
 builder of the road. It had a capital of 5,000,000 rubles 
 ($2,500,000), practically all controlled by the Russo- 
 Chinese Bank. But the actual capital for construction 
 was raised by an issue of bonds guaranteed by the 
 Russian government. Most of these bonds, it is be- 
 lieved, are held by the Russian government itself, either 
 directly or through the instrumentality of government 
 banks. Thus the money to build the road comes out 
 of the Russian imperial treasury directly. The report 
 of the Minister of Finance for 1900 contains the following; 
 
 The extraordinary expenditure is estimated at 192,945,424 
 rubles, including 25,195,258 rubles for the construction of the 
 Siberian railway; 3,418,524 rubles for auxiliary undertakings in 
 
 103
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 connection with that railway; 30.573,550 rubles for the construc- 
 tion of other railways; 43,758,092 rubles for the purchase of roll- 
 ing stock for the Siberian and other railways; 85,000,000 rubles for 
 loans to private railways, on security of bonds guaranteed by 
 government, and 5,000,000 rubles for indemnities to private per- 
 sons and institutions for loss of the exclusive right of selling spirits 
 in retail. 
 
 Though it is not stated that any of this expenditure 
 for that particular year was for the Manchurian railroad 
 specially, it is known that a great part of it was; and the 
 budget of 1900 states that the estimated expenditure on 
 loans to private railway companies, on security of bonds 
 guaranteed by the government, was 82,000,000 rubles 
 (about $41,000,000). Moreover, the report accompany- 
 ing the Budget of the Minister of Finance declared that 
 
 The losses of the East China Railway Company are very great, 
 owing to the destruction of a considerable part of the permanent 
 way in Manchuria, and the delay in the completion of the unfin- 
 ished line; these losses have had their effect on the budget of 1900 
 in the form of large grants, under the head of extraordinary ex- 
 penditure, for loans to railway companies. 
 
 So it is not denied that the great Manchurian railway, 
 built ostensibly by the East China Railway Company, and 
 financed by the Russo-Chinese Bank under a contract 
 with the Chinese government, is, in substance and in 
 practical reality, built by the Russian government, under 
 plans formulated in the office of the Russian Minister of 
 Finance and upon disbursements made from the Russian 
 imperial treasury. It is not clear where rational fault 
 can be found with the Russian government for this 
 method of procedure. 
 
 This railway company is also given certain mining 
 monopolies in Manchuria. Mining rights are usual coin- 
 cidents of a railway concession anywhere in the Orient, 
 and often constitute its most valuable element. Ac- 
 cordingly, Russian mining-engineers are carefully and 
 patiently investigating the mountains of Manchuria in 
 
 104
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 search chiefly for coa! and iron — gold is a secondary con- 
 sideration — and, of course, for any other mineral riches 
 which this possible addition to the Russian Empire may 
 contain. More than one of these Russian engineers were 
 met in the summer of 1901, and each of them freely told, 
 with the enthusiasm of the discoverer, of valuable deposits 
 which he had located. Coal, iron ore, and rich indications 
 of gold have already been found, and no one need be 
 surprised if oil and natural-gas fields, similar to those of 
 Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, be developed on the 
 other side of the globe. 
 
 The following are some of the items of the railway con- 
 struction agreement (actual language of the agreement is 
 here condensed): 
 
 First. The bonds of the railway company shall be issued as re- 
 quired, and only with the special sanction of the Russian Minister 
 of Finance. The face value and real price of each separate issue 
 of bonds, and all of the conditions of the issue, shall be directed 
 by the Russian Minister of Finance. 
 
 Second. The payment of interest on and amortization of the 
 bonds of the Manchurian railway shall be guaranteed by the Rus- 
 sian government when issued. 
 
 Third. The railway company must secure advances upon these 
 bonds through the Russo-Chinese Bank, and not otherwise; but 
 the government itself may directly, if it choose, take up the bond 
 issue as a government investment, or upon loan, advancing on the 
 bonds the ready money needed by the company from time to 
 time. 
 
 Fourth. Money received by the company for these bonds, no 
 matter whether it is received through the agency of the Russo- 
 Chinese Bank or directly from the government, or in any other 
 manner, must be kept at such places as are designated by the 
 Russian Minister of Finance, and absolutely under his supervision 
 and control. 
 
 Fifth. The ready money thus realized may be expended by the 
 company in payment of various items of construction, and, of 
 course, on interest on bonds as the same become due. 
 
 It thus appears that for all practical purposes the work 
 is the direct work of the Russian government, and that 
 
 105
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the Russo -Chinese Bank and the railway company are 
 nothing but agents. 
 
 The following are a few of the traffic and operating 
 provisions of the railway agreement. (Again a conden- 
 sation of the actual contract is given) : 
 
 First. The gauge of the railway must be the same as that of 
 Russian railways (five feet). 
 
 Second. If the Manchurian railway becomes inadecjuate to 
 care for the traffic turned over to it by the Siberian and Ussuri 
 railways or Russian ship-lines, it shall increase its capacity upon 
 notification of the railway named. If the Manchurian and Si- 
 berian railways disagree about this, the Russian Minister of Fi- 
 nance shall decide the question, and if the Manchurian Railway 
 Company has not money enough to make the improvements, the 
 Russian Minister of Finance may supply the funds, if he think wise. 
 
 Third. Freight, passenger, and all other kinds of trains running 
 upon the Trans-Baikal Siberian and Ussuri railway lines shall 
 be received by the Manchurian railway as if these separate sys- 
 tems were one system, in full complement, without delay of any 
 kind. The same rate of speed shall be maintained on the Man- 
 churian lines as is maintained by the Siberian railways. 
 
 Fourth. The Manchurian Railway Company mvist build and 
 maintain [it has done this already] a complete telegraph line con- 
 necting the same with the Siberian and Russian service. 
 
 It is thus seen that in the contract itself the railroad is 
 made for all purposes a mere extension of the Siberian 
 system. 
 
 Four more provisions of this contract are illustrative 
 of the effect of the road upon transportation reform in 
 China, already noted: 
 
 First. Passengers' baggage and goods carried in transit shall 
 not be liable to any Chinese charges or dues. 
 
 Second. The tariff (or rates) for the carriage of all other com- 
 merce of the road shall be free from Chinese taxes or dues. 
 
 Third. The amount of import and export transportation taxes 
 are fixed by special articles. 
 
 Fourth. The Russian postal service shall be extended over the 
 entire Manchurian system, and the Russian letter and parcel post, 
 together with the entire official machinery of the same, shall be 
 carried by the railway company free of charge. 
 
 1 06
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Finally, it is provided by this contract that the Chi- 
 nese government may purchase the road from this rail- 
 way company at the end of thirty years, and at the end 
 of eighty years the whole property shall revert to the 
 Chinese government without payment of any kind. 
 
 It is not intended at this point to set out technically 
 and in detail the provisions of the contract under which 
 the Manchurian railway is being constructed. Enough 
 is given to show the financial character of the enterprise, 
 its unity with the Russian railway system, the beginning 
 of tax reform even before a rail was laid, and, in general, 
 the legal outlines of the enterprise.* 
 
 Why, then, since the Russian government is in reality 
 building this road, does it not build directly, without the 
 intervention of the Russo-Chinese Bank as its financial 
 agent and the East China Railway Company as its con- 
 structing agent? Why is not the construction agree- 
 ment between the Russian and Chinese governments 
 direct instead of through these agencies? There are 
 many answers to these questions, known to those familiar 
 with Russian railway construction, but there is one sug- 
 gested which is of interest to other nations concerned 
 in the trade of the Orient. 
 
 That answer is that, if Japan or any other power ob- 
 jects to the Russianization of Manchuria, the Russian 
 government can, if it thinks expedient, reply that it is not 
 the work of the government, but of a private corporation, 
 whose interests, nevertheless, the Russian government 
 has the right to protect, as Germany has the right to, 
 and indeed does, protect the rights and property of her 
 citizens and corporations. 
 
 Again, if Russia sees fit to extend her power still farther 
 towards the Chinese capital, if she desires to proceed even 
 farther southward, to the very centre of China, and meet 
 the French lines advancing northward, thus making a 
 
 ' The entire railway agreement is given in full in the appendix. 
 
 107
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 great Franco-Russian trunk-line throughout the length 
 of the Chinese Empire (and that this is the intention is 
 thought probable by most students of the Far East), she 
 can do so through the agency above described, to whose 
 methods the Oriental mind has become accustomed and in 
 which the world has acquiesced. 
 
 And, in the third place, should it become desirable to 
 exclude the goods of all other nations (except such a 
 nation as Russia had entered into a private understand- 
 ing with) from the interior of Manchuria it could be 
 done by differential railway rates within the limits of the 
 agreement, and, upon complaint by any other nation 
 whose goods were thus discriminated against, Russia 
 could reply that the fixing of these rates was a matter 
 of business policy of the railway company. And so, 
 though the closing of Chinese ports now controlled by 
 Russia might be resisted by other nations vitally inter- 
 ested in the commerce of the interior, it is reasoned that 
 those nations could not effectively object to differential 
 railway rates, which would accomplish precisely the same 
 result. 
 
 And so it is that the Russian statesmen are extending 
 their net-work of power over Asia with a far-sightedness 
 not exhibited in the foreign diplomacy of any other na- 
 tion of the present day, except, perhaps, Germany. So 
 it is that England may find herself helpless in the presence 
 of accomplished facts and a series of impregnable diplo- 
 matic positions. So it is that quietly, plausibly, skilfully, 
 and by the lasting methods of material constructiveness, 
 Russia has achieved the first of her plans for the capture 
 of the only remaining uncaptured markets of the world. 
 So it is that, while England and America have been 
 wasting time on academic argumentations about un- 
 substantial theories, Germany has been forging ahead 
 towards the position of the first maritime power of the 
 twentieth century, and Russia has been placing on the 
 future the mortgage of her material dominion. 
 
 1 08
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "Yes," said a Russian, "you may be stronger now, 
 richer now, than we are, but we shall be stronger to- 
 morrow than you — yes, and all the world ; for the future 
 abides with the Slav!" Such expressions you may hear 
 again and again from young Russian gentlemen who have 
 not become government haters. For example, take from 
 another young Russian the following, which is striking; 
 "Would you know another name for Russia? Very well, 
 then, call her 'The Inevitable.'"
 
 IX 
 
 HOW RUSSIA AT LAST REACHED THE UNFROZEN SEA 
 
 PREPAREDNESS is the secret of most successes in 
 this world. Fate seldom makes league with the 
 unequipped. Events come marching into every century, 
 into every day, crying aloud for the nation or the 
 man who is prepared. Russia's foreign statesmanship, 
 admittedly the ablest of the present day, as her internal 
 development has been admittedly the most backward, 
 consists largely in reasoning out possible events from 
 existing conditions, and then preparing for them. Her 
 bloodless triumph over Japan , after Japan 's bloody triumph 
 over China, is an illustration of this. When the future 
 of Manchuria looked most hopeless for Russia, she was 
 in reality winning her right to build her railway and cre- 
 ating opportunities for permanent occupation, should that 
 ever appear desirable. But the right to build the rail- 
 way did not include the right to occupy the two coveted 
 ports on the open and ice-free waters on the south Man- 
 churian coast — Port Arthur and TalienhvN^an. She had 
 merely secured the right to build her railway across 
 Manchuria to her superb harbor of Vladivostock, which, 
 however, is open to commerce during the winter months 
 only by aid of ice -breaking devices. It was Russia's 
 desire to secure ports where ice did not chain the feet of 
 her commerce. It is believed that for decades her in- 
 tentions have been firmly fixed on the two excellent 
 Manchurian ports above mentioned. 
 
 Indeed, some outlet on the open oceans has been the 
 determination of the Russian for centuries. 
 
 no
 
 -THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 From the time of Peter the Great — he whom states- 
 men-for-a-day called mad, but whose vision embraced 
 all future Russian policy, so far as the eye of man can now 
 discern it — from the time of this marvellous mind and will 
 till now, one vast purpose of Russia has become so fixed 
 as to be almost a religion, and that is the determination 
 of the Slav to reach the seas where summer skies await 
 him and over whose waters the winds of commerce blow. 
 There is something pathetic about the patient eflfort of 
 the Russian to reach the oceans of the globe — to sail the 
 seas that other men sail, to make the ports that his 
 brothers make, and to meet his fellows face to face in all 
 the harbors of the world. There is something that wins 
 our sympathy in the Russian's almost instinctive attempts 
 to escape from his vast and mighty cage, unequalled in its 
 own extent though that cage may be. 
 
 For Russia is a cage and has always been a cage — the 
 prison of a race. On the west, milHons of gathering 
 bayonets of Germany and all Europe, menacing the Slav 
 with the perpetual possibility of war; on the south, the 
 Turk turning Russia backward from the Mediterranean 
 and the common highways of mankind; on the north, the 
 frozen Arctic; on the east, the savage and remorseless 
 tribes of Asia; and, later in time and farther in distance, 
 India disciplined, armed, and fortified by England against 
 the Russian's progress towards the Oriental seas. On 
 the east, again, and farther south, between Siberia and 
 India, the ancient empire of the Son of Heaven, mighty 
 in its day, but now in the period of its decline and falling 
 in pieces, yet forbidden to the Russian by the masterful 
 policy and power of England in former days, and later 
 by the jealousies and fears of other nations. Turn where 
 he would, the Slav could discern in the far distance the 
 world's common oceans, which he felt to be his common 
 right as well as the right of other peoples, but from which 
 man and nature had conspired to bar him. 
 
 And so, for this priceless privilege of the seas, the Slav 
 
 III
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 has for centuries been battling, until by sheer experience 
 in the concentration of his energies and thoughts on 
 foreign policy he has become the most finished diplomat 
 in the history of negotiation, and the first in foreign 
 affairs among the statesmen of the nineteenth and twen- 
 tieth centuries. 
 
 Thus had he armed his hand with that skill which easily 
 defeated Japan, easily discomfited England, and easily 
 secured for himself permanent rights in a dominion which 
 is itself an empire — an achievement so simply and so easily 
 accomplished that, to readers of the world's affairs, it ap- 
 peared to be sheer luck or else a very miracle. It was thus 
 he took his first step in Manchuria, and, finally, it was 
 thus that he found himself prepared to extend his advan- 
 tages, his railroad, his power, his dominion southward 
 through Manchuria, and to occupy and fortify the best 
 ports for commerce and war, with only two exceptions, on 
 all the coasts of China. Thus was realized at last a part 
 of his passion and his dream — open ports on open seas. 
 And so it is that the world beholds the beginning of the 
 fulfilment of the imperial Peter's policy. 
 
 Remember, then, that the original railway agreement 
 by which Russia began to throw her lines across Man- 
 churia did not include that branch which has since be- 
 come the trunk-line itself, running hundreds of miles 
 through central Manchuria to Port Arthur and Talienhwan. 
 But the Slav was on the ground. He was already build- 
 ing railroads, as contemplated in the initial agreement. 
 He had already rescued China from its conqueror; he had 
 already made the Manchu dynasty his debtor. Now he 
 patiently built his railroad towards Vladivostock ; and 
 while he built he patiently awaited the development of 
 events. 
 
 And events did not disappoint him. Once more the 
 ancient tale was told of fate conspiring with him who is 
 prepared. Some time before two German missionaries 
 had been wantonly murdered in the province of Shan- 
 
 112
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Tung. Germany demanded reparation. But the nego- 
 tiations dragged their weary lengths along. The peculiar 
 dilatoriness characteristic of Chinese diplomacy promised 
 to make all effort fruitless. Finally, the Geman Emperor 
 landed marines at Tsing-Tau, the port of Kiaochou, 
 seized the latter town and the entire bay. No opinion is 
 here expressed as to the right or wrong, the expediency 
 or the inexpediency, of this bold move. Germany's friends 
 pointed out, however, that her justification existed in the 
 apparent impossibility of securing terms from China. 
 Of course, the critics of Germany's action stoutly maintain 
 that she was merely paying herself for her helpful attitude 
 towards China in the past. 
 
 Confronted at last by the display of actual force, which 
 most European statesmen believe to be the only thing the 
 Asiatic anywhere understands, the Manchu Emperor made 
 a definite grant to Germany of the entire bay of Kiao- 
 chou, including the city and port, and a coast boundary 
 of land surrounding it. The salient features of this Kiao- 
 chou convention are as follows : 
 
 I. His Majesty the Emperor of China is willing that German 
 troops take possession of the above-mentioned territory at any 
 time the Emperor of Germany chooses. China retains her sov- 
 ereignty over this territory, and should she at any time wish to 
 enact laws or carry out plans within the leased area, she shall be 
 at liberty to enter into negotiations with Germany with reference 
 thereto, provided always, that such laws or plans shall not be 
 prejudicial to German interests. Germany may engage in works 
 for the public benefit, such as water- works, within the territory 
 covered b^^ the lease, without reference to China. Should China 
 wish to march troops or establish garrisons therein, she can ao so 
 only after negotiating with and obtaining the express permission 
 of Germany. 
 
 II. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany being desirous, like 
 the rulers of certain other countries, of establishing a naval and 
 coaling-station and constructing dock-yards on the coast of China, 
 the Emperor of China agrees to lease to him for the purpose all the 
 land on the southern and northern sides of Kiaochou Bay for a 
 term of ninety-nine years, Germany to be at liberty to erect forts 
 on this land for the defence of her possessions therein. 
 
 8 113
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 III. During the continuance of the lease China shall have no 
 voice in the government or administration of the leased territory. 
 It will be governed and administered during the whole term of 
 ninety-nine years solely by Germany, so that the possibility of 
 friction between the two powers may be reduced to the smallest 
 magnitude. 
 
 Chinese ships of war and merchant ships, and ships of war and 
 merchant ships of countries having treaties and in a state of amity 
 with China, shall receive equal treatment with German ships of 
 war and merchant ships in Kiaochou Bay during the continuance 
 of the lease. Germany is at liberty to enact any regulations she 
 desires for the government of territory and harbor, provided such 
 regulations apply impartially to the ships of all nations, Germany 
 and China included. 
 
 IV. Germany shall be at liberty to erect whatever light-houses, 
 beacons, and other aids to navigation she chooses within the ter- 
 ritory leased, and along the islands and coasts approaching the en- 
 trance to the harbor. Vessels of China and vessels of other coun- 
 tries entering the harbor shall be liable to special duties for repair 
 and maintenance of all light-houses, beacons, and other aids to 
 navigation which Germany may erect and establish. Chinese 
 vessels shall be exempt from other special duties. 
 
 V. Should Germany desire to give up her interest in the leased 
 territory before the expiration of ninety-nine years, China shall 
 take over the whole area and pay Germany for whatever German 
 property may at the time of surrender be there situated. In 
 case of such surrender taking place, Germany shall be at liberty 
 to lease some other point along the coast. Germany shall not 
 cede the territory leased to any other power than China. Chinese 
 subjects shall be allowed to live in the territory leased, under the 
 protection of the German authorities, and there to carry on their 
 avocations and business so long as they conduct themselves as 
 peaceable and law-abiding citizens. Germany shall pay a rea- 
 sonable price to the native proprietors for whatever lands her 
 government or subjects require. Fugitive Chinese criminals tak- 
 ing refuge in the leased territory shall be arrested and surrendered 
 to the Chinese authorities for trial and ptinishment, upon applica- 
 tion to the German authorities, but the Chinese authorities shall 
 not be at liberty to send agents into the leased territory to make 
 arrests. The German authorities shall not interfere with the 
 likin stations outside but adjacent to the territory. 
 
 In connection with this lease the German government 
 secured from the Chinese government a railway and min- 
 
 114
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ing concession, the leading features of which, condensed, 
 are as follows: 
 
 The Chinese government sanctions the construction by Ger- 
 many of two Unes of railroad in Shan-Tung. [Then follows a de- 
 scription of where the first line shall ru.n and of an extension to the 
 second line]. The construction of this extension shall not be be- 
 gun until the first part of the line, the inain line, is completed, in 
 order to give the Chinese an opportunity of connecting this line in 
 the most advantageous manner with their own railway system. 
 
 In order to carry out the above-mentioned railway work, a 
 Chino-German company shall be formed, with branches at what- 
 ever places may be necessary; and in this company both German 
 and Chinese subjects shall be at liberty to invest money if they 
 choose, and to appoint directors for the management of the under- 
 taking. 
 
 All arrangements in connection with the works specified shall be 
 determined bv a future conference of German and Chinese repre- 
 sentatives. The Chinese government shall afford every facility 
 and protection and extend every welcome to representatives of 
 the German railway company operating in Chinese territory- 
 Profits derived from the workings of these railroads shall be justly 
 divided pro rata between the shareholders without regard to na- 
 tionality. The object of constructing these lines is solely the de- 
 velopment of commerce. In inaugurating a railway system in 
 Shan-Tung, Germany entertains no treacherous intentions towards 
 China, and undertakes not to seize unlawfully any land in the 
 province. 
 
 The Chinese government shall allow German subjects to hold 
 and develop mining property for a distance of thirty li from each 
 side of these railways and along the whole extent of the lines. 
 [Here follows description of mining districts in detail.] Chinese 
 capital may be invested in these operations, and arrangements for 
 carrying on the work shall hereafter be made by a joint conference 
 of Chinese and German representatives. All German subjects en- 
 gaged in such work in Chinese territory shall be properly protected 
 and welcomed by the Chinese avithorities, and all profits derived 
 shall be fairly divided between German and Chinese stockholders, 
 according to the extent of the interest they hold in the undertak- 
 ings. In trying to develop mining property in China, Germany 
 is actuated by no treacherous motives against this country, but 
 seeks alone to increase commerce and improve the relations be- 
 tween the two countries. 
 
 If at any time the Chinese should form schemes for the develop- 
 
 115
 
 THE RUvSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ment of Shan-Tung, for the execution of which it is necessary to 
 obtain foreign capital, the Chinese government, or whatever Chinese 
 ■may be interested in such scJiemes, shall, in the first instance, apply to 
 German capitalists. 
 
 Application shall also be made to German manufacturers for the 
 necessary machinery and materials before the manufacturers of any 
 other power are approached. 
 
 Should German capitalists or manufacturers decline to take the 
 business, the Chinese shall then be at liberty to obtain money and 
 materials from sources of other nationality than German. 
 
 The importance of this lease and railway and mining con- 
 cession, is apparent on the face of the documents them- 
 selves, and in another chapter further remarks will be made 
 concerning them. They are inserted at this point as neces- 
 sary links in the chain of the story of Russia's occupation 
 of south Manchuria, and of the military, naval, and 
 commercial ports on the shores of the Chinese waters; also, 
 they are believed to be of interest as an example of what a 
 Chinese railway concession to a first-class power is like. 
 
 When Germany seized Kiaochou, Russia was not long 
 in acting. Russia reasoned thus: Here was a seizure of 
 territory by an empire which is already one of the great 
 powers, and which has declared ambitions to become the 
 first and chiefest power among the nations. Here was 
 Germany throwing her influence across the path of Rus- 
 sian intentions in Asia, as she has so effectively thrown 
 ner financial and commercial power across the path of 
 Russia, and of England too, in Turkey and Asia Minor. 
 And here was this seizure of territory, an extension of 
 physical and material influence into the very breast of 
 China, sanctioned by the Chinese government. 
 
 The event for which Russia was prepared had oc- 
 curred at last. Very clearly, if the seizure of a portion of 
 Chinese territory by Japan, as her price of peace in closing 
 her war with China, was a menace to the permanent peace 
 of the Orient, Germany's seizure of territory in the very 
 centre of the Chinese coast was equally a menace. True 
 that Germany, Russia, and France had protested against 
 
 ii6
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Japan's occupation of a portion of Chinese territory; true 
 that Germany's seizure of Kiaochou and the extension 
 of German railways into one of China's great provinces 
 was inconsistent with the allies' protest against Japan's 
 occupation of southern Manchuria; true that the im- 
 plied understanding as to the integrity of China, neces- 
 sarily involved in the allies' protest to Japan, had been 
 broken. 
 
 But, said, in effect, the Russian statesmen, it was not 
 Russia that had broken it. It was not Russia that had 
 changed these conditions. Apparently, so far as the letter 
 of the implied agreement was concerned, Russia had been 
 faithful to the understanding. But now conditions were 
 changed, and through no fault of Russia. She was justi- 
 fied in protecting her interests, then. Nobody could find 
 any fault with that. She would protect her interests 
 therefore. If Germany received a port, so should Russia 
 receive a port. If Germany occupied Kiaochou, Russia 
 should occupy Port Arthur and Talienhwan. So reasoned 
 Russian statesmen. Such was her representation to 
 China. Such was her case before the public opinion of 
 the world. Like lightning, she carried this determina- 
 tion into effect. The German lease was dated March 6, 
 1898. 
 
 On March 27th of the same year a treaty was signed by 
 the representatives of the Chinese and Russian govern- 
 ments, leasing Port Arthur and Talienhwan to the Czar, 
 and extending all railroad construction rights from where 
 the line of the road crosses north-central Manchuria on 
 its way to Vladivostock southward to these ports. 
 
 And because the Russian lease, like the German grant 
 and concession, is fundamental, because it, like the 
 German lease, is an historical and political landmark, 
 from which the beginning of the disintegration of China, 
 in a physical, tangible, and material sense, may be 
 reckoned, if that break-up ever occurs, it is here set out 
 almost in full: 
 
 117
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Article I. — It being necessary for the due protection of her 
 navy in the waters of north China that Russia should possess a 
 station she can defend, the Emperor of China agrees to lease to 
 Russia Port Arthur and TaUenhwan, together with the adjacent 
 seas, but on the understanding that such lease shall not prejudice 
 China's sovereignty over this territory. 
 
 Article II. — The limits of the territory thus leased, for the rea- 
 sons above stated, as well as the extent of territory north of Ta- 
 lienhwan necessary for the defence of that now leased, and what 
 shall be allowed to be leased, shall be strictly defined, and all de- 
 tails necessary to the carrying out of this treaty be arranged at 
 St. Petersburg with Hsu Tajen so soon as possible after the signa- 
 ture of the present treaty, and embodied in a separate treaty. 
 Once these limits have been determined, all land held by Chinese 
 within such limits, as well as the adjacent waters, shall be held by 
 Russia alone on lease. 
 
 Article III. — The duration of the lease shall be twenty-five 
 years from the day this treaty is signed, but may be extended by 
 mutual agreement between Russia and China. 
 
 Article IV, — The control of all military forces in the territory 
 leased by Russia, and of all naval forces in the adjacent seas, as 
 well as of the civil officials in it, shall be vested in one high Russian 
 official, who shall, however, be designated by some title other than 
 Governor-General (Tsung-tu) or Governor (Hsun-fu). All Chinese 
 military forces shall, without exception, be withdrawn from the 
 territory, but it shall remain optional with the ordinary Chinese 
 inhabitants, either to remain or to go, and no coercion shall be 
 used against them in this matter. Should they remain, any Chi- 
 nese charged with a criminal offence shall be handed over to the 
 nearest Chinese official, to be dealt with according to Article VIII, 
 of the Russo-Chinese treaty of iS6o. 
 
 Article V. — To the north of the territory leased shall be a zone, 
 the extent of which shall be arranged at St. Petersburg, between 
 Hsu Tajen and the Russian Foreign Office. Jurisdiction over this 
 zone shall be vested in China, but China may not quarter troops in 
 it except with the previous consent of Russia. 
 
 Article VI. — The two nations agree that Port Arthur shall be a 
 naval port for the sole use of Russian and Chinese men-of-war, and 
 be considered as an unopen port so far as the naval and mercantile 
 vessels of other nations are concerned. As regards Talienhwan, 
 one portion of the harbor shall be reserved exclusively for Russian 
 and Chinese men-of-war, just like Port Arthur, but the remainder 
 shall be a commercial port, freely open to the merchant vessels of 
 all countries. 
 
 Article VII. — Port Arthur and Talienhwan are the points in 
 
 H8
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the territory leased most important for Russian military purposes. 
 Russia shall, therefore, be at liberty to erect forts at her own ex- 
 pense, and to build barracks and provide defences at such places 
 as she desires. 
 
 Article VIII. — China agrees that the procedure sanctioned in 
 1896, regarding the construction of railroads by the Board of the 
 Eastern China Railway Company, shall, from the date of the signa- 
 ture of this treaty, be extended so as to include the construc- 
 tion of a branch line to Talienhwan, or, if necessary, in view of the 
 interests involved, of a branch line to the most suitable point on 
 the coast between New-Chwang and the Yalu River. Further, 
 the agreement entered into in September, 1896, between the 
 Chinese government and the Russo-Chinese Bank shall apply with 
 equal strength to this branch line. The direction of this branch 
 line and the places it shall touch shall be arranged between Hsu 
 Tajen and the Board of Eastern Railroads. The construction of 
 this line shall never, however, be made a ground for encroaching 
 on the sovereignty of China. 
 
 It will be observed that Russia's lease of Port Arthur 
 and Talienhwan is for the period of twenty-five years. 
 But note also that the first article states that the lease 
 is made because it is necessary for the due protection of 
 Russia's navy in the waters of north China that Russia 
 shall possess a station she can defend. 
 
 Also note, as with Germany in Shan-Tung, authority is 
 given to fortify; and note, most of all, that Russia has 
 acted upon this authority. The harbor at Port Arthur 
 is deep and narrow and not over large, and is surrounded 
 by high, almost mountainous hills. With all speed, day 
 and night, Russia instantly began planting impregnably 
 her power on these eminences. At the time the writer 
 reached Port Arthur, at the end of the journey of investi- 
 gation through Manchuria, work was still in progress. 
 Trench and earthwork and guns — not frowning guns, but 
 guns that hide their menace — and all the incidents of 
 modern fortification were being perfected over this mari- 
 time terminus of her railroad. With the foundation of 
 her physical authority planted deeply, even to the hearts 
 of the everlasting hills, it is not likely that Russia will 
 
 119
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ever depart, at least from Port Arthur and Talienhwan. 
 It is the last and most conclusive piece of evidence to 
 sustain the proposition that she intends to remain in 
 Manchuria, and permanently. 
 
 Statements to the contrary were made by the highest 
 authorities in the diplomatic world. If, in 1901, you 
 asked an English diplomat, an American diplomat, most 
 of all a Russian diplomat himself, "Does Russia intend 
 to occupy Manchuria permanently?" each of them would 
 have assured you, and sincerely too, that she did not. 
 An eminent American diplomatist in conversation, in the 
 fall of 1 90 1, ridiculed the statement that Russia was a 
 fixture in Manchuria. The suggestion, made at the same 
 time in published articles, was received with incredulity 
 by the great body of the American press. You were told, 
 too, that even then Russia was urging upon China a 
 treaty providing for Russia's departure from Manchuria 
 and for her evacuation of even Port Arthur. No doubt, 
 such a treaty was being presented to the Chinese 
 court, but also, no doubt, such a treaty will never be 
 signed. 
 
 And if it be not, will it not become clear to the simplest 
 mind that again Russia has made a paper record of non- 
 aggression and of a willingness to surrender which all the 
 world may read? And is not that a strategic position 
 of commanding value in Russia's frontier negotiations upon 
 the Pacific ? Can she not point to the fact that it was not 
 she who violated the spirit of the allied protest to Japan 
 concerning the occupation of Manchuria, but another? 
 that it was not she who was the first to seize Chinese terri- 
 tory, but another? that she secured the lease of Port 
 Arthur and Talienhwan and adjacent territory only as a 
 matter of self-defence? and that, finally, she has actually 
 proposed a treaty for the withdrawal from every foot of 
 Chinese territory? 
 
 For that is the case on the record which Russia has 
 made to the world; and should the Manchu Emperor 
 
 120
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 decline to sign such a treaty, has Russia not put the 
 Pekin government under additional guarantee and bonds? 
 And so it appears improbable that Russia will with- 
 draw from Manchuria. Her railroad is there, her ships 
 are there, her mines are there. Coal, iron, silver, gold, 
 and other treasures of mineral wealth — all Russia's under 
 her railway agreement — are chere. Soil which will grow 
 any vegetable in the temperate zones and some of those 
 of the semi-tropic countries are there. (You may see 
 wheat, barley, oats, tobacco, potatoes, Indian corn, beans, 
 millet growing in fields that look like miniature American 
 farms, or, rather, like overgrown American gardens, in all 
 the inhabited portions of Manchuria. The soil is so rich 
 that many crops were seen, in the summer of 1901 , already 
 beginning to grow in the same fields from which the first 
 crop had been gathered only a fortnight before.) All 
 these are there. And, most of all, the command of all 
 China, the point from which the sceptre of the Russian 
 Autocrat may be extended over all the East, is there. The 
 throne of the future of the Orient appears to be planted 
 now upon the eminence that lifts above the waters of 
 Port Arthur, and above it already floats the Russian 
 flag.
 
 COLLISION OF RUSSIA S ADVANCE WITH JAPAN 
 
 THERE is but one agency which might dislodge the 
 Russian from Manchuria; that agency is the sword- 
 like bayonets of the soldiers of Japan, the war-ships of 
 Japan, the siege-guns of Japan, the embattled frenzy of a 
 nation stirred to its profoundest depths by the conviction 
 that the Czar has deprived the Mikado of the greatest vic- 
 tory and the richest prize in all the history of the Island 
 Empire — a history which reaches back not through cen- 
 turies, but through millenniums. And that Japan is de- 
 termined that Russia shall withdraw from Manchuria no 
 careful student on the ground can doubt. No thoughtful 
 student of geography can doubt it. 
 
 War between Russia and Japan is a serious probability. 
 It is believed by the best informed that it would be raging 
 now if Japan had the money. It came near breaking out 
 in February, 1901, in spite of the Mikado's poverty. Only 
 the financial situation muzzles the artillery of the England 
 of the Orient. And Russia's financial situation is almost 
 as bad. And so it is that both Russia and Japan will hesi- 
 tate to give the other a casus belli. All statesmen are 
 obliging, conciliatory, reasonable when confronted with 
 the grim alternative of armed conflict before they are 
 ready for it. But, however long the want of actual cash 
 may postpone this conflict, it is hard to see how it is to be 
 avoided in the end. If it is put off for five years, the 
 causes for it will still remain; if it is put off for ten years, 
 yet will those causes persist ; if it is put off for a quarter of 
 a. century, nevertheless the elements of conflict will con-
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 tinue. What then are those enduring causes which time 
 itself, as it now appears, cannot remove? 
 
 Look at your map. Just above Japan, within hardly 
 more than a day's sail, is Vladivostock, one of the finest 
 harbors for naval and military purposes in the world, and 
 one whose only defect is its three months of ice. It is the 
 Gibraltar of the East. And it is Russian. In its waters 
 the Russian war-ships lie safe from all attack. From its 
 wharves Russian railways run northward through Russian 
 wheat-fields to the Russian capital of east Siberia. 
 
 Cross now, southward, a peninsula and reach the sea; 
 and travel, still south, the shores of the sea till you come to 
 the mate of Vladivostock, Port Arthur, of which so much 
 has already been said. Here, again, the war-ships of Rus- 
 sia are within instant touch of Japan. Here, again, they 
 lie in safety, secure from all attack. Again, from the 
 wharves of this southern Vladivostock the Russian railway 
 lines run northward; and though the territory through 
 which these railway lines run is still nominally Chinese, 
 the facts here presented show that, for all practical pur- 
 poses, it may, in the future, become Russian, if the Rus- 
 sian wills it so. 
 
 North of this peninsula, then, are Russian ports, Rus- 
 sian ships, and Russian guns; a Russian railway, Russian 
 commerce, the Russian people. Back of this peninsu- 
 la, again, are Russian railways, Russian commerce, and 
 Russian bayonets. South of this peninsula, again, are 
 Russian harbors, Russian guns, Russian commerce, and 
 Russian railways. 
 
 And this peninsula, running out from these Russian en- 
 vironments, almost touches Japan itself. As a Japanese 
 statesman said, in speaking of this peninsula, "It is like 
 an arrow, with the point aimed at our heart." 
 
 This peninsula is Korea, and it is inevitable that Korea 
 shall become either Russian or Japanese. And if it be 
 Japanese, it will be a powerful factor in preventing Man- 
 churia from ever becoming Russian. 
 
 123
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Let us listen again to the Japanese publicist just quoted. 
 "The absorption," said he, "of Manchuria by the Rus- 
 sians, if completed, renders the position of Korea precari- 
 ous. And Korea is a matter of first and last importance 
 to us. Korea is life or death to Japan." 
 
 "Yes," said another Japanese publicist, of high intelli- 
 gence, "if I were a Russian I might insist on Korea becom- 
 ing Russian; but as I am a Japanese, for the safety of my 
 country, I insist that it shall become Japanese, and upon 
 that insistence every subject of the Mikado is willing to 
 lay down his life." 
 
 "Ah," said a Japanese diplomat, in concluding an ab- 
 sorbing conversation upon the next great crisis of the 
 world, "Korea must be Russian or Japanese, it is said. 
 Yes. Well, in that case, it will become Japanese. Every 
 one of Japan's two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers 
 will die, if need be, to achieve this victory for his em- 
 peror — this act of international justice, this guarantee of 
 the safety of the Japanese nation. And, after our soldiers 
 are gone, the nation itself, man, woman, and child, will 
 battle, forty millions of us, till the last yen is gone and the 
 last life yielded. I mean what I say. It is with us no 
 statesman's policy; it is with us the settled purpose and 
 the burning passion of a people." 
 
 This is fervid language; but talks with merchants, with 
 guides, with even the common people of Japan, will con- 
 vince you that this Japanese diplomat's Oriental eloquence 
 is quite within the limits of the truth. 
 
 Here, then, is reason enough, and there are other rea- 
 sons still more profound. Japan is already seriously crowd- 
 ed for living-room for her people. During the past ages 
 of her history, the birth rate was, no doubt, as great as 
 now, but the death rate also was almost equally great. 
 And so her population, during many centuries, was very 
 steady, just as China's is to-day. But in recent years 
 Japan has become a modern hygienic nation. The science 
 of medicine has made no such progress anywhere in the 
 
 124
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Orient as in this island-empire. Indeed, comparing her 
 ignorance of the heahng art, even in recent years, with the 
 high position she occupies to-day, her medical progress is 
 the greatest, relatively speaking, in the world. A con- 
 spicuous illustration of this is found in her quarantine 
 system, which is far and away the most perfect in detail 
 and careful in administration of any quarantine system 
 on the globe. 
 
 Four years ago a certain ship entered the port of Naga- 
 saki. The quarantine officers made that careful in- 
 spection of passengers with which all Oriental travellers 
 are familiar. Finally, one man was taken from the ship 
 who had some little indications of fever. By sunset that 
 man was dead of the bubonic plague. The ship was ac- 
 cordingly quarantined for eight days. Its disinfection by 
 the Japanese quarantine officers was as thorough as could 
 possibly be done by any medical men in the world. Dur- 
 ing these eight days the writer, by special courtesies, was 
 permitted to carefully inspect the whole quarantine es- 
 tablishment at this important place, and to have long 
 talks with the medical authorities. Similar examinations 
 were made elsewhere, and the perfection of Japan's quar- 
 antine system compelled heartiest admiration. So it is 
 that, while the plague may ravage China, which is almost 
 within sight of the Japanese shores, the Japanese millions 
 have been made secure from its dread invasion. And 
 medical advance in other directions is being made with 
 astonishing rapidity throughout the little group of islands 
 where live the forty odd millions of the Mikado's subjects. 
 
 The result, of course, will occur to any one. The 
 birth rate continues as great as formerly, and in only two 
 or three places in the world is it greater than in Japan; 
 but the death rate daily decreases. The population of 
 Japan, therefore, steadily and rapidly increases. Japan 
 has no method of relieving this accession of numbers by 
 emigration as Germany has, so we find her in the 
 condition in which Germany would find herself if the 
 
 125
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 millions of Germans who have come to America and the 
 other millions who have gone elsewhere throughout the 
 world had all been kept at home. So Japan is looking 
 for some place to plant her surplus millions. This was 
 one of the three or four great reasons for acquiring 
 Formosa; it is one of the vital reasons for ultimately 
 occupying Korea. Manchuria, with its comparatively 
 scanty population, and climatic conditions like those of 
 Japan, would have been an ideal spot for the planting 
 of a Japanese empire with the surplus Japanese popu- 
 lation. 
 
 On the other hand, in addition to the other reasons 
 given why Russia considers Manchuria desirable, is the 
 fact that she, also, feels that the natural pressure of 
 her population requires Russian occupation of Man- 
 churia. It is not a matter of future speculation, but only 
 of simple arithmetic and of near-by certainty, that Siberia 
 will be as thickly peopled as Russia itself. When that 
 occurs, the overflow can go no place but southward, 
 through the fertile valleys of Manchuria. 
 
 Still another fundamental reason for this conflict is that 
 which gave rise to the triple alliance, whose diplomacy 
 and menace drove Japan from southern Manchuria after 
 her war with China. This is the fear entertained by 
 every Russian, German, and French statesman, in com- 
 mon with every student of Oriental affairs, that Japan 
 intends to undertake the reorganization of the Chinese 
 Empire; and that Japan regards this as her "destiny" 
 no one who has gone over the ground will deny. The 
 reasons for it are powerful. They grow out of the 
 elements of race and geography. The Japanese and 
 Chinese are both Asiatics. Their written language is 
 very similar, and for practical purposes the same; some 
 of their religions are identical; their modes of thought 
 are so much alike that the Japanese may be said to be 
 the only people who understand the Chinese. In this, 
 it is true, the Russian is a close second to the Japanese. 
 
 126
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Furthermore, they are so close together that they may be 
 said to be physically in elbow touch. 
 
 Indeed, Japan, it is said, has already begun work upon 
 a far-sighted programme of China's reorganization. The 
 reported employment of Japanese professors in the Im- 
 perial University at Pekin is an illustration. The em- 
 ployment of Japanese officers in the Chinese army in the 
 place of European officers is still a more significant one. 
 This plan is very great in its outlines. It comprehends 
 the modernizing of all the schools of China, substituting 
 for the study of the ancient classics the acquirement of 
 modern scientific and useful knowledge; it includes the 
 opening up of the country by the gradual construction 
 of highways; it looks to a systematic policing of the 
 entire empire. 
 
 Indeed, an entire chapter might be written, and upon 
 respectable authority, describing the ultimate inten- 
 tions which Japan entertains as to China. It sometimes 
 seems that her statesmen do not take very much pains 
 to conceal them. There is no doubt that up to the 
 present she has earnestly hoped that she might be aided 
 in this, her high dream of Oriental dominion, by an 
 alliance with England and America; and although such 
 an alliance would rob her of most of the fruit of her 
 statesmanship, she would be only too glad to make the 
 division for the invaluable aid of these two powers. 
 It is believed, however, that she has abandoned hope of 
 such a far-reaching, hard-and-fast compact, and that 
 she has finally come to the consciousness that she must 
 go it alone. 
 
 Of course, if Japan should thus become the dominant 
 influence in China, her merchants and manufacturers 
 would capture the lion's share of the vast future com- 
 merce of the Flowery Kingdom. Such Japanese pre- 
 dominance in China would also make of China a far 
 more powerful barrier against Russian advance than 
 Japan itself now is. 
 
 137
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 It is thus easy to see that the Japanese conception of 
 the Oriental "destiny" of Japan and the Russian con- 
 ception of the Oriental "destiny" of Russia come into 
 a face-to-face conflict. On the one hand, Russia would 
 be deprived of the markets which she hopes in the future 
 (perhaps not for a century or two) to be able to as perfectly 
 control physically as she now controls those of her own 
 dominions; on the other hand, a halt would be called to 
 the march of her alleged national ideal of setting up the 
 cross over China's myriads of millions, of which ideal 
 something will be said in a later chapter. Even if 
 Japan's programme were carried out with the co-operation 
 of England and the United States, the effect upon Russia 
 would be precisely the same. So it appears that this 
 dispute, whose springs are deep in the rocks and soil 
 of circumstances, seemingly beyond the control of any 
 human statesmanship, may have to be settled, in the 
 final analysis, by trial of battle. 
 
 And if war does come, there are more contradictory 
 elements of strength, more contradictory conditions, 
 more premises upon which wagers for either side might 
 be reasonably made than in any war of modern times — 
 the Japanese navy, the Russian navy; Japanese prepared- 
 ness, Russian preparedness; the Japanese soldier, the 
 Russian soldier; the skill, valor, the staying powers of 
 the flower of the people of the Orient, against the slowest, 
 most undeveloped, but yet the most tenacious and most 
 unexhausted race of the Occident. It will be a great 
 drama, and when the curtain falls on its last desperate 
 act the destiny of the East, and in a certain sense 
 the future of the world, will be forecast by the flag 
 which flies in triumph over the carnage of that final 
 conflict. 
 
 This probable and prospective war between Japan and 
 Russia will be a conflict not only of opposing interests 
 but of singularly acute race antipathies. Tolerant as the 
 Russians are of other races, their hatred of the Japanese 
 
 128
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 is pronounced and apparently instinctive. Also, there 
 is in it an element of contempt. At a Moscow dinner- 
 table the progress of the Japanese was remarked and the 
 word civilization applied to them. " Civilization !" quick- 
 ly spoke up a banker, with an eager spirit not in keeping 
 with his calm calling. "Civilization! You don't mean 
 that. You mean imitation. Everything is on the sur- 
 face. Everything is temporary — false!" 
 
 And this same harsh idea was voiced by Cierpitsky's 
 common soldiers in the middle of Manchuria. An officer 
 was indulging in an informal talk to several hundreds of 
 his soldiers (this is a characteristic of the Russian army). 
 Here is the conversation as it occurred, repeated verbatim 
 and with literal accuracy. An officer leaning out of a 
 window said to the assembled soldiers: 
 
 "Well, boys, are you glad this campaign is over?" 
 
 The soldiers answered in their customary chorus: " Yes, 
 our colonel, but we are willing to fight again." 
 
 Colonel: " If the Japanese come, will you let them whip 
 3'ou or will you whip them?" 
 
 Soldiers, in chorus: "What! Those monkeys whip us? 
 Never, our colonel!" 
 
 This same sentiment was found among the Siberian 
 miners. "I cannot tolerate the Japanese," said a Sibe- 
 rian mine -owner, who has travelled very extensively. 
 "They are such make-believe people, and there are 
 other things about them." And then very unpleasant 
 references were made to the Japanese. 
 
 These pages might be entirely taken up with similar 
 expressions from business-men, bankers, soldiers, officers. 
 
 It is even denied that the Japanese are content with 
 their evolution into European civilization. "They are riot 
 capable of it, and actually despise it," said a Russian 
 diplomat in a certain Asiatic station. "They are already 
 beginning to abandon the externalization of our European 
 civilization as a child throws away a new toy. For 
 example : In Tokio a very prominent public man and his 
 
 9 129
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 wife adopted European modes of dress when that craze 
 took them off their feet some years ago. Their daughters 
 were reared in Enghsh clothes. Well, last year those 
 daughters threw away their Paris - made gowns and re- 
 sumed the native Japanese kimono; and instances like 
 that could be given by the hundred." 
 
 The deep dislike of the Japanese for the Russian is 
 even more passionate. "They cannot be trusted; they 
 will violate any compact when their selfish interests 
 dictate," was the expression of a Japanese of good birth, 
 good education, and good condition. "They are the 
 spoilers of the world," said another. "When has Russia 
 kept faith? When has she ceased to slay and debauch?" 
 
 These expressions are given only to reflect the real 
 mutual opinions of these opposing peoples. It may be 
 that they are the utterances of mere temporary irritation, 
 which will pass away, as French and German antagonism 
 have so largely evaporated with the years. Indeed, many 
 far-seeing men think that just this happy conclusion will 
 occur. But at the present hour the war itself is taken 
 for granted. One of the most conservative of Japanese 
 statesmen said: "I admit that it looks like an appeal to 
 arms, but I hope and believe that it will be settled peace- 
 ably. The immensely increased intercommunication of 
 nations, the telegraph, the interwoven commercial in- 
 terests, all conspire to aid us to a peaceful settlement." 
 
 Like the conservative men of all nations, the thought- 
 ful statesmen of Japan are hoping and working for peace 
 but preparing for war. " I admit that Russia is strength- 
 ening herself in Manchuria as fast as she can," said one 
 of the weightiest minds of the island-empire, "and that 
 she is doing it with ultimate intentions on Korea there 
 cannot be the sHghtest doubt. We hope that the public 
 opinion of the world will never permit further Russian 
 aggression, but we are preparing as fast as she is. In 
 such a war she will be helpless, because we command 
 the sea, and she will never again be able to make the 
 
 130
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 triple alliance which robbed us of our victory over 
 China." 
 
 The expression of Russian public men, on the other 
 hand, is even more pacific. You will never be able to 
 get a Russian civil official to admit the possibility of war. 
 "But," said a Russian diplomat travelling towards his 
 station in the Far East, "if war is forced on us, we are 
 ready this moment." And he meant it; but, from what 
 was personally known, this is believed to be an over- 
 statement. They were not ready "this moment," and 
 neither was Japan. ^ 
 
 "Those brown fellows must strike first," said the head 
 of a Russian civil commission. "We don't have to strike 
 first ; all we have got to do is to wait and strengthen our- 
 selves." 
 
 "No, there will be no war between Russia and Japan," 
 declared a high official of the Manchurian railway, "be- 
 cause it is perfectly hopeless for Japan, and her statesmen 
 have sense enough to see that. Why, suppose they actu- 
 ally occupied Korea and defeated us at first ; we would 
 swarm back upon them whenever we got ready and sweep 
 them into the sea. Besides, out of all this turmoil and 
 confusion we will reach some common and peaceful 
 ground at last." 
 
 But behind the individual expression of official opinion 
 on both sides are the common, emphatic, clearly defined 
 views of the masses — an open and racial antipathy and 
 feeling of certain conflict. 
 
 And there is one chord which is struck by both sides, 
 and struck again, and still again played by each side, and 
 that chord is the favor of America. Each side insists 
 that the interests of America are identical with its own. 
 "Under existing conditions, it seems to me that the 
 friendship of America should be ours ; certainly our inter- 
 ests are the same." So spoke a Japanese statesman. "If 
 
 * All these conversations and observations occurred in 1901. 
 
 131
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 we ever do have a conflict with Japan," said a much- 
 travelled and highly cultured Russian, "one thing is clear 
 to all the world, and that is that the sympathy of America 
 will be with Russia." 
 
 "We shall depend upon you in our conflict for our ex- 
 istence and for the integrity of the East," earnestly ex- 
 claimed a Japanese public man, educated in the univer- 
 sities of Europe. "The door through which the world 
 enters Asia was first unlocked by an American. We are 
 neighbors, and nature has made us partners to resist the 
 aggression of the Slav in the Orient. We are more like you 
 than we are like any other people, and your Mr. Curtis, in 
 his fine book, has even called us 'the Yankees of the East.' 
 And, aside from sentiment, the sheer question of com- 
 merce is enough to keep you with us." 
 
 Now listen to the counterpart of this from a Russian 
 source: "There is only one nation upon whose abiding 
 friendship Russia counts," said an eminent Russian, "and 
 that nation is America. Our friendship is traditional and 
 has never been broken. You had our sympathy in your 
 War for Independence, our fleet at your gates, a menace 
 to all the world, during your Rebellion, and we were the 
 only people of the world who did not sympathize with the 
 South in that mighty effort to spHt up your repubhc. 
 We sold you the imperial province of Alaska for a song. 
 Our industries are not developed, and while they are de- 
 veloping, it is from you that we shall buy more and more. 
 
 "And we are the only two peoples in the world who are 
 alike — both young, both expanding, both developing. In 
 all the fundamental elements of comparison we are the 
 only two races in the world that are similar. As for our 
 institutions — at bottom there is more resemblance than 
 dissimilarity, and at the top the very antithesis suggests 
 unity. We are different sides of the same shield. Autoc- 
 racy on one side, democracy on the other — each developed 
 by the two admittedly coming peoples of the world. 
 
 "Have you not a saying in your country, ' We will never 
 
 132
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 pull down the flag?' Well, let me remind you that our 
 Emperor Nicholas said, when it was proposed to retreat 
 from the mouth of the Amur, ' Where the Russian flag is 
 planted once, there it shall remain forever.'" 
 
 And the Emperor Nicholas did say, substantially, just 
 that, and just that is the common thought and determi- 
 nation of those many tens of millions of units of human 
 inertia called the Russian people. An illustration: 
 
 The boat had stopped for the night in its tiresome prog- 
 ress down the Amur, and the peasants and soldiers 
 swarmed ashore. For some reason the captain decided to 
 change the location of the boat for the night, and ordered 
 the gang-plank hauled in. All hands began to haul it in; 
 a Russian common soldier had taken the first step upon it. 
 "Back! Back!" shouted the boat officer (not in the mil- 
 itary service). "Back! Back!" shouted the hands, con- 
 tinuing to haul in the gang-plank. 
 
 "Never! The Russian soldier never goes backward!" 
 shouted the white-bloused private, rushing forward on the 
 moving plank, and escaping by a hair's-breadth from fall- 
 ing into the river. 
 
 And the people on the boat and the peasants on shore 
 applauded his somewhat melodramatic utterance. 
 
 Melodramatic it was, but significant it was also — signifi- 
 cant of the giant race of which he was one. "Where the 
 Russian flag is planted, there it remains forever!" speaks 
 the Czar from his Winter Palace. "The Russian soldier 
 never goes backward!" shouts the obscure private on the 
 Amur. And between them, to the same militant purport, 
 speaks and feels and believes the Russian people. This 
 Russian soldier and his comrades on the vagrant Amur 
 boat were good examples. Many days were spent in 
 studying them. Observations of their brothers in Nikolsk 
 and Khabaroff and throughout Manchuria revealed inter- 
 esting facts ; and nothing can be more interesting in fore- 
 casting the probable Russo-Japanese war than an esti- 
 mate of the men who must do the fighting. 
 
 ^33
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The good-humor of the Russian soldier is apparently 
 his chief, certainly his most visible, characteristic. Song 
 and laugh and joke; joke and laugh and song. There is a 
 playfulness as of overgrown boys. Nothing seems to impair 
 or discourage this wonderful cheeriness. The writer has 
 seen them, drenched to the skin, lips blue with cold, laugh 
 and talk in the greatest good-humor, their teeth chatter- 
 ing while they spoke. You never hear a complaint from 
 them. 
 
 "I should say that the difference between our soldiers 
 and yours," the Manchurian colonel above quoted added, 
 "or Germany's or England's or any others, is that when 
 they go through hardships they think it merely their 
 duty; when they fight they think it nothing more than 
 their duty, and when they die they consider it quite the 
 proper thing because it is their duty. Every other coun- 
 try pays its soldiers a very fair sum for their service — you 
 Americans, especially, pay very high wages. We pay our 
 soldiers practically nothing — two or three dollars a year; 
 but they are taught to believe, and do believe, that it is 
 their duty — a part of their lives which they owe to Russia, 
 to the Czar, and to the King of kings in heaven. We 
 think it a mistake to pay soldiers. It puts the military 
 service of the country on a mercenary basis. The theory 
 should be that every man should be prepared to give not 
 only three or four years of service, but his life, if need be, 
 to his country; but the idea of pay debases the spirit of 
 this service." 
 
 Associated with their conception of service as a duty, 
 and not as something that the government compels them 
 to do, or as something for which they are paid, is the ele- 
 ment of obedience in a Russian soldier. He obeys, not be- 
 cause he must, but because it is his nature. There is an 
 almost worshipful regard for ofhcers — an unreasoning be- 
 lief in them which is childhke. This obedience of the 
 Russian soldier is not the obedience of discipline, as in the 
 case of Germany, or of that of our own military establish- 
 
 134
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ment, or that of any other nation. It has its springs far 
 down in the very nature of the Slav race and in the pe- 
 culiar relationship between officer and men. 
 
 Indeed, the whole Russian system is based upon the idea 
 of father and son. It is the Czar and his children in the 
 empire, the governor and his children m the province, 
 the marshal and his children in the district, the patriarch 
 and his children in the family. And in the military 
 establishment, again the soldiers of the Czar are the chil- 
 dren of the Czar, the soldiers of any army are the children 
 of the general; the colonel is father of his regiment, the 
 captain of his company. Thus a paternal and filial re- 
 lationship exists which you may see nowhere else on earth. 
 A German officer would consider military discipline se- 
 riously violated if he did what, to the Russian officer, is 
 a natural method of insuring discipline. An American 
 soldier submits to discipline because, on the whole, he 
 thinks it a good thing, and also because he must; a Ger- 
 man soldier, almost wholly because he must; but the 
 Russian soldier because his "father" commands, and it 
 is his filial duty. 
 
 One night, in Trans-Baikal Siberia, the strange, weird 
 notes of a Russian peasants' song came through the 
 darkness. (Nothing can describe the Russian peasant 
 and soldier songs — their wildness, their mingled sadness 
 and joy. Towards the end of each verse, breaking in upon 
 the deeper chorus, a high, shrill voice takes up the strain 
 and dominates it to the thrilling end.) A Russian officer 
 of very high birth exclaimed, "It is the Cossacks singing 
 to their Mother Volga." 
 
 He gladly consented to go over to their company and 
 ask them to sing their war-songs and translate them as 
 they sang. They sat in a circle in the darkness, poor, 
 mean, with little to eat or wear, as humble a cluster of 
 privates as you can find among Russia's militant millions. 
 But this heir of one of the noblest names in Russia ap- 
 proached them with the deference and courteous bearing 
 
 ^3S
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 of equality that he would have used in a St. Petersburg 
 ballroom. He greeted them pleasantly. This was an 
 American. Did they feel like singing more? And if so, 
 would they kindly sing some of their Cossack songs? 
 And they, on their part, as the child might to the father, 
 responded. And as they sang their songs about the Volga 
 being their mother, and the steppes their father, and 
 their musket their brother, and their knapsack their wife, 
 the camp-fire, lighting up their faces, showed this son of 
 a hundred nobles and high officer in the Russian army 
 gazing upon them with the kindly, courteous, even 
 flattering attention that you might expect from a father 
 looking upon children who were pleasing him. And when 
 the song had closed he did not abruptly leave, but remain- 
 ed awhile in familiar conversation, and then bade them 
 a courteous good-night. 
 
 Upon this being noted, he replied: "Oh yes! that is 
 our system; that is out civilization. It is the element of 
 affection of child for father which runs through our whole 
 social and military organization. It is a source of 
 strength, too, which no other nation has. All the rest of 
 you, in your devotion to what the world calls manhood 
 equality, have destroyed those fundamental relationships 
 which nature has established. With you, the son is as 
 good as the father, the soldier as the officer, and even 
 God is hardly recognized as a superior. " (You will often 
 hear flings like that at our democratic ideas.) 
 
 Many war-ships of the Russian fleet were lying in the 
 harbor of Vladivostock. While there the admiral caine 
 on board (acquaintance had been made two years before 
 on his ship in Nagasaki Harbor). The captain, com- 
 mander, executive officer, the whole official establish- 
 ment of the ship down to lieutenants, came into the 
 admiral's room quite freely; all smoked with him, all 
 talked with him together, and when he left he shook 
 hands with impartiality all around. And that is some- 
 thing you can see on the war-ship of no other nation except 
 
 i;-;6
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 upon a Russian battle-ship. It is something which, 
 however admirable it might be in the army, every Amer- 
 ican or English navy ofihcer will tell you is impossible 
 in the navy.^ It is cited here as another illustration of 
 the relationship between Russian officer and man, which 
 is an element of such immense importance in under- 
 standing their semi-military, semi-industrial operations. 
 
 ' Numerous stories of the brutality of Russian officers to 
 their men both in the army and navy may be heard; and some 
 of them are doubtless true. But the paternal and filial spirit 
 predominates. Instances of common soldiers acting as body 
 servants to officers were frequently observed; but no striking 
 example of harshness was witnessed. On the other hand, more 
 than once common soldiers were seen in familiar and even 
 humorous conversation with a general. 
 
 [Since this volume went to the printer the Russo-Japanese 
 crisis has become acute. At the present moment it appears im- 
 possible to determine whether there will be immediate war be- 
 tween Japan and Russia. The author dees not think hostilities 
 probable at the present time, because neither power is yet ready 
 for the conflict and because the action of other nations, and par- 
 ticularly of England, is not yet definitely known. It is more 
 probable that the present negotiations will have a temporarily 
 peaceful conclusion, Japan agreeing not to interfere with Russia 
 in Manchuria, and Russia agreeing not to interfere with Japan in 
 Korea. It is possible that Russia may even agree to evacuate 
 Manchuria at some future day. Any "evacuaticn," however, 
 will be temporary. But no matter what agreement is reached 
 between the governments of the Czar and the Mikado, by which 
 war is put off. the causes for it will remain The event itself 
 can at best only be postponed, unless, indeed, Russia and Japan 
 should agree to be permanent allies in all Asiatic operations; 
 and this seems at the present time an unthinkable proposition. 
 But anything short of this cannot, from the very nature of the 
 situation, be more than a makeshift, the pacific results of which 
 will at best last but a few years.]
 
 XI 
 
 THE SOLDIER OF THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE AND THE SOLDIER 
 OF JAPAN 
 
 PERHAPS the finest specimens of physical manhood 
 personally observed at any place in any country 
 were, on the average, the Russian Cossacks and the Rus- 
 sian common soldiers along the Amur and in Manchuria. 
 They are big men — necks thick, shoulders powerful, 
 chests deep, legs sturdy, great room for play of lung, 
 great stomach capacity, heavy-skulled, ruddy-counte- 
 nanced. Their physical vigor instantly attracts your 
 attention. And there is an impression of hardness about 
 them — iron men, steel men, granite men. And when, 
 day after day, you note that their food is principally sour- 
 cabbage soup, black bread, dried fish, and weak tea, you 
 have discovered two elements upon which, you will find, 
 if you will converse with educated Russians, the Russian 
 military theorist largely counts in any conflict which here- 
 after may occur with any nation. Physical hardiness 
 and endurance on the one hand, and little and simple 
 food, easily transported, on the other hand. It re- 
 minds you of the stories you read of the Scotch soldiers 
 in the time of Bruce carrying many days' provisions 
 of oatmeal in a little pouch, or of the Swiss soldiers, 
 or, indeed, of the soldiers of every country who first 
 won for their respective lands the glory of military tri- 
 umph. 
 
 "It is one of our chief points of excellence. The same 
 thing is true of our horses. Now, Germany feeds her 
 soldiers too much ; also, Germany's horses are too richly 
 
 138
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 fed. In war, therefore, if the German army should be 
 cut off from supplies, or should its commissariat for any 
 reason fail, their forces would be at a great disadvantage 
 compared with ours. Our horses can live where other 
 horses would languish and die; and, as you see, our 
 soldiers thrive on the simplest and plainest fare. The 
 Russian soldier can live on the country in any part of 
 the world, and that is something no other soldier in the 
 world can do, not even the Japanese." So reasoned a 
 Russian officer. 
 
 Every Russian military man puts preponderating em- 
 phasis upon the Russian soldier's ability to endure. Gen- 
 eral Cierpitsky personally told of an assault which he 
 himself led during the Boxer troubles, near Pekin, at the 
 close of a march of fifty versts (thirty-five miles). His 
 troops made the assault with but five minutes' rest. From 
 another source, but illustrating the same point, came the 
 following story, undoubtedly exaggerated, but descriptive 
 of Russian endurance and spirit. It is related that a body 
 of French troops were to make the charge with the Rus- 
 sians. The Frenchmen had joined Cierpitsky's men only 
 fifteen versts from the point of attack. Yet, although 
 the Russians had marched fifty versts and the French- 
 men only fifteen, the latter refused to join in the as- 
 sault until they had thoroughly rested. It is said that 
 the Russian commander, raging, bitterly rebuked the 
 French commander, turned on his heel, and ordered 
 the assault by the Russian column, who executed it 
 alone. 
 
 Again, on another occasion, so the camp tale runs, a 
 body of Russian infantry and English cavalry came to a 
 stream in which ice was beginning to form. The English 
 cavalry turned back rather than subject their horses to 
 the cold; but the Russians, with shouts of scorn and de- 
 rision, plunged bodily into the waters themselves and 
 waded and swam across. This story appeared too dra- 
 matic to be true, but inquiry in two different and inde- 
 
 139
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 pendent quarters suggested that there may have been 
 some foundation for it.^ 
 
 I have myself seen Russians go for two days practically 
 without food, and also without complaining. 
 
 The Russian soldier's ability to make friends with the 
 people with whom he mingles, and even with those whom 
 he conquers, is one of his striking characteristics, and com- 
 mon to all Russians. The Russian soldiers in Tien-Tsin, 
 on the way to Pekin, and in the Tartar capital itself, were 
 able to communicate with the Chinaman quite as much 
 as they did with the Germans and Americans, or even the 
 French. A credible writer tells of having seen a Russian 
 soldier, recently arrived in Manchuria, attempting to ad- 
 dress a crowd of Chinamen in their own tongue, and mak- 
 ing himself understood. Certain it is that the Russian 
 soldiers and the Koreans who came over the border into 
 Russian territory in ever-increasing numbers, in the sum- 
 mer of 1 90 1, spoke to each other without much difficulty. 
 The Muscovite's facility for language, and especially his 
 
 * Lieutenant F. V. Greene, U.S.A., in his charming sketches 
 of "Army Life in Russia," relates the following incident which 
 he observed in the Russo-Turkish War and which illustrates the 
 Russian soldier's hardiness, his readiness to endure fatigue and 
 cold, and his good-humor: "We were up before daylight the next 
 morning, and just as the sun arose — a bright morning of intensely 
 bitter cold — the troops which had come up during the night, and 
 slept in the fields on the other side of the river, began crossing 
 the stream. As they had to fight all day in the snow it was very 
 important that their clothing should not be wet, and they were 
 therefore ordered to strip naked, roll their clothes in a bundle 
 and carry them on their heads. As they came out of the icy 
 river they were as red as boiled lobsters, but made merry as they 
 squatted about in the snow to put on their clothes. They then 
 formed and marched through the village, where the general saluted 
 them as usual. 
 
 " ' Good-morning, my men.' 
 
 " ' Good-morning, your Highness.' 
 
 " ' Did you burn your feet coming over?' 
 
 "'No, indeed, your Highness!' they answered in shout, as a 
 broad grin stole over their good-natured faces." 
 
 140
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 aptitude for Oriental tongues, is a valuable amalgam with 
 which Russian policy knits and fuses alien peoples into 
 the Slav metal. 
 
 So we see that Russia's human instrument of war with 
 Japan — to wit, the Russian common soldier — is an ele- 
 mentally vital creature, with knotted muscles, and strong 
 legs, and hairy breast, and doglike obedience, and child- 
 like faith in his military " fathers " (his officers), a religious 
 feeling so profound that it has no questionmg, an adora- 
 tion of God, and faith in his sincere if crude conception of 
 the Word, woven into the texture and substance of his 
 very being. I have never observed the Turkish soldier 
 personally, but I should say that the religious faith of the 
 Russian soldier is of the same quality as that said to be 
 characteristic of the Turk, with Christ substituted for 
 Mohammed and the Bible for the Koran. 
 
 How many of these living bayonets, then, has Russia on 
 the ground? At the outbreak of the Chino - Japanese 
 war she had scarcely any. At the beginning of the Box- 
 er troubles she was still deficient. The best authorities 
 estimate that, in 1900, she had sixty thousand in Man- 
 churia. It can be stated, on the word of a very high mil- 
 itary authority in the Far East, that Russia had, in Au- 
 gust, 1901, within a fortnight's march of Korea, not less 
 than one hundred and fifty thousand men. Personal ob- 
 servation suggests that this estimate was not extravagant. 
 In Nikolsk alone it is believed that there were no less than 
 fifteen thousand troops even as early as 1901 , and the num- 
 bers have been greatly increased since then. Vladivo- 
 stock, KhabarofE, Port Arthur swarm with them. Trans- 
 Baikal Siberia is full of them, their number growing visibly 
 greater as the Pacific is approached. Manchuria is gar- 
 risoned with them; and every boat that comes down the 
 Amur brings from three to fifteen common soldiers. Otur 
 boat had twelve. 
 
 They travelled quite unostentatiously, mingling and 
 sleeping with the peasants, who covered the lower floor of 
 
 141
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the boat as closely as your interlaced fingers. Other trav- 
 ellers when questioned recalled the same phenomenon. 
 It is not said that there is any design in the inconspicuous 
 transporting of this steady column of Russian soldiery 
 towards the Korean frontier. The fact is noted. It may 
 be that the same thing was occurring in the opposite direc- 
 tion; but no one was discovered who had seen it. If it be 
 true that Russia is thus adding to her military strength, 
 it is possible for her to have two hundred thousand troops 
 within striking distance of Japan by the present time, 
 without any one knowing it. Should war be declared 
 within a year, it is believed that Russia will be found to 
 have on the ground, ready for instant service, a quarter of 
 a million men. "Of course," remarked a Russian officer, 
 "we can just keep on bringing troops there or any place 
 else. It costs us but very little, and our soldiers are ab- 
 solutely inexhaustible." 
 
 You can know how true this is when you recall this not- 
 able fact : Over eight hundred thousand young men reach 
 military age every year in Russia, and the government is 
 able to avail itself of scarely more than two hundred thou- 
 sand of these for active service. Other nations may have 
 storehouses of coal and fleets and heavy armaments, but 
 there is no nation of modern times that has such a maga- 
 zine of human vitality to draw upon as has the Russia 
 of to-day. 
 
 The universal feeling in the Far East is that if Japan 
 ever meant to go to war with Russia, she should have 
 struck her antagonist four years ago. 
 
 "Last spring was her final day," said an earnest friend 
 ot Japan in Shanghai in September, igoi. "Had she 
 struck then she might have had some chance. I fear that 
 now it is too late." 
 
 The Japanese themselves admit that it would have been 
 much better had they remained on the ground which they 
 had won in Manchuria, thus compelling Russia to attempt 
 their ejection by force; but, although Japan had right and 
 
 142
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 possession and the opinion of the world on her side, she 
 could not do this because she was overawed and out- 
 matched by the allies, and because she was temporarily 
 exhausted. For the latter reason , she has not been able to 
 strike since then. To have entered upon war with the al- 
 lies, or even with Russia alone, immediately after her 
 conflict with China, would have meant her defeat. Tired 
 from her war with China, and with scant financial re- 
 sources remaining, a new conflict immediately was too 
 large an undertaking. Well-informed men say that war 
 must come within a few years — even presently. But all 
 any one can hazard as to time is mere speculation. What, 
 then, of Japan's preparedness, and especially what of her 
 soldiers? 
 
 First of all, they are little men. In weight and strength 
 and all the elements of physical preponderance, the Rus- 
 sian might almost be said to be the equal of two Japanese. 
 "But," said a Japanese officer, laughingly admitting this, 
 "the little man can shoot as straight as the big man, 
 and the big man affords a better target." 
 
 The courage of the Japanese is admitted very willingly, 
 even by the Russians themselves. " Yes, indeed, they will 
 fight. There is no doubt about that," said a young Rus- 
 sian officer, returning from the Mukden campaign (a man, 
 by-the-way, who, at twenty-nine, had won a distinguished 
 decoration, and who was informed in the minutest de- 
 tails of the strategy of every one of Napoleon's battles, 
 of Frederick the Great's battles, and of all the battles 
 fought by Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Lee, and Jackson 
 in the civil war, and who pronounced Sheridan the 
 ablest strategist of them all). 
 
 "I gladly admit the courage of the Japanese," said a 
 Russian general, discussing the comparative merits of the 
 world's soldiers as exhibited at Pekin during the terrible 
 months of 1900. Everywhere, on all hands and by all 
 nations, you will hear the praise of Japanese gallantry 
 sounded high and loud, even by their worst enemies, and 
 
 143
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 a bookful of stories can be picked up illustrative of their 
 daring and even of their chivalry. 
 
 As well disciplined troops as I ever have seen are those 
 of the Japanese army. Far and away the best-dressed, 
 best-groomed, best-appearing soldiers observed in Pekin 
 and Tien-Tsin and on the route between, in 1901, were the 
 Japanese soldiers (and the "crack" soldiers of all the 
 world were there). It was a pleasure to observe the 
 policing of their quarters. And you might search for 
 days to hear a story of Japanese brawling and not be 
 rewarded, while fights with fists and even knives between 
 other soldiers were daily occurrences. 
 
 Inspection of barracks after barracks in Japan itself, 
 made when they were not expecting visitors, showed the 
 policing of the quarters to be almost perfect. If the 
 Russians at Nikolsk were drilling, drilhng, drilling, the 
 Japanese in Japan are doing all of that, and then again, 
 in addition to it, still drilling, drilling, drilling. Their 
 tactics are almost wholly German, even to the artificial 
 and exhausting "goose step" on parade. Indeed, the 
 Japanese army is a perfect machine, built on the German 
 model, but perfected at minute points and in exquisite 
 detail with the peculiar ability of the Japanese for dimin- 
 utive accuracy and completeness. The Japanese army, 
 regiment, company, is "built like a watch," and each 
 Japanese soldier is a part of this machine, like a screw 
 or spring or disk, with this exception — every soldier is 
 capable of being transformed into another part of this 
 complex yet simple mechanism. 
 
 They are hardy fellows, too — not apparently of a high 
 intelligence as revealed in physiognomy or cranial devel- 
 opment, but with suggestions of the bull-terrier. Of one 
 company, for example, over two-thirds had the heavy 
 jaw, broad at the jowls and protruding, that you asso- 
 ciate with the pugilist or the bull-dog. You can well be- 
 lieve the tales of their ferocious courage. But it is not 
 thought that they have the endurance of their Russian 
 
 144
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 antagonists. For one thing, they are fed more than the 
 Russian soldiers are fed. Inspection of their rations for 
 each meal was a source of surprise, for it appeared that 
 they eat almost as much as the American soldier, though, 
 of course, not of so heavy and nutritious food. But their 
 food is better and of greater quantity than the food 
 of the Russian soldier. For this reason Russian officers 
 assert that the Japanese soldiers are not so efficient in 
 the stress of bitter campaigns. 
 
 Unlike the Russians, they have no religious services 
 in quarters, and, in reality, no definite religious faith. 
 The Japanese soldier goes into battle burning with the 
 thought of dying in the service of the good Mikado, 
 dying for the glory of the flag of the Crimson Sun. The 
 Russian soldier goes into battle with the little metal cross 
 next to his very heart. (Every orthodox Russian, noble 
 and peasant, sleeping and waking, wears around his neck 
 and on his breast, next to the flesh, the little metal cross.) 
 He goes into battle believing not only that he is obeying 
 his commander, not only that he is serving the Czar, but 
 that he is fighting in the cause of Heaven itself, and that 
 when he falls he will go to the sure rewards of a loving 
 Father, in whose service he laid down his earthly life. 
 
 Space cannot be given for detailed description of Japan- 
 ese discipline. Perhaps their method of desultory firing, 
 mingled with fixing bayonets, preparatory to a charge, 
 is the best single example to illuminate the whole subject 
 which can be selected. 
 
 Suppose, then, that a Japanese regiment is to charge 
 an enemy. They will kneel on one knee, and a general 
 and continuous fire all along the line will be kept up, each 
 man firing as fast as he can carefully aim, and quite at 
 will; between shots, one man and then another, but not 
 all at once, quickly draw their knifelike bayonets and fix 
 them to the guns, and continue firing. When all the 
 bayonets are fixed, the officers spring to position (the 
 captains in front) so quickly that you hardly observe it; 
 lo 145
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the order to charge is shouted, and the whole Hne springs 
 forward, first on a slow run, but quickening as they near 
 the enemy, and bursting into a wild, high yell as they 
 close upon their foe. It is reasoned that by this method 
 no time is wasted; the enemy do not know that a charge 
 is to be made; firing is continuous to the very moment of 
 onset; and, principally and far above all, that by this 
 continuous firing, mingled with the fixing of baA^onets, the 
 soldier is gradually worked up to a point of terrible eager- 
 ness, and that at the psychic moment the human engine 
 of death is released upon its antagonist. 
 
 The impartial observer will conclude that, though the 
 Russian soldier has points of superiority over the Japan- 
 ese, nevertheless the Japanese soldier, man for man, is 
 more nearly a match for his Russian antagonist than 
 is generally supposed. 
 
 "We can mobilize our entire army of two hundred and 
 fifty thousand men in thirty-six hours," declared one of 
 the very highest military authorities of Japan. And 
 there is no doubt of the truth of the statement. The 
 Japanese believe that they can land an army corps in 
 Korea in less than three days. But competent European 
 officers think this impossible. It is believed by the most 
 conservative men in Japan that a force of two hundred 
 thousand men can be transported to the peninsula or to 
 Manchuria in two weeks, and a line of provision trans- 
 ports established and defended. Perhaps this is not so 
 far from the truth. Very moderate opinion is, that in 
 three weeks Japan could have every man in her active 
 military establishment landed at any point she pleased 
 in Manchuria or Korea, and a line of commissary trans- 
 ports established and defended. 
 
 In the coming war, therefore, it is believed that Japan 
 can get into position throughout the country she desires 
 to absorb, and that it would then be for Russia to oust 
 her. Anybody will understand the advantage of being in 
 position and intrenched. When the conflict comes, the 
 
 146
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Russian force and the Japanese force of available, active 
 fighting -men will not be far from the same. Every- 
 day that Japan delays, Russia's numbers, of course, in- 
 crease. 
 
 In this conflict the chief — perhaps determining — ele- 
 ment will be the respective Russian and Japanese fleets. 
 The Japanese navy, practically all of which is at home 
 and instantly available for this war, is one of the best 
 fighting naval organizations in the world. Indeed, for its 
 size it is perhaps the best-equipped navy of any nation. 
 But neither is the Russian navy to be sneered at. Stead- 
 ily, slowly, almost stealthily, she is increasing her mari- 
 time armament in the Orient. The stories told about 
 the mismanagement and neglect of the Russian war-ships 
 are believed to be erroneous, and this belief comes from 
 personal observation. It must not be forgotten that the 
 pet and pride and hope of the Russian nation has been 
 her navy ever since the time that Peter the Great estab- 
 lished it. Russia herself makes her own guns for her 
 war-ships. She makes most, nearly all, of her war-ships 
 herself. They are well done. The ships were found in 
 quite as good condition upon unexpected visits to them 
 and on personal, but, of course, uninstructed and non- 
 expert examination of all parts of them, as English and 
 American ships were found under like circumstances ; and 
 no opinion is here ventured as to the respective fighting 
 powers of the Japanese and the Russian ships in a combat 
 to the death. 
 
 Finally comes the estimate of comparative resources, 
 and it is plain that the subject cannot be exhaustively 
 handled in a paragraph. Only a broad, general outline 
 can be stated. 
 
 In the statement of that, it may be said that Russia 
 has vast resources unorganized and only now in the proc- 
 ess of modern arrangement by Witte. Russia has coal; 
 Russia has iron; Russia has timber; Russia has admittedly 
 the third richest, and many believe the richest, gold-mines 
 
 147
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 in the world; Russia has a bread-producing area second 
 only to that of the United States; Rtissia's manufact- 
 urers are making strides which, for the Slav race, are 
 astonishing, but which for a highly systemized people like 
 the Americans or Germans would be considered lethargic. 
 
 On the other hand, Japan, with no iron, with poor coal, 
 with limited fields, with a crowded population jostling 
 and elbowing one another into the sea, has as highly sys- 
 temized industrial organization as any nation, and her 
 manufacturing enterprises are progressing with almost 
 American rapidity. Her sources of taxation are com- 
 paratively limited and meagre, but, to quote on this 
 subject one of the coming men of Japan, "Organized little 
 counterbalances unorganized abundance." 
 
 Japan, however, is hampered by a semi-democratic 
 form of government, which most enlightened Japanese 
 and every student of Japanese development now admits 
 to be a disappointment. The representative assembly 
 of Japan, so admirably arranged in theory, has more than 
 once proved to be a vexatious interference with the far- 
 seeing plans of the empire's real statesmen. The floors 
 of the Diet have frequently been made rostrums from 
 which demagogy has shouted to the masses — a stage upon 
 which candidates for applause have outscreamed one 
 another in playing the role of parliamentary conspicuity. 
 This prevents Japan from making adequate preparation, 
 although, so profound is the national feeling that, when 
 the time arrives, it will be the representative assembly 
 who will want to rush into war, for which meanwhile 
 they refuse to prepare, and the conservative statesmen 
 who will strive to prevent war, for which in the mean time 
 they wish to prepare. 
 
 Russia, on the other hand, takes her measures far in 
 advance. In addition to her ordinary sources of revenue, 
 she has now taken over the monopoly of vodka. The 
 taxation of vodka alone is said to have largely supported 
 the army and navy, and, now that the government has 
 
 148
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 itself become the distributer of intoxicants for one hun- 
 dred and forty millions of Russian people, it will add to 
 its former taxation the profits of hundreds of thousands 
 of dealers. At the same time, the people will be taught 
 moderation in drinking. 
 
 Again, for example, the one thing consumed by m.an, 
 woman, and child in Russia is tea — in the homes, tea; 
 on the streets, tea; in the trains, tea; in the camps, tea; 
 on the boats, tea; among the squalid knots of ragged 
 pilgrims, tea. Very well, says Witte; why should private 
 dealers profit from the common and universal necessities 
 of the masses? And so the government is perfecting 
 plans for taking on the monopoly of tea. This will be 
 an enormous and constantly increasing source of rev- 
 enue. However, it is not yet being carried into prac- 
 tice. 
 
 Of course, as was pointed out by the Japanese states- 
 man, in the conversation above quoted, there is the possi- 
 bility that the very vastness of the struggle will prevent it. 
 The effects of such a war would be so far-reaching and en- 
 during, it may involve so many nations, that the powers, 
 for very fear, may agree to prevent it. We have here, 
 repeated, the situation so often presented during the 
 nineteenth century, and still in evidence, of the dismem- 
 berment of Turkey, or its absorption by Russia, prevented 
 by the rest of the world. And the judicial thinker must 
 not omit the important factor also pointed out by the 
 Japanese statesman above referred to, that the progress of 
 civilization, as manifested in steam and electricity, and 
 the constant weaving together of the advancing forces 
 of the world, may have a delaying if not an absolutely 
 preventive effect. 
 
 But, taking all of these into account, and giving them 
 their just weight in balancing the forces which make for 
 war and the forces which make for peace, one is forced, 
 however much against his will, to the conclusion that the 
 pacific influences may be too weak to prevail. Indeed, it 
 
 149
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 may be that forces far greater and deeper than any of 
 these pointed out are precipitating this conflict, and that 
 it may be the beginning of the long-anticipated struggle 
 between Occidental civilization on the one hand and 
 Oriental civilization on the other hand. 
 
 Finally, there is a rare possibility that Marquis Ito 
 (by the test of achievements entitled to be called the 
 first constructive living statesman of the world) and 
 Witte (the ablest commercial and financial mind in 
 Europe, and certainly the best business-man the empire 
 has produced, so far as the world has any data to judge 
 from) — it is possible that these two great, conservative 
 minds may prevent the inevitable, avert the impending, 
 and answer with their moderation the syllogism of nature 
 itself, whose probable conclusion is, as pointed out, the 
 first great war of the twentieth century. 
 
 Witte is devoted to peace. Ito is devoted to peace. 
 Each man has on his hands that noblest of tasks — the de- 
 veloping of an old people into a new people and of ancient 
 conditions into modern system. And war, which costs so 
 much money — war, which wrecks credit — war, which eats 
 up resources, is to these two mighty men of Europe and 
 Asia their mutual nightmare. They will avert it if 
 they can; but to the observer who traverses the ground, 
 and then, from afar, as from a high peak, surveys con- 
 ditions, it looks as though two vast avalanches, moving 
 towards each other on the same line, were steadily gather- 
 ing momentum, and that the two giants' shoulders, braced 
 against them in attempting to hold them back, will not 
 be strong enough for that great task — Herculean though 
 those shoulders are. To the impartial observer, whose 
 business it is to see and not to dream, to deduce the prob- 
 able from the actual, and not to call his hopes his facts, it 
 would appear that sooner or later these two great bodies 
 must meet. 
 
 Meanwhile, the hopes and prayers of the world will be 
 with the master-minds of Russia and Japan — Witte and 
 
 ISO
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Ito. But if, despite their wisdom and their will, war 
 comes, it will be one of those issues of fate in whose 
 progress and endmg, as in all like elemental and un- 
 avoidable conflicts, men and history may see the hand 
 of God.
 
 XII 
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE PARALLELED BY THE GERMAN 
 ADVANCE 
 
 ONLY two powers are making substantial headway 
 in China, as evidenced by physical accomplishments 
 on the ground. For ten years none but these two na- 
 tions has accomplished permanent results which you can 
 see with your eye, upon which you can put your finger. 
 The first of these powers is Russia, a suggestion of whose 
 material and constructive advance has been inadequately 
 given. But the building of her Manchurian railroad is not 
 the hmit of her activity. When that enormous terminus 
 of the Siberian road is completed Russia will have har- 
 nessed Asia to her chariot with traces of steel ; but to make 
 Asia move, to subdue, to train, to guide the Orient will re- 
 quire time, patience, and ceaselessly steady effort. 
 
 And these three elements are the very ones in which 
 Russian character is richest. Russia knows the incom- 
 parable effect of carefully cultivated public opinion — the 
 autocracy of precedent, even in the most absolute of au- 
 tocracies; therefore her diplomatic and consular agencies, 
 together with those of the French, are fountains of subtle 
 influence all over the Celestial Empire. She knows the 
 importance of banking institutions as fosterers of trade 
 and power among Eastern peoples, and, therefore, the 
 Russo-Chinese Bank is weaving a net-work of financial in- 
 fluence throughout the Far East. Starting from St. 
 Petersburg, this golden nerve of empire stretches across 
 Siberia with a ganglion at every town; spreads over Man- 
 churia again with a centre at Harbin, one at Mukden, at 
 
 152
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Port Arthur, at Dalni,at New-Chwang; enters Pekin, where 
 it gathers fresh power and impetus from Mr. Posdneff , the 
 remarkable head of the Russo-Chinese Bank at that place; 
 stretches southward again to Shanghai, pausing at Che- 
 foo on the way; crosses the Yellow Sea, and runs the cir- 
 cuit of Japan, with headquarters at Yokohama; doubles 
 on itself, and finally ends with an aggressive agency at 
 Hong-Kong, the very headquarters of England's Oriental 
 power and activity. The Russo-Chinese Bank deserves 
 a chapter to itself; the limits of this chapter permit no 
 adequate analysis. It is mentioned here only in the sum- 
 mary of Russia's Oriental preparations.^ 
 
 The other power making commercial and territorial 
 progress in China is Germany. Its visible activity and 
 apparent results are superior, at the present moment, even 
 to those of Russia. Four years ago the writer was sur- 
 prised and startled upon observing, on a careful trip 
 through China, the seeming predominance everywhere of 
 German commerce as manifested in immediate activity. 
 In the summer of 1901 the increase in the externalization 
 of German influence would not have been believed but for 
 actual sight and hearing and the testimony of the physical 
 senses — yes, and the testimony of that sum of physical 
 senses, the witness of that indefinable psychic suggestion 
 vv^hich we in America express by saying "the drift of 
 things," or "it is in the air"; for all over China, Germany 
 is "in the air." 
 
 Attention has been called to the fact that at Nikolsk 
 
 ^ The Russo-Chinese Bank now has branches at the following 
 ]jlaces : Andijan, Batoum, Biisk, Blagovcstchensk, Bcdaibo, 
 Bombay, Bokhara, Calcutta, Chefoo, Dalni, Hailar, Hakodate, 
 Hankow, Harbin, Hong-Kong, Irkutsk, Kalgan, Kachgar, 
 Khabaroff, Khokand, Kiachta, Kirin, Koh6, Krasnoiarsk, 
 Kouantchendze, Kouldja, Moscow, Mukden, Nagasaki, New- 
 Chwang, Nikolsk, Ouliasoutai, Ourga, Paris, Pekin, Port 
 Arthur, Samarcande, Shanghai, Strctensk, Tachkent, Teline, 
 Tien-Tsin, Tchita, Tchougoutchak, Tsitsikar, Verchneoudinsk, 
 Vladivostock, Werniy, Yokohama, Zeiskaia, and Pristan. 
 
 ^53
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the principal ir.ercliants of that Russian commercial and 
 military centre were Germans, and that Germans even 
 supplied the builders of the Manchurian railroad with 
 provisions. At Port Arthur the great German firm of 
 Kuntz & Albers are said to employ a score of young 
 Germans in their estabHshment. In Vladivostock Kuntz 
 & Albers have enormous headquarters, and there is not a 
 department store in Washington whose building sur- 
 passes the handsome structure which this German firm 
 has in Blagovestchensk, Siberia. 
 
 The same thing is true of China itself. In Tien-Tsin 
 perhaps the first foreign mercantile house — certainly 
 the second — is the North China branch of the great firm 
 of Carlowitz & Company. In Canton, at the other end 
 of the empire, by far the most active, though possibly not 
 the largest, commercial establishment is the South China 
 branch of this immense trading establishment. In 
 Shanghai, the clearing-house of the whole Celestial 
 Empire, German activity is aggressive, ommipresent, 
 persistent. 
 
 On a certain day in the late summer of 1901 more 
 German flags were counted in the water-front before 
 the bund at Shanghai than those of any other nation; 
 and that was a spectacle which, only five years ago, an 
 Englishman would have assured you to be an utter 
 impossibility under any circumstances or at any time. 
 The carrying trade of the Far East is passing into Ger- 
 man hands with a rapidity which would alarm the 
 former English monopolists of this great business were 
 it not for the strange stupor which seems to have seized 
 their minds and numbed their nerves. It is less than 
 ten years ago — not more than five years ago — since the 
 unrivalled passenger line of Eastern waters was the 
 English Peninsular and Oriental Company. Nobody 
 calls it unrivalled to-day. The vessels of few Oriental 
 steamship lines equal to-day the ships of the North 
 German Lloyd's Oriental fleet. 
 
 154
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The Yang-tse River might as well be a narrow estuary 
 of the ocean, so wide, so deep, so navigable for ships is it 
 for almost a thousand miles into the heart of China. It is 
 the artery of commerce, through which flows the blood of 
 foreign trade into the richest and most thickly populated 
 portion of the empire. The carrying trade upon this 
 river was, until five years ago, almost exclusively in the 
 hands of the English. To-day the Germans are rapidly 
 overtaking their British competitors in the tonnage 
 which they own on the Yang-tse River. English ship- 
 owners are selling their lines — their German competitors 
 are buying them. 
 
 The above is only an index, the counting of a few items 
 of German commercial activity in China. A full and care- 
 ful description would require a volume in itself; but an 
 examination of the causes, which are few and fundamental, 
 may reasonably be given within the limits of these dis- 
 cussions. Before taking them up, however, let us notice 
 Germany's territorial, diplomatic, and military activity on 
 the ground. 
 
 Perhaps at no spot in any country could so picturesque 
 an interior have been seen as the dining-room of the prin- 
 cipal hotel at Tien-Tsin, in the late summer of 190 1. It 
 was the place where the officers of the European powers 
 assembled for their evening dinner, and for their smoke 
 and gossip and relaxation on the verandas afterwards. 
 The English were there, of course, proud, clean, charming 
 examples of that incomparable product — the Anglo-Saxon 
 gentleman. The French were there, and the Italian (and 
 Italy certainly sent the ver}^ pick and flower of her physi- 
 cal manhood — some of the Italian officers were superb to 
 look upon), and the Austrian, and everybody else. But, 
 over all, conspicuously the master figure, was the German. 
 The whole atmosphere of Tien-Tsin was German. One 
 or two German officers had brought their wives with them, 
 beautiful, blond, vivacious creatures. Every German 
 man and woman in the Orient is imperial in bearing, man- 
 
 155
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ner, and purpose. Their veins seem to be filled with the 
 winelike blood of German supremacy. Every officer, 
 every diplomat, every consul is the German Emperor in 
 miniature. 
 
 " I tell you frankly," said a resident of Tien-Tsin, and 
 one of the best-informed foreigners in China — "I tell you 
 frankly, whatever the newspapers may say, and whatever 
 the diplomatic phrases may be, the real, substantial pow- 
 ers here are Germany and Russia. The German's bearing 
 of insolent superiority, with the constant reminder that 
 the mailed hand is back of every demand, impresses the 
 Chinaman far more than it angers him, for he respects 
 nothing so much as power." 
 
 When he said that he gave the key which, in the opin- 
 ion of German, English, and Russian, unlocks the se- 
 crets of the Oriental heart. It was not a discovery. It 
 was merely saying over again what most foreign students 
 of Asiatic peoples have said since the very beginning of 
 Oriental investigation by modern peoples. 
 
 The barracks of the German "legation guard" at Pekin 
 are permanent structures, large, numerous, and apparent- 
 ly sufficient for several thousand men. They impress 
 the observer as garrison buildings more than as the 
 quarters of the diplomatic guard. At Shanghai, in the 
 summer of 1901, German officers and soldiers were con- 
 spicuously in evidence. It was even rumored that 
 ground was to be leased by Germany for permanent bar- 
 racks; but this has not yet been done, if, indeed, it was 
 ever contemplated. Of course, the focus of German 
 military and constructive activity is Kiaochou and the 
 Shan-Tung province midway between Shanghai and Tien- 
 Tsin. The story of this feature of German advance 
 in China has been told in a previous chapter. The 
 miracle wrought in the brief years of German occupa- 
 tion justifies, in the opinion of many informed European 
 residents of China, the bold step taken by Emperor 
 William. 
 
 156
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 No one in Shan-Tung province ever heard of a period 
 of such prosperity, of a time of such good wages in that 
 vicinity, as the inhabitants of Kiaochou and the sur- 
 rounding country have enjoyed since the German came 
 among them. For he came, not with his musket alone, not 
 equipped with bayonet, sword, and cannon only, but, as 
 with the Russian in Manchuria, he came with spade and 
 adze and plane and saw, and all the building implements 
 of peace. He has promised himself that he will reproduce 
 England's miracles at Hong-Kong in Germany's miracle 
 at Kiaochou. (In less than fifty years a barren rock, 
 rising from the water, with a few huts of starving Chinese 
 fishermen, clinging like crabs to its base, has been trans- 
 formed into one of the greatest ports and one of the most 
 beautiful cities in the world. Such has been the English- 
 man's work in Hong-Kong; and be it remembered, too, 
 that when the work began, and while it was in progress, 
 it was denotmced by English statesmen in Parliament, 
 and its failure predicted by economists of almost every 
 other nation.) 
 
 In her Kiaochou concessions Germany has erected mod- 
 em buildings, modern storehouses, modern everything. 
 Perhaps the best hotel (but tv/o) in the Orient, the Prince 
 Heinrich Hotel, stands where filthy hovels, made of a paste 
 of disease and mud, housed wretched Chinamen, less than 
 eight years ago. The railroad runs around the Bay of 
 Kiaochou itself. The sandy hills are being reclaimed with 
 forests planted by the hands of scientific foresters from 
 the Fatherland. A work of beauty, of cleanliness, of 
 system, of industry is being wrought by the determined 
 Teuton at this forbidding and unwelcome gateway to a 
 province whose twenty millions of inhabitants are yet 
 to be told of the great world outside, and yet to be brought 
 into human, civilizing, saving contact with their brother 
 human beings. Meanwhile, slowly, and yet quite as rap- 
 idly as the yellow hands can do the work, the iron and 
 steel nef ves of the railway creep into the interior txrv^ards 
 
 157
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the mountains, where, it is believed by the German ir- 
 vestors, coal and iron and other minerals await the hand 
 of enterprise to make these cliffs and hills of poverty a 
 second Pennsylvania. And with the railroad goes the 
 German soldier. Any interference with a bolt, the loosen- 
 ing of a plate that fastens rail to rail, the undermining of 
 a single tie, means punishment, and that, thinks the 
 German, is something the Chinaman understands. And 
 so it is that, with the progress of this highway of com- 
 merce and civilization, order goes, and system and peace. 
 
 "The German people will soon sicken and tire of this 
 disgusting enterprise. Think of the millions they have 
 spent, think of the millions they must invest, and think 
 of the trifling returns!" So spoke an English critic of 
 the German enterprise in Shan-Tung. 
 
 When this was mentioned to a vigorous German mer- 
 chant in Tien-Tsin he laughed his great, hearty, vital, 
 German laugh, and said: "What nonsense! A factory 
 has to establish its plant before it can make any goods, 
 has it not? It must send out its advertisements before 
 it can get others to buy its goods, must it not? And 
 from the time of its establishment to the time the profits 
 begin to come is always a long period. Well, Germany is 
 establishing her plant in the Orient. Take the railroad 
 in Shan -Tung. I am a merchant. I do not expect always 
 to stay here. I am here to make money myself. Ah, yes, 
 and to extend German trade wherever I can, too, I admit. 
 Well, with this purely commercial end in view, I am in- 
 vesting my money in the Shan-Tung railroad. I am in- 
 vesting it because, after careful examination, I am con- 
 fident of profitable returns ; and I shall stay right with it 
 till profitable returns come. I shall help them to come. 
 All Germans will help them to come. The German gov- 
 ernment will help them to come." 
 
 This conversation occurred at six o'clock in the even- 
 ing. A visit at five o'clock to the first English commercial 
 ofhce of Tien-Tsin found the ofhce shut, clerks and man- 
 
 158
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 agers gone for the day. But the German commercial 
 house was not shut ; the German clerks had not departed 
 for the day. They were at their desks; they were about 
 the "go-downs" (warehouses), and the manager of the 
 great business, collarless, in shirt - sleeves, vast and 
 brawny, a very riot of masculinity, sat, working away, 
 with sweaty brow and moist face, -in his little office. 
 
 "Yes, I think it, perhaps, is one secret of our success in 
 the Orient," said he; "we never cease to work. The 
 Englishman must have his time for tennis. You must 
 not push him too hard during business hours, either. 
 He must have his relaxation in the evening. He must 
 drink at his club. He must spend his social hours in 
 pleasant converse with the ladies. None of these for us 
 Germans out here in the Far East. We are a humbler 
 race. We are here for work. That is the first thing we 
 are here for; and the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth 
 thing that we are here for is work also." 
 
 Two years before, at Canton, an English and American 
 house, the successor of the famous Russell & Co. (the 
 American "merchant princes" of the Far East fifty years 
 ago) closed at four o'clock. A pleasant excursion on 
 the river was taken until about the hour of six, when the 
 foreign club was visited. Foreigners of every national- 
 ity were at the club, drinking as only Europeans in the 
 Orient drink — foreigners, that is, except Germans; not a 
 German was present. But the Canton branch of that 
 immense German company, Carlowitz & Co., then oc- 
 cupied the building next to the club. Every window was 
 lighted up, and when the club was left, a half-hour later, 
 at every window was seen a German clerk in shirt-sleeves, 
 bending over his desk, writing, figuring, casting up ac- 
 counts, as though that was the last day before judgment. 
 "Seest thou a man diligent in business? he shall stand 
 before kings." This and other such quotations crowded 
 through the mind, and the history-old explanation of 
 failure and success was plain. 
 
 159
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "Oh yes, we sell other goods than German goods, of 
 course. We sell any goods of any nationality. We our- 
 selves are the agents in China for Armstrong & Co. (the 
 great English manufacturers) ; we are the agents of many 
 English firms. We are agents for some Amicrican lines 
 of goods. If we cannot sell German goods, as we prefer 
 to do, we will sell any goods we can. Ultimately it is 
 good for Germany to have American goods or English 
 goods or any other kind of goods pass through German 
 hands. With us individual trade and individual profit 
 are the main thing. The trade of the German Empire is 
 a secondary thing. But we do not neglect it, mind you. 
 A difference between us and the English and French, and 
 also the American, is that they are each merely looking 
 out for their own individual, selfish interests, without the 
 slightest thought of whether or no the trade of America 
 or England or France is adversely affected. Well, we are 
 not. Though we are here for individual gain and indi- 
 vidual profit, the extension of German commerce and the 
 trade of the empire is a real and living consideration with 
 us also. The government helps us and we help the govern- 
 ment." So spoke a German Oriental merchant. 
 
 And the government is helping. The German steam- 
 ship lines to the Orient are subsidized h^SLvily. It is said, 
 and upon sufficient authority to warrant belief, that even 
 the German coastwise and river lines in China receive 
 government aid. A line is maintained between Shang- 
 hai and Tien-Tsin by the help of the German government. 
 All ships of this line stop at Kiaochou, and a weekly 
 round-trip service is maintained between that German 
 colony and Shanghai. These ships are quite as good as 
 any engaged in Oriental coastwise trade. 
 
 Again, the feeling has been created in the Orient that 
 the official authorities of Germany may be relied on, by 
 personal effort and every other possible means, to aid 
 German merchants in any piece of business they may 
 have on hand. Every German merchant, contractor, or 
 
 i6o
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 promoter feels free to call for the active and energetic 
 assistance of all German consuls; and the energy and 
 eagerness of the German consular force compel the ad- 
 miration of all observers. It is as aggressive as the 
 American consular service, with the additional advan- 
 tage of special training. 
 
 Germany, too, is ingenious and insistent in creating 
 an impression on the Oriental mind that she is the world's 
 superior power. Wherever there is an excuse for the 
 display of military force, German soldiery is seen. The 
 writer never visited, on two trips to China, a single Chi- 
 nese port in which one or more German war-ships were 
 not found. The German military element was so pre- 
 dominant in Shanghai, in the summer of 1901, that a 
 casual and uninstructed traveller might have been ex- 
 cused for thinking it a German colony. No one who 
 knows the peculiar practical quality of the German mind 
 will believe for an instant that all of this is for mere show. 
 It is the working out of a carefully evolved theory about 
 China and its inhabitants, and Orientals in general. 
 
 For, with the same patience with which their scientists 
 have evolved working theories in German industry, with 
 the same stolid patience with which they have developed 
 and put into practice theories of navigation, the German 
 has developed his theories of the Oriental mind and 
 character, and upon them bases his treatment of Oriental 
 peoples and conditions. In a word, that theory is that 
 the only two things which the Oriental mind understands 
 are a plain demand and overwhelming force. The Ger- 
 man does not believe that the Chinaman is grateful for 
 special favors shown him. The German theory is that 
 the strong hand is the only thing an Asiatic respects. 
 Therefore, everywhere the German bayonet, everywhere 
 the German uniform, and everywhere German ships of 
 war; and now there is the beginning of another "every- 
 where," and that " everywhere " is German barracks. 
 
 How does all this affect German trade? (The writer 
 II 161
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 expressly disclaims the expression of opinion here as to 
 the soundness or otherv/ise of the German theory. This 
 is a mere record of facts.) Alongside of the military 
 omnipresence just noticed is a growth of German trade 
 in the East quite unequalled in its rapidity. In Hong- 
 Kong the most active and, with one exception, the largest 
 commercial houses are German. German clocks are 
 found in Chinamen's shops, German buttons, German 
 knives. In Shanghai there are thirty-one German firms, 
 some of which, like Arnold, Karberg & Co., and Carlo- 
 witz & Co., are immense establishments, with branches 
 at every treaty port in the empire. 
 
 Though the report and returns of trade issued by the 
 China Imperial Maritime Customs show the great bulk 
 of trade at this central port to be still English, there is, 
 nevertheless, a falling off of English and a rapid advance 
 of German importations. And it is claimed that the 
 reports are not accurate. An estimate was examined 
 from a supposedly reliable source, which had been secretly 
 made, and which showed eighty per cent, in value of the 
 foreign goods actually carried on all boats upon the 
 Yang-tse River to be German. Reliable as the source 
 of information was, however, this estimate is undoubtedly 
 a magnified exaggeration. But the striking increase of 
 German commerce on every hand is admitted. 
 
 "But does not this constant military menace of Ger- 
 many interfere with her trade? Does it not anger the 
 Chinaman? Is it not natural that this people should buy 
 of those they like rather than of those they hate?" were 
 questions asked of a leading American merchant in China, 
 and one of the best -informed men in the empire. 
 
 "Naturally one would think so," he replied, "but it is 
 not true. Chinamen come to us ar^d abuse the German 
 with words, but go to him and buy his goods. So far 
 from decreasing German trade, this military reputation, 
 which they are working so hard for, is the best advertise- 
 ment they could have with Chinese customers." 
 
 162
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 And this is what another American said in Tien-Tsin: 
 " The patting of the Chinaman on the back does not win 
 his favor. The Chinaman hkes to trade with the 'big 
 man,' whoever he is. And to him the ' big man' is the man 
 who has the most power. Whether this is correct or not, 
 you can observe for yourself the progress Germany is 
 making." 
 
 A German commercial authority in Shanghai, speaking 
 on this very point, said: "The German flag is coming to 
 be a commercial asset to every one of us Germans who 
 does business in the Orient." (Precisely what Cecil 
 Rhodes said about the British flag in South Africa.) 
 " Look at that water-front and tell me what flag is most 
 numerous. The German. What soldiers do you see 
 most of on the streets ? German. What officers the most 
 conspicuous on the bund last evening? The German. 
 Well, I am a merchant, and look at this thing purely from 
 the point of view of dollars and cents; but all of that is so 
 valuable to me that I should be willing to pay my propor- 
 tionate share to have it continue and increase. We are 
 respected now; formerly we were not. Twelve years ago 
 the word German was a term of reproach ; to-day it is a 
 term of respect. Every place you hear the word Ger- 
 man, German, German. We have created the peculiar 
 condition of mind which your great American department 
 stores succeed in creating when everybody gets to talking 
 about them, everybody gets to going to them. However 
 wrong our views may be in the abstract, you see for your- 
 self that they work very well." 
 
 Another commercial German of substance and informa- 
 tion, located at a certain treaty port, made a statement of 
 German intention concerning the rich trading district of 
 the Yang-tse Valley which confirmed a general and grow- 
 ing suspicion that, until now, has hardly been breathed 
 louder than in a whisper. "So you think China will be 
 partitioned?" was asked. 
 
 "Will be! Why, it is being partitioned. The division 
 
 163
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 is actually going on. When tens of millions of dollars are 
 being expended in railroad properties, and the right to 
 work mining resources as an incident thereto, is conceded 
 — as is universally the case — the power creating these im- 
 provements becomes a dominant influence in that prov- 
 ince. It is immaterial whether boundaries are actually 
 staked out or not, or that the little flag of the controlling 
 power is stuck to each surveying stake. It is of no conse- 
 quence what terms are employed. The fact is the thing." 
 
 "I suppose, then, that you mean that Russia will ulti- 
 mately have Manchuria?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "That Germany will have Shan-Tung?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "That perhaps Russia and Germany will divide Chihli?" 
 (Pekin and Tien-Tsin are located in this province.) 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "That England will have the Yang-tse Valley?" 
 
 With flashing eyes, shoulders suddenly thrown back, he 
 smote his desk with his clinched fist, and almost shouted: 
 "Never! Never! German interests in the Yang-tse are 
 already too great for it ever to fall within the sphere of any 
 other nation's exclusive influence. No, the Yang-tse 
 Valley is as much the sphere of Germany as it is of 
 England." 
 
 References are frequently made by German merchants 
 in the Orient to the presence of German soldiers in China, 
 and especially German ships of war in Chinese waters. 
 They are worth noting merely to show the prevailing 
 thought and feeling of German business men in the Orient 
 as to the commercial value of military and naval activities. 
 Indeed, no one can breathe the atmosphere of the Far 
 East very long without becoming impressed with German 
 aggressiveness everywhere, even in the Yang-tse Valley. 
 And yet the Yang-tse Valley has been thought to be se- 
 curely English. England and Russia have actually agreed, 
 the first not to interfere with any present or future Russian 
 
 164
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 railway enterprise north of the Great Wall, and the latter, 
 in like manner, not to interfere with any present or future 
 English railway enterprise in the Yang-tse Valley.^ But 
 it is thought that Germany will never permit this vast and 
 commercially opulent region to become exclusively Eng- 
 lish for purposes of commerce; and the activities of the 
 Russian in Hankow, on the Yang-tse River, eight hundred 
 miles from the ocean directly into the heart of China, sug- 
 gests the belief that Russia will not either. 
 
 These two circumstances have their bright side, because 
 they are substantial, militant, fighting guarantees, for the 
 present at least, that the open door in China is to be kept 
 open. That is to say, the door is kept ajar by the jealous- 
 ies and conflicting interests of the partitioning powers, and 
 not by their agreement. Could this be overcome, the par- 
 tition, which appears to be already proceeding, might cul- 
 minate at a comparatively early day. It might even be 
 accomplished in twenty -five years — yes, in ten years, or 
 even less. Manchuria is already Russian, if the Czar 
 wishes it. Shan-Tung is already Germany's "sphere of in- 
 fluence," and is coming more and more each day under 
 the physical control of the Kaiser. That portion of China 
 opposite the Japanese island of Formosa has been " staked 
 out" as the territory of Japanese predominant influence, 
 If the Yang-tse Valley were conceded to England, little 
 more would be left to do in accomplishing the partition 
 of China. 
 
 Freedom of trade of other nations with German, Rus- 
 sian, Japanese, or English provinces would then become 
 matters of separate agreement with the respective con- 
 trolling powers. It may be that Germany, having spent 
 millions of dollars to create conditions of commerce in a 
 populous territory, may refuse to throw that commerce 
 open equally to other nations, which have not expended a 
 
 1 This Russian and English agreement is given in full in the 
 appendix. 
 
 165
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 cent, upon the same terms as herself. There is nothing in 
 the history of Russia to show that, after the expenditure of 
 hundreds of milHons of dollars in creating the possibilities 
 of modern commerce, she will then yield that commerce to 
 competitors who are better equipped commercially. Their 
 present declarations in favor of the "open door" are borne 
 in mind; but we are now considering ultimate possibilities. 
 
 The motives and purposes of nations are to be observed 
 from conditions and not from traditions. Therefore, 
 those who expect England to continue her colonial policy 
 of the free and equal access of all the world to those re- 
 gions which her energy, money, and valor have opened to 
 the world's commerce are hardly warranted in such opin- 
 ion. Why was it that England said, "Where my flag is 
 planted trade is free"? Why was it that she insisted 
 upon all the treaty ports of China being open to every 
 other nation on the same terms as herself? What was 
 the reason for that generous, but also statesman-like pol- 
 icy? Admitting that many English statesmen champion- 
 ing this noble proposition were inspired by humanitarian 
 reasons, the real reason must be found in very practical 
 commercial considerations. 
 
 For a long time — indeed, up to twenty years ago — 
 England was the workshop of the world. She made the 
 world's goods. There was no other nation which could 
 compete with her. Therefore, it was to her interest to 
 champion free ports and open doors, because in such ports 
 and upon such apparently equal terms with the rest of the 
 world she was, in effect, beyond competition. Nobody 
 could make goods as cheaply as she could. Indeed, com- 
 paratively speaking, nobody could make goods at all for 
 export except herself. On the other hand, her one need 
 was raw material ; and so, from the two elements — of un- 
 surpassed facility for manufacturing, rendering her un- 
 rivalled in the field of commercial progress, and her want 
 of and necessity for raw materials — was compounded 
 her policy of the open door and free ports. 
 
 i66
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 But now these elements have disappeared. Conditions 
 have changed. The inventive genius of Americans, which 
 produce every day miracles of mechanism; the intense 
 nervous activity of the American working-man ; his acute 
 and comprehensive intelligence; the marvellous combin- 
 ing and organizing ability of American capitalists; the 
 vast resources of American farms and mines and mills, 
 compared with which those of England are very moderate 
 indeed — all these, and many other considerations familiar 
 to every man, have enabled America to compete with 
 England, not only in the markets of the world, but in the 
 heart of London itself. 
 
 On the other hand, the polytechnic schools of Germany, 
 the patient endurance of the German working-man, the 
 persistent and intelligent efforts of German capital, and 
 the driving and directing power of the German Emperor — 
 all focused upon a policy of foreign trade — have made 
 Germany a successful competitor of England, even in Eng- 
 land's own crown colonies. So that the reasons why Eng- 
 land was for open doors and free ports a quarter of a cen- 
 tury ago have now disappeared. And if she continues in 
 favor of them, she does so for other reasons than those 
 which caused her to adopt that policy in the first place. 
 So it is not believed that England will long insist on an 
 open door in China, provided she can have the exclusive 
 trade of the Yang-tse Valley. 
 
 It is noted, with keen interest and sincere regret, that 
 English commerce and English policy in China seem to be 
 going to pieces. It is expressive of the sturdy honesty of 
 the English character (and the "bottom" and intrinsic 
 worth of English character will save England at the last) 
 that no one is so ready to recognize this fact, or even 
 tell of it, as are the Englishmen themselves who live in 
 China. Four years ago the writer, untravelled and unin- 
 formed at first hand on conditions in the East, and, there- 
 fore, believing that the only vigorous power in China was 
 England, observed, with surprise and almost consterna- 
 
 167
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 tion, the too-evident decline of British commercial and 
 political influence in the Celestial Empire. The increase 
 in this decline, upon a reinvestigation of Chinese condi- 
 tions two years later, was startling.^ 
 
 It is very hard to define it, but you will know it the mo- 
 ment you land. There is an atmosphere of drugged and 
 cocained English inactivity. There is a loss of heart , which 
 some attempt to conceal by boastful words ; but time and 
 again the writer has, upon more intimate acquaintance 
 with the most outspoken boaster, found him frankly ad- 
 mitting the strange torpor which seems to have come over 
 English policy and British activity in the Far East. One 
 of the very highest military authorities said : " I confess I 
 don't know what our policy is out here. I do not believe 
 anybody knows." 
 
 It has been noted before that English ship-owners are 
 selling out their lines. The Peninsular and Oriental Com- 
 pany must soon renew its fleets or be so out-distanced by 
 the German and French lines that it cannot afford to re- 
 main in the contest. The sale of English ship-lines causes 
 a sort of commercial paralysis, visible not only to the 
 heads of great commercial houses, but to the humblest 
 clerks. Said the first officer of a Japanese merchant ves- 
 sel (he was an Englishman, born in New Zealand, and 
 more "imperial" than a Londoner): "I do not know 
 what is the matter with our people. They do not seem 
 to see when they sell out a ship-line and the German buys 
 it that he has not only got the ships of that line, but has 
 secured the carrying trade that goes with it. And it 
 then becomes just as hard for the former English owner 
 to introduce a new line as it would have been for the 
 German to begin competition against the established 
 English line. When our people sell out their ship-lines, 
 they cannot replace them. They have lost not only their 
 ships; they have lost the trade which goes with those 
 
 * Lord Beresford reports the same thing. 
 i68
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ships, and, not only that, but the prestige, too. They 
 seem to be blind. I actually think of taking a trip to 
 England just to see with my own eyes what is the matter 
 with the English people." This was the shrewd, practical 
 observation of a thoroughly up-to-date English sailor. 
 
 Whatever is done as to a world policy with reference 
 to the future of China will not be done upon the initiative 
 of Great Britain, unless a change in British policy takes 
 place, and any one who leans on that expectation will 
 find himself reclining on a broken reed, unless a meta- 
 morphosis occurs soon in the British government's spirit 
 and purpose. The most earnest of England's friends 
 can only hope for this change. But Germany and Russia 
 have in recent years been given such right of way, and 
 they have come so thoroughly to believe themselves the 
 only powers that "do things" in the Celestial Empire, 
 that the most friendly observer becomes cautious in even 
 hoping for a permanent revival of the old-time British 
 clear-headedness, courage, and fighting forcefulness in the 
 Orient. 
 
 The recent offensive and defensive treaty between Eng- 
 land and Japan is the first manifestation of diplomatic 
 virility by England in the Far East for the last decade 
 or more. Before hazarding anything as to its results, it 
 might be well to wait and ascertain just how far it is a real 
 alliance of blood and iron, and ships and guns, and life 
 and death, on the one hand, and just how far it is a paper 
 alliance, on the other hand — just how far, in a word, Eng- 
 land means it.^ 
 
 If it be true that England proposes to back this alliance 
 with force, it probably means, when reduced to concrete 
 terms, that she is convinced that, as the old German 
 merchant said in the conversation above quoted, "Ger- 
 many and other aggressive powers will never permit 
 
 ' The Anglo-Japanese treaty of alliance is given in full in the 
 appendix. 
 
 169
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 England to occupy the Yang-tse Valley as her exclusive 
 sphere of influence." 
 
 How she proposes to get the fruits of an open door in 
 Manchuria or Shan-Tung, where the Germans and Rus- 
 sians control the railroads and can exclude her goods by 
 the simple process of differential railway rates, is not clear. 
 An aUiance to keep the open door in China does not go 
 far enough to accomplish much. As will be pointed out 
 in a subsequent chapter, it is just as important to open 
 the interior, so that merchandise taken through the 
 open door can penetrate inward, as it is to keep the door 
 itself open. 
 
 So far as paper statements and agreements are con- 
 cerned, Russia, Germany, and all other powers have de- 
 clared their intention to keep the door open. But diplo- 
 matic declarations and "paper intentions" amount to 
 little in the face of railroads actually built and building, 
 and the concrete and tangible power that necessarily 
 attends them. The maintenance of the open door is only 
 the first step to the entire reorganization of China. 
 
 A comprehensive but not impossibly difficult policy 
 might be agreed upon by three or four of the leading 
 nations of the world, for the reorganization of China. 
 It would be done, of course, through the machinery of 
 the Chinese administrative system. It would have the 
 effect of opening the interior to foreign travel, foreign 
 merchandise, and foreign communication generally, just 
 as the treaty ports are now open to the world; of safe- 
 guarding life and property throughout this immense 
 country, and, in general, would result in the accomplish- 
 ment of many of the ends which the Japanese feel it 
 is their destiny in the Far East to accomplish under 
 Japanese suzerainty. The only thing to prevent this, 
 the greatest reform of modern or perhaps of ancient 
 times, would be the jealousies and ambitions of the 
 powers. Of course, the United States would not take 
 the initiative. For one thing, we are not yet educated 
 
 17c
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 up to the point of material and tangible interference in 
 the affairs of other countries, no matter how much our 
 interests may be affected. As has been pointed out, 
 Japan would gladly join with England and the United 
 States in such a programme ; but England appears to be 
 too undecided about everything to undertake any further 
 definite work. Germany would probably not hesitate 
 could she be assured that German suzerainty of her por- 
 tion of the empire would not be disturbed, but even be 
 encouraged ; but as the integrity of the empire would be 
 one of the ends sought by such an agreement of the powers, 
 it is likely that Germany would not feel very enthusiastic 
 about it. If it be true that the Czar is secretly the suze- 
 rain of the Manchu Emperor, as so many believe, or if it 
 is the ultimate Russian intention to extend Russian 
 power over the whole of China, Russia would probably 
 not favor such an enterprise; and, of course, France 
 would co-operate with Russia. This brief analysis of the 
 agencies which must accomplish this work seems very 
 discouraging. And yet the work is there to be done, and 
 history shows that just such impossible situations have 
 time and again crystallized with startling rapidity. 
 
 The open door in China is important to us, but open 
 roads which lead from the open door into the interior 
 among the people are equally important. When we re- 
 flect that with the "likin" tax really abolished (it is now 
 supposed to be superseded by a customs arrangement, 
 but in reality it is not) and the interior of China freely open 
 to foreign goods (which it never has been), the trade of 
 the world with China would increase at once to a thou- 
 sand million dollars a year (and later on to much more), 
 and that the great bulk of this trade would be ours, if 
 we would only take it, the tremendous importance of this 
 subject in regard to the future of American mills, mines, 
 and farms is apparent. 
 
 But the questions naturally arise: Why is it that a 
 people so numerous, so ancient, so industrious, so vital 
 
 171
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 as the Chinese, will permit their country to be carved up 
 by the great commercial nations of the world? Why 
 should Americans not keep their hands off, cultivate 
 China's good-will, and increase their trade by force of 
 friendship won by kindness? These are questions of 
 first-class importance, and the next chapter will be de- 
 voted to them.
 
 XIII 
 
 A CHAPTER OF DIGRESSION: AMERICAN NEEDS IN THE 
 
 ORIENT 
 
 THE Germans have carefully evolved their theory of 
 Chinese trade and Oriental character, and the Rus- 
 sians have done the like. America, however, has paid 
 little attention to this immeasurable and near-by market 
 and to this uncounted and interesting people. We have 
 applied the philosophy of happy-go-luckiness, and such 
 trade as we have in the Orient is the result of our superior 
 position geographically, of our incomparable resources, 
 of the excellence of our goods, and of the diligent, patient 
 endeavors of a few American merchants. 
 
 " But is not our trade growing with astonishing rapidity 
 throughout China and the Far East?" is the answer made 
 to the plainest suggestions of our national commercial 
 necessities with reference to this market. Yes, our trade 
 is growing, and rapidly; but its growth is slow contrasted 
 with our advantages. We are only a little more than four 
 thousand miles away from that market, and our com- 
 petitors are practically twice as far away by sea. We 
 have resources which defy description in their volume 
 and richness; while the resources of our competitors are, 
 comparatively speaking, limited and lean. Germany is 
 an example. Compared with us, her resources are not 
 considerable; she is far away from this market; and yet, 
 by the simple application of system, by the processes of 
 carefully thought - out theory based upon patient in- 
 vestigations, Germany is forging ahead to the position of 
 the first commercial power in the Fax East. This fact 
 
 in
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 has been noted before in a previous chapter, but its im- 
 portance requires its repetition many times. 
 
 That the partition of China is imminent, if not actually- 
 going on, has been shown; that the growth of German and 
 Russian influence is start lingly rapid and permanently 
 substantial has also been shown; that the decHne of Eng- 
 lish power is apparent all students of the question admit ; 
 and that this market is naturally American is demon- 
 strated by the simple logic of geography. But, to make 
 it American, to prevent our great European competitors 
 from taking what is naturally ours, it is necessary that we, 
 too, shall understand the people with whom we deal. It 
 is necessary that we, too, shall study Oriental character 
 with something of the same painstaking care adopted by 
 our rivals; for knowledge of a people's character is a prac- 
 tical element in the problem of trade. Let us consider 
 Chinese character, then. 
 
 Singular, is it not, that a nation of four hundred million 
 people permit the occupation of various portions of its 
 territory? Singular, is it not, that a nation which num- 
 bers one-fourth of the population of all the world opens 
 its coastwise trade to other nations — the only instance 
 of the kind on earth? Singular that it permits the 
 manifest division of its territory? Yes, singular, indeed, 
 if this aggregation of four hundred million human beings 
 is a nation in the sense that the United States or Germany 
 or France or Russia is a nation. 
 
 It has been said by a few acute observers that China is 
 a conglomeration of states, that each province is itself a 
 kingdom, whose governor is, for all practical purposes, an 
 independent monarch, with an independent military force, 
 independent taxation, and accountable to the central 
 Manchu head of the system, the Emperor, only for a re- 
 mittance of imperial revenues. 
 
 This is true, but it is not all the truth. Even these 
 provincial governments are not definite and effective or- 
 ganizations like our States. They are a curious form of 
 
 174
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 administration, founded upon an understanding of the 
 singular selfishness of the individual, and permitting him, 
 therefore, an immense measure of individual freedom, 
 combined with ruthless interference and punishment of 
 the individual when deemed necessary for the security of 
 this government. Careful investigation and reinvesti- 
 gation will convince any one who goes to the subject 
 without a preconceived opinion that the two elements at 
 the bottom of Chinese national incapacity are, on the one 
 hand, individual selfishness, so profound that we cannot 
 fathom it; and, on the other hand, a singular respect for 
 power and force, which is the common characteristic of all 
 Oriental peoples. 
 
 The streets of Pekin are not to be described. The 
 writer was visiting, for the second time, the world-re- 
 nowned Li Hung Chang, and while there one of the sud- 
 den downpours of heavy rain occurred. On leaving, the 
 streets were found to be running rivers of water, which 
 concealed holes and ruts of two or three feet in depth, and 
 gulleys rooted out by time and usage as by the snout of 
 some monster. A naked coolie, attempting to cross from 
 house to house, plunged up to his neck into a hole in the 
 middle of the street. A mule and its rider fell into an- 
 other, and were not extricated in the course of an hour. 
 
 "Why do you not pave the streets in front of your 
 house?" was asked of a Chinaman of superior intellience 
 and education. "Why should I go to that expense? It 
 is not my street." 
 
 Mr. Smith, in his excellent book, Chinese Characteristics 
 (every one who wants to understand the Chinese from a 
 kindly but just point of view should read that book), 
 explains the philosophy of roads, or the lack of them, in 
 China. These passageways wind in, around, and about, 
 and are worn, by countless feet and the eroding influences 
 of numerous rainfalls, into little ravines. Nobody repairs 
 them. "It is not my business," said a Chinese farmer. 
 The Grand Canal, one of the monumental works of human 
 
 175
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 hands, has become so choked with sand and weeds as to 
 be impassable at one or two points. The government 
 will not repair it, because (as it is said) the government 
 sees no way of making anything out of it for itself and 
 its favorites. And the people will not repair it, "because 
 it is none of their business." 
 
 "How do you manage to interest your people in mili- 
 tary affairs?" asked one of the first business men of China, 
 and a millionaire (a pure Chinaman). "How do you get 
 your militia companies formed? How do you interest 
 men enough to induce them to enlist?" The whole in- 
 quiry of this great man was not of business, but military, 
 military, military. When it was explained to him that, 
 with us, every man feels that the government is his own, 
 that the condition of the roads is his personal concern, 
 that the defence of the country is of the highest individual 
 consequence, that the element of personal selfishness is 
 almost eliminated from the public mind of the citizen, 
 he shook his head sadly and said: "Ah, yes! that is our 
 trouble. How shall the people be lifted out of each one's 
 individual self?" 
 
 It was not always so with China. There was a day, some 
 hundreds of years ago, when " I and my house" were not 
 the sacred formulas which every Chinaman repeats to 
 himself to - day. There was a time when China was 
 heroic, masterful, consolidated, militant, devotional. But 
 centuries have passed since then. It is not within the 
 province of this chapter to explain the reasons for the 
 change. What we are noting is the change. We are 
 noting it in order that we may try to understand, feebly 
 at least, these four hundred million people with whom 
 we wish to trade, and whose trade relations with us will 
 more quickly rescue them from their strange decline than 
 would anything else — feebly understand them, for no 
 foreigner may hope ever to understand them entirely. 
 
 "The trouble with China," said a penetrating observer, 
 "is arrested development. China is like a man who starts 
 
 176
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 out with brilliant promise and continues to a certain 
 point, and then apparently undergoes an atrophy of all 
 his powers." 
 
 It is each man for himself among these four hundred 
 millions, or, at most, each man for his family or his clan. 
 Wealth, power, are the things he chiefly respects. He 
 understands them. If you quote the maxims of Mencius 
 and Confucius, you must remember that they were pro- 
 nounced when China was great. You must remember 
 the remark of the young Chinese merchant of Shanghai, 
 quoted in a previous chapter, that Chinese merchants 
 care nothing about who governs them, their only interest 
 being an opportunity to make money. Any administra- 
 tion which would secure that supreme end would be wel- 
 comed and supported by the commercial men of the em- 
 pire, if they were sure such a government would stand. 
 It is commonplace that China invented printing; yes, 
 but she prints no books now — at least, none of modem 
 interest; that she invented gunpowder; true, and yet she 
 is practically without arms with which gunpowder is 
 used — only just noW she is making them ; that she devel- 
 oped the science of astronomy; true again, and yet her 
 instruments are rust. "Arrested development," said the 
 life-long student of China and the Chinese. 
 
 It must not be inferred that the individual Chinaman is 
 not a man of intelligence. Decidedly the contrary is the 
 truth. Some of the compradors of China rival, if they 
 do not surpass, the chiefs of the foreign houses that 
 employ them. There are not better business-men in any 
 country than hundreds of the business -men of China. 
 Their bankers and money-changers are keen to the last 
 degree. An educated Chinaman will entertain you with 
 talk as fertile and informing as that of any man turned 
 out of our own universities. The industry, frugality, 
 patience of the Chinese as a people are proverbial; and 
 yet, with all of these good qualities, interest in their 
 government and nationality appears to be wanting. It 
 
 xa 177
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 cannot be said that they are without the instinct of 
 cohesion; and yet that instinct does not manifest itself in 
 government. They are not without patriotism. Every- 
 body is familiar with the passionate desire of the China- 
 man to be buried in his native soil ; and yet their patriotism 
 does not make them a consolidated, masterful nation 
 such as their individual virtues, above enumerated, would 
 seem to justify. All these things make the peculiar 
 atrophy of Chinese power, as expressed through forms 
 of government, all the more remarkable. And all this 
 emphasizes the explanation which most students of 
 Chinese character give — namely, the selfishness of the 
 individual, his lack of interest in the government of his 
 country, and his appreciation of power, no matter in what 
 form it appears. 
 
 These brief outlines, which are the basis of the German 
 and Russian theory of China and the Chinese, will explain 
 why it is that the exhibition of power is considered by 
 these European powers a positive trade asset in the 
 Orient. It explains why it is that Germany, instead of 
 losing, believes that she actually gains by her barracks, 
 her soldiers, her ships, and even by her seizure of 
 Chinese territory. It is power, force — visible, tangible 
 predominance. And the Europeans believe that the 
 Chinese respect it, however much the officials may 
 hate it. 
 
 A recommendation that our government should follow 
 the Russian, French, and German example of the seizure 
 of territory in the empire is distinctly disavowed. But 
 it is asserted that America must very soon become an 
 influential external power in Oriental affairs, so that 
 further changes of the map of China will be made only 
 after consultation with us. A great duty — perhaps the 
 greatest of history — is gradually evolving out of the 
 chaos of human conditions in the Orient. Nobody will 
 deny that if China's millions could be kept in China and 
 yet be brought into commercial contact with the civiliza- 
 
 178
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 tion of the rest of the world, it would be good for them 
 and good for the world. 
 
 Tt is established that China cannot do this, or rather 
 will not do it, if left to herself. The centuries are unan- 
 swerable arguments to sustain this proposition. What 
 she was five hundred years ago China is to-day, save only 
 where the trade aggressions of European nations have 
 forced foreign commerce and western civilization upon her. 
 Leroy-Beaulieu points out that every trade concession 
 of moment, every advance of modem civilization, has 
 been forced upon China with the cannon. An uprising 
 and conflict; Chinese defeat; and, as the fruit of this 
 defeat, treaty concessions, opening of ports, the safe- 
 guarding of foreigners and foreign commerce — such, he 
 declares, is the record. 
 
 The whole world has profited by each of these ' ' ag- 
 gressions," which opened up new ports. First of all, and 
 most of all, China herself has profited. Next to China, 
 and, properly, the nation which took a ruling hand in 
 bringing about the new conditions has profited; and, 
 lastly, the rest of the world has profited, too. If the beds 
 of coal, which exceed in richness the deposits of any 
 other portion of the earth, were opened; if the products 
 of China's wonderfully fertile soil could be freely and 
 easily exchanged for the output of other nations; if the 
 wants of these myriads of people could be increased two- 
 fold (and wherever modern commerce and civilization 
 have touched Chinamen their wants have been increased 
 not two but many fold) ; if these wants could be partly 
 supplied by the other nations of the earth, while the 
 Chinese people themselves were supplying those other 
 nations with the products for which nature has particu- 
 larly equipped them and their country, and which other 
 nations are not prepared to produce, the benefit to the 
 world and to China as a people would be beyond all esti- 
 mate. 
 
 And the supply of most of the wants of China's four 
 
 179
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 hundred millions should be made by the American people, 
 for the simple reason of location. 
 
 What this would mean to us in the immediate present, 
 without further extension of China's foreign commerce, 
 is clear when we reflect that we have scarcely ten per 
 cent, of the foreign trade of China, though we are en- 
 titled to fifty per cent, at least. I repeat for the third 
 time that the removal of the "likin," or transportation 
 tax on goods carried into the interior of China would 
 alone and unaided increase China's foreign trade to a 
 thousand milHon dollars a year. Think of what fifty 
 per cent, of that would mean to us! Employment for 
 America's working-men is the problem that will con- 
 stantly grow more serious; and no solution is possible 
 except markets for what America produces. And so 
 the question of Oriental export trade becomes insistently 
 important. 
 
 But whatever may be done in the way of tax and other 
 reforms in China, all will agree that American trade and 
 American prestige in the Orient must be pushed steadily 
 and by the minuter methods. 
 
 Every American merchant in China will tell you that 
 first of all we need American ships. When American 
 trade held the first place in the Orient, the American flag 
 was seen in every port. It was a great advertisement then. 
 A brilliant writer tells of an old Chinese merchant who, 
 in inquiring about the absence of American trade, said: 
 "We used to have it. This port was once filled with 
 your flowery starry banner. Where has your flowery 
 starry banner gone?" 
 
 Oriental ship-lines are a prime necessity for an increase 
 in America's trade with the Orient. There is absolutely 
 no difference of opinion among Americans in the Far East 
 upon this point. Here, again, is seen the effect upon the 
 Oriental mind of something which the Chinaman can see, 
 something whose magnitude and power he can behold. 
 The German merchant of Shanghai who pointed to the 
 
 i8o
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 German flag in the water - front declared it to be his 
 greatest commercial asset. There is no commercial agent 
 to compare with the patriotic officer of a steamship 
 company, proud of his line, his flag, and his nation. It 
 is not enough for the captain and officers of a ship that 
 they carry their cargo safely — the word upon their tongue 
 at every port they touch is the commerce, the power, the 
 progress of the nation to which they belong. 
 
 Then, too, when any nation has ship-lines established, 
 they must have freight to carry, and so the company 
 to which they belong devises new methods of securing 
 this freight — that is, they create new trade. Again, as 
 the trade grows the rates of freight decrease. This is 
 plain reason, and it is plainer history. So that the first 
 great requirement in the substantial and permanent 
 increase of American Oriental trade is American ship- 
 lines. If American capital could be interested in this 
 vast enterprise, which combines patriotism and business, 
 it would be good for the capital invested, good for the 
 merchandise carried, and, best of all, for the increase of 
 American trade. 
 
 It is so curious that the historian of a hundred years 
 from now, reviewing this subject, which then will be the 
 great question (indeed, in two or three years it will be 
 the great question), will find it hard to credit the fact he 
 records, that, being nearer to China than any other com- 
 peting nation, needing her market, having resources to 
 supply it unequalled in all the world, and being, too, the 
 keenest financial nation of modem times, the United 
 States had no banking facilities in the Orient. It is the 
 second necessity for the permanent increase of American 
 commerce with China that a great American banking 
 establishment be planted in every port of the Far East. 
 The Chinaman understands money just as he understands 
 power in any other form. 
 
 It is not necessary to explain the intimate connection 
 between trade, on the one hand, and banks of deposit 
 
 i8i
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and exchange on the other hand. Every grocery -man in 
 every country village in America understands that from 
 personal experience. England has two immense financial 
 organizations in the Orient — the Chartered Bank of India, 
 China, and Australia, and the Hong-Kong and Shanghai 
 Banking Corporation, and their branches exist every- 
 where. They have been the chief agencies in conserving 
 England's predominant commercial power, but even they 
 have not been able to check her decline. Germany has 
 established within a few years a large financial institution, 
 whose branches have now spread to most, if not all, the 
 treaty ports of the empire. It has been pointed out that 
 Russia, through her financial agency, the Russo-Chinese 
 Bank, is shooting the filaments of her power throughout 
 the Pacific Far East. 
 
 At present American trade must be conducted through 
 these foreign financial institutions. It should not be so. 
 We ought to have in the Orient an American financial 
 institution of magnitude to match the power of the 
 American nation, and which shall be equal to the com- 
 manding commercial position to which the American 
 people aspire in the Far East. 
 
 The methods of banking in the East are peculiar. 
 A bank discounts its own notes between two ports, 
 estimating the amount of the discount by the cost re- 
 quired in transporting that exact amount of specie, 
 separately and by itself, between them — that is, if you 
 present a note issued by a banking corporation at Hong- 
 Kong to its branch at Tien-Tsin, it will not be redeemed 
 at its face value, but at a rate measured by the cost of 
 transferring that particular amount of silver between 
 those two points. The system of issuing notes of ex- 
 change is unscientific, and at every point the bank cuts a 
 profit for itself. 
 
 Like Russian banks in Russia, foreign banks in the 
 Orient go into every conceivable transaction, shaving 
 always and everywhere. They are, therefore, not con- 
 
 182
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ducted on the broad lines of modern scientific methods, 
 as bankers here and in Europe understand banking. An 
 American bank equal to the task should be established, 
 which would put American inventiveness at work upon 
 the great task of establishing a uniform currency, at 
 least among the treaty ports. Experience would soon 
 show the Chinese merchant and dealer everywhere the 
 unquestioned value of its notes, and a common circulating 
 medium would thus be established, whose influence in 
 facilitating trade would be as great as it would be bene- 
 ficial. A great American bank, then, is the second need 
 for the permanent increase of American trade in the 
 Orient. 
 
 It is said that our consular service should be improved. 
 But whatever fault may have been found in the past 
 with the quality and personal character of the govern- 
 ment's commercial representatives in China, it is ad- 
 mitted that our present staff of consuls in the Orient 
 measures quite up to the standard of foreign countries, 
 with the possible exception of Germany. This is a sub- 
 ject (consular reform) in which personal investigation 
 compels more changes of view than any similar problem. 
 On the one hand it is pointed out, and with apparent 
 unanswerableness, that it is quite impossible for the 
 consul without special training and without practical 
 knowledge of his duties, and of the people among whom 
 he goes, to represent properly the commercial interests 
 of his country. 
 
 On the face of the paper argument, it seems clear that 
 the longer a consul continues to reside among the people 
 to whom he is accredited, the better acquainted he be- 
 comes with their needs and the better equipped for the 
 discharge of his important duties and the extension of 
 American trade. But the fact must be recorded that 
 American consuls in China are, with an occasional and 
 conspicuous exception, quite the most efficient commercial 
 representatives which any government (excepting always 
 
 X83
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Germany) has on that difficult ground. This will become 
 more and more the truth as our trade with China in- 
 creases. It will become truer, too, as care comes in- 
 creasingly to be exercised in the selection of those im- 
 portant officials. Natural conditions and the steadily 
 rising quality of our national administration with respect 
 to foreign countries insure this. 
 
 Twenty years ago so little attention was given to our 
 foreign commerce that our consular posts abroad were, 
 with somie creditable exceptions, considered exclusively 
 as the proper reward of local pohtical work, without 
 any regard whatever to the tasks the consul was expected 
 to perform at his post. The change wrought by the 
 natural causes above pointed out has been greater and 
 the improvement more marked than in the consular ser- 
 vice of any other country. But whatever the cause, it is 
 admitted on all hands that the American consuls in China 
 have a greater keenness of insight into the real nature of 
 commercial conditions where they are sent; they have a 
 better mastery of the practical situation, a higher com- 
 prehension in the discharge of their duties, a fresher and 
 more unworn interest in the extension of our commerce 
 than have the consuls of any other country (please note, 
 always, and for the last time, except Germany). 
 
 One of the first business-men of China (a pure China- 
 man), and an Englishman, whose great reputation is justi- 
 fied by his work and abilities, united in this sentiment 
 concerning the American consul at a certain Chinese 
 port: " He is the most efficient man on the groimd. It is 
 the consensus of opinion that his tact, firmness, ready re- 
 source, and unvv'earying energy prevented a spread of the 
 Boxer troubles in the melancholy year of 1900." 
 
 "Yes," said another foreign merchant, "the American 
 consuls seem to be unhappy unless they are making some 
 record for themselves or their country." 
 
 Certain it is that the reports from at least one consular 
 office in China are the most exhaustive, most trustworthy, 
 
 184
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and best analyzed commercial statements that come from 
 the Far East. "One point of superiority of your consuls 
 over ours," said an English shipping man, "is their ac- 
 cessibility. Anybody can see the American consul at 
 any time, but," he sourly continued, "to see the British 
 consul is almost an. affair of state." ^ 
 
 It is freely admitted that consuls of other countries 
 surpass ours in the points of small society duties. They 
 are quite accomplished in all the engaging devices of 
 social intercourse. American tourists travelling around 
 the world for pleasure, and therefore looking for social 
 entertainment, usually come away from the treaty ports 
 of China deeply impressed with the equipment of the 
 consuls of rival countries, particularly those of Great 
 Britain, and with bad opinions of our own men. But 
 our men are the quintessence of the practical. They 
 have been reared in the American school of the practical, 
 and they have acquired the habit of resourceful inventive- 
 ness, which is so distinctive a characteristic of our business 
 and industrial civilization. They see the point to things, 
 and, seeing the point, they act. 
 
 The thought is repeatedly forced upon one who may 
 have been originally hostile to what a witty observer calls 
 our present "consular chaos," that, after all, it may be 
 that the education which comes to a man from successful 
 and active participation in American politics, the alert- 
 ness and vitality of mind fostered by the rich soil of 
 American business effort, are of notable value in preparing 
 a man for the practical duties of his country's service. 
 It is certainly true that the adaptability of the American 
 commercial representative is something quite unmatched. 
 He goes to a place fresh from the electric atmosphere of 
 America, filled v/ith the wonder and curiosity aroused by 
 
 * Lord Charles Beresford,on his return from his extended visit 
 to China, reported the numerous complaints of British merchants 
 against British consuls; and he fearlessly pointed out the decline 
 of British prestige in the Far East. 
 
 185
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the new land, the new people, and the strange conditions 
 among which he finds himself. He sees the great points 
 of difference between such conditions and our own, and 
 it is an understanding of these points of difference which 
 is of greater importance than is a dulled comprehension 
 of the people themselves.
 
 XIV 
 
 A SECOND CHAPTER OF DIGRESSION: AMERICAN PROGRESS 
 IN THE FAR EAST 
 
 IT has grown into a truism that no one who has resided 
 for a long time among a foreign people can write in- 
 telligently about them. The reason is that these very- 
 points of difference which constitute the essential matters 
 of interest become commonplace after a surprisingly short 
 residence, and the very things which a new-comer notes 
 with greatest interest, and which are, in fact, of greatest 
 interest, soon become obscured by familiarity. 
 
 "I have been here in Nagasaki three weeks," said a 
 young American woman, "and, whereas the first week I 
 could not write letters enough of these strange people, 
 now I can write nothing at all except that the China 
 arrived yesterday or that one of the Empress boats is 
 expected in to-morrow. All of the things which were so 
 novel to me when I landed have now become matters 
 of course." 
 
 The same thing is true of everybody else, and, of course, 
 of the American consul, excepting that, in his case, he 
 has duties which keep him discovering new and fresh 
 subjects of interest for a long season. The keenness of 
 his new experiences is a practical asset which statesman- 
 .•^hip would do poorly to overlook. Then, too, he goes 
 to the work with determination to make a "record" for 
 himself and for his government. He is a fresh charge of 
 Americanism for the particular point to which he is sent. 
 He is always at the beck and call of the American mer- 
 chants. He is anxious to make a little better report to 
 
 187
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the State Department than anybody else makes to any 
 other government. "That man," said an American 
 Oriental merchant, naming an American Oriental consul 
 of almost sixty, "is positively unhappy if he goes to bed 
 at night without having accomplished some specific thing 
 for American trade." 
 
 What to do to improve our consular service is, there- 
 fore, not so clear. If some method could be devised by 
 which we could continue our consuls for a long period of 
 service — indeed, make them practically life ofificers, and 
 at the same time keep up their energy and interest, which 
 the experience of other governments has shown is gradu- 
 ally destroyed by long residence in a country — then the 
 problem would be simplified, if not solved. 
 
 The German Emperor has accompli.shed this by his 
 personal interest and activity. Every man is made to 
 feel that the Emperor William's eye is on him, that every 
 German merchant's eye is on him, and that he will 
 be reported, or reprimanded, or promoted, according to 
 the neglect or discharge of his duty. But the consuls of 
 other countries holding life tenures soon become atrophied 
 in interest; their activities undergo a stupefying and re- 
 laxing process by reason of the certainty of their tenure 
 and their long familiarity with conditions, a familiarity 
 which, in the end, makes everything commonplace and 
 as a matter of course to them. 
 
 This is a perplexing subject. Our consular service 
 must be improved; but the difficulty is to avoid, in the 
 improving, the paring away of that vigorous quality 
 which now makes our consuls, unequipped though they 
 may be, superior to those of any other nation. Dr. Vos- 
 berg-Rekow, head of the German Bureau of Commercial 
 Treaties, says that "the United States has covered Eu- 
 rope with a net-work of consulates, and makes its consuls 
 at the same time inspectors of our exports, and vigilant 
 sentinels who, spying out our trade openings, make them 
 their advantage and report them."
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 This is a tribute to the intelhgence and vigilance of our 
 consular service from our most watchful and most in- 
 creasingly active commercial rival. If to these advan- 
 tages of practical resourcefulness we can add knowledge 
 of the language of the country to which the consul is 
 accredited, a long tenure of service, and the appointment 
 of none but trustworthy and approved men, and if we 
 can at the same time evolve some method to keep their 
 interest and energy constantly fresh, we shall have solved 
 the problem. 
 
 The building of railroads in China will be the one great 
 industrial development of the tv/entieth century, so far 
 as foreign investment in Asia is concerned. There are 
 probably thirty thousand miles of line projected and 
 actually surveyed, but the extent of the rails laid upon 
 which trains are running in the Chinese Empire, exclusive 
 of Manchuria, is less than four hundred miles. This is 
 not one mile of railroad in China for every million people. 
 That great trunk-lines in every direction will be built, 
 and that speedily, speaking in the historical sense, is as 
 certain as the progress of civilization itself; and wher- 
 ever a line of railroad goes, trade goes, and where a line of 
 railroad goes the trade of the nation which built it is 
 chiefly carried. 
 
 Germany's concession in Shan-Tung has been set out 
 in full in another chapter. Very little goods will be 
 carried along those lines except such as bear the trade- 
 mark, "made in Germany." It has been pointed out that 
 judicial and police privileges accompany these grants, 
 and that, however it may be disguised, and however the 
 machinery of Chinese administration may be employed, 
 the hand of German law and order will in reality be over 
 all. And by this plan, it has been noted, the practical 
 partition of China is moving forward. 
 
 The far-sightedness of the Russians in pushing their 
 railway lines through this mighty area of future human 
 development, the associated activities of French and 
 
 i8g
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Belgian syndicates, as is believed in connection and co- 
 operation with Russia, have been observed. In this par- 
 ticular the English themselves have exhibited a flash of 
 their old energy and daring resourcefulness in projecting 
 a line into China, connecting its principal cities with the 
 great British railway system of India. 
 
 It is unfortunate that American syndicates have not 
 looked into this matter. One, indeed, did so and was 
 convinced of the profitable nature of the enterprise, and 
 a railway concession was secured from the Chinese govern- 
 ment. But it is said that, since the death of its principal 
 promoter, the American interest has been largely aban- 
 doned. It is hard to believe that American capital, 
 which is now looking abroad for opportunities of invest- 
 ment and exploitation worthy of its magnitude, energy, 
 resourcefulness, and power, will long overlook these op- 
 portunities. Two or three lines of road, built by our 
 citizens and backed by our government with its indorse- 
 ment (not necessarily financial, of course) and diplomatic 
 aid, could be built in China, and a firm foothold could 
 thus be secured, from which the future of American com- 
 merce in the Orient might be safeguarded and satisfac- 
 torily and practically increased. 
 
 The fear which thoughtful Americans who go over the 
 ground are forced to entertain is that our great aggre- 
 gations of capital will overlook this most inviting field 
 until the choice routes have been pre-empted by the 
 capitalists of other nations, and until the joint action of 
 rival powers will compel the Chinese government to refuse 
 further railway concessions, or at least further concessions 
 to us. Should this unfortunate development occur, it will, 
 indeed, be a sorry circumstance. Moralizing is of little 
 use in practical affairs, but occasionally a dash of it is 
 needed to give spirit and meaning to material enterprise. 
 And the thought is here interjected that perhaps Amer- 
 icans are taking too much for granted as to our future, 
 that it may turn out in the course of a few decades that 
 
 190
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 we have not been far-seeing enough, that our eyes are 
 fixed so immovably upon the steady stream of gold 
 pouring into our coffers at this particular moment that 
 we look not to the sources which must continue that 
 stream in the future. 
 
 Another thing which the government might do, and 
 which would have a beneficial effect upon American trade 
 in China, is to keep in Chinese waters all but one or two 
 ships of our Pacific squadron. Moreover, the heaviest 
 part of our navy should be kept in Asiatic waters. It is 
 there that the conflicts of the future will occur, and it is 
 there where our visible power should be manifest to all 
 beholders. German trade increases, say German mer- 
 chants, with every German war-ship that appears in 
 Chinese ports. It is a circumstance worth noting that 
 British trade has decreased coincidently with the de- 
 crease in the number of British flags appearing in Chinese 
 waters. It is unprofitable to take too much space in 
 tracing out the psychological causes of this; but, briefly, 
 it may be said again, as it has been said before, that 
 the Chinese, like all Orientals, are impressed, in a way 
 quite impossible for our race to understand, by evi- 
 dences of power which they can behold with the physi- 
 cal eye. 
 
 No difference of opinion was found in the pride which 
 European or American residents in China took in the visit 
 of their respective nation's war vessels. Strange as it 
 may appear to those not on the ground, such physical 
 manifestations of a foreign nation's might certainly cre- 
 ates an " atmosphere" distinctly favorable to that nation. 
 " It makes me feel that I am not entirely in another world 
 when I see the flag floating from one of our war-ships," 
 said an American lady living in the Orient. " It is almost 
 funny to see what an impression the frequent visits of 
 the vessels of the German navy make on these people. 
 But the mass of the business people we deal with here 
 think that our country certainly cannot amount to very
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 much, for they never see our war-ships and seldom behold 
 our flag," said an American Oriental merchant. 
 
 It is not suggested that our Asiatic squadron should 
 frequently visit Chinese treaty ports for the purpose of 
 awing or intimidating the people. On the contrary, the 
 exact reverse is stated. The point made is that the effect 
 of familiarity with our flag, and that the impression of 
 our national consequence resulting from the frequent 
 presence of our squadron in Chinese treaty ports, is ben- 
 eficial in creating an American atmosphere helpful to 
 American commerce. It is unpleasant to put it in the 
 following form, but in the end that is what it amounts to 
 — it is an admirable advertisement of our importance, 
 commercial as well as naval. 
 
 However reasonable or unreasonable this explanation 
 may be, there is little doubt of the influence upon the 
 Oriental mind of ships, flags, and the material expression 
 of masterfulness in the world. It is quite as cheap for the 
 American government to keep its ships cruising from 
 Chinese port to Chinese port as it is to keep them any- 
 where else. They would thus be on the seas of the great 
 world movement of the future — even of the present. 
 They would be familiarizing themselves with the condi- 
 tions with which America must deal ; and, by mere contact, 
 would each moment be increasing Chinese respect for our 
 power and Chinese confidence in our ability to do things. 
 Besides, if there is to be a fight between the nations, it 
 is likely to begin in these waters. The Pacific will not 
 only be the theatre of the great commerce of the future, 
 but of the wars of the future, too. And while we want 
 no war, and no part in any war, we must be able to 
 protect our own, and increase it. 
 
 Li Hung Chang has been heralded to the world as a 
 great statesman. He was not such. The writer could 
 wish that the scope of this chapter permitted a review of 
 this remarkable personality. But this much may be said, 
 that Li Hung Chang was a very great business -man. 
 
 192
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 In a conversation with him, held more than four years 
 ago, he suggested (after going through his customary 
 talk to Americans about the admission of Chinese into the 
 United States), upon being requested to give his honest 
 views as to some practical and definite method of increas- 
 ing American trade, that the two comer-stones of Ameri- 
 can commercial influence in China would be a great bank- 
 ing establishment and two or three, or even one, powerful 
 American trading house. "The English," said he, "have 
 the great firms of Jardin, Metheson & Co. and Butterfield 
 & Svvire. They have the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank- 
 ing Corporation and the Chartered Bank. Their great 
 commercial firms own their own lines of ships ; they have 
 their own commercial buildings at every port; they have 
 their system of compradors reduced to a science. It is 
 these agencies that have helped England in China more 
 than all her diplomatic negotiations, which have been 
 neither clever nor brilliant. 
 
 "The German understands this a good deal better than 
 do the English to-day. In fact, the English seem to be 
 forgetting all they ever learned. If there could be an 
 American trading compan}' with ten, twenty, or even 
 fifty million dollars of capital, owning its own ships, flying 
 the American flag, and capable of immense purchases, 
 you would see American trade grow in a way that would 
 astonish you. Then, too, no diplomatic demand of the 
 American government is ever backed up by any cash 
 proposition, whereas England has her banking corpora- 
 tions, and so have Germany and Russia, immediately on 
 the spot. 
 
 "If you Americans expect to get a large share of 
 Chinese trade you can't get it by talk; you have got to 
 go after it." 
 
 Thus Li Hung Chang had grasped with clearness the 
 commercial advantages to a nation which flow from great 
 aggregations of capital. Indeed, one cannot see clearly 
 how we are to keep pace with the growing influence of 
 
 X3 IQ3
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Germany, with her commercial methods, heavily backed 
 by capital and brilliantly supported by her government, 
 unless there shall be two or three enormous American 
 concerns engaged in competition. All the trade we have 
 in China we owe to location, to the better quality and 
 cheaper prices of our goods, and to the unsupported enter- 
 prise of our plucky American merchants in the Orient. 
 But this will not suffice. Our goods must be pushed; 
 Chinamen must know about them; they must wear our 
 cottons, taste our flour, smoke our tobacco. This is a 
 matter of extraordinary expense. 
 
 Very practical methods, indeed, must be resorted to 
 in selling foreign goods in China. The Chinaman's de- 
 mand for nearly all our products is from an acquired taste, 
 like our desire for tomatoes. You must get him used to 
 eating American flour. When you have accomplished 
 this you have created a constant and increasing demand 
 for that staple food product. A few years ago no Ameri- 
 can fllour was sold in China. Gradually, however, flour 
 bread began to be eaten by some of the richer merchants 
 who had travelled abroad. Then the compradors took 
 it up. Then it occurred to some mill-owners in America 
 that if these Chinamen liked their flour the people them- 
 selves would like it, and two intelhgent agents took the 
 matter up. 
 
 The result is that the trade in American flour has now 
 reached such a volume in Hong-Kong that it requires ship- 
 load after shipload each year to satisfy it, and this de- 
 mand is spreading steadily and rapidly, but with a snail's 
 pace compared with the progress it might make if pushed 
 by great capital and comprehensive organizing ability and 
 by broad and far-seeing business methods. After many 
 conversations with commercial men, and after mature 
 thought, it is believed that in ten years Chinese demand 
 for American flour alone could be made to reach the 
 total of thirty million dollars, or more than double the 
 amount of our entire exportation to China proper at 
 
 194
 
 THE RUSvSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 present (not including Hong-Kong and Manchuria). It 
 will not reach ten millions probably, but if we should 
 engage in Chinese trade earnestly it could be driven to 
 the limit named. 
 
 An American tobacco company has illustrated the 
 rapidity with which an Oriental demand may be created 
 and the success with which the supply of that demand 
 may be monopolized. This corporation decided to enter 
 the Oriental field. It put in charge a general representa- 
 tive in love with his work. Samples of the company's 
 goods were judiciously distributed. One whiff by a 
 Chinaman was enough; he became familiar with that 
 company's brand ("chop" he called it), purchased it 
 almost exclusively, told his friends about it, and they 
 repeated the process until one of the flourishing branches 
 of the company's foreign trade is its Chinese trade. 
 
 There is also a growing demand for American condensed 
 milk, and thereby hangs a tale illustrative of Chinese 
 character. The Chinaman becomes accustomed to a cer- 
 tain brand. He knows the can or package by the picture 
 on it, and the characters painted there — its "chop." 
 When he acquires a taste for a brand, that is the brand 
 he wants. A certain American firm had fostered Chinese 
 trade in condensed milk until a considerable demand was 
 created in the district of which a certain treaty port 
 is the centre. A new management came into control of 
 the business. At its head was a young man who did not 
 admire the artistic proportions and the general get-up 
 of the label. "We must have something neater, more 
 modest," said he, and a very becoming label was substi- 
 tuted for the old one. In a single month the Chinese de- 
 mand for that article fell away more than fifty per cent., 
 and in three months it was practically non-existent. The 
 old label was replaced, and again the demand sprang up. 
 The point is that the Chinaman did not understand that 
 the new label represented the same milk which he had 
 become used to. The firm would have been compelled 
 
 195
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 to go through the original process of creating a new de- 
 mand for the same brand on account of the new label. 
 
 Chinese character is full of these idiosyncrasies, and 
 they must be noted and studied by those who expect to 
 sell goods to the Chinese. And the study is very well 
 worth while. People may talk about Chinese frugality 
 and self-denial all they please, but the Chinaman in- 
 dulges himself more unrestrainedly than is generally be- 
 lieved. He has seen so many centuries pass; he knows 
 that so many uncountable myriads of milHons have died; 
 he realizes, to borrow a phrase, "that we are going through 
 life for the last time " ; and so he ministers to his physical 
 senses. Therefore, when you capture his desire you have 
 captured his pocket - book. The Chinaman is bent on 
 satisfying his appetite, and he likes good things. Ameri- 
 can meats, American milk, American tobacco, most of all 
 American flour, please his palate. But he is not going 
 to learn about our products by intuition, or visions, or 
 dreams. He has got to learn about them by his physical 
 senses. Therefore, they must be brought to his door and 
 placed on his table. The Chinaman is a fish that jumps 
 at no metal fly. The only bait he seizes is the real thing. 
 
 Therefore, American merchants ought to have reliable, 
 energetic, tactful agents in China introducing their goods 
 in a practical way. There is one medical firm whose 
 patent preparations are known all over the United States. 
 It has built up a considerable demand for its medicines 
 in the limited area connected with a certain port; but 
 the agent who has created the demand is a man of capac- 
 ity, patience, resource, tirelessness. 
 
 In default of an American trading company of the 
 capital and size which the Chinese commercial field de- 
 mands, it might be well for American merchants to form 
 a pool and pay very liberally for the introduction of one 
 another's goods throughout the Orient, by giving away 
 samples until the demand is created, and then they should 
 be prepared to fill that demand on the spot. It would be 
 
 196
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the cheapest form of advertising, and the result would 
 be more permanent than advertising is in America. In- 
 deed, a combination of American manufacturers already 
 uses this plan, but in a hard-and-fast, stiff, unelastic, and 
 unpractical way. There is at Shanghai an American 
 warehouse, and, in the best quarter of the town, a large 
 American show-room for the display of American manu- 
 factured articles like machinery, glass, tools, and tiles. 
 
 This is the beginning of a movement in the right 
 direction. If it could be supplemented by selling de- 
 partments, competent to fill any reasonably large orders 
 on the spot, and in charge of thoroughly trustworthy 
 selling agents, whose exclusive business would be the 
 introduction and sale of goods without any other con- 
 nection whatever, the warehouse and show-room would 
 show some returns. Very little result can be expected 
 from the present awkward arrangement, however. China- 
 men are too busily sought out by Germans, and even 
 by the English, and most of all by the gallant little 
 company of American merchants on the spot, to spend 
 their time going around to the store-room to look admir- 
 ingly on wares and then order on their own initiative. 
 
 The necessity is emphasized for reliable men, because 
 experience has developed the fact that there are com- 
 mercial adventurers in the Far East, men of real ability, 
 of singular glibness of tongue and plausibility of manner, 
 who, when given these commercial agencies, do nothing 
 but draw the salary and finally decamp with the proceeds 
 of the investment. On the other hand, there are in the 
 Far East numbers of competent, trustworthy, devoted 
 men, thoroughly in love with their work, and that number 
 is increasing. 
 
 It would pay the associated producers of the United 
 States to send three or four bright young men into the 
 Far East for the purpose of studying commercial methods. 
 These men should be chosen with care. The German 
 government sent an industrial and commercial commission 
 
 197
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 to study Oriental commercial conditions. Our govern- 
 ment might well do likewise; but, independently of that, 
 the manufacturers and producers should send their own 
 men. The government commission should have to do 
 with making the government and people of the United 
 States familiar with the people and conditions of the Far 
 East so that a steady national policy might be evolved. 
 The business -men's commission should have sole refer- 
 ence to the sheer question of selling. It should learn 
 how the Chinese desire their goods prepared. It should 
 seek new sources of demand and trade. 
 
 China is a better field for this than Europe, because 
 Europe's market is pretty well congested now, and its 
 own producers are straining every nerve to supply, ex- 
 clusively, its own demands. Nothing but our enormous 
 aggregations of producing capital enable us to keep the 
 sale of American goods in that market from rapidly de- 
 creasing. But China is a virgin market. Its exploita- 
 tion has not even yet been begun, and an intelligent, prac- 
 tical, patient (let me repeat, patient, patient, patient) 
 commission sent to China by the producers of manufact- 
 ures; another one, of like character, sent by our com- 
 bined producers of bread-stuffs; and, third, one sent by 
 the combined producers of cotton goods, would discover 
 fields for the sale of our merchandise which would surprise 
 Americans and surprise the Chinamen, too. As has been 
 pointed out, the Chinaman individually is a very intel- 
 ligent man. Even his critics say that in character he 
 is a victim of but two degenerating things — individual 
 selfishness and a sort of paralysis which comes from his 
 worship of precedent. 
 
 Mr. Parsons gives an instance in his admirable little 
 book which illustrates this latter quality with surprising 
 distinctness. He tells of a bridge, high and round, which 
 was erected some hundreds of years ago over what was 
 then a stream. But long since, hundreds of years per- 
 haps, that stream ceased to flow. Time has filled in its
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 bed, which is now on the level with the surrounding 
 country, and vegetation grows upon it. But the road 
 still runs over the bridge, and Chinamen, carrying heavy 
 burdens on their backs, instead of walking past the bridge, 
 continue to toil up and down it simply because their 
 fathers did the same thing. Such peculiarities of Chi- 
 nese character must be studied, and we must act accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 One reason for the decline of British sales to the Chinese, 
 which the inquirer hears repeated over and over again, 
 is that the British put up their goods the way the British 
 want them, and not the way the Chinaman wants them; 
 that the English merchant says in effect to the Chinaman : 
 "This is the way I like to put up goods. Take them or 
 leave them." The German doesn't do anything of the 
 kind. He caters to Chinese desires, therefore he gets 
 Chinese trade. So does the Japanese merchant. A pres- 
 ent example is in point. Large bales are difficult to 
 transport into the mountainous interior of Korea The 
 British put up in large bales certain goods sold there. 
 Nevertheless, the British have until quite recently sup- 
 plied most of the Korean demand, for the reason that 
 no one else competed with them, and that, trade once 
 established, its very inertia helps to continue it. But the 
 Japanese saw their advantage, put up Japanese goods 
 in smaller bales, and are therefore taking the trade of 
 Korea away from England. Such examples should be 
 lessons to American enterprise. 
 
 Again, the simpler items of Chinese commerce must 
 receive serious and painstaking attention. A certain high 
 British official in the Far East was talking about the 
 growth of German trade. "Oh," said he, "it is 'muck- 
 and-tuck' trade." By "muck-and-tuck trade" he meant 
 clocks, pins, buttons — the minutiae of commerce. When 
 it was pointed out to him that this was the seed of all 
 commerce; that from such little germs of trade greater 
 trade is bound to grow ; that these small articles make the 
 
 199
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Chinese familiar with German goods, German trade, and 
 the German name, he appeared unable to appreciate that 
 commercial point. At an official dinner given that very- 
 evening another British functionary, in talking over this 
 same thing, said: 
 
 "Oh, well, England has got along very well in the past, 
 and she will get along very well in the future. It is Eng- 
 land, you know. Nothing can down England!" 
 
 It was the spirit of self-satisfaction, which is the root 
 of all unprogressiveness. No new methods for England; 
 no change of conditions for English merchants; no prog- 
 ress, in short, for England. She had captured the trade 
 in the manner pointed out in the chapter on Germany's 
 activities in China, and she seems to have forgotten that 
 the conditions which gave her that trade have passed away. 
 To-day is not yesterday, even if the same sun does shine. 
 The world moves. On an excursion among the Chinese 
 shops at Hong-Kong it was found that, though most of 
 the cloths were English, the buttons were German, the 
 needles were German, the pins were German, the clocks 
 were German, and so on. All of them ought to be 
 American. 
 
 By the same token, all of them ought to be cheap. 
 Peoples of the Far East are not looking for high-grade 
 money. They insist on silver. They insist upon the 
 copper "cash," a money made of hollow disks of copper, 
 of which it takes hundreds, and in one or two provinces 
 almost a thousand, to equal a dollar. Similarly, they in- 
 sist on cheap goods. They will continue to insist on them 
 until they are raised to a commercial and industrial civili- 
 zation approaching American and European conditions. 
 
 After such commissions (and it is insisted that there 
 should be one for each great industry — each commission 
 would find its hands full and its time entirely occupied) 
 there ought to be a pooling of each great group of Ameri- 
 can industries, and then the very best representative 
 that that industry can find should be sent permanently 
 
 200
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 to China and paid enough to justify him in exiling him- 
 self to the Orient in the interest of his employers and 
 American commerce. But if we have not yet advanced 
 so far in co-operative civilization that our manufacturers 
 of tools, machinery, implements, and the like in one 
 group, our manufacturers of cotton goods in another 
 group, our manufacturers of food products in another 
 group, cannot see their way clear to the pooling arrange- 
 ment, let each great house that sees the advantages of this 
 market send at its own expense a highly paid representa- 
 tive to China to exploit its own products. I repeat that 
 expression — a highly paid representative. You had better 
 send nobody at all than send some person who has not 
 been successful here, or a picked-up, untried, untested, 
 and unknown, or too well-known, individual who is al- 
 ready in the Far East. You have got to send the very 
 best man you can find, the most comprehensive and 
 alert intellect, the most tactful in disposition, the most 
 engaging in personality, and, above all, the most patient, 
 painstaking, and industrious. Such a person will prove 
 an investment which will pay increasing dividends. 
 
 With the increase of trade and the growth of general 
 knowledge and enlightenment as to Oriental conditions, 
 which would come from following this course, new and 
 improved methods would constantly suggest themselves 
 as new branches of wheat stool out from the original 
 grain ; and it would not be a great many years before 
 America would be the largest supplier of Chinese trade, 
 and America the first power in Oriental waters. It is 
 the neglected peoples and the neglected markets to which 
 we must look in the future. When you reflect that Ger- 
 many, including Alsace and Lorraine, has upward of fifty 
 millions of people, and that we sell her nearly one hundred 
 and ninety million dollars' worth of goods every year; 
 that the United Kingdom has only forty millions of people, 
 and that we sell it over five hundred and thirty million 
 dollars' worth of goods every year; that France has less 
 
 20 1
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 than forty millions of people, and that we sell her nearly 
 eighty-five million dollars' worth of goods every year, and 
 then reflect that China has four hundred million people, 
 and that we sell her not more than twenty-five million 
 dollars' worth of goods, upon the face of the returns (al- 
 though by counting American goods which go to China 
 by way of London and Japan, and by other indirect routes, 
 we probably sell her forty millions), a child can see the 
 possibilities of American trade expansion in China. 
 
 It has been repeated so many times that it is accepted 
 as a truism that the first and last requisite for the in- 
 crease of American trade in China is the maintenance of 
 the open door. The open door means only that the goods 
 of all nations shall have free access to the treaty ports of 
 China upon the same terms. It must be remembered , how- 
 ever, that treaty ports did not always exist, and that, as 
 M. Leroy-Beaulieu points out, they have all or nearly 
 all been secured by armed conflict; in short, that, so far 
 as China's door is open, it has been forced open by bay- 
 onets. 
 
 It is quite possible that any further opening of the door 
 (that is, a multiplying of treaty ports, or any aggressive 
 trade concessions to the world) will be secured by the 
 same method, or by the fear of it. Of course, there is a 
 possibility that a new order of things will develop itself 
 in China, that when the new Emperor takes in his hands 
 the reins of government he will grant these concessions 
 to the rest of the world, upon considerations of wise 
 policy and enlightened statesmanship. It is a beautiful 
 hope, and every student of the world prays for its realiza- 
 tion. But the practical man must deal with facts. 
 
 As important as is the maintenance of the open door, 
 the extension of the avenues to which that door leads is, 
 at least, equally important. If the door is open ever so 
 wide, but you can only just get your goods inside of it, 
 what does that avail you ? That is the condition of China 
 now. The tax on goods taken into the interior, an at-
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 tempt to abolish which has proved a practical failure, 
 prevents goods from going very far from the treaty ports. 
 It is not forgotten that this has been repeated many 
 times in this volume, but it is a fact so essential and so 
 little known that it will have to be repeated a number 
 of times more, and from many different sources, in order 
 to be thoroughly appreciated. 
 
 It is agreed, and is now a law (so far as such an agree- 
 ment can be called a law) that one-half of the customs 
 tariff on foreign goods entering China shall be employed 
 in lieu of and to replace all internal transportation tax. 
 But this has not worked as a practical matter. To get 
 the goods into the interior is still a thing of difficulty. 
 By the interior is meant long distances into the interior. 
 Of course, treaty ports include not only coast cities, but 
 many on the rivers as well; for instance, Hankow, eight 
 hundred miles up the Yang-tse-Kiang, is a treaty port. 
 But foreign goods circulate in appreciable quantities only 
 a short distance, comparatively speaking, from these 
 treaty ports. 
 
 With the privilege of free and unvexed transportation 
 of foreign goods into the interior would come another 
 practical difficulty, that of finding a method of transpor- 
 tation. Merchandise must now be borne on the backs 
 of coolies, in wheelbarrows, and on horses, or in some 
 places by carts. This will not do; that is plain. Modern 
 commerce will never be satisfied with such antique 
 methods. Roads will have to be built — first railroads, and 
 then, branching out from these, lines of highways for 
 wagons. This is a practical problem worth while — quite 
 as important as the open door. So far as the open door 
 is concerned, the world may as well understand that it 
 is not to be kept open by talk nor by communications. 
 It has already been pointed out that it is being kept 
 open now more by the jealousies of the aggressive powers 
 than by any agreement. 
 
 When these jealousies are removed, or when a common 
 
 203
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVAxNCE 
 
 agreement of the aggressive powers is reached, or when 
 the physical preponderance of Russia, Germany, or France 
 becomes so great that the dominant country can do what 
 it wishes within its sphere, the door cannot be kept open, 
 no matter how much statesmen "communicate." The 
 writer has talked with large numbers of residents of the 
 Far East and with many students of the Far Eastern 
 question, and all are agreed that if the partition of China 
 is to be prevented something must be done of a defi- 
 nite, tangible, visible, material nature. This is a task 
 for constructive, practical statesmanship, such as the 
 present century does not present in any other direc- 
 tion. 
 
 It is a good thing for the American people to know this, 
 because, as has been pointed out, we cannot have a na- 
 tional policy except as the people make it. England 
 ought to take the initiative in this matter ; but she may not. 
 This is the opinion of Englishmen in the Orient. Mere 
 scoffing at Russia and Germany will not do. Mere excited 
 utterances at a dinner-table or at the social gathering 
 or in the newspaper will not do. 
 
 It may be well, in closing these chapters of digression, 
 to note something of the exact statistics of our trade with 
 China at present and in the immediate past. In 1898 we 
 exported to China $9,992,894 worth of merchandise, of 
 which the principal items were cotton goods, oil, and flour; 
 in 1900 we exported (in spite of the Boxer trouble) $15,- 
 259,167 worth, of which the principal items were the 
 same. In 1898 we exported to Hong-Kong (all of which 
 was consumed in China) $6,265,200 worth of merchandise, 
 and in 1900 $8,485,978 worth, so that in 1898 the United 
 States sold to China directly (not including Hong-Kong) 
 some sixteen million dollars' worth of merchandise, 
 whereas in 1900 we sold to China directly nearly twenty- 
 four million dollars' worth. But, perhaps, a third as 
 much again as this was sent to the empire by way of 
 London and Liverpool, and perhaps a similar percentage 
 
 204
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 was exported by way of Japan. The exact amount sent 
 through these last two channels cannot definitely be com- 
 puted. Only an estimate can be made. It is a safe esti- 
 mate that our exports to China, all told, now aggregate 
 §40,000,000 annually. 
 
 This surprising increase of our export trade is exhibited 
 also throughout Oceania and the entire Far East. No 
 explanation of this sudden increase is given such as has 
 been offered for the growth of German commerce. It is 
 fair to say that something of it is due to the greater 
 familiarity with the American flag and the American 
 people, throughout the Orient, which followed close upon 
 the Spanish war. Countries are very little different from 
 towns in their commercial characteristics, and a country 
 merchant knows that, if you get the people talking about 
 his store and his goods, his trade at once increases. It is a 
 practical point of which the smallest as well as the largest 
 merchant in this and every country takes account. It 
 must not be forgotten in our larger deaHngs with peoples. 
 If our trade were pushed in an aggressive, material, and 
 visible way, its increase would surprise the most sanguine. 
 The writer has feared to make statements as strong as the 
 facts themselves warrant. Because of our unfamiliarity 
 with the whole question it has been feared that a con- 
 servative public would regard them as overstatements, so 
 that the statements here made have been measured with 
 care, and even reduced from their just and proper pro- 
 portions. 
 
 A great American manufacturer recently said: "Our 
 firm is going to invade the Asiatic field. Some of our 
 directors pointed out what seemed to be the folly of this, 
 because our recent trade with that region of the earth 
 is so inconsiderable, compared with our trade with Europe, 
 for example. Therefore, these objecting directors said, 
 'Why waste time on this little market, when a great 
 market is at our hands?' But I answered them that the 
 Asiatic market is comparatively a new one — virgin soil, 
 
 205
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 as it were — and that what we must look for is not old 
 markets, but new markets." 
 
 That was common-sense, was it not? When we have 
 occupied a market, or get under good headway in it, the 
 progressive and sensible thing to do is to look into the 
 next and nearest market, and set out to exploit that. 
 It is observed that the large mine-owners of our Western 
 States were never content with the ownership of one 
 mine. When the successful mine-owner had that under 
 his control and in thorough working order, he sent his 
 prospectors in every direction to search out new ones. 
 He simply applied common-sense and energy to a practical 
 situation. 
 
 Consider Russia, for example. We sell her between 
 twenty and twenty-five million dollars' worth of mer- 
 chandise every year. We might as well sell her eighty 
 or one hundred milhon dollars' worth annually. The trade 
 is ours for the asking and the going after. Our competi- 
 tors are asking for it and going after it. They will get 
 it, too, unless we act with skill and address. Germany, 
 for example, sells Russia considerably more than one 
 hundred milHon dollars' worth of merchandise every 
 year. Even England sells Russia nearly seventy milHon 
 dollars' worth of mercliandise annually. Russia would 
 prefer to buy from us, because we are not in her way 
 anywhere, and because she has political animosities of an 
 historic and permanent character against every one of 
 our competitors. Then there is Asiatic Russia, chiefly 
 Siberia. Our sales to her are inconsiderable. Yet all east- 
 em Siberia, as far as Irkutsk, is our natural market. The 
 Russian occupation of Manchuria (if Russia continues to 
 let our goods in free and does not differentiate against us 
 on her railroad rates) will double our trade there. 
 
 Here, then, are virgin markets. Why not have them? 
 The writer calls the particular attention of every manu- 
 facturer and of every producer of bread - stuffs in the 
 United States to these m.arkets. Everybody who gives 
 
 206
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 thought to our industrial situation knows that we are in 
 danger of congestion of products at no distant date. 
 What our producers must look for and what American 
 statesmen must give attention to is an outlet to prevent 
 this congestion. Here are markets which constitute such 
 outlets. Let us occupy them. But be it remembered 
 that they are not to be occupied by polite notes or 
 banquet speeches. They have got to be occupied by 
 ships, commercial agents, modem methods, the expendi- 
 ture of money, and the resourceful vigilance of a firm and 
 comprehensive business policy. 
 
 Whether we want it that way or not, we are thrust 
 out upon the waters and into the midst of the peoples 
 of the world. Let us address ourselves to the situation 
 and acquit ourselves accordingly; and that means to 
 adapt ourselves to growing and changing conditions. 
 American traditions and American characteristics are 
 repeatedly referred to; and it is said that " self-govern- 
 ment " and "non-interference" and many other excel- 
 lent things are American characteristics; and so they are. 
 But the American characteristic is adaptability. We 
 ought to adapt ourselves, and will, to the world's geog- 
 raphy, and to our trade as influenced by that.
 
 XV 
 
 Siberia: the highway of Russian advance 
 
 THE Russian is on the Asiatic shores of the Pacific 
 then, indeed. His banks, his railways, and his shops, 
 his business houses, his vessels of war, his sotnias of 
 Cossacks, and his parks of artillery, his fortifications built 
 for enduring purposes, his civil administrators, his mil- 
 itary commanders, his schools and universities for teach- 
 ing Oriental tongues, all these in a visible way have left 
 the world no longer any doubt of his tangible, substantial, 
 permanent presence. All the world is talking about him 
 therefore. And now that we have glanced at the index 
 of the volume of his activities and achievements in his 
 most recent fields of operation, let us, with judicial vision, 
 pass through Siberia, that other land which the Slav is 
 fashioning for the home of his future millions. And as 
 our interest increases, let us go further back to the original 
 fountain whence this flood of human power and purpose 
 pours forth steadily and in ever-swelling streams. And, 
 that what we see and hear may be the truth as it is, let 
 us go without prejudice on the one hand or prepossession 
 on the other. Let us go with the determination to 
 neither laud nor vilify, neither to praise nor blame un- 
 justly. Let us, in short, proceed as we have through 
 Manchuria and China, holding no brief for nor against the 
 Muscovite, and influenced by no spirit of advocacy favor- 
 able or adverse to any phase of his character or civihza- 
 tion, but merely as earnest searchers for the truth, what- 
 ever the truth may prove to be. 
 
 Let no traveller who is merely going about the world 
 
 208
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 for sight-seeing or pleasure go through Siberia. Com- 
 paratively, there is nothing for him to see. Only two 
 classes of persons should make the trans-Siberian trip: 
 first, men and women engaged in business, and to whom 
 a quick journey from Europe to Asia is highly desirable ; 
 and, second, serious, careful students who are trying to 
 get some idea of that increasing force in contemporary 
 affairs, the Russian people. All others had better depend 
 upon the faithful record by other travellers of what may 
 be seen in Siberia and Manchuria, and their interpretation 
 thereof, than to go through what must in any event be a 
 dull monotony, and what, if they mean to learn any- 
 thing, must be downright hard work. 
 
 Two influences operate to deflect the judgment of the 
 American, the English, and the German traveller through 
 Siberia. The first is that all of us have had it fixed upon 
 our minds that Siberia is the land of terror, the region of 
 exile, the domain of doom. We have been told that it 
 was a snowy desert where wander the men and women 
 whom Russian oppressors drove from their homes. It 
 has been pictured to us as a country of prisons, a waste 
 peopled by destroying wolves and sentinelled by grim and 
 savage Cossacks, the agents of a secret, ruthless, and terri- 
 ble power. For years popular plays have pictured the 
 infamy of this barren world of outcasts ; and at the present 
 moment more than one melodrama, played at theatres 
 patronized by the masses of the people, portrays the 
 awful tyranny of the Czar and the bitter lot of his un- 
 fortunate subjects who people that dreadful land called 
 Siberia. 
 
 Even the best-informed traveller enters Siberia with 
 the above impression constituting his subconscious view- 
 point. Fortify ourselves as we will with the tolerance of 
 the scientist and the impartiality of the judicial mind, we 
 find the feelings formed in our childhood days by shud- 
 dering tales of this Slav inferno asserting themselves. 
 We have crossed the Urals, and Siberia proper is before 
 14 209
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 VIS. Now, therefore, for the chain - gang, now for the 
 knout, now for the stench, degradation, and death of those 
 pens of incarceration where Russia herds her rejected till 
 they go mad or expire. 
 
 On the other hand, the American, German, or English- 
 man comes suddenly into this territory from his own land. 
 And his land is thickly settled, highly developed, and 
 organized up to the ideals of modern civihzation. He 
 comes from countries of quick despatch, of frequent towns, 
 of mammoth cities, of a perfected commerce, whose com- 
 plexity has eliminated non-essentials, and is still eliminat- 
 ing them. He comes from a land of comforts, a place 
 where the luxuries of a century ago are the common ne- 
 cessities of to-day. 
 
 On the one hand, therefore, Siberia is, in contrast to 
 the first of these influences, a surprise and delight; on the 
 other hand, and in contrast to the conditions surrounding 
 him in his own home, he will declare Siberia to be unde- 
 veloped, her people without enterprise, her commerce 
 trivial, the processes of progress within her scarcely dis- 
 tinguishable, and her future hopeless. 
 
 Against both of these influences the fair-minded man 
 who visits Siberia must contend. He must take into ac- 
 count that Siberian development has only just begun. 
 He must remember the racial characteristics of the Slav. 
 He must bear in mind the serious conditions of climate and 
 distance with which the government has had to contend. 
 Above all, he must remember the Russian ideal of pre- 
 serving for the Russian people themselves every foot of 
 territory which Russian blood, Russian diplomacy, and 
 Russian enterprise have won for the empire of the Czar. 
 
 "We are going to a new land, but it is still Russia," 
 said the head of a family of emigrants at one of the regis- 
 tration towns along the Siberian railway. 
 
 " But why not emigrate to America? There are better 
 chances there," he was asked. 
 
 " So there may be, but we do not care for great chances. 
 
 3IO
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 We want to live among our own kind of people," was the 
 answer. 
 
 There spoke the Slav instinct : he must live in his own 
 communities. He mingles with the natives of Siberia, and 
 even of Manchuria, with familiarity and ease. Finally he 
 absorbs them. And, without thinking about it, the in- 
 stinct in him would never permit the Slav to go where he 
 could not assimilate the people among whom he lives; 
 for the Russian is the greatest absorber of other peoples 
 which the contemporary world contains. He not only 
 rules them, he appropriates them. They become a part 
 of himself. A century hence will see Finland as much 
 Russian as though it were originally Muscovite. 
 
 More than a score of different peoples are now under 
 the colors of the Czar; and, say what we will from our 
 western point of view, they appear to be as highly con- 
 tented as the people of the more advanced countries, such 
 as Germany or Italy, and far more satisfied with their 
 conditions than are the English. This is due, no doubt, 
 to the pecuhar absorbing powers of the Slav. There are 
 about him a somnolence of character and ease and laxity 
 of life which suit the Asiatic native, towards whom his 
 progress tends, and over whom his dominion is extending, 
 far more than the precise and blunt methods of the Anglo- 
 Saxon. 
 
 Of course, the answer of the emigrant just quoted did 
 not give the practical reasons for his emigration to Si- 
 beria rather than to America. It might even be possible 
 that he never heard of such a place as America; and, be- 
 sides, he was going to Siberia because the agents of the 
 government held out to him pleasant prospects of life and 
 living there. Also, his home in European Russia was 
 crowded, and, more likely, he had friends and neighbors in 
 Siberia. But, above all, he had actual help from the 
 government itself. His transportation was furnished 
 him, a small sum of money was given him, land had been 
 assigned to the community to which he belongs; for as 
 
 211
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the Russian in Russia lives in communities, owns land by 
 communities, labors not as an individual, but in com- 
 panies, so, as a usual thing, he emigrates to Siberia in 
 communities.^ 
 
 Besides all this, the Russian emigrant was following 
 the lines of least resistance. He was going over land trav- 
 elled by hundreds of thousands of his brothers before 
 him. He was proceeding by the modern railway, to be 
 sure; and yet it was a beaten path. For decades before 
 a single sod had been turned on any Siberian railway, 
 or indeed on any Russian railway, the Russian peasant, 
 obeying his instinct towards Asia, has been travelling on 
 foot towards this young Russian dominion, and there mak- 
 ing his home. But far more important than all of these 
 was the answer of this Russian father of an emigrant fam- 
 ily; for it revealed in a flash one of the crowning char- 
 acteristics of the Slav — namely, the cohesiveness and 
 solidarity of his race. 
 
 Siberia we find to be physically a continuation of the 
 Russian Empire. The Ural Mountains, which divide it 
 from Russia proper, are, as we Americans understand 
 mountains, no mountains at all. In comparison with our 
 Sierras, or Canada's Selkirks, or Switzerland's Alps, they 
 are hardly more than tree -clad foot-hills. From these 
 mountains to Lake Baikal, Siberia is one vast plain of rich 
 monotony. Locate on your map the Siberian railway, 
 and you have the central artery of productive Siberia. 
 The land on either side for perhaps two hundred miles, 
 both north and south, is excellent for agriculture and 
 grazing; beyond this, on the south, begin the sandy deserts 
 of Central Asia; to the north, eight hundred to one thou- 
 sand miles, are the great gold-fields; but, speaking of per- 
 
 * The government gives land to the peasant emigrant at the rate 
 of forty acres for the head of each family. Also, it loans each 
 family thirty rubles without interest, and, if needed, one hundred 
 rubiee, Md the peasant is aever pressed for paymeat. 
 
 21i
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 manent soil for civilization and empire, Siberia may be 
 said to be confined to a strip not over four hundred miles 
 wide, extending from Russia to Lake Baikal, a distance of 
 about three thousand miles; and, too, there are immense 
 districts good for agriculture in Trans-Baikal Siberia. 
 
 This estimate of the productive area of Siberia is, to say 
 the least, generous, if not exaggerated. Bohol, the high- 
 est authority, estimates that the really valuable agricult- 
 ural portion of Siberia is not over five hundred thousand 
 square miles in extent. Such an area, however, is equal 
 almost to the entire Mississippi Valley. It is thus seen 
 that, eliminating the unproductive land of Siberia, there 
 still remains nothing short of an agricultural empire await- 
 ing the plough, the reaper, and the thresher. Cultivated 
 and populated as Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa are popu- 
 lated and cultivated, this minimum agriculturally rich por- 
 tion of Siberia is capable of maintaining a population of 
 over thirty-eight millions. Cultivated and populated as 
 France and Germany are, it will support more than one 
 hundred and fourteen millions. 
 
 And yet the population of all Siberia does not to-day 
 exceed eight millions.* Russian emigration, hov/ever, is 
 pouring in by the hundred thousand every year. The 
 agricultural products consist of everything that we raise 
 here in the United States. Wheat, millet, oats, barley, 
 corn, and all the cereals of the "north temperate zone are 
 produced in abundance. The agricultural products of 
 Siberia are beyond the capacity of the Siberian railway 
 to transport. Immense warehouses, or, rather, sheds, 
 have been erected along the line to shelter the piles of sacks 
 of grain awaiting despatch. You may even see, at certain 
 seasons of the year, great cords of sacks of grain piles 
 on the ground, without cover or protection, except 
 canvas thrown over them ; for the capacity of the railway 
 
 ' This is merely an estimate. Exact figures to date are not 
 obtainable. 
 
 213
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 is already distanced by the agricultural productiveness 
 of thinly populated and pooriy cultivated Siberia. 
 
 An idea of what agricultural Siberia is doing at the 
 present time is given in the following figures, which are 
 significant when we remember the negligent and decidedly 
 inferior methods of Russian agriculture: 
 
 Cereal Production in Siberia for 1902 
 
 "Wheat. . . .30,796,000 bushels I Oats 34,078,000 bushels 
 
 Rye 23,080,000 " I Barley.... 2,628,000 " 
 
 The railway itself is not well built. But such is the care 
 taken with the Siberian express, on which you are sure to 
 travel, that, unless you carefully observe and seek reliable 
 information to verify it, you would never know that you 
 were not on an excellently constructed road-bed. It is 
 the opinion of able Russian engineers that the whole line 
 will have to be rebuilt. Certainly the track will have to 
 be relaid, to say the very least. The rails are absurdly 
 light. The reason why heavier rails were not laid in the 
 beginning was, first, that the Russians themselves did not 
 foresee the development of traffic the rails would be called 
 upon to bear; and. second, towards the end of the enter- 
 prise a desire for retrenchment and economy developed 
 quite inconsistent with the generosity of the original plan 
 and the lavish outlay of the early stages of construction. 
 
 Sidings are being constructed all along the line. These 
 sidings are, in many instances, so long that the observer 
 cannot fail to conclude that they are the beginnings of a 
 system of double tracks. That the Siberian road will 
 have to have double tracks within the next two decades 
 seems to be a matter of no further doubt. The increase in 
 grain shipments alone would require this. A single track 
 could be fairly well employed by the shipment of emi- 
 grants, soldiers, and other passengers. So congested is 
 the traffic that emigrant trains are often side-tracked 
 for a week, or even more, at a time. 
 
 214
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 This was the condition in 1901, when the road extended 
 no further than Stretensk, and when all the Far Eastern 
 traffic carried over the line had to be brought up the 
 Amur by boat or by caravan across the Mongolian desert. 
 Now, however, the road is completed through to Port 
 Arthur and Dalni on the China Sea; the whole trade of 
 Manchuria is transported over it, and you may go with- 
 out change of cars from either of these Pacific ports to 
 Moscow itself. This means ultimately an immense addi- 
 tion to Russia's Far Eastern commerce. It means, too, 
 the gradual opening of the trade of Manchuria. 
 
 Another road is contemplated right across the Mon- 
 golian desert to the very gates of Pekin itself. There 
 can be no question that this will be built. It is said that 
 it will be built* as a matter of military necessity. But 
 there are more reasons why it should be built as a com- 
 mercial enterprise. 
 
 Consider now the increased commerce that the main 
 line must carry across Siberia when the contributions of 
 these thousands of miles of feeders to the main line have 
 been realized. Thus it may be taken as a settled fact that 
 a double track for the Siberian railway is a certainty of 
 the future. How soon this double track will be laid is, of 
 course, a mere matter of speculation. If it were any other 
 country than Russia which controlled the enterprise a 
 reasonable guess could be made. It will be made when 
 the Czar is convinced that the thing is needed, and that 
 the condition of the Russian exchequer will permit its 
 building. Then an imperial order will come forth, and the 
 double track will be constructed and the old track relaid. 
 
 It is not profitable to speculate too far into the future, 
 and yet, at the risk of injecting imagination into a narra- 
 tive, it may be said that a quarter of a century will witness 
 not only double tracks along the Siberian line itself, but 
 extensive branches running both north and south, and 
 even perhaps parallel hnes east and west, one hundred 
 miles or more, both north and south of the original road. 
 
 215
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The paralleling of the Union Pacific by the Northern 
 Pacific, and paralleling of the Northern Pacific by the 
 Great Northern in our own country, must be reproduced 
 when Siberia is as thickly populated as the present volume 
 of emigrants to that country and the capacities of its 
 soil make it certain that it will be. 
 
 In this connection it is interesting to know that all of 
 the Russian imperial railways (and the Czar's govern- 
 ment owns and operates the large majority of all the rail- 
 way mileage of the empire) are paying investments, 
 excepting the Manchurian line and portions of the Si- 
 berian line. Indeed, it is said on authority that the net 
 income of the Russian government from its railways is 
 over one hundred million dollars a year. When you con- 
 sider the low rate of freight and railway fare in Russia, 
 this fact is as important as it is interesting. Over the 
 Siberian line, especially, the passenger fare is trivial. 
 
 The towns along this continental strip of territory are 
 similar and uninteresting. Universally they are built 
 from a mile to five miles away from the railway. Also 
 in every instance they are constructed of wood. And 
 again, uniformly, they are agriculttiral centres. They are 
 just such towns as the transcontinental traveller saw upon 
 our Western plains a score of years ago, only the Russian 
 tov/ns of Siberia are more populous, and law and order 
 in them are more carefully enforced than in our similar 
 towns at a like period of our development. 
 
 Some of these towns are the centres for emigrant 
 distribution. Such towns are equipped with great build- 
 ings for the temporary comfort of the emigrant peasantry. 
 Indeed, along the whole road, at every station, large and 
 small, the government has not neglected helpful and in- 
 deed necessary devices to aid the peasant on his long 
 journey to his new home. For example, no station is 
 without large ovens where hot water awaits the emigrant , 
 with which he makes his necessary tea. As has been 
 stated, these emigrants are pouring into Siberia at the 
 
 216
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 rate of between two hundred thousand and three hun- 
 dred thousand each year. Many long trains of cars 
 hterally packed with Russian emigrants were inspected. 
 Ahnost always these peasants, men, women, and children, 
 appeared to be very healthy and highly vital creatures, 
 indeed. Not often was sickness observed. Where sick- 
 ness occurs at any town which is the centre of emigrant 
 distribution, competent physicians are said to be sta- 
 tioned to relieve the suffering, though no personal in- 
 vestigation of this statement was made. 
 
 In but one instance were these peasant emigrants found 
 to be dissatisfied. That instance occurred near a railway 
 station, midway between Khabaroff and Vladivostock, in 
 the Pacific regions. Here the inhabitants of an entire 
 village from the congested districts of southern Russia 
 were found, camped in the open, with no shelter save 
 that afforded by the wagons they had brought with them, 
 and such semi -tent, semi-hut structures as they had been 
 able to hurriedly construct. There were perhaps twenty 
 families in this group. 
 
 The elder (or starosta, as the Russians call him) was 
 loud and bitter in his complaints. They had been there 
 in sun and rain for three weeks, he said. Four babes had 
 already died and two more were at that moment seriously 
 ill. The emigration officer had not allotted them their 
 lands or shown them where to go, and nobody knew when 
 he would do so. Indeed, nobody knew where the emi- 
 grant officer was. The other peasants crowded around 
 and eagerly and mournfully confirmed the melancholy 
 plaint of their chief. If they had known what they were 
 coming to they never would have left Russia, they com- 
 plained. The women were strident in their demands that 
 the whole colony should immediately return to Russia. 
 
 It was precisely the situation which the writer observed, 
 in 1885, on the plains of western Kansas, when "settlers" 
 from other States were disappointed at not finding the 
 unbroken prairie fields in full flower, and when the women 
 
 217
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 of the household forced the entire abandonment of the 
 enterprise. But in the case of these Russian peasants it 
 was not so easy to return. Indeed, in the case ot these 
 particular ones it was impossible for them to get back 
 to the fatherland at that time. 
 
 Not that the Russian peasant emigrant to Siberia is 
 not permitted to return to Russia; on the contrary, two 
 separate and considerable trains were observed on the 
 Siberian line taking back to their homes emigrants who 
 had grown tired or dissatisfied with their new surround- 
 ings, and who were unwilling longer to continue in Siberia. 
 But in the hundreds of thousands of those who go to 
 Siberia from Russia only a few thousand, comparatively 
 speaking, go back to the place of their birth. And those 
 who return are, of course, the least stanch and aggressive 
 in character of the entire emigrant population. 
 
 So that not only are the hard conditions of nature in 
 Siberia eliminating the physically weak from the new 
 people there being compounded, but the weaker charac- 
 ters are also being rejected by their own lack of steadiness 
 and spirit. From an ethnological point of view these two 
 circumstances are of value in understanding the character 
 of the Russian in Asia, which, in the end, is bound to be 
 an improvement on the character of the Russian in 
 Europe. 
 
 It is said that Russian officials whom the government 
 places in charge of the distribution of emigrant lands are 
 notably inefficient. There is no way, short of several 
 years of weary investigation, to determine whether this 
 is generally true or not. Certainly it was not true in one 
 instance which fell under the writer's personal observa- 
 tion. A young Russian civil officer was among a com- 
 pany who floated down the long and hard journey on the 
 iDoats of the Shilka and Amur rivers. This young man, 
 it was learned, was to take charge of the distribution of 
 emigrant lands at a newly opened post. He was highly 
 educated, belonged to the ultra-Slavophile party of Rus- 
 
 218
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 sia, and appeared to be devoted to his work with almost 
 missionary enthusiasm. Nor was this the fervor bom 
 ot anticipation of the untried delights of unfamiliar occu- 
 pation. This officer had already had experience in 
 similar work, and had been selected because of his 
 efficiency. Of course, this information was not derived 
 from him; but there was abundance of time to inquire 
 into its truth, and careful verification was therefore made. 
 
 He took the greatest possible interest in the peasants 
 on board, who seemed to return his attention with affec- 
 tionate gratitude. A sufficient stop was made at the 
 point where he disembarked to observe how he went about 
 his business; and he entered upon the discharge of his 
 duties with the same trained calmness and energy which 
 you might expect an American to exhibit who is equipped 
 for his work and in love with it. It is true that this 
 example may not be typical, and it is further true that 
 the praise of this officer by his fellow-Russians might have 
 been exaggerated, and his own apparent eagerness for and 
 concern in his employment superficial. But as one of the 
 minor incidents of Slav colonization, this example is 
 believed to be worth recalling. 
 
 The raft transportation down the Shilka and Amur 
 rivers is worthy of repeated notice. In the summer of 
 1 90 1, scores, hundreds of these rafts were observed lazily 
 floating down those Siberian streams. Each of them 
 contains at least one Russian family. On some of them 
 several Russian families were being carried by the slow 
 current to their remote destination. Nor were human 
 beings the only inhabitants of these rafts. The peasant's 
 wives and children were there; but so were his horses, his 
 cattle, and all of the transportable things which the 
 family possessed. 
 
 Over and over again the analogy of these Slav frontiers- 
 men with their American counterparts in the period of 
 the early settlement of our own country suggested itself. 
 Here were the same fearlessness, the same daring of the 
 
 219
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 unknown, the same severance from the place of their 
 birth, the same intention to plant in the wilderness the 
 institutions which they had left. With the American 
 pioneer it was Anglo-Saxon individualism and the insti- 
 tutions of a representative government ; with the Russian 
 emigrant it is Slav communism and the institutions of 
 autocracy. But here the parallel ends, for with the Rus- 
 sian emigrant all is patience, leisureliness, lethargy. Their 
 slow course towards the ends of the earth, their utter 
 want of hurry or impatience, was suggestive of the prog- 
 ress of their nation through history. 
 
 Indeed, the Russian peasant, on his cumbersome raft 
 on the Amur, is the Russian nation floating towards the 
 sea. The progress of the Amur currents is quite fast 
 enough for him, and, besides, it is nature's method of 
 transportation. And the Russian peasant is a very nat- 
 ural human being. He does not -see any use of getting 
 very far away from nature. It is believed from what was 
 observed on the crowded emigrant boats that, had not the 
 peasants packed upon these vessels been directed to travel 
 in that manner, they would have been quite as content 
 to have travelled by raft as by the more speedy agency 
 of steam, if, indeed, they would not actually have pre- 
 ferred it. 
 
 It is not worth while to waste any lines in the descrip- 
 tion of these towns, and no traveller should squander a 
 single day in remaining at any of them, excepting only 
 the cities hereafter described. No one but the most 
 studious minded, in search of particular information, 
 should visit them; and even such a student will not 
 find it of advantage to remain long; and having visited 
 one of these towns he has visited all of them, for each is 
 a type of a class, all are representatives of the same 
 model. Broad streets, wooden buildings, fairly good 
 stores, large market-places, many churches — some of them 
 strangely magnificent in comparison with the architectural 
 poverty of the town itself — a centre for local distribution
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and trade, a focus-point for the Russian fairs to which 
 the peasants of whole districts converge — such, and only- 
 such, is the ordinary town of considerable size along the 
 Siberian railway. 
 
 A notable thing about both Russia and Japan is the 
 myriads of children. In a street leading out of the beau- 
 tiful little port of Kobe, Japan, twenty-three children were 
 counted in the arms of mothers or sisters in the course 
 of exactly five minutes of a jinrikisha ride. The same 
 evidence of fecundity may be observed anywhere in 
 Russia; and in Siberia reproductiveness seems to be 
 accelerated. It would be impossible for any traveller 
 to look out of a car-window at any station on the trans- 
 Siberian road, during the season when women can be 
 out-of-doors, without observing children at every age, 
 from a few months to a dozen years. 
 
 And if you will leave the train and go into the interior, 
 you will find that the sight at the station was only a sug- 
 gestion of the universal reality. Children, children, and 
 again children, and still children. Everywhere the Rus- 
 sian is productive, but in Siberia the birth rate is the high- 
 est in the world. Next to Siberia the birth rate of Russia 
 is the highest in the world. And the death rate of Siberia 
 is lower than that of Russia proper. When one reflects 
 that the hard conditions of Siberian life exterminates 
 all but the ruggedest infants, one begins to comprehend 
 the physical hardihood of this pioneer race which is grow- 
 ing up in this new land. 
 
 " How strong these people look!" observed an impartial 
 traveller. "How ruddy their faces! how broad their 
 shoulders! how deep their chests! how sturdy their arms 
 and legs! They do not at all look the unhappy and 
 down -trodden people they have been pictured, do they?" 
 
 "Well," responded an Englishman, "and what are they? 
 They are nothing but so many human cattle deprived 
 of their rights." 
 
 It wa5 an illuminative conversation. With much care, 
 
 221
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and through an interpreter who was not distrusted by 
 them (and this is one precaution you must look to care- 
 fully), conversations were had with many of these, the 
 common people of Russia in Asia. "Did they want to 
 vote?" Why, they did that now. Did not all of them, 
 even the women who were widows, have a free voice in 
 their communes, etc.? "But did they not want to vote 
 as Americans and Englishmen vote?" They were dum- 
 founded; they did not know what it meant. "Did they 
 not want to take part in the government? " Again, they 
 did that in every village which exists in Siberia after the 
 parent Russian form. " But did they not want something 
 to say about what laws should govern them?" No, in- 
 deed! They cared nothing for that. That was the busi- 
 ness of the government. The government was bad, but 
 they would not make it any better. And if the Czar only 
 knew where the government of his peasants is bad, he 
 would make it right ; and the Czar would know some day. 
 In Siberia, as in Russia, with the peasant it is always the 
 Czar. He is the peasant's friend, their father, who is lov- 
 ing and caring for them the best he can, and who, some 
 day, "when he knows," will make everything all right. 
 The devotion of the Russian peasant to the Czar is touch- 
 ing and pathetic, and, by the same token, a circumstance 
 of import to every nation whose fate it is to reckon with 
 Russia. 
 
 So it appeared that, as yet, these people have had none 
 of the rights, which the American or Englishman means 
 when he uses that word, of which they could be de- 
 prived. So again it appeared that they were in perfect 
 ignorance of these rights, and on the whole it further 
 appeared that they are without the initiative as a mass 
 to inaugurate any movement to secure them, even if 
 they comprehended them. And, as a matter of fact, 
 the Russian peasant, at least the Russian agricultural 
 peasant, does not care the least bit about those rights; 
 and where local self-government has been attempted in
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Russia, beyond the ancient self-government of the village 
 community, the authorities have had serious difficulty in 
 getting the peasant to take part in the innovation. Also, 
 it must be said that apparently they are as well satisfied 
 with their government as perhaps any other people are 
 with their government. If the crops fail here in America, 
 do we not lay the ensuing hard times to the fault of the 
 administration?
 
 XVI 
 
 HIGH AND LOW WATER MARKS OF SIBERIAN PROGRESS 
 
 THREE samples of Siberian towns will serve as illus- 
 trations of the highest point of Siberian develop- 
 ment. Irkutsk is in the heart of that enormous region. 
 On the one hand, it is thousands of miles from Moscow; 
 on the other hand, it is thousands of miles from Pekin. 
 Well, then, what of Irkutsk? 
 
 "I think you will find our museum interesting," said a 
 pleasant Russian business -man of Irkutsk. Museum! 
 The sciences studied here! For this was the very heart 
 of Siberia. It seemed a curious invitation. Down the 
 broad street, therefore, we strolled. 
 
 "And what is that fine building?" the stranger asked. 
 
 "Oh, that is our opera-house." 
 
 "And do you have operas here?" 
 
 "Why, certainly; and why should we not? and plays, 
 too. Very good companies, indeed, come here from 
 Moscow. Don't think that we are without amusements. 
 We cannot rival St. Petersburg, of course, but we are far 
 ahead of anything in Russia outside of half a dozen of 
 the mother-country's leading cities." 
 
 "And who built this opera-house?" 
 
 "It was built by subscription. A number of our rich 
 merchants raised the money, and they raised it, too, in less 
 than a week." 
 
 So that here in the very centre of the Russian's Asiatic 
 empire, and on the way to a museum, was found an 
 opera-house as large in dimension and as excellent in 
 appointment as will be found in any of the third-rate 
 
 224
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 cities of the United States. If you consider it in com- 
 parison with the places of amusement of our frontier 
 towns of twenty years ago, you will have only words of 
 contrast to describe the two. Indeed, not a dozen New 
 York playhouses surpass it. So it appeared that the 
 Slav is enjoying himself in Siberia with plays and operas 
 presented in a first-class theatre. We are not among 
 barbarians, that is clear, nor even rude and uncultured 
 people, if we are in the Czar's land of exile. 
 
 And the museum! Here were skulls and skeletons of 
 races inhabiting Siberia long before the time of Yer- 
 mack. Here were iron stirrups, lances, and all the ac- 
 coutrements of warfare of by-gone centuries. Here was 
 a sample of the simple craft with which the aborigines 
 navigated the rivers. And anthropology and ethnology 
 had not alone occupied the attention of these local scien- 
 tists. Fishes, animals, plants, samples of all the flora and 
 fauna of this unfamiliar region of the earth were carefully 
 arranged, attractively exhibited, and scientifically classi- 
 fied. 
 
 "That looks like a church, and not a Russian church," 
 observed the stranger. 
 
 "Why, a church it is, and not a Russian church either," 
 said the citizen of Irkutsk. "Yonder is another, too." 
 
 And very pleasant — even handsome, in a modest way 
 — were these religious edifices. There are church build- 
 ings, then, for several different denominations in Irkutsk, 
 Siberia. Of course, as everywhere, the Russian Greek 
 Orthodox Cathedral, magnificent, picturesque, imposing, 
 dominates all else. But here was a visible exhibition of 
 religious tolerance as surprising as it is pleasing to the 
 Western traveller, who had been taught to look upon all 
 the empire of the Czar's as dominions of oppressive 
 religious intolerance. In short, in Irkutsk, as elsewhere 
 in Russia, a man may worship God in his own way, 
 or not worship Him at all, just as he pleases, provided 
 only that he does not attempt to lead away members 
 IS 225
 
 THE RUSSIAN xlDVANCE 
 
 of the Russian National Church, or, if he is a member, 
 does not try to leave it himself. Protestants build their 
 churches and hold their services as in America. Moham- 
 medans do likewise, as in Turkey; and a mosque, built 
 by the faithful followers of the prophet, lifts its assertive 
 domes almost within sight of the city. 
 
 "You will find the railway from Irkutsk to Stretensk 
 without dinner or buffet, so you had better provide your- 
 self here with food for at least two days' travel," said 
 the friendly Russian of Irkutsk. (From Moscow to Ir- 
 kutsk, but not beyond, there was, in 1901, well-furnished 
 through trains with excellent buffet and dining cars, and 
 sleeping-car accommodations quite equal to those found 
 anywhere in Europe, or even America. But this service 
 has since been extended over the Manchurian line to Dalni 
 and Port Arthur on the Chinese waters.) 
 
 So the stores of Irkutsk were visited. They are nu- 
 merous, some of them large, all well provisioned. In a 
 single store you can buy things to eat and things to wear : 
 rubber coats and cloaks for the precarious journey on the 
 Amur; canned cherries, peaches, raspberries — all manner 
 of preserves — in short, anything which you can buy in a 
 department store in the United States, and at prices 
 about the same. Most of these goods are Russian; for be 
 it remembered that it is the policy of the present adminis- 
 tration of the Czar not only to preserve the lands of the 
 empire for Russian subjects but their trade and com- 
 merce as well. Russia proposes in time to become in- 
 dependent of the world. She is in no hurry about it, as 
 she is in no hurry about anything. Are not the centuries 
 hers ? Why exploit everything in an hour and get through 
 with life in a year? That is the Russian thought. There 
 is something about the lethargic patience of the Russian 
 which reminds you of the slow leisureliness of the processes 
 of nature itself. Their very inertia has something in it ele- 
 mental. 
 
 There are two additional explanations for the prepon- 
 
 226
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 derance of Russian goods in Siberian stores west of Lake 
 Baikal. One is that the distance is not so great from 
 Moscow but that a Russian merchant may ship his goods 
 at a profit even to Irkutsk. Also this portion of Siberia is 
 so far from the Pacific, and until recently the methods of 
 shipment were so crude and expensive that it did not pay 
 to put American goods into this portion of Siberia by way 
 of the Pacific, and, of course, not by rail through Russia 
 itself. Even here, nevertheless, most of the mining ma- 
 chinery and things of that kind are American made. 
 
 "These Russians," said a young German electrical en- 
 gineer establishing himself in Irkutsk, "are not to be 
 feared in our lifetime, nor in that of our children, as com- 
 mercial competitors, but I am full of fear of them for the 
 distant future. I will not be here then, it is true, but 
 Germany will still be here. I do not know whether it is 
 because they are dull, or whether it is because they are 
 far-sighted, but they are going about things in a way 
 which, it appears to me, will make their power irresistible 
 in the long course of time." 
 
 Germans in Irkutsk! Certainly. A large German col- 
 ony thrives in this capital of Russia in Asia. Indeed, the 
 German is everywhere; likewise he prospers everywhere. 
 His activity within the Russian dominions has been noted 
 before and will be noted again. The German agricultural 
 settlements in European Russia are conspicuous for their 
 prosperity. In every city you will find large numbers of 
 German merchants. It appears that at one time for- 
 eigners were invited to establish industries in Russia, and 
 to this call the enterprising, watchful German responded 
 promptly and numerously. This is said to be the reason 
 why the German language is so manifest within the Czar's 
 dominions. Certain it is that if you speak German you 
 may travel from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur without an 
 interpreter. You will be sure to find on every train, in 
 every city, and at every possible point of enterprise some 
 one who can speak German. The young German above 
 
 227
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 quoted was returning to Irkutsk from Berlin, with his 
 young German wife, and their residence in Irkutsk was to 
 be permanent. He had already taken the business away 
 from the English electrical engineer located at that point. 
 It is a notable circumstance that German energy, intelli- 
 gence, and industry is weaving a web of German influence 
 all around the world. 
 
 Let us now take Blagovestchensk, in Trans - Baikal 
 Siberia. This remarkable town, thousands of miles from 
 nowhere at all, midway and nearly two thousand miles 
 from Irkutsk on the west, and almost the same dis- 
 tance from Vladivostock on the east, standing on the 
 banks of the Amur, with the inhospitable and, until recent- 
 ly, hostile and menacing Manchurian frontier within rifle- 
 shot across the river, is surprisingly beautiful, astonish- 
 ingly progressive. 
 
 Like every Russian town, its streets are American in 
 breadth. In Blagovestchensk the houses bordering on 
 these streets are almost, without exception, comfortable 
 and attractive. Many of them are commodious; some 
 are positively handsome. Almost everywhere these Rus- 
 sians have made gardens and planted trees. The " horni- 
 ness" of the residences strikes one with singular force 
 when one remembers that this is not Europe, not Colorado, 
 not Dakota, not even Siberia proper, but a far-off, segre- 
 gated portion of the earth's surface, on the very edge 
 of what was, until yesterday, Asia's dark and bloody 
 ground. 
 
 There are department stores here which are not sur- 
 passed by any American city of one hundred and fifty 
 thousand inhabitants. These stores are nothing less than 
 magnificent in their proportions. In them you may buy 
 any conceivable thing you may want, from towels to fire- 
 arms, from mackintoshes to toys, from sugar to paint. 
 And although Blagovestchensk is essentially a "mining 
 town," the prices are about the same as in the United 
 States and not so very much greater than m Russia 
 
 2'2r8
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 itself; indeed, not surprisingly higher than in Germany 
 or England. 
 
 Of course the greatest of these mercantile establish- 
 ments is German, although a large Russian house al- 
 most rivals its German competitor. The American com- 
 mercial plant which thrived here for some years looked 
 to be on the point of extinction. American threshing- 
 machines, manufactured by a firm in Ohio, American 
 ploughs, American agricultural implements of. all kinds 
 were examined and priced in the German store. 
 
 "Do you have sale for agricultural implements?" 
 
 "Indeed we do, and the demand is growing. You observe 
 yourself our present heavy stock. We have other consign- 
 ments coming, and still we cannot supply the demand." 
 
 "But I thought that this was a mining town?" was the 
 inquiry. 
 
 "So it is, or, rather, has been," replied the German 
 merchant; "or, rather, it is the depot of the products of 
 mines located hundreds of miles away from here. But 
 the future of this country is in its agriculture and grazing, 
 and this is daily becoming more apparent to us merchants. 
 The country around here is settled for scores of miles. 
 Also the farmers seem to thrive — at least they are able to 
 buy and pay for these implements." 
 
 "Why does not some capitalist start a factory here?" 
 was asked. 
 
 "They have already done so. A German firm has a 
 considerable establishment not far from town." 
 
 So the German factory of agricultural implements was 
 visited. The plant was quite respectable and in process 
 of enlargement. It turned out threshing-machines and 
 various things of the sort. 
 
 "I suppose you will soon monopolize this market," 
 was asked of the manager. 
 
 "Unfortunately, no," he answered. "Material is hard 
 to get ; labor is high priced ; its efficiency is only a fraction 
 of that of American labor in the same line." 
 
 229
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The heads of departments, the highly skilled artisans, 
 were, to a man, German, but all the rest of the labor was 
 Russian. And these laborers live very well indeed. As 
 in Russia, so here, the company had built living quarters 
 for the men and their families. But here in Blagovest- 
 chensk the laborers' homes are not, as in European Russia, 
 vast dormitories. They live in attractive little cottages, 
 around which trees had lately been planted, and they 
 have most of the accommodations and creature comforts 
 which it is supposed the American laborer alone enjoys. 
 
 Here in Blagovestchensk, too, are three or four flouring 
 mills, and others are projected. They do not hold their 
 own as yet with American flour, for American flour looks 
 better, tastes better, is better than that produced in 
 Blagovestchensk. Therefore, the people like it better, 
 and the people buy it more readily. Given an equal 
 footing, American products will compete successfully 
 even with local enterprises in Siberia itself. Were it 
 possible for America and Russia to enter into some 
 commercial agreement by which American goods could 
 have free access to Russia's markets, it is clear to the 
 thoughtful observer that, almost to the exclusion of all 
 the rest of the world, America and Russia combined would 
 soon feed, clothe, and supply all the wants of the scores 
 of millions who people the world's greatest empire. 
 
 Irkutsk and Blagovestchensk are Siberia at their best. 
 Now for Sibeiia at her worst. 
 
 The curious American sauntered down a side street in 
 Misovaia. Misovaia, you must know, is on the east shore 
 of Lake Baikal, where the steamer lands you from the 
 Siberian road on the west side to again take up the rail 
 journey on the east side. 
 
 " Don't go there!" came the panting voice of the watch- 
 ful interpreter as, running and white-faced, he caught up 
 with his employer. "Come back, I beg of you! You 
 will get your throat slit or be mauled in the head or 
 killed some other way if you wander recklessly about 
 
 230
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 this place." Purple evening was quickly falling, and the 
 dark shadows, everywhere around the earth the partners 
 of crime, were already enveloping the little town with 
 indistinguishableness. 
 
 "I see no danger, and everything looks peaceful 
 enough," said the American. 
 
 "But this is the worst place in Siberia. Last week 
 two men were found garroted [strangled] and stripped of 
 everything right on the streets. Since we arrived I have 
 been told that there was a murder here yesterday. To- 
 day a man was stabbed at noon right in the open streets. 
 And you are unarmed and an American. If you wander 
 around here at night nothing but a miracle can save 
 your life." 
 
 Such was the report of this little Russian town not 
 half a day by rail from gay, prosperous, busy, civilized 
 Irkutsk. And yet nothing more harmless than the ap- 
 pearance of its inhabitants could be imagined. Kindly 
 faced, sleepy-eyed moujiks, scores, hundreds of inoffensive 
 peasant emigrants from Russia (for here, as everywhere, 
 are emigrant headquarters), two or three dozen railroad 
 working-men, all very busy with the jam of cars; station- 
 master, telegraph-operator, and a few passengers — and 
 yet this the abode of open assassination and skulking 
 robbery. Everybody confirms the bad reputation of 
 Misovaia. But the uninformed foreign observer could 
 discern nothing that bore the appearance of disorder and 
 crime. On the surface it looked no more dangerous than 
 any American country village — not a hundredth part so 
 formidable and forbidding as certain well-known streets 
 of Chicago and New York. Hence one's inclination is to 
 believe that the stories of Siberian cord and knife and 
 bludgeon are seriously overstated. 
 
 Move on now for three days' journey by rail to Stretensk. 
 This town until two years ago was the actual terminus 
 of the Siberian railway. It is practically midway be- 
 tween Irkutsk on the west and Blagovestchensk on the 
 
 231
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 east. It is the head of "navigation " on the Shilka River. 
 Here start the steamers that go down the Shilka River into 
 the Amur, and down the Amur to Blagovestchensk, and 
 then for many hundreds of miles to Khabaroff, the po- 
 litical capital of Trans-Baikal Siberia. 
 
 The railroad, with its delta of switches, ends on one 
 side of the river, and on the hill above enormous emi- 
 gration barracks, provision houses, store-rooms, etc., are 
 visible. Stretensk itself is on the other side of the river. 
 But let us waste no time with local geography. 
 
 Stretensk is a typical Cossack settlement. By some 
 early decree or other (and seek not to follow Russian 
 decrees, you never can unravel them) this land and all 
 the adjacent town belong to the Cossacks and their 
 children. Its government is exclusively in the hands 
 of the Cossacks, and is a military — Cossack — oligarchy. 
 Neither the merchant, the banker, the trader — in short, 
 nobody but the Cossack proprietor — has any voice in the 
 administration of municipal affairs. 
 
 Whether this or something else is the reason, the 
 fact remains that Stretensk shows absolutely no progress. 
 The houses are wooden and filthy. The yards are pig- 
 sties, the streets unpaved, miserable stretches of desola- 
 tion. A gray-haired woman lay in the mud on the 
 bank of the river in a coma of vodka intoxication. The 
 men are sturdy, broad - shouldered, thick - necked, and 
 bull -headed ; the women are creatures of immense physical 
 capacity. Children, pigs, and chickens throng each door- 
 way. Yet Stretensk has not a particularly evil reputation 
 for crime, but it is just the spot of which you would be 
 prepared to believe any tale of horror told you. And, 
 indeed, you are warned to stay in-doors at night, and 
 occasionally rumors of assault and robbery float in the 
 atmosphere. 
 
 "Seek for the beautiful even amid squalor," says some 
 writer. So even Stretensk has its oasis. Here is one of 
 the branches of the many tentacled Russo - Chinese 
 
 232
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Bank. Connected with the bank itself is the home of the 
 manager. The whole stands in a neat and (compared 
 with the rest of Stretensk) not unattractive enclosure. 
 In this home pleasing rooms are found. The notes of the 
 piano, well played, sound strangely at night, among sur- 
 roundings so intellectually dense that you can almost feel 
 its oppressive influence. 
 
 At the board presides the manager's wife, a Russian 
 girl, Siberian born, and never nearer Europe than Irkutsk, 
 and yet as well groomed and in costume as perfect as her 
 sisters in St. Petersburg. She is Siberian educated, too. 
 There is the grandmother also — you would take the quiet, 
 dignified, white-haired Siberian mother for an American 
 woman of similar condition — and the children, quiet, well 
 bred, clean, modestly attired. The talk is of everything. 
 The great world without, of course, first of all. Here is 
 keen but reserved curiosity as to foreign thinking and 
 doing. Yes, but here also is information of the world 
 surprisingly accurate, when you consider that you are in 
 Siberia's very heart of darkness. 
 
 The manager of this bank, like every manager of every 
 branch of this amazing financial institution of the Russian 
 government, was found to be a man of real capacity, of 
 independent views, of fearless expression, well posted on 
 the world's development, and informed to the minutest 
 particular on local trade and financial conditions. The 
 banking-rooms themselves are in charge of the manager 
 and two under-officers, both Russians, the other assist- 
 ants being, as is universally the case, Chinese; for you 
 must know that the Chinaman has an aptitude for sharp 
 finance not equalled by any other money-changer in the 
 world. Also your Chinaman is the world's most careful 
 and persistent small merchant — and large merchant, too, 
 for that matter, as you will soon learn if you take the pains 
 to investigate into the heavier commercial operations of 
 China. In short, the inhabitant of the Flowery King- 
 dom, who is disgracefully negligent of government and of 
 
 233
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 all civil affairs, is the most industrious and careful toiler, 
 the most ingenious and persistent merchant, and the most 
 alert and advantageous dealer in money now on the face 
 of the globe. 
 
 "Oh yes," said a financial gentleman of Trans-Baikal 
 Siberia, "we must have the Chinese in our counting- 
 houses. Really, they are quite indispensable. We find 
 them accurate and honest; but, mark you, their honesty 
 is not a matter of morals. It is purely a matter of 
 wisdom. With the Chinaman honesty is the best policy, 
 and therefore he is honest. The moment he perceives 
 that honesty is not the best policy he is dishonest." 
 From this it appears that the Chinaman in Siberia, as in 
 China and elsewhere in the world, has the scrupulousness 
 of wisdom but not of righteousness. 
 
 On the banks of the Amur you will find other Cos- 
 sack settlements smaller but still similar to Stretensk. 
 None, however, are so squalid as this Cossack town. 
 Occasionally you may find a Cossack village which is 
 really attractive. Usually there is but a single street 
 stretching along the bluff. Sometimes the homes are 
 neat. In every one of these Cossack villages are well- 
 stocked stores; and whatever else a Russian or Sibe- 
 rian store will deal in, you will find an abundance of 
 two articles — perfumery, candy and sweetmeats, in 
 their various forms. Time and again Russian officers 
 were observed to buy great quantities of these sweets. 
 At one place the entire stock of saccharine goods was 
 purchased. 
 
 "We Russians, from the youngest child to the eldest 
 man, love sugar in its various forms," explained a general 
 on his way to inspect the marksmanship of the troops 
 around Vladivostock. 
 
 "Oh yes," observed a noble tchnovnick, who was head- 
 ing one of the innumerable Russian "commissions," "the 
 Russian has a sweet tooth." 
 
 Attention was called to the extraordinary stock of per- 
 
 234
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 fumes found at the stores in a Russian city where such 
 articles were for sale. 
 
 "Well," said the storekeeper, "you see, the Russian 
 adores sweet odors. This passion for perfumes is not 
 confined to our women either; it is common to men and 
 women alike." 
 
 Precisely the same explanation was made to a like in- 
 quiry when a whole case of shelves was observed to be 
 filled with various perfumes and a large, ornamental pile 
 of the same kind of bottles was heaped upon the cases 
 in the store at Irkutsk. And in a Cossack village, on the 
 frontier borders of civilization itself, the same provision 
 for this national taste was found. 
 
 Few world-travellers will ever again take the journey 
 by boat down the Shilka and Amur rivers. Most if not 
 all of them will run right through from Moscow to Dalni 
 or Port Arthur, for the line is finished now. But in all 
 Siberia, in all Russia, no such opportunity offers itself 
 to observe Russian character as on one of the hard trips 
 down the Shilka and Amur, for a thousand miles or so, 
 when the water is low, for both of these rivers are filled 
 with sand-bars on which every few hours the boat is 
 grounded. If the water is falling, no inducement can 
 persuade the captain to proceed at nightfall, but at every 
 sunset the vessel ties up to the shore until morning. 
 
 Remember that every boat is as crowded with emi- 
 grants as a box is with sardines, so much so that they 
 sleep on the floor and the roof of the vessel, very much 
 as sardines are arranged in their packages. It is an even 
 chance that you will run into forest -fires. In summer 
 the heat will melt you. If the fires are raging within a 
 fev miles, the heavy, acrid smoke smarts the eye and irri- 
 tates the nostril. On the boat are sure to be one or two 
 Russian soldiers in uniform and from ten to a score of 
 others in peasant's garb, on their way to join the al- 
 ready vast military Russian host massing on the Pacific 
 for the expected conflict with Japan. Every month or 
 
 235
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 two a party of generals, a "commission" of officials, 
 perhaps even a highly educated and cultivated Russian 
 lady will constitute a party, which gives to the best-read 
 and most widely travelled foreigner all the mental society 
 he can possibly digest. 
 
 For days and weeks, sometimes even stretching into 
 months, this monotonous progress continues. There are 
 all the conditions of vexation. Frequently all the pas- 
 sengers, except the high officials, are ordered to travel 
 over some mountain, while the boat, thus lightened, at- 
 tempts to glide over some particularly shallow stretches 
 of riverway. Protests? Not one. Complaints? Not 
 one. Grumblings? Not a murmur. Everything is laugh 
 and jest and good -humor. Where a similar crowd of 
 Americans or Englishmen would hold indignation meet- 
 ings, these Russians accept the situation almost with 
 gayety. Children may be bom on the journey ; nobody 
 thinks of the discomfort caused by the new arrival. The 
 little fellow is quite welcome. It is an occasion of rejoic- 
 ing. Congratulations pour in upon the fortunate mother. 
 
 " I should think you would object to this crowding and 
 hardship," was remarked to a vigorous young fellow, al- 
 ready the head of a considerable family. 
 
 "Object? Why?" he answered. "It is all in a life- 
 time. We are enjoying ourselves very well." 
 
 At one place the peasants crowded about a little pile 
 of stones above which rose a rough wooden cross. Here 
 had died and was buried one of the peasant immigrants 
 who preceded them. In the wilderness, thousands of 
 miles from anybody or any place, reposed his bones. The 
 peasants gathered reverently around the grave of their 
 unknown fellow-journeyer to a far home. 
 
 "Very sad, very pathetic, is it not?" remarked the in- 
 terpreter, on a suggestion from his employer, to some of 
 the peasants with whom he had been told to fraternize 
 and with whom he had fraternized successfully. 
 
 "Why, no," came the answer. "All is as God wills." 
 
 236
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 And thus again on the banks of the Amur spoke the 
 fatalism of the Slav — his acceptance of the universal and 
 the inevitable, his attribution to the great Father above, 
 whom he worships with instinctive devotion, if not with 
 intelligent understanding, of all that befalls the individual 
 and the race. 
 
 "God gave me three little mushrooms this morning," 
 said a peasant woman in south Russia, as she sat milking 
 her cow by the side of a pleasant stream. She had found 
 three mushrooms, but "God gave me three little mush- 
 rooms this morning," quoth she. 
 
 " How many children have you?" was asked of the wife 
 of a working-man in one of St. Petersburg's factories. 
 
 " God has given me five," she answered. " And whether 
 I am blessed with more is as God wills." 
 
 "As God wills," "God gave," etc. In the capital of 
 the Czar, in the peasant village of the country, on the 
 emigrant boat on the Amur, around the grave of one 
 of the swelling host of Slav emigration in the Siberian 
 wilderness, everywhere and always this is the common 
 speech and thought of the Russian people. 
 
 The hardihood of the Russian man and woman has al- 
 ready several times been noted. Here is another instance : 
 On top of the broad, flat roof of the boat on the Amur 
 you may see peasant women fast asleep in the blazing 
 sun, without the slightest protection from its rays. They 
 do not appear to notice it. Transport yourself now back 
 to central Russia. Go again into the country districts. 
 You will see women at work in the fields, as you will, 
 indeed, all over Europe or, for that matter, in some places 
 in our own country. But in Russia it is not uncommon 
 to see a woman, weary with her labor, lie down and go 
 fast asleep by the road-side. That it is a cloudless sky 
 and a fiery day make no clifTercnce to her. 
 
 And true as this is of the vv^omen, it is, of course, much 
 truer of the men. It would seem that the Russian has 
 such nerves that he can sleep anywhere or under any 
 
 «37
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 conditions. On a passenger train from Tien-Tsin to 
 Pekin, operated by military authority (tlie conduct of 
 the railway having not yet been handed back after the 
 Boxer troubles to its accustomed operators), were several 
 officers of different nationahties. There was nothing for 
 them to do. Nevertheless, all were alert, nervously alive, 
 full of complaints — all but one. That one was a Russian 
 colonel. He came in and, rolhng his coat into a pillow, 
 stretched himself on a bench and was almost instantly in 
 profound slumber. Perhaps he was trying to overhear 
 the general conversation? Put a bridle upon your in- 
 stinctive suspicion of the Russian; the colonel was doing 
 nothing of the kind. He was merely sleeping the sleep 
 of the Slav. 
 
 And the sleep of the Slav is not the sleep of the just 
 or the unjust, but the slumber of a thoroughly healthy 
 physical organization with untroubled nerves. Every 
 peasant home throughout all the Russias has one char- 
 acteristic necessity — it is a great stove built of brick. 
 Its top is flat and far broader than necessary for any pur- 
 poses to which we put stoves in this country. But the 
 Russian peasant family has a different use for it. They 
 sleep on it in the bitter nights of the Russian and Siberian 
 winter. At the same time every possible crack or crevice 
 which will admit the outside air is carefully sealed. Yet 
 in this vitiated atmosphere, where an American would 
 find it hard to breathe, the Russian peasant, his wife, and 
 children sleep refreshingly. No other lungs or nerves 
 but those of a Russian could stand it. 
 
 These instances will give you some idea of the physical 
 vigor of these people and of their capacity to resist those 
 influences which would be unbearable to an American. 
 But it again calls to mind the fact that the unhygienic 
 conditions prevailing throughout Russia and Siberia kill 
 off all but the very hardiest of infants, and thus leave 
 only the steel-wire constitutions surviving. Perhaps it 
 is this weeding out of the naturally weak and decrepit 
 
 238
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 which has made and is making of the Russian people a 
 nation of amazing physical vigor. But whatever the 
 cause, the vitality and strength exist and is national. 
 
 In trying to form an opinion of the quality of people 
 which are being reared by Russia on the Siberian plains, 
 the criminal or exile element has been overestimated. 
 Conceding the truth of the worst pictures drawn of this 
 unhappy phase of this new empire of the Czar (and the 
 picture has been painted to us in blacker colors than all 
 the facts justify), still the exile element will be literally 
 submerged by the peasant inundation now pouring over 
 Siberia. Indeed, it has been overwhelmed even now, 
 and exiles to Siberia are, numerically speaking, a com- 
 paratively small portion of the people of this new land. 
 
 Nor are the conditions of the prisoners who are ex- 
 pelled from Russia so bad as one expects to find them. 
 For example, the student who deliberately murdered the 
 Minister of Public Instruction in St. Petersburg about 
 three years ago was found on one of the prison-boats of 
 the Amur. These prison-boats are, doubtless, very un- 
 comfortable, but they are by no means impossible ; at least 
 it must have so appeared to the prisoners themselves, for 
 behind their bars they were laughing and joking in quite 
 a good-natured way. 
 
 The student murderer of one of the Czar's ministers 
 seemed to be in particularly high spirits. 
 
 " I expect to be out in a year or, at the most, two years," 
 said he. 
 
 If you are astonished at finding a murderer and a slayer 
 of one of the highest officials of the empire in a prison- 
 boat instead of on a gallows, you are brought startlingly 
 face to face with a fact peculiar to Russian jurisprudence 
 (a fact all of us might well have known had we taken time 
 to read, but which hardly any of us do know), and that 
 fact is that there is no capital punishment in Russia. At 
 least, this is so generally true that it may be stated to be 
 universal. 
 
 239
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 If the condition of the exiles on prison -boats is fairly 
 good, so much cannot be said for the prisoners in the prison- 
 cars which the railway transjjorts. The condition of the 
 prisoners in these cars would be very hard, indeed, f(jr an 
 American. But that does not mean that they are hard for 
 a Russian, for, as has been pointed out, the Russian can 
 endure in every condition of life thinj^s which to the 
 American would be unbearable. So it is not n(;rcss,'i.ry 
 to say more of the prison-cars observed on the Siberian 
 line tlian that they would be thought in America to be 
 very bad, although from a casual inspection of the 
 jjrisoners being transported in them they do not appear 
 to be highly objectionable to their Russian inmates. 
 
 It must be stated, however, that no careful examination 
 of this subject was made, but the comparison by Professor 
 Wright, in his two admirable and scientific volumes, Asiatic 
 Rtissid, of conditions in Russian prisons with the ntjjorts 
 of i^rison officers in the United States of the cfjndition (;f 
 prisons here, shows that, relatively speaking, American 
 prison conditions and Russian jjrison conditions are not 
 so widely different after all. And uj)on such slight <'iiid 
 surface observations as the writer made this view ap- 
 peared to be confirmed. 
 
 Furthermore, it must be remembered that not all of 
 the exiles to Siberia are sent there by the Russian govern- 
 ment on its own initiative. Many — inde(;r], the majority 
 — are expelled by their own villages in Russia. It is a 
 sort of "rogue elephant" process by which the peasant 
 communities ejec;t their bad and imijossible members. 
 Furthermore, when the ban of banishment is over ,'uid 
 the exile returns to his home, his village has the riglit 
 to say whether it will receive him again or not, and this 
 is true whether he has been sent to Siberia under a 
 judgment of the court or by direct order of the Czar or 
 by the village community itself. 
 
 If upon his return his village community refuses to re- 
 ceive him again, that fact settles that man's case with 
 
 240
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the govemnuMit, whicli. without further investigation, im- 
 mediately orders his return to Siberia. In this way large 
 numbers of exiles are sent to Siberia by what is called the 
 "administrative process" — that is, by direct order of the 
 government, and yet without the goveniment having 
 anything more to do with it than to ratify the decision 
 of the comnmne to which the exile belongs. But even 
 taking all this into account, the total exile element, 
 both past and present, is inconsiderable among the in- 
 creasing millions of the sturdier and more upright men 
 and woiiien who are voluntarily going to Siberia to erect 
 homes, cultivate fields, rear children, plant communities, 
 and build empires. 
 
 t6
 
 XVII 
 
 THE RED DAY OF BLAGOVESTCHENSK 
 
 NOW for the crowning "infamy" of recent Russian 
 history in the Far East. You will know at once 
 that the massacre of the Chinese at Blagovestchensk in 
 1900 is referred to. The writer sifted this "crime" from 
 every point of view and by means of every source of in- 
 formation he was able to approach. The accounts were 
 received of attorneys from the courts, hands in factories, 
 clerks in banks and mercantile houses, who formed part 
 of the volunteer company of citizens quickly organized, 
 just as citizens would organize here in Ameiica under like 
 circumstances. A Russian colonel of almost Anglo-Saxon 
 independence and enterprise gave his account of the event. 
 A Cossack officer told all he had seen. A voluminous re- 
 cital was listened to from a well - informed lawyer. In 
 Blagovestchensk pamphlets had been written on this cir- 
 cumstance which "shocked civilization," for you must 
 know that this event is quite the most important and 
 dramatic in the history of this thriving and modern 
 commercial Siberian city. There were many differences 
 of detail, but all accounts agreed upon the main facts. 
 And here they are: 
 
 The town of Blagovestchensk is unprotected by forti- 
 fications. While there are considerable barracks there, 
 there was at the time of the outbreak but five hundred 
 Russian soldiers stationed near the city. Within the 
 city itself were several thousand Chinese. Immediately 
 across the river was Chinese territory — Manchuria. A 
 Chinese town stood directly over the river from Blago- 
 
 242
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 vestchensk. So much for locations. Now for the 
 event. 
 
 First of all, Russian boats were fired on from the Chinese 
 shores when approaching the Russian town from the east- 
 Before this, for days, rumors of Chinese uprising, some- 
 how or other, were in the air. The Chinese in Blagovest- 
 chensk were observed to neglect their work and gather 
 in groups. As the days passed they were seen to be 
 laboring under some unexplained excitement. Then 
 threats and hootings came from the Chinese side. The 
 business community of Blagovestchensk began to be 
 seized with vague fears. The great Boxer disturbance, in- 
 volving many millions of the yellow men, had been pre- 
 paring for months and was on the verge of being ignited. 
 These Russians in Blagovestchensk were right up against 
 the fuse of this awful Oriental bomb, whose explosion, 
 when it came, reverberated around the world. That 
 psychic intelligence which somehow conveys the purpose 
 of a great mass of human beings to other imperilled hu- 
 man beings fairly saturated this community, comparative- 
 ly trivial in numbers. Then came the firing of artillery 
 from the Chinese town across the river directly into 
 Blagovestchensk. About this there is absolute agree- 
 ment on all hands. This was accompanied by the firing 
 of musketry and with it wild demonstrations on the 
 Chinese side. 
 
 Then with the culmination of the fears of the people 
 of Blagovestchensk came, almost simultaneously, reports 
 that Chinese had landed both below and above the town. 
 The fears of the Russian business-men and working-men, 
 and all the citizens of Blagovestchensk, rose to a panic. 
 What to do was the question. Their homes, their wives, 
 their children— how could they be saved? Was another 
 Chinese butchery such as had more than once before 
 horrified the world to again occur in this unprotected spot, 
 with thousands of unprotected citizens and their families 
 as the victims? And these fears were far more to those 
 
 243
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 who lived shoulder to shoulder and face to face and breath 
 to breath with the danger than they appear to us be- 
 tween whom and the terror an ocean rolled. 
 
 " Intelligence," which may have been only a rumor, was 
 received that the Chinese governor had marched large 
 bodies of troops to the frontier immediately opposite the 
 Russian town. If the Chinese in Blagovestchensk com- 
 bined with those on the opposite shore, and a juncture 
 was made with the Chinese forces reported to have been 
 landed on the Russian side, the destruction of the little 
 Russian city appeared to its citizens to be inevitable. 
 At least that is the way they reasoned. Immediately 
 everybody flew to arms. The shops were closed, business 
 suspended. Merchants, bankers, clerks, artisans formed 
 a military company. Any kind of weapon that would 
 shoot any kind of a ball was utilized. The Chinese in 
 the city itself were driven by the few Cossacks down to 
 the river's edge below the town and forced into the river. 
 Three or four thousand of them perished. 
 
 For weeks the bombardment of Blagovestchensk from 
 the Chinese city continued. You may now see the bul- 
 let-marks made in the walls of the home of the local 
 governor. Many houses of Blagovestchensk still show 
 these signs of actual peril. Finally reinforcements ar- 
 rived, the Russians crossed the river, and literally wiped 
 the Chinese town off the face of the earth. You may visit 
 its site now, but you will see nothing but waving grass 
 and here and there the demolished remains of the crum- 
 bling wall of a house. Such, stripped of its many varia- 
 tions, is the story of the great "massacre" of the Chinese 
 by the Russians of Blagovestchensk in 1900 which made 
 the world "shudder." Highly colored anti-Russian ac- 
 counts of this atrocity were published broadcast among 
 mankind; but the narrative as here given is as nearly 
 accurate as anybody can get it. Not only Russian sources 
 of information but sources distinctly anti - Russian were 
 availed of, and cross-examination in the form of peasant 
 
 244
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 conversation in every instance confirmed in large sub- 
 stance the above general description. And none but eye- 
 witnesses were interviewed. 
 
 So much space has been given to this incident because 
 of the tremendous publicity given to it and the distortion 
 of all of its features, and because, too, it is a very fair illus- 
 tration of the manner in which any incident of Russian 
 advance is painted to the American and European world. 
 When we hear of Russian outrages we must always bear 
 in mind that while it may well be that all of their bloody 
 details are entirely true, yet the chances are that the for- 
 bidding aspects of each affair are magnified. 
 
 There are plenty of things for which the Russians as 
 individuals and as a nation may be criticised without 
 stretching the truth about them. The plain facts, as far 
 as they can be obtained, are always best. Misrepresenta- 
 tion, no matter what may be its momentary effect, is sure 
 to be exposed by that great revealer of all things, events, 
 and therefore is sure to react in favor of its victim. 
 
 In this connection it is useful to know that the Boxer 
 uprising had its first physical manifestation in Manchuria. 
 As has been detailed in another chapter, the Russians 
 had secured a concession to build the Manchurian rail- 
 way. Work had begun, the whole survey had been made, 
 much grading had been done, many scores, perhaps 
 hundreds, of miles of rail had been laid. Immediately 
 before the Chinese attack on Blagovestchensk signs of 
 an uprising became unmistakable throughout all Man- 
 churia. Finally the uprising occurred, beginning at 
 Blagovestchensk; but it was almost simultaneous every- 
 where throughout the provinces which make up Man- 
 churia. 
 
 The railroad was destroyed, homes and buildings were 
 demolished by the infuriated and fanatical Boxers, and 
 horrible outrages were committed upon every Russian 
 who fell into the yellow fanatics' hands. Whatever may 
 be said of the cruelty of the five hundred Cossacks who 
 
 245
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 drove three or four thousand Chinamen into the river at 
 Blagovestchensk, the other side must be stated, that 
 everywhere throughout Manchuiia the Russian railway 
 laborers, officers and troops guarding them, retired in 
 good order, protecting and bringing with them, at their 
 own imminent peril, considerable numbers of Chinese 
 converts whom the Russians refused to abandon to 
 the mercy of the military mobs of their fellow-country- 
 men. 
 
 Indeed, it is worth repeating that not a Christian China- 
 man in Manchuria whose life it was possble to save was 
 deserted by their fellow-Christians the Russians. 
 
 That certain Chinese high officials participated in this 
 anti-foreign outbreak the whole world is, of course, now 
 thoroughly informed. The Boxer uprising is the origin 
 of the military occupation of Manchuria by the Russians, 
 which continues to this day and probably will continue 
 until both China and the world concede that Manchuria is 
 Russian territory. From this military occupation, whose 
 purpose was to restore order and to begin again the work 
 of building the railroad, followed the necessity of extermi- 
 nating the robber bands, the story of which has already 
 been told in earlier chapters. 
 
 The sale of ploughs, reapers, and threshers at Blagovest- 
 chensk and other Siberian towns means two things of im- 
 portance. The first is that the Russian farmer in Siberia 
 is emancipating himself from the old methods of agricult- 
 ure, which has been and is such a drawback to Russian 
 farming on the one hand ; and on the other hand, that he 
 is little by little breaking away from the system of farm- 
 ing in common which immemorially has prevailed among 
 the Slavs. This last emancipation, however, is very, very 
 slow — hardly perceptible, indeed — and may not continue. 
 It must be here again repeated that in Russia, and even 
 in Siberia, the land heretofore has been held by a com- 
 munity in common, each head of a house having so much 
 soil apportioned to his family as his share; and so im- 
 
 246
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 portant is this fact that attention will be called to it many 
 times hereafter. 
 
 Accompanying this system of agriculture is crudity of 
 method, ancient and necessarily inferior implements, and 
 rapid exhaustion of soil. In Siberia, with its vast extent 
 of land and its paucity of population, natural conditions 
 are beginning to change this, and so there is more room 
 for the American plough, reaper, thresher, cultivator. 
 How far this process will continue when Siberia shall be- 
 come more thickly populated is a subject for speculation, 
 and therefore each reader may form his own conclusions. 
 Of course, the modern ploughs, reapers, and threshers are 
 used, and increasingly, by the Russian agricultural com- 
 mune as such, the only difference being that the machines 
 are bought by the community and used and owned in 
 common. 
 
 From Blagovestchensk to Khabaroff is, by river, an 
 interesting journey of many hundreds of miles. Khabaroff 
 itself is of no commercial importance; it is the political 
 and military capital of Trans-Baikal Siberia. Here are 
 immense barracks for troops who are stationed at this 
 point in large numbers at all times. Here is the head- 
 quarters of Governor - General Grodekoff, in 1901 the 
 autocrat of Pacific Russia. As a description of this 
 remarkable man has been given elsewhere, and as he 
 alone is worthy of note in Khabaroff, excepting only 
 the immense numbers of Russian troops there, let us 
 rather give a paragraph to the much-talked-of Ussuri 
 littoral. 
 
 For many miles north of Vladivostock this extensive 
 strip of coast territory is the Russian granary of the Far 
 East. In comparison with Siberia it appears to be well 
 settled. My observation was that the Russian peasant 
 is here fairly prosperous and well content. A curious 
 phenomenon has occurred in this region. On the advent 
 of the Russian it was occupied by Chinese agriculturists. 
 These were driven out, not by force, but as an inferior 
 
 247
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 race naturally disappears before a superior people. And 
 yet within the last few years the Chinese farmer has 
 been reinvading the Ussuri littoral — very humbly, mod- 
 estly, inconspicuously, it is true. He takes up a small 
 piece of ground, cultivates it with the intensive method 
 prevailing in China, and is successfully content and 
 well-to-do so far as could be observed or learned. He 
 is unmolested and happy under the equal protection 
 which the government extends to him as well as the 
 Russian settler; and this, too, notwithstanding the well- 
 grounded fear that he will in turn, by his thrift and 
 more intelligent industry, oust the Russian farmer. How- 
 ever, he is there in such very small numbers at present, 
 and so unobtrusively, that perhaps that peculiar Russian 
 lethargy v/hich encases Russian apprehension has not yet 
 been broken. 
 
 Nikolsk, not far to the north of Vladivostock, is the 
 centre of this notable grain district. Here was found 
 Tugovitch, chief engineer of the Manchurian railway, the 
 illuminating conversation with whom has already been 
 recited. The description of this town, by even fair- 
 minded Englishmen in serious publications, is hardly 
 judicial. Its temporary character, its straggling nature, 
 etc., are extensively dwelt upon. It is forgotten that 
 this is decidedly a frontier community. Just opinion can 
 be obtained only, by comparison with a like place in 
 America under like conditions. Such comparisons will 
 reveal the fact that the development is about the same. 
 Here again, as has been noted, American agricultural 
 implements v/ere found on sale, and the merchants said 
 that the demand was steadily increasing. 
 
 Did not the Irkutsk merchant say that a circus would 
 be found some place in Siberia? Well, why not in Nikolsk? 
 
 The stranger within the walls was "put up" at the 
 home and store of some vigorous young German mer- 
 chants. The chief of the establishments was absent early 
 in the evening. Where was he? 
 
 248
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "Why, at the circus, I think." 
 "Circus! Have you a circus here m Nikolsk?" 
 "Why , certainly, about a block down, across the street." 
 A stroll in that direction revealed the great white tents 
 for horses and all the other familiar sights connected 
 with this itinerant and encamped form of amusement 
 seen in our owm country. The acrobats were the same, 
 the horses the same, everything the same. But for the 
 foreign speech you might well have imagined yourself in 
 the suburb of one of our American cities on a summer 
 night when "the circus comes to town." 
 
 But the ordinary traveller never stops at Nikolsk. The 
 man who is going to write a book stops here ; but even he, 
 so far as observed, never penetrates the secrets of this 
 really remarkable place. Go some distance out of town 
 in a certain direction and mighty buildings come upon 
 your view. They are the barracks already described, 
 capable of quartering thousands of soldiers. Go farther 
 and you come into a delightful little town, all to itself, 
 hidden, until you are within its gates, by some ancient 
 Chinese mud wall not yet demolished. This is the mili- 
 tary settlement, the homes of the officers and their families, 
 and in the centre the residence of the commander of the 
 post. Personal observation of some of our military 
 "forts" and "outposts" on the plains, some twenty 
 years ago, compels the statement that these Russian 
 officers in Nikolsk are far more comfortably housed and 
 cared for than our American officers under like circum- 
 stances were in the early eighties. 
 
 And now for Vladivostock. We are used to think of it 
 as a barren, ice-bound Russian military post; but in 
 summer time, at least, it is a place of surpassing love- 
 liness. The Russians claim (and the careful observer 
 who critically visits all its surroundings is compelled 
 to admit the probability of the claim) that from a naval 
 and military point of view it is the most impregnable 
 spot on the shores of any sea. It is the naval head- 
 
 249
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 quarters of the Asiatic fleet. Until now it has been 
 Russia's single outlet on the Pacific, and, conversely, 
 the one entrepot from the ocean to Russia from the east. 
 The Russo-Chinese Bank has here a very handsome estab- 
 lishment; and the manager in charge of this bank in 1901 
 was a person of conspicuous keenness, highly equipped 
 for his work. Large stores are present in numbers, 
 which suggests a much heavier purchasing population 
 than exists in the city or in the surrounding country. 
 The streets are well paved, the docks are well built, 
 and the dry-dock at Vladivostock is one of the largest 
 and finest in the world. Rising swiftly from the water's 
 edge, the view from a war-ship in the bay is one of 
 gratifying loveliness. 
 
 "Will you not go to the opera?" was the courteous 
 invitation of a Vladivostock gentleman. And the opera! 
 It was midsummer, and yet here in Vladivostock, the city 
 of snows, a very competent company were presenting a 
 light opera of the same character that you will see in 
 Berlin, Moscow, or Chicago. In no respect was the 
 opera-house different in interior arrangements from the 
 common type seen in America. Only the auditors were 
 different, for everywhere were the white coats of Russian 
 officials. In a stage box sat the uniformed Governor, 
 heartily applauding. He is a Cossack whose liberal 
 ideas and advanced methods surprise an American. 
 His distinction of manner, the genuine kindliness of his 
 nature, his sincere courtesy, and, above all, his accom- 
 plished tactfulness, render him particularly useful to the 
 government as the first high Russian representative 
 whom foreigners meet on entering the empire from the 
 west, and the last high Russian representative he leaves 
 on departing from the empire towards the east; for he 
 "makes a good impression," and that is a thing not to 
 be despised. He is heartily, openly, aggressively Amer- 
 ican. Heartily American, yes ; but more heartily Russian, 
 of course. And be it noted that every Russian, gentle- 
 
 250
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 man or soldier, noble, peasant, or merchant, officer or 
 civilian, is Russian, and again Russian, and always 
 Russian. They have no foreign sympathies; but, keeping 
 this in mind, their heart friendship is universally Amer- 
 ican. It is never English. It is distinctly anti-English. 
 
 "Why are no English sympathizers ever found among 
 the educated classes of Russia?" was asked of a gentle- 
 man of a certain non-Russian nationality, who himself 
 had a score of years of familiarity with all classes in the 
 empire, and who was decidedly "against the govern- 
 ment." 
 
 "Why, it is plain enough," said he. "The English have 
 been Russia's enemies for centuries. Everywhere it has 
 been England who has blocked Russians in the Far East. 
 And her Far Eastern progress Russia deems an inevitable 
 movement and her divine right. Then, again, the Rus- 
 sians claim that the English have persistently misrepre- 
 sented them. The Russian attributes to the English the 
 bad opinion which the world holds of him. I myself am a 
 great admirer of the British Empire. Undoubtedly it is the 
 greatest government in the world. Also, you know that 
 I do not have any too much sympathy with the Russians ; 
 but I must admit that the grievance of the Russians 
 against England is justified. I have seen reports in 
 English newspapers of terrible things that occurred in 
 Russia at a time and place where I myself happened to 
 be present. And these reports were just pure imagina- 
 tion. Of course," he continued, "the truth is bad enough, 
 but the English seem to consider it a religious duty to prej- 
 udice the world against Russia by the same kind of stories 
 with which peasant women frighten their children when 
 they do not want them to go out of the house." 
 
 This expression is given neither as an endorsement nor 
 denial of its statement. It was the frank comment of a 
 credible man of substance and probity, and is given for 
 what it is worth. 
 
 Neither is the Russian friendly at heart to the German. 
 
 251
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The reason is clear enough. Germany is the greatest mili- 
 tary organization in the world, and night and day menaces 
 Russia's western frontier. The possibihty of war with 
 Germany is constantly before both the Russian military 
 authorities and the German cabinet. It is not forgotten, 
 in saying this, that their interests in the Far East at the 
 present time are identical ; and if war should be declared 
 between Russia and Japan, that Germany would be de- 
 cidedly friendly to Russia. But Russia and Germany 
 have so long looked upon conflict of interests as possible, 
 and even probable, that deep and sincere friendship does 
 not exist, notwithstanding their present unity of policy 
 in China, 
 
 America and Russia, on the contrary, have always 
 been friendly. The American people are a young people, 
 and the Russian regards himself as quite as young a 
 man as the American. The American has "go-ahead" 
 in his make-up. The American "gets things done." 
 That is what the Russian admires, and he likes to think 
 that he is doing the same thing. So there is a natural 
 friendship on the part of Russians for Americans. Such 
 is the Russian view. 
 
 "Oh, you Americans are greatly beloved by the Rus- 
 sians!" said a young English officer in Pekin. "That is, 
 you are greatly beloved at present. But there is no real 
 brotherhood between you, and cannot be. Language and 
 race divide you, whereas language and race unite the 
 English and the Americans. Who was the American 
 naval officer that said, 'Blood is thicker than water'? 
 However, Russia's present kindly feeling for you is good 
 for the next fifty years, anyhow; and I do not much blame 
 you for taking national advantage of it." 
 
 "What is that building?" was asked of the Russian ad- 
 miral standing on the deck of a flag-ship of the Russian 
 Asiatic fleet stationed at Vladivostock. 
 
 "That is our University of Oriental Languages." 
 
 So the "university" was visited. It was closed at that 
 
 252
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 particular period of the year, but it was by far the most 
 important item of interest in Vladivostock. It is a large 
 structure of brick, just such as you will see in the principal 
 buildings of any of the State universities of our various 
 American commonwealths. It was founded by Grode- 
 koff . Here the Russian and Siberian youth intended for 
 consular, diplomatic, or even commercial pursuits are 
 instructed in Oriental languages; and, as has been noted, 
 such is the Russian facility of acquiring foreign tongues 
 that the "university" has apt students. 
 
 Comment has been made of the strange circumstance of 
 Russian common soldiers carrying on intelligible speech 
 v/ith Chinese or other natives in less than a month from 
 the time of their arrival. Pokotiloff , general manager of 
 the Russo-Chinese Bank in Asia, and the right hand of 
 Witte in the Far East, speaks English, French, German, 
 Chinese, Buriat, and all the various dialects of north- 
 central Asia. He speaks them, too, with the facility of 
 the native himself. The writer can testify that his Eng- 
 lish is as good as can be found in New York or Boston — 
 not an accent, not the mispronunciation or the slurring 
 of a single letter. All of this he has learned without in- 
 structors. He "picked it up," as the saying is. This il- 
 lustration might be extended for a whole page of instances. 
 Enough has been said to show that within a decade Rus- 
 sia will have in the Far East men as familiar with the 
 languages of the peoples with whom she deals, and as care- 
 fully instructed in Asiatic politics and intrigue, as they are 
 profoundly loyal to the central government of the Czar.
 
 XVIII 
 
 RUSSIAN CAPITAL AND LABOR 
 
 SO it seems that Siberia is not all prison, Manchuria 
 not all slaughter. Constructive industry appears to 
 be a conspicuous method of Russian activity in the latest 
 fields of Slav occupation. Agricultural productiveness 
 the processes of commerce, and even some of the politer 
 elements of civilization appear to be predominant in what 
 the world has understood to be Russia's Botany Bay. 
 With all her forts and fleets, with all her soldiers, barracks, 
 bayonets, it is the agriculturist, the artisan, the mer- 
 chant, and the banker who already seem to be the 
 principal agencies of Russia's energy in her continental 
 advance on the Pacific. 
 
 These various manifestations of labor and capital, so 
 noticeable where you had expected to find nothing but 
 the movement of troops and the various forms of military 
 occupation, suggest that, now that we are to go back to 
 our starting-point of Russia in Europe, the industrial 
 features of this at once old and young people are fuller 
 of meaning and interest for us than Russian govern- 
 ment or Russian art, Russian monuments or Russian 
 history, Russian administrative efficiency or the reverse. 
 The Russian capitalist and what he is doing is of more 
 concern to us than the spendthrift noble. The Russian 
 peasant, his condition and progress, his home and his 
 habits, mean more to us than the lives of men and women 
 in the brilliant society of St. Petersburg. 
 
 Let us, then, take up modern industrialism in Russia 
 proper. Let us consider her manufacturing progress, 
 
 254
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the condition of the working - men and women of the 
 empire, and in general the economic forces in Russia her- 
 self, whose operations we have noted for many thousands 
 of miles eastward along the whole extent of the Asiatic 
 shores of the Pacific. 
 
 Within the last twenty years Russian industrial enter- 
 prise has rapidly progressed. Within the last four years 
 its growth has been so marked that the calm observer 
 cannot but regard it as forced, and therefore unhealth- 
 ful. Indeed, some years ago Finance Minister Witte 
 frankly and openly stated that industrial progress in 
 Russia was too quick and sudden to be sound; and the 
 serious depression which followed soon after demon- 
 strated the correctness of his view. But, the panic past, 
 industrial development in Russia is again proceeding with 
 celerity. Factories have sprung up all over the empire. 
 Foreign capital has invested in industrial establishments 
 generously, almost wildly. 
 
 Some years ago a peculiar financial enthusiasm seemed 
 to seize upon European capital for Russian manufactur- 
 ing exploitation. Everybody said to everybody else that 
 here was a great empire requiring clothing, machinery, 
 food, and compelled largely to import all but the latter. 
 Surely, it was reasoned, here was virgin soil for profitable 
 manufacturing plants of almost every kind. Then, again, 
 the present policy of Russian protection was adopted, 
 which is as complete and high-walled as that of the United 
 States. And when a tariff fortification is built around 
 one hundred and forty millions of people it seemed to the 
 European investor only reasonable that the manufacturer 
 who was inside of it must necessarily reap rich rewards. 
 
 And so many of them have. Especially the Russian 
 capitalists who have built factories have profited heavily. 
 Many of the foreign enterprises, also, have realized the 
 dreams of their promoters. On the contrary, within the 
 last five years, a large number of the establishments built 
 by foreign capital have proven unprofitable, and, indeed, 
 
 255
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 many of them have been forced into liquidation. The 
 reasons for these conflicting industrial phenomena are too 
 complex to admit of their intelligent analysis within the 
 limits of a single chapter, or indeed a single volume. 
 The unfamiliarity of foreign manufacturers with Russian 
 labor was undoubtedly one cause. Another was their 
 failure to take into account the large number of holi- 
 days, which in Russia are an institution, and which, 
 up to the present time, have been increasing. Still an- 
 other was the foreign operator's ignorance of the methods 
 of Russian administration. Again, they failed to under- 
 stand how to get their goods properly on the market. 
 Very largely also, while the market is practically in- 
 exhaustible if gradually invaded, it is nevertheless a 
 market which must be cultivated; so that there was the 
 economic contradiction of a great potential market un- 
 supplied and an actual and realized market glutted and 
 congested. Later on some account of the growth and 
 profitableness of various Russian industries will be given, 
 but meanwhile let us observe the instrument of all this 
 industry, the Russian laborer, as he is to-day. 
 
 Lodz, in Poland, is the chief centre of cotton industry, 
 though Moscow itself is a very formidable competitor. In 
 less than twenty years the Polish cotton centre has grov/n 
 from a town of fifteen thousand people to a city of over 
 four hundred thousand souls. Tula, near which is the 
 country -home of Tolstoi, is the place where government 
 arms are made, and perhaps the most notable seat of 
 steel and iron manufacture of small articles in the empire. 
 Ekaterinoslav and Usofka, in southern Russia, are steel- 
 producing centres, although important rolling-mills are in 
 operation in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Just beyond the 
 border of Russia proper, and over the line in Siberia, are 
 splendid deposits of ore and coal, and there, too, material 
 for coke abounds in unlimited profusion. Here, indeed, 
 is the natural seat of the steel industry of the empire. 
 But at the present time antiquated methods are em- 
 
 256
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ployed, and the Siberian steel industry is so inconsiderable 
 as not to be taken into account; and yet, in the Urals 
 alone, impartial engineers have demonstrated that there 
 is enough iron ore to supply the wants of the whole world 
 for decades, and of Russia alone for centuries. 
 
 As the scientist examines specimens of a class, and not 
 every individual of the entire class, it will be most prof- 
 itable to the reader to observe laboring conditions in 
 two or three of these greatest centres. 
 
 "Our chief difficulty," said the head of a large English 
 steel mill in one of these places, "is a curious and almost 
 absurd circumstance. The number of Russian holidays, 
 including Sundays, on which the working-men actually 
 quit v/ork, now number well towards one hundred. You 
 see, then, that we are deprived of labor on those days. 
 On those days, too, a majority of our men get drunk. 
 Therefore, on the day immediately succeeding the holiday 
 they either do not return to work, or, if they do, they 
 are good for nothing. Thus we are actually without 
 labor on the holiday itself, and short-handed and poorly 
 equipped on the day succeeding. It is a difficulty with 
 which no other country has to contend, and cripples us 
 severely." 
 
 Add to this the comparatively low efficiency of the Rus- 
 sian working-man, who has not yet become skilled nor 
 methodical in the American or western European sense of 
 that term, and it is easy to see that in industry Russia 
 could not hold her own at all, except by an almost pro- 
 hibitive protective tariff. Should Russia abolish her 
 tariff barriers, it is the judgment of the most thoughtful 
 business-men of the empire that there is not a factory 
 which could survive that catastrophe for five years. 
 
 And yet there is a party in Russia which bitterly resents 
 these practical methods of modem industrialism. At the 
 head of these is Tolstoi. "These chimneys irritate me," 
 said the great challenger of modem civilization. The 
 iron mills to which Tolstoi refers, in his renowned article 
 17 257
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 in the North American Review of April, 1 90 1 , are directly on 
 the road from Tula to his country estate. This class, how- 
 ever, are pure idealists. They are not against the spread 
 of factories in Russia any more than they are against the 
 same development ("decadence " they call it) any place 
 in the world ; and yet they number among them sev- 
 eral of the highest - class nobility, and a few of the 
 literary and scientific men ; but, taken all in all, they 
 have no appreciable effect on Russian thought and pur- 
 pose. 
 
 Of course, to these must be added those business-men 
 who are importers, and generally the great traders with 
 foreign countries. This is the same class of men and 
 firms engaged in similar enterprises found in our own 
 country, and they use the same arguments. Then, of 
 course, there are the landed proprietors engaged in 
 agricultural pursuits, who think they have to pay more 
 for what they buy than they would if there were no tariff- 
 protected factories, and who have not yet learned that 
 these home factories give them better home markets; and 
 these "agrarians" also resent the rising walls and the 
 clouded smoke-stacks of the encroaching and, to them, 
 oppressive mills. Their reasons, too, are exactly those 
 which formerly were used in the United States by those 
 who opposed protection upon the ground that it made 
 the farmer pay more for what he had to buy. 
 
 Nevertheless, all of them put together are not influen- 
 tial. Strong men of the empire, at whose head stands 
 Witte, have convinced the Czar, as they did his father be- 
 fore him,that,to use the language of Pobyedonostseff, else- 
 where quoted, " Russia is a world" of itself; that it must, 
 in the long run, become self-supporting; that its industries 
 must be variegated and multiplied ; that it must manufact- 
 ure what it wears and uses, as well as raise what it eats. 
 And so protection may, for many decades to come, be re- 
 gar 'ed as the settled economic policy of all the Russias. 
 Therefore, factories will multiply and enlarge, and the 
 
 258
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 evolution of the Russian peasant into the modern work- 
 ing-man will continue. 
 
 And yet the other manufacturing nations have little to 
 fear from Russia as a competitor in the markets of the 
 world outside of Russia itself for certainly a generation 
 or perhaps even a century. Industrially, Russia has only 
 begun the process of "finding herself"; and it will be 
 decades before the process is completed. Her labor is 
 unskilled and inefficient, and in comparison with Amer- 
 ican labor greatly inferior. On the other hand, her 
 population is so immense that her factories cannot supply 
 her own wants. And the wants of her people are in- 
 creasing more rapidly than the number of the establish- 
 ments with which her capitalists and foreign investors 
 try to supply them. 
 
 "Let me illustrate this by a very simple fact," said a 
 cotton manufacturer of Moscow. "The masses of Russia 
 wear comparatively little underclothing. If they could 
 be made to adopt the practice of wearing more under- 
 garments, the demand for our cheap fabrics would increase 
 manyfold. Now that practice is beginning. Its effect 
 on the trade is as yet hardly appreciable, and still the 
 most careful of us have noted it." 
 
 This is a very simple and yet a very important fact. 
 Its truth was inquired of from the English manager of a 
 great Russian estate of some hundred thousand acres, 
 who had spent thirty years in the empire. 
 
 "Oh yes," said he, quite off-hand, "certainly, that is 
 true." 
 
 But the Russian peasants are beginning to go to the 
 great manufacturing cities, especially during the winter, 
 to work in the mills. For the first time in their lives they 
 see the great stores of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw. 
 For the first time they learn that different food is eaten, 
 different apparel worn by those in the cities. They return 
 to their communes (their villages are communes) in the 
 spring and summer with strange tales. Peasant women 
 
 259
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 do the like, and they go home with their feminine heads 
 filled with new ideas of dress and adornment. And so, slow- 
 ly, very slowly, weaving backward and forward among 
 the people, moves the shuttle of changing methods of dress 
 and Hving. All of it has its effect upon the manufacturing 
 industries of the empire; and, what is far more important, 
 all of it has its effect upon the ideas of the people. 
 
 Some seventy-five miles south of Moscow there is a 
 certain little peasant village. You may travel Russia 
 from the Arctic to the Caspian and not find a better 
 illustration of the slow evolution of peasant life that is 
 going on in this empire than in this little village, many 
 miles from any railroad; for here is the peasant's cottage, 
 as it used to be, a mere hut, thatched with grass, with 
 earthen floor, and horses, pigs, and cows occupying the 
 tiny court or yard attached to it. Here, too, are modern 
 homes of the typical Russian agricultural peasant, built 
 perhaps ten or fifteen years ago. In these an improve- 
 ment is noted. There is still the earthen floor, but there 
 is also a sort of tidiness not observed in the older dwellings. 
 Then there are later cottages,very well built and covered 
 with a kind of tin or sheet-iron roofing. 
 
 But, now, to connect all this with the village peasant 
 who goes to Moscow. Here is a cottage the little yard of 
 which has trees and vines. It is painted, too, and inside 
 you will find wooden floors. On the walls hang pictures — 
 prints, it is true, but attractive copies of good paintings- 
 In short, this dwelling has begun to take on the appear- 
 ance of what is expected in an American working-man's 
 home. There is not everything in the abode of this Rus- 
 sian laborer that is found in the home of his Ameri- 
 can working brother, for we must not forget that the 
 American working-man, in comparison with the foreign 
 working-man, lives in luxury. But there are the begin- 
 nings. And, when it is remembered that Russian in- 
 dustrial progress commenced at a period still within the 
 memory of young men, these items are significant and 
 
 360
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 important. This cxDttage is the home of a working-man 
 in a Moscow cotton-mill. 
 
 "What are your wages?" was asked of a skilled ar- 
 tisan, who operated one of the printing machines by which 
 flowers and other figures were stamped upon calico in one 
 of the most extensive of Russia's textile factories. 
 
 " One hundred and fifty rubles a month," said he. That 
 is seventy-five dollars of American money ; and very heavy 
 wages, indeed, in Russia — quite as heavy, I believe, as is 
 paid in England or Germany. This expert was a French- 
 man, as was the active manager of manufacturing of the 
 whole plant. This latter man received three hundred 
 rubles, or one hundred and fifty dollars, per month. On 
 the contrary, a Russian common working-man in the same 
 factory received only eighteen rubles per month. This 
 is nine dollars of our money. Women and girls engaged 
 at the machines get less than this. But, low as these 
 wages appear, yet in comparison with the same American 
 labor these common working men and women of Russia 
 may truthfully be said to be overpaid. If their wages are 
 less than the wages of American working-men, their work- 
 ing ability is still smaller. One cannot believe, either, 
 that the Russian working man or woman will, for a long 
 time, be as efficient as the American working man or 
 woman. Their slowness is racial. But, on the other 
 hand, they display a patience which, perhaps, may 
 counteract their stolidity. 
 
 This factory, like many Russian factories, in addition 
 to paying its working-people the wages described, furnish- 
 ed them shelter and food. The working men and women 
 live in enormous brick buildings or dormitories, built for 
 them by the company they work for. The rooms are 
 moderate in size, and in each room there are from three 
 to five sleeping -booths, divided from one another by 
 curtains. These are for the working - people who are 
 married, and a man and wife occupy each of these rude, 
 limited, and uncomfortable apartments. The unmar- 
 
 261
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ried men and women occupy different portions of the 
 building, and their quarters are not so inviting even as 
 the hard and unattractive surroundings just described for 
 the married people. And yet, in comparison with the 
 crowded squalor of the hut or cottage of the Russian 
 village in which these people were brought up, and in 
 which they have lived until recent times, when the im- 
 provements just noted in the description of the peasant 
 village began, these factory quarters are an improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The food is simple, but substantial and abundant. 
 Back of the dormitories are heavy, well-built log struct- 
 ures, in the cellar of which ice is kept for these working- 
 people, and in the body of which their various belongings 
 and things which they themselves buy are stored and 
 cared for. 
 
 "Of course, you are not troubled in this country with 
 damage lawsuits by injured working-men, which is the 
 common thing in America," was observed to the general 
 superintendent of this cotton plant, 
 
 ' ' Yes, indeed, we are. We have no means of indemnify- 
 ing ourselves as your manufacturers have. The gov- 
 ernment interferes even in our contracts; and when it 
 comes to personal injuries, if a man gets his finger hurt a 
 government inspector of labor makes us pay the injured 
 person a certain amount, and if we do not do so, files 
 suit against us in the name of the jjerson supposed to be 
 injured, whether that person desires it or not." 
 
 While this statement was, perhaps, exaggerated, there 
 was in it a general and substantial truth. Every factory 
 in Russia has its labor inspector, whose business it is to 
 care for the work-people of that establishment, and to 
 exact as much as possible from their employers. And 
 he does that with the alertness which the agent of a pa- 
 ternal government always shows to people who, he feels 
 in his heart, think themselves quite above him in every 
 other respect, and also with that vigor which the non- 
 262
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 rich, armed with official authority, usually display towards 
 men of capital within their power. This single factory 
 had to pay considerable money in 1900 because of acci- 
 dents which even the government inspector himself ad- 
 mitted were caused by the negligence of the persons 
 injured. Several manufacturers stated that the law of 
 contributory negligence was unknown in Russia, and 
 that such a thing as attempting to escape liability for in- 
 jury caused by a fellow-servant was unheard of. These 
 statements were not verified, but are given simply as 
 information culled from several different sources, and 
 from apparently reputable people. 
 
 The world-wide conflict between labor and capital, in 
 the form we Americans know it, has not yet appeared in 
 Russia, nor will it appear as long as the present form of 
 Russian government endures. Before the "labor ques- 
 tion," as that enigma of the ages is understood in England 
 and America, will appear in Russia, a distinct working- 
 man's class, in the modern sense of that term, must be 
 created there. The ever-increasing volume of agricult- 
 ural peasants, who work in the factories of the cities 
 during a portion of the year and then return to their 
 country villages to cultivate their fields during the other 
 portion of the year, must develop into a permanent class 
 of city laborers, severed completely from the country and 
 the soil to which they are now tied. The village indus- 
 tries, or "kustar trades," as they are called, of which a 
 brief description will hereafter be given, must be elim- 
 inated by the modern factory, equipped with machines, 
 which will do all of the work now done by the fin- 
 gers of the artisan peasant beneath his own roof -tree. 
 The government must radically change its whole the- 
 ory and practice with reference to the maintenance of 
 order. 
 
 More important even than this, the customs of cen- 
 turies, which are so deeply embedded in the lives of the 
 people that many of the best-informed students declare 
 
 263
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 that those customs are racial, must be replaced by popular 
 practices distinctly and characteristically non-Russian. 
 And, most important of all, the very spirit of the Slav 
 itself must undergo a transformation so complete that 
 he will be changed from what he is now and what history 
 tells us he always has been. Yet so lightning-like are 
 the revolutions being wrought in every field of human 
 endeavor at the present time that no thoughtful man 
 will dogmatically assert that the fundamental alterations 
 above indicated will not take place among the Russian 
 people. 
 
 What, then, of the present? Perhaps it will be most 
 useful, first of all, to glance at the attitude of the govern- 
 ment towards both capital and labor, as we understand 
 those terms in America; for the attitude of the govern- 
 ment on this particular question represents, at the present 
 moment, at least, the thought and will of the Russian 
 people. 
 
 On the one hand, whatever may be said of the in- 
 fluence of money corruptl}' to ptirchase privileges in 
 Russia, it must be admitted that the capitalist, as such, 
 has no more influence in Russian legislation or administra- 
 tion than has the laborer; and neither one of them, as such, 
 has any influence. Awkward as it is complex, burdensome 
 and unscientific as it may be, the impartial observer must 
 admit that from the large and long view-point, Russian 
 legislation and administration appear to intend the com- 
 mon good of the Russian people. We all hear of the in- 
 fluence of classes with the Russian autocracy, and all of 
 us go to that country with an almost ineradicable im- 
 pression that the insistence of this class or that class for a 
 desired end has undue weight. 
 
 Especially are stories numerous of corrupt purchases 
 of personal privileges, comforts, etc. In small affairs 
 and in individual conveniences this may be true, and 
 some business-men say that it is even true in the matter 
 of municipal franchises and the like. No opinion is ex- 
 
 264
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 pressed on this ; but in the sum of Russian administrative 
 thought it is not true. The only thing dominant, im- 
 perial, all-compelling in the mind of the Russian states- 
 man is the nation. With Witte in the Finance Ministry, 
 it is the Russian nation ; with Pobyedonostseff in the Holy 
 Synod, it is the Russian nation; with Grodekoff in Trans- 
 Baikal Siberia, it is the Russian nation; with Alexieff 
 on the seas, it is the Russian nation. 
 
 This, too, is the thought of the Russian people. The 
 Russian peasant has a slumberous intellect and thinks 
 very little about anything, but yet there is, saturating 
 his very being, the thought of Russian nationality, in- 
 herited from generation to generation, until it has become 
 with him an instinct. Even the most aggressive oppo- 
 nent of the government and of the present methods (and 
 such were many of the most enhghtened of those who 
 freely gave their views) have in their minds in all their 
 schemes for reform the principal object of solidifying the 
 Russian people and advancing the power of the Slav 
 nationality. 
 
 So the government does not regard the capitalist as a 
 partner in affairs of state; it regards him as a subject of 
 the state. It does not regard the laborer as a partner in 
 the affairs of state; it regards him as a subject of the 
 state. Both capital and labor are, in the thought of the 
 Russian, merely factors in the common development of 
 the people, like lands, mines, etc. So we find that the 
 Russian government does not understand the philosophy 
 of strikes, as it is understood here in America. It re- 
 gards a labor strike, if it passes the point where the 
 inspector can settle it, as the captain of a vessel would 
 regard mutiny among the crew. It looks upon labor 
 disturbances, where violence occurs, as a lawless inter- 
 ference with the orderly on -going of the nation. There- 
 fore it interferes instantly, ruthlessly, and with the "iron 
 hand,"* 
 
 ' See chapter on Labor Laws. 
 265
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "It is denied that the Cossacks shot and killed work- 
 ing-men in the labor riots of St. Petersburg three or four 
 years ago. They may say what they please," said a 
 young working-man, half English and half Russian, who 
 acted as interpreter, "but the fact is that the Cossacks 
 did not fire blank cartridges. They fired ball cartridges 
 and they shot to kill." But this is only gossip. You 
 cannot get at the real truth of any of these rumors, which 
 the correspondents uncage from every point in Russia. 
 Undoubtedly there is overstatement on both sides. 
 
 As yet no considerable labor riots have occurred. The 
 world has not yet learned the extent and causes of the 
 recent commotions in southern Russia. . It is possible that 
 they may have been exaggerated; but whether their 
 seriousness was under or over stated, it appears that they 
 have speedily subsided. If some of the disturbances 
 which we in America have experienced were to occur in 
 Russia, they would be made the subject in the news- 
 papers of other nations of columns of lurid description, 
 with red and black paint lavishly used in the picture. 
 Should such an uprising as the famous disturbance at 
 Chicago several years ago, or such as the serious troubles 
 in Colorado in the days of Governor Waite, or any other 
 of our notable instances of the uprising put down 
 by the militia, occur in Russia, the statement would 
 be positively made to the civilized world and ac- 
 cepted as true that actual revolution was in progress in 
 the empire of the Czar. 
 
 On the other hand, as has been noted, the excesses of 
 vested capital are as sternly handled as any labor agita- 
 tion would be. More than once the appropriate depart- 
 ment of the government has peremptorily compelled em- 
 ployers "to do the right thing," as we would put it here, 
 by their work -people, and there are recent instances 
 where Witte has corrected attempted frauds of business- 
 men with all the sternness with which we are accustomed 
 to look upon the processes of autocracy. In one case he 
 
 266
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 absolutely broke up a comer in wheat, which had been 
 skilfully manipulated by some crafty capitalists. In an- 
 other instance cargoes of grain were confiscated by the 
 order of this same minister, because of proof of unques- 
 tioned fraud in its shipment. 
 
 The weakness of this whole system, of course, is that 
 no matter how good the intentions of the government 
 may be, it is impossible for it to interfere in even a small 
 number of instances among all the enterprises of a people 
 and an empire larger and more numerous than any on 
 the globe. Nevertheless, the Department of Finance does 
 assume direct supervision, for example, over every manu- 
 facturing enterprise of any consequence in the whole 
 empire. While there are general laws conferring as 
 regular and definite rights, duties, etc., on corporations 
 of every kind as we have here in America, the Ministry 
 of Finance actually undertakes to examine into the 
 soundness and responsibility of every one of them before 
 they are permitted to begin business, and exercises 
 visitorial powers over them afterwards. 
 
 The reason assigned for this is plausible in theory, 
 and the Russians, also, claim that experience proves that 
 it works well in practice. This reason is that if hap- 
 hazard investments are permitted in Russia, any kind of 
 an enterprise may be started without the sanction of the 
 government and its supervision, and therefore capital- 
 ists, especially those from other countries not under- 
 standing Russian conditions, may make investments 
 ruinous to themselves, and so become propagandists of 
 aggressive slander against the Russian government and 
 the Russian people throughout the world; and, con- 
 versely, that mere adventurers, exploiters, and promoters 
 may get into the empire, blow financial bubbles, which, 
 on bursting, will work mischief in financial conditions; 
 and so forth and so on. Therefore, the paternal hand of 
 the Russian government interferes alike in the business of 
 the capitalist and the affairs of his employ^. 
 
 267
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 In support of this, it is the undoubted fact that only a 
 few years ago Russia was fairly overrun with unscrupulous 
 promoters, mostly foreigners, and the investors of other 
 European nations, particularly France and Belgium, v/ere 
 cheated right and left. " Here is an example of the 
 financial trouble which led to our policy of examining 
 every enterprise that now enters Russia," explained a 
 certain Russian official. "There was a set of exploiters," 
 he continued, "who got up a great manufacturing concern 
 on paper. The plant was to be estabhshed here in Russia. 
 They had secured a Russian 'charter,' and all that sort of 
 thing. They got up the most alluring kind of a prospectus. 
 Their stocks v/ere subscribed for generously. They as- 
 sured the investors that they 'had behind them the 
 Russian government.' They actually did begin a little 
 work, but in a short time this was abandoned. They 
 pocketed the proceeds of their robbery, and left to exploit 
 some other portion of the world. So the investors lost 
 every cent they put in the 'enterprise.' 
 
 "Then you should have heard the Russians denounced. 
 Every man who had put a ruble into this bubble was a 
 walking denunciation of the Russian government and 
 everything Russian. We could not stand that, you see. 
 There was nothing for us to do but to adopt our careful 
 policy of examining into the responsibility and good faith 
 of every proposed enterprise which capitalists intend to 
 establish in our country. We make sure that they are 
 real capitalists, and not promoters. We reqiiire guaran- 
 tees. They have got to convince us that they really 
 mean to do bona-fide v^^ork and erect factories on real 
 earth and of real brick and mortar, instead of on paper 
 and with ink." 
 
 For another failure and consequent loss to investors, 
 the Russian government was severely assailed by the press 
 of a certain other European nation. You can find in- 
 stances of this by the score. At the present, however, 
 it is not the government's fault if a concern gets into 
 
 268
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the empire which is not substantial and sufficiently re- 
 sponsible to meet all of its engagements, and which does 
 not mean business, and permanent business at that. And 
 after the enterprise is actually under way, the govern- 
 ment continues its careful watchfulness and frequent in- 
 terference with its work, but always, as is claimed, for the 
 real good of the enterprise itself, and to make sure that 
 its methods and purposes are solid and honest. 
 
 All this leads to more dissatisfaction on the part of 
 capitalists, manufacturers, and other business-men than 
 it does on the part of laboring -men. Nor are these 
 commercial elements slow in expressing their views. You 
 will have no more difficulty in hearing dissent from any 
 economic policy by business - men in Russia than you 
 will hear of complaints of an unsatisfactory policy in 
 America when it does not suit the complaining interest. 
 This suggests the fact, elsewhere noted, of the surprise 
 which the ordinary foreigner has at the liberty of speech 
 prevailing in Russia. Compared with the ordinary 
 American conception that the Russian business-man sub- 
 mits to everything without protest, the dissent of Russian 
 importers, for example, to certain schedules of the Rus- 
 sian tariff is illuminating. A conspicuous example of this 
 freedom of opinion was afforded by the outcry of certain 
 financial and commercial interests at some of Witte's 
 early reforms. This is not true, of course, of the common 
 people. The peasants, who are really the Russian nation, 
 always speak of the Czar with profound and devotional 
 reverence, and, if they object to their hard conditions, are, 
 nevertheless, quite sure that if the Czar could learn about 
 their misfortunes he would adjust them. But while the 
 business-men of the empire also regard the Emperor with 
 reverent and sincere respect, they look upon the policies 
 of the government as the plans of responsible ministers 
 whom the Czar appoints; and with these business -men 
 those policies stand on their merits, just as the plans of 
 American statesmen are subjected to the same merit 
 
 269
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 analysis by American business -men. The ministry of 
 the Russian Czar is by no means immune from criticism 
 from the hps of important Russians. Indeed, it is not 
 free from open attack by certain fearless minds. 
 
 "Did you really send the letter to the Czar and his min- 
 isters, as published in the London Times?" was asked of 
 Tolstoi, who, by-the-way, was not found in banishment 
 at all, but exercising all the liberty an American farmer 
 exercises on his own land. 
 
 "Why, certainly I did," was the reply. "Why not?" 
 
 And this famous letter begins, "More assassinations, 
 more murders," etc., and goes on to denounce, in the bold- 
 est terms, certain recent measures taken by the govern- 
 ment in some trouble or other, and proceeds to suggest 
 measures as radical as most of those advanced by dissent- 
 ers from the present order of things here in America. Read 
 Anna Karenina, and you will find that the conversations 
 in Russian society in St. Petersburg are, apparently, as 
 unrestrained as they are in Washington. It must not be 
 inferred that any of these adverse opinions are directed 
 towards the government itself; for the ordinary Russian, 
 whether business-man, banker, or what not, appears to 
 be devoted to his Czar and to Russian institutions. 
 
 The Russian government maintains that Russia is at 
 present the best place in the world for the investment of 
 capital in manufacturing enterprises, if those enterprises 
 are conducted with great conservatism ; and it certainly is 
 true that the dividends frequently paid are astonishing, 
 even to an American accustomed to the large profits of 
 our own young republic. More than two hundred per 
 cent, annual dividends have been paid within the last 
 twenty years by foreign manufacturing corporations in 
 Russia, and one hundred per cent, has more than once 
 been paid. The Russian manufacturer himself feels that 
 his business is going to ruin if its yearly dividends sink 
 as low as fifteen per cent. Twenty, even thirty, per cent. 
 are more common. Even in the great industrial de- 
 
 270
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 pression which swept over Russia about three years ago 
 the annual dividends of well-established and well-con- 
 ducted commercial enterprises seldom sank lower than 
 ten per cent. On the other hand, as has been noted, large 
 numbers of industrial concerns barely pay expenses, and 
 many of them failed entirely. The number of these 
 enterprises that were forced into liquidation present a 
 strange paradox to the heavy dividends paid by the pros- 
 perous ones, but that liquidation is, as has been noted, 
 explained upon the ground of over-capitalization, negli- 
 gent attention to business, unfamiliarity with Russian 
 conditions, etc., and is used as an argument by the 
 government to justify its paternal supervision over in- 
 dustrial ventures, both foreign and domestic.
 
 XIX 
 
 THE RUSSIAN WORKING-MAN 
 
 WHATEVER the truth may be as to the profitableness 
 of wisely invested capital in Russia, and as to the 
 beneficial effects on business itself, which the government 
 so sturdily maintains is the result of its paternal methods 
 with capital, the visible facts seem to justify the govern- 
 ment's contention that its progress in the regardful care of 
 the rights and happiness of its laboring-people is greater 
 than that of most other countries. For example, you may 
 find in St. Petersburg an institution which, it is believed, 
 is without an exact counterpart anywhere. It is a large 
 and even handsome iron structure, devoted to the recre- 
 ation, comfort, and amusement of the laboring - people 
 of the Russian capital. When visited, in 1901, it was 
 barely completed. Tea and other refreshments were 
 served at actual cost. Free performances were given by 
 fairly good theatrical companies. 
 
 In one section of a great building was a beautiful au- 
 ditorium, well equipped with comfortable seats, an ex- 
 cellent and well-appointed stage, where a superior class 
 of theatrical entertainment was on at a price below that 
 charged by our cheapest popular theatres in America. 
 The culinary department of this " Labor Palace," as it is 
 called, was carefully inspected, and was found to be, in 
 contrast with like arrangements in Russian hotels, sur- 
 prisingly clean and attractive; and it was well managed. 
 I believe that this great building was the government 
 building at the National Exposition at Nijni-Novgorod, re- 
 moved from the latter place to St. Petersburg when the 
 
 272
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 national fair was over, and made into the "Labor Pal- 
 ace" of the capital, as above described. 
 
 Again, in Moscow there is a free amusement park, given 
 over to the entertainment of the working-people. It may 
 be visited freely by any one — noble, priest, peasant, for- 
 eigner, native — but its purpose is to give to the working- 
 people of the factories a good time, and especially to wed 
 them away from habits of intemperance, for this park is 
 a temperance affair. You are informed that it is main- 
 tained by a philanthropic society in St. Petersburg 
 devoted to the practical work of stamping out intem- 
 perance among the common people and generally better- 
 ing their conditions. 
 
 This place was visited many times, and on each occasion 
 was found to be well attended, and on Sundays positively 
 crowded. Here acrobats give their performances and 
 singers render their songs, all without price to the hearer. 
 Everywhere quass, the non-alcoholic Russian drink, and 
 all other kinds of "temperance drinks" are served at the 
 most trivial prices. There are all sorts of popular amuse- 
 ments, most of which charge a nominal fee for admission, 
 but so small as to be within the reach of the very poorest 
 laborer present. 
 
 And these thousands of work - people of Moscow ap- 
 parently enjoy themselves in this temperance play- 
 ground. Groups of boys and young men will stroll up 
 and down, with the accordion in the hands of one of them, 
 playing some Russian air; and it is as well to note here 
 as elsewhere the singular fact that the accordion is the 
 national Russian musical instrument — a strange cir- 
 cumstance, since it is a foreign instrument, and the Slav 
 ordinarily sticks to the methods and instruments of his 
 fathers. But the accordion has captured the Russian 
 common people. You will hear its muffled and throaty 
 notes in the darkness of an agricultural village, where 
 bands of boys and girls in the early hours of the evening 
 stroll up and down , singing their weird folk songs to its 
 
 i8 27s
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 accompaniment. You will hear it on the banks of the 
 Amur. You will hear it in St. Petersburg. In Man- 
 churia a soldier was observed rifle slung across his back 
 and accordion in his hands. Wherever the Russian 
 peasant is, there is the accordion. 
 
 Not a shabbily dressed working man or woman was 
 observed in this temperance park of Moscow. Their 
 clothing was plain, of course, but good and serviceable. 
 So far as the eye of the observer could determine, they 
 were healthful, too; and certainly they looked happy. 
 Here laugh and jest and badinage; yonder a Russian boy, 
 wrought up by some strain of music, suddenly begins the 
 national dance of the people, very picturesque, and in- 
 creasing in vigor until it ends in a whirl of action, amid 
 the loud applause of the crowd of on - lookers. Then 
 another one takes it up to see whether he cannot win 
 more praise than his fellow. And so the day is spent in 
 innocent amusement and good-fellowship. 
 
 So much has been heard of the habitual drunkenness of 
 the Russian that careful search was made for it. 
 
 "It is likely that you will find this unfortunate thing 
 most conspicuously in the ' human market,' " said a young 
 Russian, to whose kind offices the writer was indebted for 
 many valuable directions. 
 
 The "human market," as it is called, is really a place 
 where laboring-people, who come into Moscow from the 
 country districts, assemble to sell their services. It is 
 an open square in the congested part of the city. On one 
 side of it are vodka shops; on another side of it a big 
 sort of iron shed has been erected, hke the sheds into 
 which our trains enter at any American rail way -station. 
 But, although it was Sunday and although those of the 
 lower class of unskilled labor were there assembled, only 
 three drunken men were observed. 
 
 Several were lying out on the ground, with bundles 
 under their heads, in the open glare of the hot sun, ap- 
 parently in a state of bestial intoxication. But investiga- 
 
 274
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 tion discovered the fact that they were merely rugged 
 young peasants taking a nap. For it is M^orth repeating 
 again that the Russian peasant, man or woman, can 
 sleep right out in the open sun on the hottest day, whether 
 it be on the top of a boat on the Amur River, under the 
 blazing sun of a Siberian summer, or in the fields in the 
 country, or on the hard, stone court of the "human 
 market" in Moscow. 
 
 "That is very bad," the American remarked to his 
 Russian friend. 
 
 "Why bad?" said the Russian. 
 
 "Why, all those men and women so frightfully drunk," 
 answered the American. 
 
 "Yes, but they are not drunk," answered the Russian; 
 "they are just taking a nap." 
 
 Observing the American's incredulity, the Russian 
 gentleman called a policeman, explained the situation, 
 and asked the policeman if he would not kindly show the 
 American that these people were not drunk at all. Good- 
 humoredly, the officer laughed, and said, "Certainly." 
 Whereupon, very kindly, he woke several of them, ap- 
 parently explained the situation, and, without the slight- 
 est ill-humor at being aroused, the awakened one, when 
 he comprehended the situation, would laugh as though 
 it was the best joke in the world, get up, and walk off, 
 clearly in possession of every faculty, unclouded by alcohol. 
 
 At this particular spot you may observe the Russian 
 laborer and the Russ>.an peasant at his worst, however; 
 and you must expect very rude speech and very shocking 
 words, indeed, if you have your interpreter faithfully 
 translate what is said. For the purpose of such a visit 
 the professional interpreter and guide is practically worth- 
 less. He will tell you as much as he pleases and no more. 
 The best thing — indeed, the only way — is to be ac- 
 companied by a Russian friend, with whom you are 
 sufficiently well acquainted, and whose character is such 
 that you know you can trust him. 
 
 27S
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The most conspicuous building in Moscow, except the 
 Cathedral of the Kremlin, is an immense white structure 
 near the banks of the river. It is the foundhng asylum, 
 maintained partly by the municipal and partly by the 
 national government. One informant said that it was 
 maintained entirely by the imperial government. How- 
 ever it is maintained, it is a public institution where new- 
 born children are taken and cared for. Not all of these — 
 nor, as is claimed, even the majority of them — are 
 irregular. 
 
 The majority of the infants received are said to be the 
 regular offspring of married working-people, who cannot 
 attend to their infants themselves, and who leave them 
 there for a period and pay a small price for their main- 
 tenance. Such investigation as was possible leads the 
 observer to believe that this is true ; and yet a large num- 
 ber o them are certainly not so happily circumstanced. 
 Indeed, many well-informed men declare that nearly all 
 are foundlings. 
 
 A drunken man in a Russian town, whether it be in 
 Moscow or in the heart of Manchuria, is treated very 
 kindly by the police. Indeed, no trivial disturber of the 
 peace is handled roughly. At one of the better-class 
 places of amusement in Moscow, business -men and their 
 wives, and generally well-to-do people, gather for enter- 
 tainment and refreshment. You may hear French opera 
 in an admirable little theatre ; witness a balloon ascension ; 
 have any kind of refreshment you want; but, best of all, 
 you can witness a strange entertainment confined ex- 
 clusively to a representation of things peculiarly Slav. 
 Before this stage, which, unlike the theatre, opens on the 
 grounds and does not require an additional fee, gather, of 
 course, the greatest throngs. Very enthusiastic is their 
 appreciation of a particularly good thing. But when a 
 company of young Russians, fresh from the country, but 
 very carefully drilled by a Russian master in Russian 
 songs and dances, appear and arrange themselves in a 
 
 276
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 semicircle, and sing old Slav songs, weird and thrilling, 
 the spectators' enthusiasm increases in vigor; and when, 
 finally, one after another, these young fellows, all dressed 
 in the national Russian costume of the old time, advance 
 to the centre of the stage and whirl in a frantic maze of 
 some dance of the Russian people, the crowd grows 
 fairly frenzied with delight. 
 
 In this crowd was a man with his wife and two children. 
 Evidently he was a Russian small shop-keeper or a 
 Russian well-paid laborer. He was very drunk, indeed, 
 and as demonstrative as he was intoxicated. He not 
 only applauded but interrupted the entertainment with 
 cries and suggestions. There were plenty of policemen, 
 too; but everybody took him quite good-humoredly ex- 
 cept the wife, who, like a wife any place under similar 
 circumstances, appeared to be covered with embarrass- 
 ment. Finally his noise became unbearable, and some one 
 connected with the playgrounds came to him and very 
 courteously asked him to subside, smiling while he asked 
 him. 
 
 The man, happy with the show and happy with his 
 vodka and happy with everything, consented; but in less 
 than a minute forgot it again. Then a policeman came 
 forward and took him in charge. At first the man re- 
 sisted, but, with laughter and good-humor and with all 
 possible kindliness, the officer led him away. There was 
 no display of force, no club drawn (the Russian policeman, 
 however, does not carry a club, but a revolver), nor any 
 brutality of any kind. Surprise being manifested at this, 
 a Russian friend observed: "What is the use of hurting 
 him; he is enjoying a holiday; he means no harm; he does 
 not hurt anybody, and the policeman feels that he is a 
 brother Russian, and so he is." 
 
 In Trans-Baikal Siberia a young Russian priest had 
 consumed so much vodka that he was crazed with it. 
 Unlike most Russians, who T^'hen drunk are exceedingly 
 good-natured, this young Russian priest, apparently, had 
 
 277
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 all the combative and selfish animal instincts uncaged by 
 the liquor. He insisted on occupying a first-class carriage 
 when his ticket called for a third-class carriage, where 
 his wife and children were quietly sitting. The railway 
 officials argued with him with the utmost patience. Time 
 and again they would induce him to go to his proper 
 place, and time and again he would return to the place 
 from which he had been led. Finally he would not move 
 at all. Force had to be used, but it was employed with 
 just as little roughness as was possible. In the end, it 
 became necessary to take him to the baggage-car; but 
 the officers, who appeared to be as pained and humiliated 
 as the poor fellow's wife herself, firmly but kindly held 
 his hands, lifted him to their shoulders, and put him into 
 the baggage -car, locking the door after him. Perhaps 
 a dozen such interferences with drunken Russians were 
 observed, either in European Russia or in Siberia, and in 
 not a single instance was any brutality or signs thereof 
 exhibited by the police. 
 
 Not only is Russian drinking undoubtedly on the de- 
 crease, but the quality of liquor has within the last few 
 years been improved. Indeed, there is said to be no com- 
 parison between the quality of vodka now consumed by 
 the people and the villanous concoction formerly sold to 
 them. The reason of this is that the manufacture and 
 sale of vodka are now conducted by the government, 
 whereas it was formerly made and sold by private in- 
 terests; also it can now be purchased only under careful 
 regulations, which are rigidly enforced. So much only 
 may be purchased at a time. Public vodka-shops, as 
 they were formerly conducted, are now becoming extinct. 
 In addition to this, the central government is distributing 
 all over the empire plain and simple little temperance 
 pamphlets. At the capital of one zemstvo (that is, the 
 town where the offices of this peculiar district government 
 are located) large quantities of these were seen, and a 
 Russian friend translated them. 
 
 278
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Let us now visit a typical Russian steel and iron mill. 
 The greatest of these are in the coal and iron districts of 
 southern Russia, and perhaps the next greatest in St. 
 Petersburg itself; but, for purposes which the description 
 will reveal, selection is made of a certain plant operated by 
 foreign capital and under foreign management in Moscow, 
 a characteristically Russian city. It is a large affair, al- 
 though unimportant compared with the mammoth works 
 to which we Americans are accustomed in such places 
 as Pittsburg and Bethlehem. It was noted, too, that 
 the furnaces were not of the latest type; on the con- 
 trary, the machinery for fashioning the manufactured 
 steel was entirely up to date. This concern turned out 
 great quantities of wire, locomotive and car wheels, en- 
 gines, and several other varieties of steel and iron ma- 
 chinery. The wages paid were much better than those 
 paid the employes of the cotton factories. The working- 
 men in the machine department, where the lathes and 
 various other mechanical devices common to all such es- 
 tablishments were located, appeared to be active, ener- 
 getic, and intelligent. 
 
 These, of course, were the highest grade of skilled labor 
 in the whole place. Many of them were foreigners, mostly 
 Frenchmen. The common laborer, as elsewhere, was ex- 
 clusively Russian, and v/as slow, and, compared to our 
 American working-men, stupid, although willing, strong, 
 and industrious. Then, too, in comparison with a similar 
 American mill, with our precision of organization and our 
 carefully and sharply maintained discipline, the state of 
 affairs in the Russian establishment was very inferior. 
 Indeed, contrasted with the accurate adjustment of ser- 
 vice to service which prevails in our American mills, the 
 work in the same kind of a Russian establishment seemed 
 confused. And then, too, where the corporation itself is 
 a French corporation, most of its skilled employes are 
 French artisans. 
 
 But here was a development well worth attention. Im- 
 
 279
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 mediately across the street from the mill itself is located 
 a private school for the children of the working-people. 
 This school is built and maintained by the company. It 
 is much superior to the ordinary Russian country school; 
 and while it does not, of course, approa,ch the common 
 school in our American cities, it was, nevertheless, a very 
 creditable establishment. The children of the work- 
 people are furnished with instruction here free of charge 
 to the parents. 
 
 This is only an item, however, of the labor develop- 
 ment here noted. On the same street with the school- 
 house is a considerable establishment, owned by a joint- 
 stock company, whose stockholders are made up exclu- 
 sively of the working-men of the factory. It is also run 
 by other working-men employed by this working-men's 
 stock company. This establishment supplies groceries 
 and all table provisions to the employes of this mill at 
 cost — that is, without any middleman's profit. There is 
 even a bakery connected with it, where bread is baked 
 for the families of this mill's work-people. The employes 
 of this working-men's establishment sleep and live in the 
 place itself. Their sleeping-rooms were visited, and were 
 found to be clean, comfortable, and, in comparison with 
 the sleeping accommodations in the dormitories above 
 described, where the work-people of the cotton factories 
 are housed, commodious and almost luxurious. Iron bed- 
 steads, comfortable mattresses, clean bed-clothing make 
 these quarters almost as good as those found in middle- 
 class Amerian hotels. 
 
 Inference must not be made that all of the working-men 
 of the mills and factories come from the country districts. 
 A large part of the operatives are permanently located 
 in the cities themselves. Nor must it be understood that 
 all manufacturing establishments house and feed their 
 employes. On the contrary, many factories do not main- 
 tain their work-people, but supply them lodging at low 
 rental, the laborers themselves providing their own food. 
 
 2&0
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Many work-people live in rooms or flats rented from their 
 employers. Some of these quarters were visited in vari- 
 ous cities. Certain ones in St. Petersburg are a fair illus- 
 tration of the rest. 
 
 Uncomfortable board buildings these structures are 
 found to be. What prevents frequent and destroying 
 fires is not clear. The stairways are narrow and winding, 
 the corridors are the same. Usually two rooms, or at 
 most three, suffice for a family consisting of husband 
 and wife and an ever-increasing number of children. 
 No place in the immediate neighborhood where these 
 children could play was observed, although inquiry was 
 made for it. And yet the children's "sand heap" and 
 children's "playground" are things on which Russians 
 particularly pride themselves. There are sections of 
 some of the cities which appear to be without them. 
 But fairness compels the statement that open spaces con- 
 venient for children's play are frequent in Russian cities. 
 
 To return to the living conditions of some of the most 
 poorly circumstanced of Russian city working-men, 
 squalid as they are, as bad and even worse can be found 
 in London or New York. About these Russian working- 
 men's families, however, there is a submission to existing 
 things not found anywhere else in civilized countries. It 
 is a mistake to assume that this is on account of the re- 
 pressive measures of the government. 
 
 "At least these people seem to be fairly well content," 
 was suggested to a fellow-English observer. 
 
 "Content ! They have got to be. Most anybody would 
 be content with a bayonet at his breast," answered the 
 Englishman. 
 
 "Oh, come now," suggested a Russian gentleman, who 
 by no means approved of some of the sterner methods of 
 repression said to be sometimes practised by the police 
 and soldier}^ to prevent labor demonstrations, but who in- 
 sisted that reports of such disturbances published in other 
 countries are absurdly exaggerated — "oh, come now," 
 
 281
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 said this friend of the Russian laborer and the Russian 
 peasant, "the government's repression is not the reason 
 for these people's contentment with their wretchedness. 
 It is a great deal deeper than that. It is racial. Do not for- 
 get that we are Slavs. In a measure, we are fatalists. 
 Our people take things as they come, and live the lives to 
 which they feel that they are ordained." A good deal of 
 talk here and there with the Russian working-men and the 
 wives of Russian working-men lends plausibility to this 
 theory. 
 
 "Do not you find it cold here in winter?" was asked of 
 one of these Russian women, the wife of a working-man 
 in a manufacturing shop near by. She was still young, 
 though the mother of five children. 
 
 "Oh yes; sometimes, of course, it is cold," she answered; 
 "but God made the winter." 
 
 "But it is hot enough here now," was remarked to her. 
 (It was one of those blazing days that St. Petersburg 
 occasionally has in the summer-time.) 
 
 "Yes, it is hot; but God sent the summer." 
 
 "And do you look for better conditions — I mean larger 
 rooms and more things to live on and live with?" 
 
 "Ah, that is as God wills." 
 
 And pages could be consumed by examples of the same 
 kind. It is not said that these are true representations of 
 the Russian working-people's mind. They may have been 
 mere evasions. They inay have been the easiest answer 
 which unthinking minds made to questions which they 
 did not understand. The statements alone are noted, 
 and their value and the proper inferences to be drawn 
 from them are left to the reader. But sure it is that 
 they bear out the Russian theory that the racial charac- 
 teristics of the Slav are a fatalistic indolence, a stolid 
 lack of initiative, an acceptance of conditions as they 
 are, or of directions received from superior sources. 
 It recalls the remark of a Russian nobleman on the 
 Amur boat, when hundreds of peasants, with great labor, 
 
 282
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 dragged heav}" chains a quarter of a mile in order to fasten 
 them to a tree, none being nearer, so that there might be 
 a leverage with which to wrench the boat from a sand- 
 bar on which it had unluckily run. The stupidity of the 
 whole thing was remarked by an American traveller. 
 
 "Ah, well," said the Russian count, "you have been 
 abusing the bureaucracy of Russia for a week now. Look 
 at those people. You have a good example before your 
 eyes of exactly why it was that Peter the Great, our ideal 
 reformer, founded the present bureaucratic system in 
 Russia. Peter the Great knew his people. He ordered 
 all of their beards cut off because they never would have 
 cut them off themselves. He autocratically destroyed 
 the ancient garb of the boyar, which was also, in varying 
 degrees, the national costume. He had their coats cut 
 short and their trousers made sensible and serviceable 
 simply because the people would have continued that 
 custom to this very day if they had not been ordered to 
 alter it." 
 
 In short, there are many reasons to believe that the 
 lethargy of the Russian people as a mass is due to racial 
 causes. These reasons are to be found all through Rus- 
 sian history and are before the eyes of the contemporary 
 observer throughout the whole country. The writer's 
 observation has been too rapid and perhaps too super- 
 ficial to afford an independent and mature opinion on 
 this subject, important though the subject may be. The 
 mere facts are stated as far as they could be obtained. 
 
 A Russian common laborer in a steel mill at St. Peters- 
 burg came running after the English manager and his 
 visitor during the course of a fairly thorough inspection 
 of the works. The working-man called to the manager, 
 who excused himself and went to his employe. Presently 
 he returned laughing. 
 
 "Now there is an interesting incident," he said, "and it 
 is thoroughly characteristic. What do you suppose that 
 fellow wanted with me? "Why, he said: 'Master, look 
 
 283
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 out for that man who is with you. I think he is trying 
 to discover some of the secrets of our works.'" (Recent 
 inventions had been placed in this mill, and the new 
 process, the proprietors hoped, would make it superior to 
 any other then existing in northern Russia.) "You see, 
 he saw you looking around very carefully, and when I 
 was over on the other side of the mill he saw you closely 
 examining everything you came across. His suspicions 
 were aroused instantly, and that little incident, which you 
 might not have seen in many days of travel in Russia, 
 shows you a peculiarity of all classes. That characteristic 
 is their suspicion. They suspect everything and every- 
 body. But you see he was perfectly true to me. That 
 same man would cheat me if he could, but he would not 
 let anybody else cheat me. Our own employes might 
 rob us right and left, but they would risk their lives to 
 prevent anybody else from robbing us. They get drunk 
 on holidays themselves, but they will be very hot about 
 the same offence of working-men in Mr. So-and-so's 
 factory."
 
 XX 
 
 THE LABOR LAWS OF RUSSIA 
 
 THE labor question is the universal question. As 
 the world's civilization grows more complex, the 
 labor question must steadily grow more delicate. In es- 
 timating the quality of other nations, the treatment of 
 their laborers is an element of prime importance, for, 
 after all, at bottom it is the labor and capital of sister 
 nations with which we Americans must compete. For 
 this reason much space has already been given in these 
 pages to this subject, and for this reason much space is 
 still deemed necessary; for we want to ascertain — do we 
 not? — what kind of a force it is which the world beholds 
 along the Asiatic shores of the Pacific Ocean. We have 
 looked upon the Russian laboring-man in the great, mod- 
 em factories and mills of Russia; we have seen how he 
 works, how he lives, what he eats, how he is amused; have 
 noted his inefficiency as a working-man, have observed his 
 strong points of patience and endurance, and, in general, 
 have hastily surveyed those qualities of human interest 
 which go to make up the real man and woman. We have 
 seen something, too, of the general spirit of the Russian 
 state as it affects the laboring people of the empire. But 
 the laws which govern laboring conditions in Russia have 
 not been set forth, and it is believed that these are of suffi- 
 cient interest and importance to justify a chapter of gen- 
 eral examination. It is felt, too, that the provisions of 
 Russian legislation which govern and safeguard the fac- 
 tory workers of the empire will give a fair idea of the states- 
 men who devise and the government which enacts them. 
 Perhaps the most striking manifestation of the humani- 
 
 285
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 tarian movement in the field of labor legislation in all 
 countries was that relating to the employment of children 
 in factories and other industrial works. The history of 
 such legislation in England, France, Germany, and the 
 United States is of most absorbing interest, and of highest 
 possible contemporary and historical importance. Of 
 course, the same is true of Russia also. In 1882 a law was 
 placed upon the statute books of Russia upon this impor- 
 tant subject. This law prohibited the employment of chil- 
 dren under twelve years of age in all kinds of manufactur- 
 ing industries except the "kustar trades," hereafter de- 
 scribed. This law requires that children over twelve and 
 under fifteen years of age shall not be employed to exceed 
 eight hours a day. These eight hours do not include the 
 time spent at school and in resting. It further provides 
 that children shall not be required to work continuously 
 longer than four hours, at the expiration of which time 
 the employers are obliged to give the children a stated 
 period of rest. Employers are prohibited from requiring 
 children to work at night, on Sundays or on holidays; and 
 no work is permitted to be done by any child which is 
 deemed by the factory inspectors to be injurious or fa- 
 tiguing. The employer is compelled to allow the children 
 to attend the necessary schools in the vicinity of the fac- 
 tory; and factories are given the right to erect schools at 
 their own expense, which the children of the factory may 
 attend. A description of one of these schools has been 
 given elsewhere. Many such were visited by the writer, 
 and were found to be fairly well conducted. ^ 
 
 ' The law concerning child labor gives the Minister of Finance 
 the right to allow the employment of children of from ten to 
 twelve years of age during the day, and children between twelve 
 and fifteen years during the night, where the nature of the indus- 
 try requires this, and where it cannot do the children any harm. 
 Such investigation as could be made showed that this power has 
 been exercised by the Minister of Finance very sparingly indeed, 
 and usually with more careful consideration than might be ex- 
 pected. 
 
 286
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 To insure the enforcement of this child-labor law, an 
 inspectorship of factories was created and a staff of fac- 
 tory inspectors appointed for the empire. It was believed 
 at the time the law was passed that the supervision of 
 these inspectors, and the fear of the displeasure of the 
 government , would prevent the employers from infringing 
 it, and so no penalty for its violation was provided. 
 It was found, however, that the factory owners violated 
 the law in several instances, and two years later it was 
 amended by fixing a fine of one hundred rubles ($50) 
 for the infraction of any part of the child-labor act; and 
 this penalty amendment provided that if the owner or 
 manager of the establishment could prove that the in- 
 fraction took place without his knowledge, but through 
 the fault of the person directly superintending the work, 
 the latter person should be liable to the penalty. 
 
 A year later a law was enacted prohibiting the em- 
 ployment of all young persons under seventeen years of 
 age and of all women in cotton mills at night, and tliis 
 was afterwards extended to other textile industries. The 
 government inspectors present in every factory are said 
 to enforce this law rigidly, but that there is evasion of it 
 in many instances is, nevertheless, undoubtedly true. 
 Very careful provisions are made for the enforcement of 
 the law by the inspectors. For example, if a manufact- 
 urer intends to employ children, he must first declare 
 that intention and make a statement of the number of 
 hours he expects them to work. When he employs these 
 children their names must be registered in a special book. 
 This book sets out various details descriptive of the 
 child's capacity for work, and a column is left at the 
 end of the page in which the inspector must write his 
 conclusions or remarks. 
 
 If the inspector deems any child to be either too young 
 or too weak for the work required of him, the child must 
 be examined by a physician. After an examination, if 
 the physician thinks that the child is either too young or 
 
 287
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 too weak for the work, the employer must immediately 
 discharge the child. Any resistance on the part of the 
 employer is promptly remedied by the police. That all 
 may know their rights, a list descriptive of the work that 
 must be performed by children is required to be posted 
 in the workshops. If any adult working-man or working- 
 woman violates the law in his or her treatment of any 
 children who are at work, the manager of the factory is 
 responsible therefor. 
 
 It is interesting to note that, in the matter of the fine 
 of one hundred rubles ($50) for the infraction of the child- 
 labor law, the schooling of the child is especially men- 
 tioned. If the employer violates the law by overworking 
 the child, or employing a child under age, or requiring a 
 child to work an illegal number of hours, he may not 
 only be fined, but also be imprisoned for one month. 
 
 The child-labor law may be said to have been the first 
 step in modem Russian legislation on the labor question. 
 It is, however, claimed by enthusiastic Russians that 
 Russia led the world in legislation on the labor question. 
 They cite the fact that in the eighteenth century imperial 
 decrees began concerning labor inspection, requiring work- 
 ing-men to be paid in full, forbidding ill-treatment of em- 
 ployfe, preventing over-working, and restricting hours of 
 labor to twelve hours in the twenty-four; and that such 
 ukases were issued is undeniable. Indeed, for the last 
 two centuries, in spite of the serfdom under which the 
 great masses of the Russian people were held in bondage, 
 many regulations were enacted by the Russian govern- 
 ment for the care of laborers in manufacturing industries. 
 
 However fascinating the study of the development of 
 Russian labor laws, space forbids more than mention of 
 present statutes; but it may be said that distinctly mod- 
 em labor legislation in Russia began with the child-labor 
 law, of which an abstract is given above. All human 
 legislation obeys the law of growth as much as does the 
 development of animals or plants. So, when the Russian 
 
 288
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 government began modem legislation by the child-labor 
 statute, it was inevitable that that act should set in op- 
 eration natural forces requiring further labor legislation. 
 Sure enough, not four years passed until a general law 
 was enacted concerning the hiring of working-men, de- 
 fining the relations of employer and employ^, perfecting 
 factory inspection, and extending it generally to adult 
 labor as well as to child labor. This law was very general 
 in its application. It has since been amended several 
 times, as experience showed the original law to be de- 
 fective and inadequate. 
 
 In general, this law sets out regulations singularly 
 minute concerning every feature of the contract between 
 the employer and employed. It also provides special 
 regulations concerning the maintenance of oider in fac- 
 tories and mills. Some of these provisions are of suffi- 
 cient general interest to be set out. For example, the 
 manufacturer must either make a written contract with 
 the working-man, or give him a book which contains the 
 terms of the agreement. In no case can a working-man 
 be employed for more than five years.^ 
 
 The employer is required to pay the employ^ his 
 wages in cash. He cannot pay him in food, clothing, 
 materials, and the like. In this way the evil known in 
 America as the "pluck-me stores" was anticipated and 
 prevented. The penalty for paying the working-man in 
 anything but cash is a fine not less than twenty-five nor 
 more than one hundred and fifty dollars. If the laborer 
 is hired for several months, he must be paid his wages 
 at least once each month; if for an indefinite period, at 
 least twice a month. If he is hired, not by the time 
 but by the piece of labor to be performed, he is to be 
 paid on the completion of the job. 
 
 ^ As a matter of practice, many, perhaps most, of the working- 
 men are employed in groups, and a book is issued to the elder or 
 leader whom these laborers elect, for the whole group, instead of to 
 each man singly. 
 
 19 289
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The employer is required to take hygienic care for the 
 protection of his laborers, and to supply them, free of 
 charge, with medical attendance. 
 
 In addition to the contract -book, which must be issued 
 to the operative who is employed for a period of time, 
 instead of by the job, the employer must issue him a pay- 
 book, and in the book the money received by the laborer 
 must be set down, as must the fines imposed upon him. 
 If the employer does not keep these books of his laboring- 
 men properly, he may be fined for each offence not less 
 than five rubles ($2.50) and not more than twenty-five 
 rubles ($12.50). 
 
 On the other hand, the employer may fine his working- 
 man for any one of three causes — first, for defective work; 
 secondly, for absence without sufficient cause; and, 
 thirdly, for any infraction of the shop regulations. 
 
 In determining what is defective work the employer 
 is not the sole judge. The government factory inspector 
 may be appealed to. Moreover, the law prescribes mi- 
 nutely what shall constitute defective work for which the 
 employ^ may be fined. For example, defective work is 
 defined to be such as causes damage to raw material or 
 machinery, and fines for this are calculated by the nature 
 of the defect, and not by the loss sustained by the em- 
 ployer. It was feared by the government that these 
 fines might be used by the employers to their own profit. 
 To prevent this, it was provided that the fines should not 
 go to the employer, but should be collected into a special 
 fund to be used for the benefit of the employes. Fines 
 for absence without sufficient cause may not be imposed 
 unless the absence is for at least half a day; nor can the 
 laborer be fined for absence because of such unavoidable 
 circumstances as fire or flood, illness of the working-man, 
 or of his wife or parents, or of the death of either. Of 
 course, wherever fines may be imposed for absence without 
 sufficient cause, the wages of the laborer may also be de- 
 ducted for the time missed. 
 
 290
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Fines may not be imposed for disobedience to shop 
 regulations arbitrarily. They apply only to unreasonable 
 infractions, such as leaving the premises without permis- 
 sion, disobedience to rules for protection against fire and 
 cleanliness, quarrelling in the factory, or for insubordi- 
 nation and the like. For these the fines must not exceed 
 more than one ruble for each offence. If the laborer is 
 dissatisfied with the fines, he may complain to the govern- 
 ment inspector of the factory. If the inspector, on in- 
 vestigation, decides that the fine has been unjustly im- 
 posed, he may bring an action against the manager of 
 the factory in the law courts. That the working-men 
 may know their rights, a list of all possible fines must be 
 posted in the shops. 
 
 Moreover, the total amount of all fines imposed on a 
 working-man must not exceed one-third of his wages. 
 When that sum is reached the laborer may be discharged, 
 but if he feels himself aggrieved, he may, within a month, 
 bring an action in a court of law for damages against the 
 manager who discharged him. 
 
 It will be noted that these fines do not go to the em- 
 ployer, but form a special fund for the benefit of the 
 working-man. The law does not leave the disposition of 
 this fund to the employer, but prescribes what the "fines 
 fund" shall be used for. For example, it may be used to 
 help sick or injured workmen, or working-women who are 
 near the period of confinement, or to relieve the financial 
 distress of a laborer, caused by fire, flood, and the like, 
 or for funerals of working-men, etc. When the fund 
 exceeds one hundred rubles ($50) in amount it can no 
 longer be kept by the employer, but must be deposited 
 at the state savings-bank, and can only be drawn out 
 on an order signed by the manager of the factory and 
 the factory inspector. 
 
 When a working-man has been employed under this law, 
 both the employer and the employ^ must give fifteen 
 days' notice. Furthermore, the law prevents the re- 
 
 291
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 duction of wages during the time for which the laborer is 
 employed, on the one hand, or the reduction of the num- 
 ber of working-days, on the other. Conversely, the em- 
 ploy^ cannot demand an increase of wages or any other 
 alteration of the contract. If either employer or em- 
 ployd violates the law, severe punishments are provided; 
 for example, three hundred rubles ($150) fine for the 
 employer, and a month's imprisonment for the employ^. 
 
 It is interesting to note with how firm a hand the 
 government deals with employers of labor in its effort 
 to prevent labor disturbances. For example, if the man- 
 ager of a factory breaks three times any of the regulations 
 provided for in the law, or if he causes a disturbance 
 among his laboring people, making necessary the assist- 
 ance of the police, the head of the factory may be im- 
 prisoned for three months and prohibited from managing 
 a factory for two years. 
 
 On the other hand, any fight or strike on the part of 
 the laboring-men is punishable by imprisonment for not 
 less than one week nor more than five months ; and if the 
 strike is actually made the strikers may be imprisoned 
 for not less than two nor more than eight months. But 
 if the strikers do any damage or attempt to intimidate a 
 fellow working-man, the individual may be imprisoned for 
 the maximum term of sixteen months. 
 
 The provisions by which the contract may be termi- 
 nated are interesting, but the one most curious and 
 illustrative of industrial conditions in Russia is that by 
 which the laborer is released from the contract if his 
 village community refuses to extend his leave of absence 
 — that is, extend his passport. The reader is referred to 
 the explanation of the passport system in another chapter. 
 
 The attempt to balance delicately the respective rights 
 and obligations of the employer and working-man, which 
 is manifest throughout the whole labor legislation of 
 Russia is, perhaps, best illustrated by the reasons for 
 which the employer may discharge his working-men, on 
 
 292
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the one hand, thus terminating the contract, and the 
 reasons for which the working-man may terminate his 
 contract, on the other. For example, if the working- 
 man is absent for three consecutive days without a 
 sufficient reason, or if he is absent for six days in the 
 course of a month, whether consecutive or not, or if he 
 absents himself for fifteen consecutive days, even if he 
 has a sufficient reason for such absence, his employer may 
 discharge him, thus terminating the contract. On the 
 other hand, the employ^ may leave his employer instantly 
 if he is assaulted or beaten. He may also terminate his 
 contract and quit his employment if the food and shelter 
 supplied him have been bad, or if the work required of 
 him is unhealthy. He may also leave if the bread-winner 
 of the family to which he belongs should die, thus leaving 
 the famiily without its laborer in the village community 
 to which he belongs. 
 
 In 1897 the law was amended, fixing twelve hours as 
 the time beyond which adult working-men might not 
 be required to labor, and the factory was permitted to 
 run night-shifts and day-shifts of twelve hours each. In 
 government work the working-men were given Sundays 
 and official holidays, amounting to forty in the year, ex- 
 clusive of Sundays. While the law makes it optional 
 whether the private establishments shall observe these 
 holidays, as a matter of practice it is said that the work- 
 ing-men observe the holidays anyway. It was impossible 
 to verify this from actual observation ; but the informa- 
 tion upon which the statement is based is credible. 
 
 The existing law on the subject of hours of labor is con- 
 fused, but the following is beheved to be a fairly accurate 
 statement. 
 
 Eleven and one-half hours may be required for dav- 
 work. This applies to both men and women. The work- 
 ing-day begins at 6 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m. An hour and a 
 half is allowed for the noon meal and rest. This applies 
 to only one shift. If two shifts are employed, the day's 
 
 293
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 work may be eighteen hours, beginning at 4 a.m. and end- 
 ing at 10 P.M. It will be seen that this in reality re- 
 quires but nine hours for each shift. 
 
 As before stated, eight hours out of the twenty-four 
 constitute a full day's labor for a child under fifteen. 
 
 A curious provision of the law is that overtime work, 
 which is carefully prescribed in the statute, must not ex- 
 ceed, for the entire year, one hundred and twenty hours. 
 It should be noted also that the provisions of the law may 
 be suspended as to overtime and other items when there 
 is a fire in the factory or breakage of machinery, or some 
 other cause which interferes with the operation of the 
 plant and which needs immediate remedying. 
 
 The effect of religion on the labor situation in Russia is 
 shown by a single provision to the effect that working- 
 men belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church must be 
 given the holidays of their Church, and also Sundays, 
 while for the working-men who are not members of that 
 Church these holidays may be omitted. If the working- 
 men happen to be followers of another faith — for example, 
 Mohammedans — they are given the holidays prescribed 
 by that religion, instead of Sundays, as prescribed for the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 If a factory has a thousand employes, it must main- 
 tain an infirmary or hospital, with at least ten beds ; if there 
 are more than a thousand working-people (men, women, 
 and children) employed, the factory hospital must have 
 fifteen beds. This hospital and the medical treatment 
 and attendance of the working-men are all paid for by 
 the factory. 
 
 Perhaps the most characteristic feature of Russian labor 
 legislation is the voluminous laws on the subject of factory 
 inspection. It was found after the enactment of the first 
 law for factory inspection that the inspection was not per- 
 fectly performed. Sometimes the inspectors were op- 
 pressive to the factory owners; sometimes they were un- 
 just to the operatives ; sometimes they were undoubtedly 
 
 294
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 corrupt. To remedy these many defects, a factory and 
 mining board was established in 1889, and was made one 
 of the sub-bureaus of the Ministry of Finance. 
 
 The powers of this board are very broad. It may make, 
 from time to time, such rules and regulations concerning 
 factory inspection as experience shows to be desirable. 
 It may over-rule any action of any factory inspector; and, 
 finally, it acts as a sort of court of appeal from the de- 
 cision of local factory boards. 
 
 These local factory boards exist in every manufacturing 
 province. They consist of the governor of the province, 
 the prosecuting attorney, the chief of police, the chief 
 factory inspector for the province, and the two represent- 
 atives of the manufacturers. These boards may provide 
 rules and regulations particularly applicable to the indus- 
 try within their jurisdiction. Especially do they look to 
 the preservation of health, life, and morality among the 
 work-people. 
 
 From these local boards we come down to the factory 
 inspectors themselves. The latest law of a general char- 
 acter, defining their powers and duties, was enacted in 
 1900, though so constant are the amendment and altera- 
 tion of all Russian laws that it has been changed many 
 times since, but not in important particulars. The fol- 
 lowing is believed to be a fair statement of its more im- 
 portant provisions. 
 
 To these inspectors all disagreements between the la- 
 boring people and the factory managers are carried. The 
 inspector is then supposed to investigate the complaints, 
 to explain the causes of them to the aggrieved party, and 
 generally to act as peace-maker between the employer and 
 the employ 6. If the inspector cannot make an amicable 
 arrangement between the hostile parties, he must refer 
 the whole matter to the courts. 
 
 The inspector fixes certain days, not fewer than one a 
 week, on which he will receive any person having a com- 
 plaint, whether manager or employ^, and make verbal 
 
 29s
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 explanation as to rights and duties, etc. In addition to 
 this, it is the duty of the inspector to ascertain for himself 
 whether the factory manager is observing all the provi- 
 sions of the law. In doing this, he may question all of the 
 working-people whenever he thinks it desirable. Should 
 he think it necessary, he may summon the owners of the 
 factory themselves. Indeed, this is often done. 
 
 In determining the observance of the law by the fac- 
 tory managers, the inspector may, upon presenting a per- 
 mit from the Department of Trades and Manufactures, go 
 through any and every part of the mill or factory at any 
 hour of the day or night, and through all of the dormito- 
 ries, hospitals, schools, and other buildings attached to 
 the factory. 
 
 When one of the work-people is injured, the factory in- 
 spector immediately investigates the cause. If he finds 
 that the accident resulted from the non-observance of 
 the law by the factory -owners, the inspector draws up a 
 sort of complaint. There are many sections of the law 
 under which this complaint or statement may be drawn 
 up. Sometimes it is under a provision of the criminal 
 code; sometimes under what is called the industrial code. 
 It may be made either by the factory inspector alone or 
 by him in conjunction with the officers of the police. 
 When so drawn, it is transmitted to the authorities for 
 inquiry and trial. 
 
 It is also a part of the duty of the factory inspector to 
 superintend generally the schools which the factory is 
 required to keep for the children of operatives, and to see 
 that the children attend the schools, and that instruction 
 is given according to the provisions of the law. 
 
 Where strikes or other labor troubles are threatened or 
 under way, the inspector goes instantly to the spot. First 
 he attempts to bring the employers and the employes to 
 a friendly understanding. Failing in this, any measures 
 may be taken, carefully provided for by law, which the 
 justice and necessity of the case seem to require. It is 
 
 296
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 said that in such cases the local inspectors of the factories 
 keep in continuous communication with the chief in- 
 spector of the city or district by telegraph and telephone, 
 and the police are carefully in touch with the entire 
 situation. 
 
 Finally, the inspectors pass upon the opening of fac- 
 tory shops, the issuance of pay-books, the payments to sick 
 or injured operatives from the funds collected from fines, 
 the charges which the factory makes on their working- 
 men for lodgings, bath, etc., the prices of articles sold to 
 the co-operative stores, the rules which the factory man- 
 agers desire to make on their own motion, in addition to 
 the regulations fixed by the general law or by the regula- 
 tions of the factory boards. Also, he must certify general 
 scales of wages and countersign different kinds of records 
 which the law requires the factory to keep, such as books 
 for boilers, for children employed, for fines, etc. 
 
 The entire laws, rules, and regulations concerning fac- 
 tory inspection in Russia are voluminous in extent, minute 
 in the specification of duties and powers. No attempt 
 will be made, of course, to set them out in their entirety, 
 or even to give a complete general analysis of them. It 
 has been thought worth the space to detail the above 
 provisions, that the reader may have some general idea 
 of this most important branch of Russian legislation. 
 
 The law is still unsatisfactory on the question of acci- 
 dents. Nevertheless, Finance Minister Witte, some four 
 years ago, prepared and presented to the Council of State 
 a bill on the civil liability of employers which pretty 
 effectually covered the situation from a Russian point of 
 view. The Council of State approved the bill at its first 
 reading; but when it came to the second reading, the 
 manufacturers of Moscow and St. Petersburg presented 
 a petition to the Finance Minister, asking for the postpone- 
 ment of the proposed measure, for the reason that they 
 were about to form mutual insurance societies for their 
 employes, and if the proposed bill became a law before 
 
 297
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 this reform was perfected, it would cause many facto- 
 ries and mills serious financial difificulty. Indeed, it was 
 demonstrated that in some instances it would threaten 
 them with insolvency. It is understood that for these 
 reasons the bill has not yet been passed. This proposed 
 law defines the liability of the employer for all accidents 
 to his employes. A limit of the amount of damages 
 which may be recovered in each case is fixed. The law 
 of contributory negligence is introduced by a provision 
 reducing the amount of damages in proportion to the 
 contributory negligence. Our law, placing the burden 
 of proof on the plaintiff, is by this proposed Russian 
 act directly reversed and the burden of proof is placed 
 on the employer. He can only release himself from this 
 burden of proof by showing three things — first, that 
 the accident was inevitable; second, that it occurred 
 by reason of the fault or intention of a third party for 
 whom the employer was not responsible; third, the fault 
 or malicious intention of the injured working-man. 
 
 There are provisions in this law concerning the settle- 
 ment of all such disputes by amicable arrangements be- 
 tween the employer and the injured employd. This, of 
 course, is to prevent lawsuits; but, fearing that it might 
 in some instances lead to fraud on the part of the em- 
 ployer and injustice to the employe, it is provided that 
 such amicable agreement shall be made before a magis- 
 trate, who is required to see that no injustice is done to 
 the injured working-man. If both parties desire it, they 
 may leave the settlement of the amount of damages to a 
 court of arbitration or to the factory inspector himself. 
 There are no appeals from such decisions. 
 
 If the case is not settled in some such way the action 
 for damages must be brought by the injured working- 
 man, or, if he dies, by his wife or relatives. To prevent 
 damage-suit lawyers working up unjust cases, the bill pro- 
 vides that the case shall be conducted on the part of the 
 injured party by lawyers appointed for this purpose by 
 
 298
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the Council of Barristers; and the fee of such lav/yers is 
 fixed in the law. There is a queer provision, very illustra- 
 tive of the temper of Russian legislation, in this proposed 
 employers' liability bill — damages for the death of a work- 
 ing-man must be paid to those members of his family who 
 need it, and not to some one who happens to be his near- 
 est relative or who was living with him at the time of 
 his death. 
 
 For fear that employes would take advantage of this 
 liability law and live on the damages recovered, which 
 were not in all cases to be paid in a lump sum but in the 
 form of periodical allowances, it is provided that the 
 amount of such instalments might, after five years, be 
 reconsidered and refixed according to the capacity of the 
 working-man to labor at that time. 
 
 The salient features of this law have been given thus 
 fully because, if not already enacted, it is only a question 
 of time when the above will substantially be the labor law 
 of Russia. When this bill is passed, the labor laws of 
 Russia will be fairly complete. 
 
 But it must be said that in the labor legislation of 
 Russia we behold again that paradox which is so striking 
 a feature of every department of Russian life — permanency 
 of policy inextricably intertwined with perpetual change 
 of method. The general laws of Russia, not only in labor 
 legislation but in the statutes relating to agriculture, to 
 commerce, to every conceivable subject, undergo almost 
 continuous modification. The theory is that as expe- 
 rience shows that a certain law or regulation does not 
 work well, it is immediately modified to suit conditions. 
 
 While it is not possible within the limits of this volume 
 to devote an entire chapter to the methods of Russian 
 legislation, which is a subject of most absorbing interest, 
 a paragraph may serve to enlighten the American reader 
 upon the general idea upon which Russian legislation is 
 drafted and enacted. 
 
 First of all, then, it may be said that, so far as her writ- 
 
 299
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ten laws are concerned, Russia is governed by commissions. 
 If the labor situation does not seem to be satisfactory, 
 a commission is appointed, with careful instructions to 
 study the causes by original investigation and to report 
 recommendations. If there is agricultural depression, 
 the same thing is done. If the subject of forestry needs 
 attention, again there is a commission to study, report, 
 recommend. 
 
 When the report is made to the ministry to which the 
 commission is attached, the assistant ministers and the 
 presiding minister are supposed to go over it carefully. 
 The result is the drafting of a law. This law is submitted 
 first to the Council of Ministers and then to the Council 
 of State, which, in theory, thoroughly debates every pro- 
 vision of it. In practice, it is said that this is seldom 
 done; but it must in fairness be stated that it is un- 
 doubtedly true that in many important laws the Council 
 of State does very thoroughly discuss the proposed stat- 
 ute. Finally it is submitted to the Czar, who approves 
 or disapproves of it. 
 
 Again, the Russian law may be for the entire empire, 
 or for only a province, or even for one city. If it is for 
 the entire empire, it is, as a general thing, not immediately 
 put into effect among the Czar's one hundred and forty 
 million subjects. It is usually tried in one province 
 first. If it works well there, it is gradually extended to 
 others until the whole empire is covered. If it does not 
 work well in the first province, the reasons for its de- 
 fective operation are remedied by amendment before it 
 is applied to other provinces, and, as its application 
 spreads, modifications are made as experience requires. 
 The theory is that in this way Russian legislation is not 
 so much the product of some statesman's brain as it is 
 the reflection of actual conditions. It is also said that 
 in this way Russian legislation more carefully answers 
 the needs of the people than the legislation of any other 
 country. While, of course, an American would not for a 
 
 300
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 moment concede the correctness of this view, it is worth 
 noting as the beHef earnestly entertained by those who 
 hold to the existing order of things in Russia. Indeed, it 
 is claimed by these advocates of autocratic methods that 
 the processes of Russian legislation, as above briefly 
 defined, are far superior to the parliamentary methods 
 existing in countries like England and America.
 
 XXI 
 
 THE INDEPENDENT PEASANT ARTISAN 
 
 WITH all of Russia's development of her manufact- 
 uring industry during the last fifteen years, her 
 mills do not in any line supply her own market. There 
 are really very large concerns in Russia devoted to the 
 manufacture of railway locomotives, of which the es- 
 tablishment at Kolomna is the best example; also, there 
 are mills for the manufacture of steel rails and all other 
 items of railway equipment. Yet Russia must yearly 
 import considerable numbers of locomotives and large 
 quantities of everything else necessary for her rapidly 
 growing railway system. Most of these ought to be 
 supplied by the United States. In 1901, most of the 
 importations of railway equipment and general machin- 
 ery, up to July at least, were German. Before that 
 time most of them had been American ; and certainly the 
 bulk of imported agricultural implements were American. 
 But the tariff war precipitated by our controversy with 
 Russia over her sugar rebates, which our government 
 construed to be a bounty on sugar exports from Russia, 
 seriously interfered with our growing sales of American 
 manufactured products throughout the whole Russian 
 Empire. Other European nations were quick to take 
 advantage of tliis, and of these Germany was the most 
 aggressive and successful. But, in spite of this, Amer- 
 ican engines were still the rule in the Russias of the 
 Far East. 
 
 "What is that?" was asked of the traveller's Russian 
 friend during a cross - country journey in the troika, 
 
 302
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 through the lanes and over the fields of his estates. What 
 was, apparently, in the near distance, a mound of grass- 
 grown earth rising in a field, and perhaps a mile from a 
 small village of a dozen or fifteen houses, was pointed 
 out. A thin column of smoke was rising from it — a 
 strange thing in the centre of fields of ripening wheat. 
 
 "I do not know from here," was the answer, "but I 
 think it is a country blacksmith-shop. If it is you will 
 find it very interesting. It illustrates a vastly important 
 branch of Russian manufacturing industry, and one pe- 
 culiarly and exclusively Russian." 
 
 The narrow lane, wheat - bordered, took the troika 
 directly in front of this mound of earth, which was found 
 to be in reality a sort of dug-out, not unlike those which 
 the first settlers upon our Western prairies twenty years 
 ago rudely constructed as a temporary shelter. It was 
 partly excavated from a natural rise in the ground at that 
 particular point. The walls above had been constructed 
 of sod; wooden rafters or poles, placed tent-wise on top 
 of this and covered with a thick layer of earth, on which 
 grass was waving, constituted the roof. The whole space 
 inside made a room not exceeding twelve by fourteen feet. 
 Yet within this space, three men and five boys were at 
 work. As the troika stopped, all came out smiling; and 
 sure enough it was a blacksmith-shop, and more than a 
 blacksmith-shop . 
 
 "Oh yes," said the father of this little industrial ant- 
 heap, "we do more than blacksmithing — we make bolts," 
 and at a word one of the boys ran in and brought out a 
 double handful of hand -made bolts. "We also make 
 nuts for bolts, of course, and many other things like that." 
 
 These nuts and bolts and other things which these 
 peasant artisans fashioned in their rude earth-shop were 
 marketed in the nearest city. "Oh yes, there is a demand 
 for more than we can supply," answered the father to a 
 pertinent question. "We get very good prices for them, 
 too." The prices, however, were absurdly low in com- 
 
 303
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 parison with American prices for similar articles — ab- 
 surdly low, too, when we consider the number which each 
 man could make in a day. Nevertheless, three famihes, 
 numbering many souls, live very well indeed, according 
 to the Russian notions of living, on the proceeds of these 
 country laborers' toil, together with the produce of their 
 fields; and, so far as you can see, all appear happy and 
 content. But the significant point was that the factories 
 of Russia are not making as many iron things of this 
 kind as are required for the daily uses of the country. 
 
 "If this work pays so well, why don't all the farmer- 
 peasants engage in it?" 
 
 "Why," said the Russian artisan, with plain surprise 
 pictured on his face, "other farmers do work at it, and 
 many other things, too." 
 
 This answer revealed what investigation showed to be 
 one of the most extraordinary phases of Russian indus- 
 trialism. This is that class of Russian peasant manu- 
 facturing industry known as the "kustar trades." All 
 over this most extensive of empires, and among all of 
 these most numerous of peoples, the agricultural peas- 
 ants in their country villages form little associations for 
 the manufacture of almost every article used through- 
 out the Czar's dominions. Not only this, but surpris- 
 ing quantities of manufactured goods wrought by these 
 peasant hands in their villages are for export trade. 
 The little proup of workmen busily engaged in the earth- 
 constructed shop just described was one of the poorest 
 and humblest of these communities of peasant artisans. 
 They were working at their "kustar trade" in that short 
 period between the cultivation of their fields and the 
 harvest of the grain which was not yet ripe. Thus their 
 time and labor were turned into productive industry. 
 
 In tens of thousands of the little country villages 
 larger associations of these peasant working-men employ 
 every moment of their time during the long winter months 
 in some kind of manufacture. Not only the men, but 
 
 304
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the women and children work at these trades. Silk is 
 woven by them. They produce cotton fabrics. All kinds 
 of woodwork are done by them, and the wooden utensils 
 turned out are surprisingly well finished. In many lines 
 a fair degree of art has been developed. For example, 
 the writer was shown wooden spoons, shaped and richly 
 enamelled by peasant villagers, and a village of con- 
 siderable size was visited where the entire population 
 fashioned various forms of jewelry. It is said on excel- 
 lent authority that the Russian peasant product of jewelry 
 annually runs up into millions of articles. Also, all kinds 
 of leather work are done. Without consuming space to 
 enumerate, it is said that there is nothing that these 
 peasant manufacturers of Russia do not create, from 
 horse-shoes to clothing, from icons to ink-stands. Indeed, 
 the immense majority of all the painted saints and virgins 
 and other pictured sacred representations are the work 
 of peasant hands: and very reverent work it is. No 
 amount of money, for example, could induce a peasant 
 artist to paint or carve a sacred image or picture in 
 different colors, attire, or attitude than those familiar 
 ones which immemorial custom has sanctioned. 
 
 While most of the products of peasant's work is con- 
 sumed in Russia itself, a very respectable quantity of it 
 is exported. Most of these peasant exports, however, go 
 to Asia. And a curious and significant thing must here be 
 noted: the prejudices, likes, susceptibilities, and tastes of 
 the people to whom these export goods are sent are care- 
 fully respected in the manufacture of the articles intended 
 for them. In this the imperial government helps the 
 peasant artisan by instructing him upon these points. 
 And instruction once received and understood by the 
 Russian peasant becomes a fixture in his mentality, and 
 is handed down unchanged throughout succeeding gener- 
 ations. 
 
 Indeed, it is in this way that the "kustar trades" were 
 first established among the Slav millions, and that of 
 20 305
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 itself is a curious tale. In the days of serfdom, the 
 nobles who owned these peasant slaves were reqmred 
 to maintain them during the entire year; and yet the 
 mass of them was self-supporting during only the sum- 
 mer months; in the winter months much labor was 
 necessarily wasted. A certain noble, possessing the com- 
 mercial instinct, hit upon a plan of sending the brightest 
 of his peasants to the great cities of the empire, there to 
 learn some craft, and then, returning, teach it to his 
 fellows, so that the labor of the serfs might be employed 
 to some useful and profitable end during the long months 
 of the Russian winter. 
 
 The idea was a distinct success. Other nobles imme- 
 diately imitated it, and the practice grew until the best 
 minds among all the millions of Russian serfs were sent 
 not only to the great cities of Russia itself, but to the 
 most advanced industrial centres of Germany, Austria, 
 France, and, it is said, even to England. When these 
 peasants were called back they were the masters of 
 numerous crafts, which they at once taught their fellow- 
 slaves in their remote and isolated Russian village homes. 
 And so it was that the serfs became able, not only to till 
 the land of their lord, but to make, with as high degree 
 of skill as the artisans of the most advanced countries of 
 Europe, every article required in the domestic establish- 
 ment of their noble owners. 
 
 The emancipation, of which some account will here- 
 after be given, did not extinguish these peasant industries, 
 which were as widely spread as the empire itself and as 
 variegated as the wants of the Russian people. And so 
 it is that to-day the peasant manufacturer constitutes 
 the most formidable rival of the great factories, which it 
 is the present and future policy of the Russian govern- 
 ment to foster by a protective tariff and by every possi- 
 ble device. 
 
 And here occurs a strange paradox of statesmanship. 
 As has been stated, it is the fixed and settled policy of the 
 
 306
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Russian government to build up great, centralized fac- 
 tories, such as exist in other European countries and in 
 America. It would appear that this policy, if successful, 
 would destroy the peasant artisan industry called the 
 "kustar trades." Nevertheless, the imperial government 
 carefully fosters these popular industries, as it does the 
 greater and centralized manufacturing industries. 
 
 "Why, certainly we encourage the 'kustar trades,'" 
 said a Russian official. "For example, teachers are sent 
 at the expense of the imperial government to instruct 
 these peasant manufacturing communities in more care- 
 ful and exact workmanship, and even to teach them 
 new methods." 
 
 Investigation proved this to be the fact; and not only 
 so, but colored prints are distributed among these village 
 shops to guide the peasant in the most remunerative 
 forms of workmanship. When this is considered, and 
 when it is remembered that the peasant artisan employs 
 himself at these trades during months when his labor is 
 otherwise absolutely wasted and worthless, that the 
 women and children also work alongside of the men, that 
 the labor thus furnished costs practically nothing, that 
 they live in their own homes and consume the food which 
 they themselves, in other portions of the year, have pro- 
 duced, that raw material is practically at hand, it will 
 be seen that the Russian peasant manufacturer in his 
 little village shop is no mean antagonist for the great 
 manufacturer of the cities. Indeed, many Russians 
 ascribe the failure of numbers of foreign manufacturing 
 enterprises to the competition of these Russian peasant 
 manufacturers, and there is, no doubt, a reasonable 
 amount of truth in this explanation. 
 
 Another industrial and economic paradox is afforded 
 by the growth of great factories in Russia on the one 
 hand, and the persistence of the "kustar trade" on 
 the other. With the racial characteristics of the Slav 
 to community of effort, it has been thought by many 
 
 307
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 economists that the modem tendency to industrially or- 
 ganize, which is so marked in our own country, notwith- 
 standing our individualism, would be repeated in greater 
 magnitude and by more solidly knit organizations in the 
 Russian Empire. But, on the other hand, these peasant 
 village manufacturing shops are also maintained by this 
 very instinct of the Slav to organize, for every one of 
 these peasant trades is communistic. There is no work- 
 ing of individuals as individuals and for themselves alone. 
 There is no separate work done even by single families. 
 It is all done by industrial communities, who work in 
 common and have in common. The building where they 
 themselves labor, and which you may see in almost every 
 Russian village, is built in common and owned in com- 
 mon. Even the division of their industry is on the com- 
 munistic principle. For example, many of the articles 
 produced by these "kustar trades" are so elaborate that 
 one community of peasants does not undertake to do it all. 
 It does part of the work, and then passes the unfinished 
 article on to another community, which does another part 
 of the work, and so on until their joint labor is completed, 
 and the proceeds are divided among all these communities, 
 and then subdivided by the heads of each among the 
 various families in proportion to the work done by each. 
 And so it is that industrially the great mass of Russian 
 people may be said to be self-supporting. Indeed, the 
 boast is made that, if every factory in Russia were sud- 
 denly destroyed, and no imports of foreign goods allowed, 
 it would not greatly inconvenience the larger part of the 
 Russian millions. They would go right on, says the en- 
 thusiastic Russian, making their rude wagons in the vil- 
 lages, making what iron implements they needed, spin- 
 ning and weaving and putting together every item of 
 their clothing, and, in short, constructing, from the poorest 
 necessity up to the most dispensable luxury, everything 
 required, regardless of all the world. When one visits 
 the peasant artisans in the villages of Russia, hundreds 
 
 308
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 of miles from any railway, and thinks of what is going on 
 in this line among this most numerous of Christian people, 
 the words of Pobyedonostseff, Procurator of the Holy 
 Synod, again flash with dazzling brilliancy before the 
 eye of the inquiring and reflecting mind. " Russia," said 
 Pobyedonostseff, "is no state; Russia is a worid." 
 
 In short, industrially, the Russian people are still an ele- 
 mental people. The great masses of the Russian people, 
 with their own hands, on their own fields, and in their own 
 homes, still make what they wear and use. 
 
 Returning from the peculiarly Russian phenomenon of 
 the "kustar trades" to the conditions of the great facto- 
 ries, and the laboring -men whom they are attracting 
 within their walls, and to sum up this very inadequate 
 series of observations on Russian industrial conditions, it 
 may be fairly said that the lot of the Russian laborer in 
 mills and factories is steadily improving. Compared 
 with what it was less than a score of years ago, the 
 progress has been very considerable indeed. Also, the 
 manufacturing development is steadily influencing the 
 agricultural population. More and more a thin stream 
 of Russian agricultural working-men are going to the cities 
 in winter to work in the factories, and returning to their 
 homes in the spring and summer, bringing with them new 
 ideas, a broader mental horizon generally (though still 
 mean and limited from our view-point), and, what is more 
 important, actual creature comforts, and even some of the 
 more refined things of civilized life. 
 
 In comparison with the millions of Russian peasants, 
 this thin stream of itinerant workmen is perhaps scarcely 
 appreciable. But it flows, nevertheless, and the volume 
 swells. It is unprofitable to speculate as to the future, 
 but the forecast may be hazarded that this process will 
 continue until, as elsewhere, Russian industries will be- 
 come both more diversified and yet more centraHzed, the 
 number of laboring-men who work in factories will in- 
 crease; their skill with machinery will, year by year, be- 
 
 309
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 come greater, and, finally, in the distant future the steam- 
 driven mechanisms of modern inventive genius will take 
 from the fingers of the peasant artisan the work which he 
 and his fathers have for centuries performed. When this 
 time comes, Russia's industrial conditions will approach 
 those of Germany, England, and France. 
 
 But one thing appears probable : progress or no prog- 
 ress, improvement or no improvement, industrial classes 
 or not, Russia is not to be feared as an exporting com- 
 petitor, so far as manufacturing products are concerned, 
 for perhaps a generation to come, or maybe longer. 
 
 It may be that Russia's statesmen prefer to depend 
 upon the ability of the Russian peasant to make his own 
 clothing and implements, in gradually lessening quantities, 
 until the centralized manufacturing industry of Russia 
 itself can catch up with the Russian demand, and so keep 
 the Russian market exclusively for the Russian factories 
 and mills. If so, it will be a long process. This theory 
 is occasionally suggested, and has a substantial basis of 
 reason. Certainly appearances seem to support it, and, 
 in addition, the one sovereign thought always in the mind 
 of the Russian public man — namely, the solidarity of 
 the nation, would support this view. Indeed, arguments 
 much heard now in Russia, in support of keeping the mar- 
 kets of the empire for the labor and capital of Russia itself, 
 are very similar to those familiar to Americans. 
 
 In the statement that Russia need not be feared by the 
 other commercial nations as an exporting competitor of 
 manufactured articles in the markets of the world, the 
 export trade of Russia is borne in mind. Let us look at 
 a table (see p. 311) of Russian exports during the last 
 three years, showing what kind of merchandise it is that 
 Russia is selling abroad. In 1902 Russia sold more than 
 four hundred and ten million dollars' worth of merchan- 
 dise to other countries. On their face, and at first blush, 
 these figures appear formidable; but when we consider 
 that they represent the total exports of Russia, and then 
 
 310
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 PRINCIPAL ARTICLES EXPORTED FROM RUSSIA 
 DURING THE LAST THREE YEARS 
 
 Horses. 
 
 Fowls and Game 
 
 Cattle, Sheep, and Pigs. 
 
 Brandy and Corn Spirit . 
 Bran 
 
 Bristles. 
 Butter. . 
 Caviare . 
 
 Clothing, Ready-made 
 
 Corn, Flour, and Meal, Total of 
 
 Com, Wheat 
 
 Rye 
 
 Barley 
 
 Oats 
 
 Maize 
 
 Pease 
 
 Flour of Wheat. 
 " Rye. . . 
 
 Cotton, Manufactures of, 
 Eggs (thousands) 
 
 Flax, Raw. 
 " Tow. . 
 
 Fur and Sheep Skins. 
 Hemp, Raw 
 
 Leather and Hides, Untanned. . 
 
 Oil-cake 
 
 Oil, Illuminating, Petroleum, etc 
 
 Seeds, Oleaginous, Linseed 
 
 Rope and Koptrabi Seed 
 
 Sugar 
 
 Wool of all sorts. . . 
 Wool, Raw, Unspun. 
 
 Total value of principal and 
 other articles R. 
 
 IQOO 
 
 igoi 
 
 No. 58,990 No. 71,900 
 
 R. 5,252,000 R. 6,556,000 
 
 R. 8,658,000 R. 9,547,000 
 
 No. 130,184 No. 156,000 
 
 R- 3.743.000 R. 3,748,000 
 
 R- 575. 000 R. 591,000 
 
 P. 30,684,000 P. 32,403,000 
 
 R. 14,867,000 R. 16,406,000 
 
 P. 133,000 P. 129,000 
 
 R. 5,508,000 R. 5,425,000 
 
 P. 1,190,000 P. 1,968,000 
 
 R. 13,476,000 R. 26,432,000 
 
 P. 191,000 P. I2Q,000 
 
 R. 2,549,000 R. 1,852,000 
 
 R. 1,182,000 R. 547,000 
 
 P. 420,194,000 P. 466,011,000 
 
 R. 306,402,000 R. 344,166,000 
 
 P. 116,876,000 P. 138,513,000 
 
 R. 104,280,000 R. 122,681,000 
 
 P. 93,227,000 P. 82,732,000 
 
 R. 65,017,000 R. 56,009,000 
 
 P- 53.676,000 P. 77,580,000 
 
 R- 33.675.000 R. 47,930,000 
 
 P. 80,047,000 P. 80,307,000 
 
 R. 49,726,000 R. 58,507,000 
 
 P. 19,057,000 P. 29,706,000 
 
 R. 10,574,000 R. 17,209,000 
 
 P. 4,596,000 P. 5,122,000 
 
 R- 4,153,000 R. 4,654,000 
 
 P- 4,577,000 P. 3,683,000 
 
 R. 7,287,000 R. 5,090,000 
 
 P. 9,752,000 P. 8,956,000 
 
 R. 9,200,000 R. 8,i?i,ooo 
 
 R. 11,719,000 R. 16,924,000 
 
 1,777,000 1,997,000 
 
 R- 31.013,000 R. 35,3Q2.ooo 
 
 P. 10,571,000 P. 8,519,000 
 
 R. 43,829,000 R. 44,438,000 
 
 P. 1,967,000 P. 1,975,000 
 
 R- 5. 257,000 R. 5,554,000 
 
 R. 6,440,000 R. 6,107,000 
 
 P. 2,422,000 P. 2,564,000 
 
 R. 8,147,000 R. 9,864,000 
 
 P. 840,000 P. 701,000 
 
 R. 7,746,000 R. 6,578,000 
 
 P. 22,302,000 P. 23,559,000 
 
 R. 15,530,000 R. 16,743,000 
 
 P. 87,963,000 P. 93,372,000 
 
 R. 46,506,000 R. 52,289,000 
 
 P. 16,941.000 P. 4,565,000 
 
 R. 28,677,000 R. 8,794,000 
 
 P. 3,961,000?. 1,301,000 
 
 R. 3,984,000 R. 1,232,000 
 
 25,274,000 17,630,000 
 
 R. 58.435,000 R. 57,122,000 
 
 P. 852 000 P. 650,000 
 
 R. s.924,000 R. 5,580,000 
 
 716,418,000 R. 729,815,000 R. 825,277,000 
 
 No. 
 
 R 
 
 R. 
 
 No. 
 
 R. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R 
 
 P. 
 
 R 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 P. 
 
 R. 
 
 R. 
 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 
 R. 
 P. 
 R. 
 
 578 
 
 432 
 
 185 
 
 162 
 
 98 
 
 69 
 
 104 
 
 64 
 
 63 
 
 49 
 
 91,900 
 1,827,000 
 1,017,000 
 90,000 
 ,367,000 
 ,049,000 
 ,906,000 
 ,926,000 
 
 143,000 
 ,854,000 
 ,309,000 
 ,415,000 
 
 189,000 
 ,420,000 
 
 398,000 
 ,914,000 
 ,226,000 
 ,807,000 
 ,216,000 
 ,220,000 
 ,907,000 
 ,1 20,000 
 ,135,000 
 
 ,313.°°° 
 ,706,000 
 ,445,000 
 ,037,000 
 ,170,000 
 ,415,000 
 ,157,000 
 ,177,000 
 ,033,000 
 ,526,000 
 ,616,000 
 ,230,000 
 ,617,000 
 .753.000 
 ,460,000 
 ,675,000 
 ,249,000 
 ,453,000 
 ,1 24,000 
 ,709,000 
 
 851,000 
 ,941,000 
 ,530,000 
 ,1 22,000 
 ,357.000 
 ,143,000 
 ,1 78,000 
 ,705,000 
 ,940,000 
 ,839,000 
 ,354,000 
 ,1 22,000 
 
 809,000 
 ,120,000 
 
 Note. — Figures for 1901 and 1902 relate in most cases only to trade over the 
 European frontier. 1 Pood=36.i lbs. — i Ruble=$.5is
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 remember that they are more than a hundred milHon 
 dollars less than the merchandise sold by the United 
 States to the United Kingdom alone, their real impor- 
 tance begins to assume its proper proportions. Their 
 relative significance will be disclosed by the considera- 
 tion of just what these exports consist. 
 
 This table speaks for itself, and discloses the fact that, 
 with the exception of refined sugar and illuminating oil, 
 practically all of Russia's exports are of raw material. 
 Substantially none of them are of manufactured goods in 
 the popular meaning of that term. It will be noted that 
 the value of corn, flour, and meal exported from Russia 
 in 1902 was something over two hundred and fifteen mill- 
 ion dollars, while the exports of manufactures of cotton 
 were only a little over eight million dollars; and cotton 
 manufacturing is the industry which Russians have most 
 carefully fostered in recent years. 
 
 It may be interesting to know where these Russian ex- 
 ports go. This is shown in the following table of exports 
 for the last three years for which figures are available. 
 
 TOTAL VALUE OF EXPORTS OF DOMESTIC PRODUCE (MERCHAN- 
 DISE ONLY) FROM THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE DURING 1898. 1899. 
 AND 1900 
 
 Countries 
 
 Finland 
 
 Norway 
 
 Sweden 
 
 Denmark 
 
 Germany 
 
 Holland 
 
 Belgium 
 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 France 
 
 Spain 
 
 Italy 
 
 Austria-Hungary . 
 
 Greece. 
 
 Roumania 
 
 Turkey 
 
 Persia 
 
 Egypt 
 
 United States. . . . 
 
 China 
 
 Other countries . 
 
 Rubles 
 33,264,000 
 4,470,000 
 8,316,000 
 9,857,000 
 179.436,000 
 
 72,2S7,00O 
 
 28,788,000 
 
 139,906,000 
 
 68,594,000 
 
 2,798,000 
 
 54,608,000 
 
 42,416,000 
 
 9,653,000 
 
 12,675,000 
 
 14,478,000 
 
 I7i034,ooo 
 
 6,727,000 
 
 3,014,000 
 
 6,257,000 
 
 18,125,000 
 
 Total 732,673,000 626,983,000 716,418,000 
 
 1899 
 
 Rubles 
 
 35,116,000 
 4,948,000 
 9,295,000 
 
 12,341,000 
 163,564,000 
 
 48.821,000 
 
 23,532,000 
 I 29,162,000 
 
 59,869,000 
 7,429,000 
 
 27.755,000 
 
 26,637,000 
 9,794,000 
 6,588,000 
 
 12,682,000 
 
 17,850,000 
 5,588,000 
 4,388,000 
 7,526,000 
 
 14,089,000 
 
 1900 
 
 Rubles 
 
 41 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 187 
 
 69 
 
 23 
 
 145 
 
 57 
 
 4 
 
 36 
 
 26 
 
 8 
 
 S 
 
 18 
 
 20 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 14 
 
 ,034,000 
 ,419,000 
 ,742,000 
 ,278,000 
 ,635,000 
 ,304,000 
 i353.ooo 
 ,576,000 
 ,450,000 
 ,271,000 
 ,790,000 
 ,260,000 
 ,733,000 
 ,277,000 
 ,517,000 
 ,649,000 
 ,195,000 
 ,419,000 
 ,702,000 
 ,814,000 
 
 Note. — Figures for 1901 and 1903 not available. 
 312
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Now compare these Russian exports with Russian im- 
 ports from the same countries during the same period : 
 
 Countries 
 
 Finland 
 
 Norway 
 
 Sweden 
 
 Denmark 
 
 Germany 
 
 Holland 
 
 Belgium 
 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 France 
 
 Switzerland 
 
 Portugal 
 
 Spain 
 
 Italy 
 
 Austria-Hungary . 
 
 Greece 
 
 Roumania 
 
 Turkey 
 
 Egypt 
 
 United States. . . . 
 
 Brazil 
 
 China 
 
 Persia 
 
 Other countries . . 
 
 Rubles 
 
 19,112,000 
 
 5,394,000 
 
 4,1 21 ,000 
 
 5,249,000 
 
 202,198,000 
 
 9,777,000 
 
 23,608,000 
 
 1 15,295,000 
 
 27,1 10,000 
 
 5,851,000 
 
 1,451,000 
 
 3,250,000 
 
 10,171,000 
 
 23.925.000 
 
 723,000 
 
 1,874,000 
 
 6,867,000 
 
 22,636,000 
 
 50,059,000 
 
 1,278,000 
 
 40,293,000 
 
 21,S5I,000 
 
 15,666,000 
 
 Total 617,459,000 650,485,000 626,375,000 
 
 1899 
 
 Rubles 
 
 18,439,000 
 
 5,620,000 
 
 6,030,000 
 
 3.061,000 
 
 230,871 ,000 
 
 1 1,414,000 
 
 1 7,976,000 
 
 1 29,644,000 
 
 28,481 .000 
 
 7,034,000 
 
 1 ,648,000 
 
 3,1 15,000 
 
 9,259,000 
 
 30,617,000 
 
 916,000 
 
 2,061,000 
 
 7,184,000 
 
 12,998,000 
 
 43,772,000 
 
 561,000 
 
 43.515.000 
 
 21.686,000 
 
 14.583,000 
 
 Rubles 
 
 20,016,000 
 
 5,848,000 
 
 5,1 72,000 
 
 5,900,000 
 
 216,853,000 
 
 8,822,000 
 
 9,086,000 
 
 127,144,000 
 
 31,445,000 
 
 6,199,000 
 
 1,451,000 
 
 4,876,000 
 
 8,93S,ooo 
 
 26,983,000 
 
 761,000 
 
 1,590,000 
 
 7,705:000 
 
 11,963,000 
 
 44,170,000 
 
 256,000 
 
 45.94S.ooo 
 
 20,413,000 
 
 14,842,000 
 
 It will be noted that, while we buy of Russia between 
 one and two million dollars' worth of merchandise each 
 year, Russia purchases from us between twenty and 
 twenty-five million dollars' worth of merchandise every 
 year. 
 
 The comparative sales of Russian merchandise to other 
 countries, and Russian purchases of merchandise from 
 these same countries, can best be brought to mind by a 
 balance table (see p. 314) showing just how much each 
 country buys from and sells to Russia. 
 
 Much has been said in these two chapters descriptive of 
 the iron and steel industry of Russia as revealed by an 
 actual inspection of factories and mills, the condition and 
 efficiency of the labor there, etc. It has been noted that 
 the growth of this industry has been considerable. That 
 the total present product of iron and steel in Russia is not 
 overwhelming is shown by the actual number of tons of 
 
 313
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ooooooooo 
 
 O O •-< \C \0 m Tj- mo 
 
 O « i^oc in O ■* r~ ■ 
 
 oc o o t^ re rn CO 00 I 
 
 re M CN O O W 00 t 
 
 O o o o o o o 
 o o o o o o o 
 o o o o o o o 
 
 o o 
 o o 
 o o 
 
 o. r^ o rno oco 
 OvsC O C^ »nco 00 
 vO ooo 00 00 nO M 
 
 100 -"t M vO " 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 • o 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 () 
 
 • o 
 
 • o 
 
 O 
 
 0_ 
 
 o_ 
 
 0_ 
 
 0_ 
 rr 
 
 q 
 
 0_ 
 
 • 0_ 
 
 • o_ 
 
 ' oo" 
 
 o_ 
 
 no 
 
 o 
 
 nn 
 
 m 
 
 n> 
 
 
 . ■* 
 
 
 y, 
 
 00 
 
 1^ 
 
 f^ 
 
 t<5 J^ ■* 
 
 . a 
 
 .o 
 
 o 
 
 Cfl 
 
 in 
 
 t 
 
 m 
 
 so 
 
 T«- 
 
 
 • m 
 
 o 
 
 ■* 
 
 "- 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 
 
 ro 
 
 o c 
 o o 
 o_ o_ 
 
 iC o" 
 
 O O O O 
 O O O o 
 
 0- °. o_ o_ 
 
 in 6--C <y 
 
 t~ N M 
 
 fn re« 0_ 
 o" m" o ■* 
 
 O 
 
 
 o_ 
 
 VO 
 
 re 
 
 
 
 o o 
 o. o. 
 
 t^ ro 
 
 o. "C 
 
 ^ N 
 
 ooooooooo 
 ooooooooo 
 o o o_ o_ o_ o_ 0_ 
 Tt 6. n"oo' in ■* rn-o" o" 
 rn« 'tr-reo mt-in 
 ^t^NO rerem-.!- 
 
 
 
 o • o o o o 
 O ■ o O O 
 o_ o • o_ o_ 0_ 0_ 
 
 o" o" : t^ m" m ^ 
 
 o»o . t^o o M 
 
 t^ N . N N M_ Tt 
 
 so vO • moo O re 
 re PI • M 
 
 O 
 O 
 0_ 
 
 ■<t 
 
 O O 
 O 
 
 o. o 
 tC o" 
 
 t^ CI 
 
 t^ m 
 
 MsO NOC l^C^re^/lt^ 
 
 "-S 
 
 OOOOOOOOOO 
 OOOOOOOOOO 
 
 o o o_ o_ o_ o_ o_ o_ o_ o 
 
 H." pro''oc''o" tC re 1-^ 'too" 
 
 CO HI t^sO 00 resO O CO 00 
 
 ^ " '1 " ■". "19: '7 '\^. 
 « m re ■^ «" ""vo" cJo-o" 
 
 « i-i C- N 
 
 
 o o 
 
 O 
 0. o. 
 
 re so" 
 
 " o 
 
 O O • O -00 
 
 O -0 • o o 
 o. 0. 0. o_ • o • o_ o_ 
 m" o" n" o" ) o" ! o" m 
 t " 00 m . Tt . O m 
 m m o_ "_ . 't ."_■<*: 
 m"so" in o ■ o • o" "^ 
 
 oooooooooo 
 oooooooooo 
 oooooooooo 
 
 
 ■ O O • o 
 O -0000 ■ o 
 o o • o o o o • o 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 o o 
 
 « 00 re M re moo reo M 
 re m, r^sO N M* r^ h sO 00 
 
 0. -. "2 "l^. "1"^. ^ "2 "^ 
 
 pi" so" re ■too"oc"oo" pi" r^ in 
 
 N O O PI 
 
 
 ■<tO0 . 00 00 O " .0 
 
 PI m . m a o- « . ■* 
 
 Pi_00_ . "_ ►-_ Pi_ « . 't 
 
 d -t ■ ^ t^x Tt ■ m" 
 
 w PI • .-. re • PI 
 
 O so 
 
 o. re 
 m Tt 
 
 so" a 
 
 OOOOOOOOOO 
 OOOOOOOOOO 
 OOOOOOOOOO 
 
 sOOO M O r~PlsOC/D rei 
 
 M Ttr^o PI Piy^oo r^i 
 O 00 ■-<_ O; t-;X_ 0_ 0_ Pl_ ' 
 O m »il rnso CC O r^ M s; 
 
 o o 
 o o 
 o o 
 
 00 't 
 PI so 
 O O; 
 
 oo"so" 
 
 O O O O 
 O o o o 
 o o o o 
 
 o o 
 o o 
 o o 
 
 
 
 314
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 pig iron, wrought iron, and wrought steel produced during 
 the last twenty years. But these figures also show aston- 
 ishing growth in Russia in that infant industry — indeed, 
 it may be said, an industry actually created within the 
 last quarter of a century. So excellent a standard of in- 
 dustrial progress is the production of pig iron, wrought 
 iron, and wrought steel that it is felt that space can very 
 well be spared at this point to present a table showing the 
 growth of this industry: 
 
 COMPARATIVE STATEMENT SHOWING THE PRODUCTION OF PIG 
 IRON, WROUGHT IRON, AND WROUGHT STEEL IN THE RUS- 
 SIAN EMPIRE IN EACH OF THE UNDERMENTIONED YEARS 
 
 Year 
 
 Pig Iron 
 
 Iron 
 (Wrought) 
 
 Steel 
 (Wrought) 
 
 
 Tons* 
 
 Tons* 
 
 Tons* 
 
 1881 
 
 469,000 
 
 292,000 
 
 [ No data 
 
 1882 
 
 463,000 
 
 297,000 
 
 
 1883 
 
 482,000 
 
 323,000 
 
 222,000 
 
 1884 
 
 510,000 
 
 362,000 
 
 207,000 
 
 1885 
 
 528,000 
 
 362,000 
 
 193,000 
 
 1886 
 
 532,000 
 
 363,000 
 
 242,000 
 
 1887 
 
 612,000 
 
 369,000 
 
 225,000 
 
 1888 
 
 667,000 
 
 374,000 
 
 222,000 
 
 1889 
 
 740,000 
 
 428,000 
 
 259,000 
 
 1890 
 
 926,000 
 
 433.000 
 
 378,000 
 
 1891 
 
 1,005,000 
 
 448,000 
 
 433.000 
 
 1892 
 
 1,072,000 
 
 497,000 
 
 515.000 
 
 1893 
 
 1,149,000 
 
 499,000 
 
 631,000 
 
 1894 
 
 1,332,000 
 
 502,000 
 
 726,000 
 
 1895 
 
 1,452,000 
 
 440,000 
 
 879,000 
 
 1896 
 
 1,612,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 718,000 
 
 1897 
 
 1,869,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 868,000 
 
 1898 
 
 2,224,000 
 
 499,000 
 
 1,146,000 
 
 1899 
 
 2,675,000 
 
 566,000 
 
 1,322,000 
 
 1900 
 
 2,898,000 
 
 565,000 
 
 1,464,000 
 
 1901 
 
 2,784,000 
 
 
 
 Note. — The above particulars include the production in Finland. 
 * Metric tons of 2204 pounds. 
 
 Although not necessary for the purposes of this chapter, 
 it may be interesting to set out the associated facts as to 
 imports of merchandise into Russia during the last three 
 years. Again, this can best be done by a table, which shall 
 
 315
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 not only state the total amount of merchandise which 
 Russia buys from the rest of the world, but also the articles 
 purchased: 
 
 PRINCIPAL ARTICLES IMPORTED INTO RUSSIA 
 
 Articles 
 
 Agricultural Machinery 
 
 Books, Maps, etc 
 
 Cement and Earths 
 
 Chemicals and Drugs 
 
 Coal and Coke . 
 
 Coffee, Raw 
 
 Copper, Unwrought 
 
 Cotton, Raw 
 
 Yam 
 
 " Manufactured 
 
 Dyes, Coal, Tar, etc 
 
 Engines, Machinery, and Parts. . . 
 
 Fish, Salted or Dried 
 
 Fruit: Oranges and Lemons 
 
 Fruits, Dried : Figs, etc 
 
 Glass and Glassware 
 
 Hides and Skins, Raw 
 
 India-Rubber and Gutta Percha . 
 
 Indigo 
 
 Pig Iron 
 
 Iron Bars, etc 
 
 Iron: Sheets and Plates 
 
 Lead, in Pigs, Rolls, etc 
 
 Litharge 
 
 Metal Wares, Iron 
 
 Oils, other than mineral 
 
 Plants and Seeds 
 
 Rice 
 
 Silk, Raw 
 
 Silk, Yarn or twist 
 
 Manufactures, Silk 
 
 Tea 
 
 Tobacco, Manufactured and Un- 
 manufactured 
 
 Watches and Clocks 
 
 13,962 
 2,29s 
 
 11,875 
 1 ,908 
 6,036 
 
 12,642 
 274,570 
 
 42,298 
 
 503 
 
 5,124 
 
 784 
 
 9,038 
 
 10,289 
 
 68,036 
 145 
 4,502 
 6,488 
 62 
 3,314 
 7,182 
 
 62,759 
 8,338 
 
 14,542 
 4,648 
 5,398 
 2,226 
 8,496 
 
 479 
 
 21,508 
 
 43 
 
 2,750 
 
 3,i6s 
 
 1,903 
 
 2,782 
 
 4,538 
 
 3,017 
 
 4,600 
 
 3,232 
 
 5,0 1 1 
 
 30,864 
 
 S45 
 
 5,778 
 
 4.785 
 
 0,845 
 
 2,951 
 
 3,674 
 
 83 
 
 13,344 
 
 2 
 
 S68 
 
 4,400 
 
 3,493 
 
 47.223 
 
 57 
 
 2,266 
 
 3,227 
 
 316 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 ,000 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 P. 
 ,000 R 
 ,000 R 
 ,000 R 
 ,000 R 
 ,000 . . 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 
 000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 
 ,000 
 
 000 
 ,000 
 
 15,867 
 2,093 
 10,884 
 1,5 
 
 6,780 
 
 13,131, 
 
 223,633 
 
 21,431 
 
 562 
 
 3,717 
 
 683 
 
 7,583 
 
 10, 375 
 
 63,795 
 
 137 
 
 4,796 
 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 
 70,000 
 3,385,000 
 4,463,000 
 
 40,658,000 
 9,621 ,000 
 
 13,635,000 
 5,748,000 
 5,821 ,000 
 1,033,000 
 
 581, 
 
 19,098, 
 
 48, 
 
 2,817, 
 
 1,847 
 
 857. 
 
 2,290 
 
 2,305 
 
 3,10s 
 
 4,032 
 
 2,587. 
 
 5,009 
 
 28,164 
 
 905 
 
 5,553 
 
 5,625 
 
 ii,Si5 
 
 4,174 
 
 5,119 
 
 98 
 
 11,130 
 
 3 
 
 860 
 
 3,346 
 
 2,887 
 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 ,000 
 000 
 ,000 
 000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 000 
 000 
 
 2,51 2,000 
 3,289,000 
 
 1902 
 
 18,255 
 1,751 
 9,847 
 1,544 
 5,999 
 
 13,543 
 201 ,032 
 
 21,907 
 
 588 
 
 4,852 
 
 1,084 
 
 9,263 
 
 10,866 
 
 68,083 
 
 147 
 
 4,695 
 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 ,ooO 
 
 69,000 
 
 3,579,000 
 
 3,866,000 
 
 33,104,000 
 
 9,623,000 
 
 13,323,000 
 
 3,57,5,000 
 
 5,642,000 
 
 1,843,000 
 
 552,000 
 
 18,409,000 
 
 50,000 
 
 2,914,000 
 
 1,1 14,000 
 
 5,537,000 
 
 1,154,000 
 
 1 ,234,000 
 
 2,584,000 
 
 3,456,000 
 
 2,702,000 
 
 4,833,000 
 
 25,974,000 
 
 1,081,000 
 
 5,743,000 
 
 6,047,000 
 13,085,000 
 
 3,625,000 
 
 4,371,000 
 
 108,000 
 
 15,524,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 1,046,000 
 3,264,000 
 
 4,368,000 
 
 2,504,000 
 2,483,000
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 PRINCIPAL ARTICLES IMPORTED INTO RUSSIA.— Con^ 
 
 Articles 
 
 1903 
 
 Wine in Casks 
 
 Wine in the bottles, sparkling and ( 
 other ) 
 
 Wool, Raw 
 
 Woollen Yams 
 
 Woollen Manufactures. 
 
 560,000 
 
 7,485,000 
 
 2,028,000 
 
 5,439,000 R. 
 
 927,000'P. 
 
 I 2,5s6,ooo!R. 
 
 322,000 r. 
 
 io,734,ooo!R. 
 7,084,000 R. 
 
 Total value of principal and other ) 
 articles ) 
 
 R. 626,375,000 
 
 502,000 
 6,092,000 
 
 2,007,000 
 
 5,643,000 
 1 ,067,000 
 
 16,461 ,000 
 501 ,000 
 
 1 7,707,000 
 6,242,000 
 
 485,000 
 7,4?5.ooo 
 
 2,069,000 
 
 6,019,000 
 1,280,000 
 
 19,004,000 
 509,000 
 
 15,762,000 
 6,639,000 
 
 R- S3*i944.ooo 
 
 R. 527,095,000 
 
 Note. — Figures for 1901 and 1902 relate in most cases to trade over the Euro- 
 pean frontier only. 
 
 R.— Ruble (S.5I5)- P.— Pood (36.1 lbs.). B.— Bottle. 
 
 Again, this table is its own best commentator. Two 
 or three items of particular interest to American manu- 
 facturers may, however, be profitably pointed out. It 
 is noted that the sale of agricultural miachinery to Russia 
 in 190? is over $9,000,000 It will also be observed that 
 these sales of agricultural implements are steadily, though 
 not rapidly, increasing. The annual increase of Russian 
 purchases of agricultural machinery from abroad is sug- 
 gestive. For example, from 1897 to 1902 Russia bought 
 agricultural implements abroad as follows: 
 
 1897 5,590,000 Rubles 
 
 1898 9,594,000 
 
 1899 12,399,000 
 
 igoo 13,962,000 Rubles 
 
 1901 15,867,000 " 
 
 1902 18,255,000 " 
 
 It is thus seen that Russian purchases of agricultural 
 implements from other nations show a steady increase of 
 not far from one million to two million dollars a year. 
 This is not a great deal, it is true. But when it is remem- 
 bered that Russian agricultural progress is only in its 
 beginning, that agricultural implements of a modem kind 
 are still very sparingly used in the Czar's dominions, and 
 that once their use is well established and the peasantry 
 familiarized with them, their sales to the Russian a^- 
 
 317
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 cultural millions will be out of all proportion to these 
 small beginnings ; that this hour is near at hand, if, indeed 
 it has not already struck; and that, more than all other 
 nations combined, the United States has the advantage 
 in the agricultural implement trade, the importance of 
 this market can be understood. 
 
 These remarks are also true of engines and machinery. 
 The very significant fact is, however, to be noted that 
 during the last three years the purchases of foreign engines 
 and machinery by Russia have steadily fallen off, whereas, 
 before 1900, the growth of Russian purchases of engines 
 and machinery were extremely rapid. For example, from 
 1897 to 1902 Russia bought engines and machinery abroad 
 as follows: 
 
 1897 49,204,000 Rubles 
 
 1898 70,301,000 " 
 
 1899 98,000,000 " 
 
 1900 62,759,000 Rubles 
 
 1901 40,658,000 " 
 
 1902 33,104,000 " 
 
 Many causes are given for this decline, but the two prin- 
 cipal causes are, first, the growth of Russian factories 
 for the construction of engines and machinery, and, sec- 
 ondly, the tariff wars which Russia has felt compelled 
 to wage with other countries. Particularly is this latter 
 true of Russian purchases from America. The dechne 
 in the sales in Russia of American manufactured articles, 
 and especially of machinery and engines, etc., was un- 
 doubtedly influenced by the tariff retaliations of Russia 
 to the action of our government in the matter of the 
 export of Russian sugar. Whatever the cause, the fact 
 itself is important, because the field is new and practically 
 unexploited.
 
 XXII 
 
 FEBRUARY I9, 1861, THE BIRTHDAY OF RUSSIAN INDUS- 
 TRIAL FREEDOM 
 
 THE Russian peasant is the Russian nation. The 
 nobiUty, the clergy, the merchant form important 
 classes, it is true; but the peasant so overwhelmingly 
 outnumbers all other classes combined that when we 
 speak of the Russian people we necessarily mean the 
 Russian peasantry. He it is who tills the soil and fills 
 the factories; he who consumes the tea, drinks the vodka, 
 pays the taxes; he who equips the army and fights the 
 empire's battles; he who mans the ships of Russia's grow- 
 ing fleets; he on whom the whole government rests; he 
 who holds in his breast the destiny of the Slav race. 
 
 On the other hand, all institutions of Russia are his; 
 the Greek Orthodox Church is the peasant's Church; in 
 a way not to be comprehended by us, his, in the end, is 
 the Russian government itself. Indeed, most of the great 
 strokes of Russian statesmanship have been brought about 
 by peasant conditions and influences; while, on the other 
 hand, the Autocrat has dealt mercilessly with the nobles. 
 From the days of Ivan the Terrible down to the time of 
 Peter the Great, the Czar of the Russian people smote 
 the nobles with mailed hand; and so, within the memory 
 of living man, the ruler of the Russian people again struck 
 down the nobility and exalted the peasantry in a fashion 
 which in other lands might have caused bloody resist- 
 ance. 
 
 Indeed, in all of its legislation the prejudices, customs, 
 and conditions of the peasant are powerful circumstances 
 
 319
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 influencing the laws formulated by Russian statesmen 
 and issued under the hand of the Czar. 
 
 The Autocrat of all the Russias may do what he likes 
 with noble or with merchant; but if he dared trifle with 
 the Russian Church he would find himself confronted 
 with furious millions of peasantry, from one end of his 
 empire to the other. For example, the whole religious 
 world knows how the mere change of one letter in spelling 
 of the word "Jesus" almost caused a revolution and split 
 the ancient Church of Russia into fragments that two 
 centuries have not sufficed to unite. Again, if the Czar 
 should attempt suddenly to destroy the communal system, 
 by which the peasantry live and work in common, all his 
 bayonets could not enforce it. 
 
 To understand Russia, then, it is clear we must have 
 some conception of that shaggy, undeveloped, but also 
 unexhausted giant, the Russian peasant. Of course, we 
 cannot even then hope to understand Russia entirely; 
 for, as has been said, no man, Russian or foreigner, can 
 comprehend this strange human mosaic, which is even 
 yet in the process of formation, so contradictory are its 
 various elements and yet so homogeneous; from such 
 different sources, racial and historical, spring the influ- 
 ences which control and form it. Indeed, no attempt will 
 be made to comprehensively describe the peasant himself. 
 But a few fundamental facts may be given which will be 
 helpful in understanding this unfamiliar being of whose 
 work and future this volume so largely deals. 
 
 The greatest fact in connection with the Russian peas- 
 antry is the emancipation of Russian serfs, proclaimed 
 February 19, 1861. Most other facts lead up to this; all 
 subsequent facts lead down from it. And in addition to 
 this stupendous feat of autocratic statesmanship in the 
 interest of human liberty, affording the view-point from 
 which both the past and the future of the Russian people 
 must be surveyed, it is also the most amazing circum- 
 stance of its kind in the history of the world. Indeed, 
 
 320
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 it is the only circumstance of its kind. At first it was 
 thought by some students that the emancipation of the 
 peasant in Pinissia and Austria were similar, although 
 on a comparatively small scale. But students now un- 
 derstand that these incidents, while bearing some re- 
 semblance to the Russia achievement, were not at all 
 the same thing; while the emancipation of the American 
 slaves by Abraham Lincoln bears only surface resemblance 
 to the emancipation of the Slav bondman. What, then, 
 of this astonishing exercise of autocratic power in the 
 liberation of the humble millions, for whose oppression 
 the autocracy was supposed to exist? 
 
 The study of the processes by which the Russian 
 peasant degenerated into slavery is interesting, but neither 
 the purpose nor limits of this volume admit of historical 
 references except where absolutely necessary. At this 
 particular point it is enough to say that in the middle of 
 the nineteenth century the overwhelming majority of the 
 Russian people were serfs. The Russian peasant was a 
 slave. He labored for an absolute master. His toil was 
 the subject of barter like that of cattle or mules. Men 
 and women were bought and sold. This slavery of a na- 
 tion was attended by most of the degrading effects char- 
 acteristic of human bondage everywhere. 
 
 This was the situation when Alexander the Liberator 
 determined at a single stroke to free the scores of millions 
 of Russian serfs. Nor was this a mere whim of autocratic 
 leniency. The emancipation of the Russian serfs was 
 the result of a national movement. It was dictated by 
 public opinion. The Czar expressed in concrete form 
 the thought of the Russian nation. He merely gave 
 practical effect to the purposes of Russian progress. The 
 elements of the whole mighty question were discussed in 
 Russian novels, much as negro slavery in the United 
 S+.ates was brought to the mind and conscience of the 
 American people by similar means. Every phase of the 
 proposed reform was debated in the Russian press. Even 
 ?i 321
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Nicholas, in 1848, had appointed a commission for the 
 study of this tremendous subject; and so it was that the 
 Czar Alexander, in becoming "the Liberator," merely 
 reflected the soul of Russia. 
 
 The Russian slave was to be given not only his personal 
 liberty, by which is meant his right to work, and himself 
 . enjoy the fruits thereof, instead of being compelled to 
 labor for another without reward; the Russian states- 
 man's thought went farther and declared that this serf 
 should be endowed with land. Not only were his chains 
 to be broken, but he was to be given the implements of 
 livelihood; not only was he to be made as free in his per- 
 sonal relations as the merchant or nobleman who owned 
 him, but he was also to be made the owner of the soil to 
 which he had been chained. 
 
 Nor was this all to be done recklessly, thoughtlessly. 
 The details of it were maturely thought out by the com- 
 mission of experts appointed by the Czar. The vast 
 movement had its own particular statesman in the person 
 of Nicholas Malutin, one of the notable constructive re- 
 formers of history. This practical dreamer and his asso- 
 ciates, all men of extraordinary ability, singleness of pur- 
 pose, and martyr-like devotion to high ideals, gave the 
 best work of their lives to solving this complicated 
 problem of progress. 
 
 Finally, on February 19, 1861, their work was given 
 practical effect by the proclamation of emancipation pro- 
 nounced on that day to the assembled peasants in every 
 church of Russia, and from that day until the present 
 time the work of carrying out this vast plan has been in 
 progress. Remembering now that, before this date, the 
 great body of the Russian nation were serfs ; remembering 
 that their labor and persons were bought and sold; re- 
 membering that they owned not a single foot of land, 
 nor even the miserable huts in which they dwelt; re- 
 membering the brutalities to which for ages they had 
 been subjected (though inconsiderable in severity com- 
 
 322
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 pared to the treatment of serfs or slaves in other coun- 
 tries); remembering these things, let us consider what, 
 by a single act, the Czar of Russia accomplished for these, 
 the real Russian people. 
 
 First of all, the serf was given his personal property as 
 his ver}'- own. He was given the dwelling in which he 
 lived and the ground on which it stood as his absolute 
 possession. He was endowed with the liberty to labor for 
 himself and use the proceeds of his toil as he might see 
 fit; and, lastly, he was given, under provisions for its 
 payment, land which now amounts to upward of four 
 hundred million acres. This was done in order to make 
 the people of Russid|;^ land-owning people. It was done 
 to give them a permknent and inalienable "stake in the 
 country." The Czar desired that an empire of land- 
 owning nobles should be transformed into an empire of 
 land-owning people. And this rule was applied impar- 
 tially to the serfs and lands belonging to the Czar himself 
 (to "the Crown," as the technical expression is), as well as 
 to the lands and slaves belonging to the nobles. 
 
 It was as if the United States, when it freed the negro 
 slaves from their Southern masters, had at the same time 
 given them, under provisions for payment, the lands of 
 their late owners. Nor is this comparison sufficiently 
 radical. If at the time of our civil war four-fifths of 
 the people of the United States had been slaves, we 
 should have had, comparatively speaking, the situation 
 which confronted Russian reformers when Alexander 
 issued his ukase of freedom. Nor does this adequately 
 state the relative situations. If, in addition to this 
 overwhelming majority of slave population, the land 
 of the United States had been held by a very small 
 fraction of the already small number who were not slaves, 
 we should have had precisely the agrarian conditions 
 which existed in Russia on February 19, 1861. And 
 if, with these conditions existing in the United States at 
 the time of our civil war, this immense majority of our 
 
 323
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 population, being slaves, had suddenly been made free, 
 and hundreds of millions of acres of land had been taken 
 from the private owners thereof and placed in the pos- 
 session of the newly freed slaves, we should have had 
 exactly the social and industrial revolution which the 
 Russian Czar effected by his autocratic signature. 
 
 In thus taking from the nobles the land which belonged 
 to them, and giving it to the slaves, it made no differ- 
 ence that the noble objected. A maximum and minimum 
 amount of land, belonging to the nobles, was fixed by 
 the government, and with this he was compelled to part, 
 whether he wanted to or not. On the other hand, the 
 peasants were compelled to take at least the minimum 
 amount of land, whether they wanted to or not. This 
 minimum of land was calculated to be sufficient to serve 
 the needs of the community which was compelled to take 
 it, for the land went to the communities and not to the 
 individual peasants. Any attempt to force the land on 
 individual peasants would have been fruitless. Accus- 
 tomed as he is to living and working in common, the 
 Russian peasant was incapable of taking and cultivating 
 the land individually, as an American farmer does, if, 
 indeed, the Russian is not incapable of doing this as a 
 matter of nature. 
 
 Within certain limits the peasant and the proprietor 
 were permitted to make their own terms, and to these 
 terms, once made, both parties were compelled to ad- 
 here. For example, one provision of the law permitted 
 the noble proprietor to give absolutely, and without pay- 
 ment, one-fourth of the maximum of the land designated 
 by the government to the peasant; and if the peasant 
 accepted it, the noble proprietor was released from the 
 necessity of parting with any more of his land. In many 
 instances the peasant availed himself of this provision, 
 being influenced by the universal human desire to get 
 something for nothing, with the result that such peasants 
 soon found themselves comparatively impoverished. 
 
 324
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 As in every undertaking of large dimensions, even when 
 most carefully thought out, it was found that this great re- 
 fonn did not work as well as had been expected. For ex- 
 ample, where aiTangements had been made between the 
 noble and the peasant for payment for the land thus 
 taken from the noble and sold to the peasant, the peasant 
 was still to be under "temporary obligations" until the 
 payment was made. It was found that these "temporary 
 obligations" were rapidly degenerating into the condi- 
 tions of serfdom from which the whole movement was 
 designed to lift him. On the other hand, the noble was 
 seriously crippled in the operation of his estate by are- 
 form which changed everything and yet left old conditions. 
 It can be truthfully said that a few years after the eman- 
 cipation, agriculturally and economically, Russia was in 
 a state of chaos. 
 
 The government promptly came to the aid of both 
 peasant and noble. It was arranged that the government 
 itself should pay the noble for the land, and that the 
 peasant should be responsible for his pa3''ment to the 
 government, instead of to the noble. This involved an 
 immediate expenditure on the part of the Russian govern- 
 ment so immense that no treasury could stand the drain ; 
 and, therefore, government scrip or bonds of two classes 
 was issued to the nobles in payment of the lands of which 
 they had thus been deprived. Both of these classes of 
 government securities were negotiable, one of them 
 easily and the other with difficulty. The nobles, finding 
 themselves in sore financial need, immediately disposed 
 of their securities, which, of course, depreciated; and it is 
 still the wonder of students of the science of money that 
 Russia escaped a financial catastrophe from which she 
 could not recover. But, while experiencing embarrass- 
 ments, the empire passed through the crisis without serious 
 difficulty. 
 
 The consequences to the nobles were desperate and 
 permanent. Large numbers of them, following the profli- 
 
 325
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 gate habits of their former hves, squandered their cash 
 and mortgaged the remainder of their holdings. In this 
 way many splendid estates have passed from noble into 
 capitalist hands. Others of the nobility embarked in 
 commercial and manufacturing pursuits, with varying de- 
 grees of success. Through the change wrought by the 
 emancipation, it may be said that the Russian nobihty, 
 as a class, were all but ruined. Vast estates in Russia 
 are still held in noble hands, but they are insignificant 
 compared with the holdings of half a century ago, and 
 thousands of Russian nobles have become both moneyless 
 and landless. 
 
 On the other hand, the peasants, of course, could not 
 immediately pay for the lands which the great majority of 
 them had been forced to take. This was true even where 
 the peasantry availed themselves of the provisions of the 
 emancipation and voluntarily took over the lands of the 
 nobles. So the government arranged that the peasant 
 might repay the government in instalments. These in- 
 stalments were to continue for a period of forty-nine 
 years, capitalized at six per cent, on the value of the 
 lands estimated in dues. This annual payment of six 
 per cent, was to extinguish, in that period of time, the 
 peasant's entire indebtedness, both principal and interest. 
 To facilitate this process, as well as to aid the nobihty 
 with its scrip, land banks were established all over the 
 empire. Even this was not enough. The peasants were 
 continually falling into arrears, and more than once the 
 government has extended the time of the peasant's pay- 
 ments, and it is said that remittances of arrears have 
 more than once been made. Indeed, it is proposed to 
 remit the entire remaining indebtedness of the peasantry 
 for the land which it now owns. 
 
 The effect of this unparalleled act of statesmanship has 
 been complex, far-reaching, and contradictory. In Russia 
 you can get no two opinions about it that entirely agree. 
 Any view expressed will be contradicted by some one. 
 
 326
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 It was not entirely satisfactory to anybody. The nobles 
 bitterly complained after they had, by reckless ex- 
 penditure or bad investments, been seriously injured or 
 absolutely ruined. The peasants complained because it 
 was inconvenient to make the payments for the land 
 with which they had been endowed. Indeed, they ob- 
 jected to making any payments at all. They had heard 
 of the emancipation which was coming, and they had 
 looked upon it as an event which would not only give 
 them their personal liberty, but also bestow upon them, 
 without money and without price, the lands of the 
 nobles. 
 
 You will be informed by authority whose disinterested- 
 ness and accuracy you cannot possibly doubt, that there 
 are peasants in Russia who still look for a second emanci- 
 pation, giving them new additions of land absolutely and 
 without any cost whatever to themselves. They soon 
 forgot the severities of serfdom, and remembered only the 
 comparatively trivial inconveniences of the present. Also, 
 as their families increased and the lands owned by entire 
 communes had to be subdivided into smaller lots, the 
 amount given them by the original emancipation has 
 gradually and rapidly become insufficient, although it was 
 sufficient at the time of the emancipation. This difficulty 
 is partly overcome by emigration to Siberia and by the 
 increased manufacturing industries which take numbers 
 of the commune, through a portion of the year at least, 
 to the great factory centres. 
 
 Again, a curious set of conditions arose which has 
 given all parties concerned endless trouble, but which, 
 of course, cannot be said to be insurmountable. For 
 example, when the Russian peasant was the slave of his 
 owner he felt perfectly free to use all his master's tools, 
 implements, and other property; indeed, it was his duty. 
 He has not yet been able to get it through his head that 
 although he is released from the obligation of working 
 for nothing for his master, he is not correspondingly 
 
 327
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 obliged to refrain from using everything belonging to 
 his master, as in the old days. Again, in the days of 
 bondage he was at liberty to cut from the forests on his 
 master's domains the timber necessary to build himself 
 a house, or for any other purposes; and even to the 
 present day he is not able to understand why, when 
 there happens to be no forests on the lands belonging to 
 his commune, he may not cut timber from the lands of 
 the man who was formerly his master, exactly as he 
 used to do. 
 
 The most curious situations are even yet arising, grow- 
 ing out of this inability of the peasant to comprehend 
 the obligation as well as the benefits of his emancipation. 
 Liberties are taken by the Russian peasant with the 
 property of a Russian proprietor which would not be 
 tolerated for an instant by an American in the same 
 situation. In all of this there is not the slightest im- 
 pertinence, not the least intention to wrong the landed 
 proprietor, nor the faintest conception on the part of the 
 peasant that there is anything immoral in what he does. 
 He or his fathers did the like before, and he just continues 
 to do the same as a matter of course. Nevertheless, this 
 inability to distinguish property rights is gradually fading 
 away. When the peasant is remonstrated with he is all 
 humility and repentance, and this humility is real and 
 this repentance is very genuinely felt. 
 
 Another curious effect of emancipation upon the 
 Russian peasant was the occurrence of the exact reverse 
 of what Americans would expect to happen under hke 
 circumstances. It would be urged by the theorists here, 
 or indeed anywhere, that for people formerly slaves to 
 be given their liberty, and formerly landless to be pre- 
 sented with farms, would necessarily induce them to 
 greater individual effort and to improved methods of 
 agriculture. Indeed, this very argument was asserted 
 with vehemence and iteration in Russia itself, as one of 
 the expected beneficent results of liberation; but noth- 
 
 328
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ing of the kind immediately occurred. Indeed, nothing 
 of the kind became manifest for several decades. On the 
 contrary, the first efifects were the exact reverse; and this 
 might have been expected had the Russian reformers 
 looked through the spectacles of the practical instead of 
 gazing into the mists of fancy. For the Russian slave 
 who found himself thus suddenly freed and equipped with 
 independent land holdings actually retrograded agricult- 
 urally. This is true, notwithstanding the fact that it is 
 hard to think that agriculture could retrograde in Russia, 
 so bad was it at that time, so bad is it even now. 
 
 But the Russian peasant lacks initiative. As has been 
 pointed out, this appears to be a racial peculiarity of 
 the Slav. Also, an influence common to all countries 
 worked within the breast of the newly liberated serf — 
 he had yielded simple obedience to simple command 
 in the old days. He was merely ordered about and did 
 precisely what he was directed to do; so when he was 
 left, in a measure, to shift for himself, he did not know 
 what to do. Before the emancipation many of the 
 nobles were beginning to introduce new methods of 
 agriculture; indeed, large numbers of them were doing 
 this, but even with the aid of their authority, inteUigent 
 direction, and abundance of ready money with which to 
 buy implements, improved methods of agriculture were 
 introduced with the greatest possible difficulty. Even 
 these progressive nobles found it hard to get the peasant 
 to abandon the methods of his forefathers, so deeply 
 steeped was he in custom. The Russian peasant is 
 saturated with precedent. 
 
 Nevertheless, of course, under the old conditions thus 
 briefly described, perceptible progress was making. But 
 with the new order of things established by the emancipa- 
 tion the authority of the noble over the peasant was 
 abolished, his financial ability paralyzed, and, worst of 
 all, his personal interest, which influenced him to im- 
 prove Russian agricultural methods, was suddenly ex- 
 
 329
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 tinguished. So one of the first effects of emancipation 
 was a positive reaction in agricultural progress. No new 
 farm implements for the freed slave; he refused to use 
 them when he was a serf except upon the insistent orders 
 of his lord; very well, he certainly would not use them 
 now. No iron or steel ploughs for him; he found them 
 heavy and difficult in the days of bondage; now in the 
 days of liberty he would return to or continue the wooden 
 plough of his youth. No reaper for him; the few of his 
 brothers whom certain advanced nobles had compelled 
 to work those awkward machines never understood 
 them; and, now that he was free, his hands and his 
 sickle were quite good enough. And, besides, all of these 
 innovations of the evil one were expensive. And did not 
 the good Czar require him even to pay for the land that 
 he had been compelled to take? 
 
 This agricultural retrogression furnished multitudes of 
 instances with which pessimists in and out of Russia 
 fortified their arguments against the possibility of any 
 real material advancement in the conditions of the Rus- 
 sian people; but to the man who looked beyond the 
 hour a more hopeful horizon appeared. It was inevitable 
 that in time the Russian peasant, having grown accus- 
 tomed to his new industrial independence, would himself 
 perceive the advantage of better m thods of farming. 
 It was clear, too, that it would be not only the interest 
 but the actual necessity of the government to instruct 
 him to use the modern inventions in the tilling of his 
 land and to aid agricultural industry by every possible 
 means. 
 
 And of course, just these plainly inevitable things are 
 beginning to arrive — have even now arrived to a degree 
 astonishing when we consider the condition of the Russian 
 peasant within the memory of living men and take into 
 account also his racial lethargy. Everywhere throughout 
 the empire the latest agricultural implements are being 
 introduced. You may now find the most improved
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 threshing-machines at work in more than one-quarter of 
 the Czar's domain. American reapers may actually be 
 said to be numerous, and if the use of steel ploughs con- 
 tinues to grow as it has recently grown they will be in 
 practically universal employment among the scores of 
 millions of Russian farmers before two decades have 
 passed away. A single illustration will show how the 
 Russian peasant, whose father was a slave and whose 
 ancestors for generations have known nothing but the 
 wooden plough, is now taking to the steel implement in- 
 stead, and how the government is encouraging him. 
 
 After a long day's journey in the agricultural districts 
 of the "black belt" (the black-soil district of Russia), 
 we came to a country town which was the seat of local 
 government for that particular section. In this town 
 is a large store for the supply of the simple needs of that 
 agricultural neighborhood, and here great numbers of steel 
 ploughs of different sizes and prices were found. They 
 were of Russian manufacture, and sold to the peasant at 
 very little above the cost of the making and the trans- 
 portation. 
 
 "Oh yes," said a young man who had charge of this 
 department, himself a peasant, "we sell great numbers 
 of these ploughs and the demand is rapidly increas- 
 ing." 
 
 "Yes," said my Russian friend, "the worst pessimist 
 now admits that our common people are at last making 
 tangible progress in agricultural industry, and I must 
 admit that the government seems to be waking up in 
 this vital department of our national life. It is doing 
 all it can to encourage every agricultural improvement 
 among the people. And that the people on their side 
 are taking kindly to it is evidenced not only by the 
 sales of these ploughs, but by the more important cir- 
 cumstance that this is a co-operative store. The whole 
 enterprise is a mutual undertaking. There is no profit in 
 it for any one, and the prices of the various things there 
 
 33^
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 sold are only enough above their actual cost to pay the 
 expenses of running the establishment." 
 
 It is said that these little communistic establishments 
 are forming all over the empire. They are very much 
 like the granger store with which the American public be- 
 came familiar in the great farmer movement of the seven- 
 ties. Their bottom idea is similar to that of those Amer- 
 ican socialistic enterprises which with us flourished for 
 a few brief months and then died at the hands of that 
 individualism which appears to be an ineradicable part 
 of the Anglo - Saxon nature. But it is by no means 
 certain that a like fate awaits the Russian granger 
 store. Indeed, it is more probable that it will en- 
 dure; for it has back of it the racial tendency of the 
 Russian to do business on the communistic principle. 
 Where like undertakings by Americans or English- 
 men, or even Germans, would first be interrupted by 
 contentions and then distracted by quarrels, and finally 
 break down by the inability of the various members of 
 the association to agree among themselves, the same 
 number of Russians get along very well together, and 
 practically without antagonism. In addition to this it 
 must be remembered that the influence of the govern- 
 ment is always favorable to every form of communistic 
 industry. Indeed, the Russian state may be said to be 
 at the bottom communistic. The government's policy 
 in this particular is not so much the plan of cunning 
 statecraft as it is obedience to the tendencies, conditions, 
 and natural aptitudes of the Russian people. 
 
 Again, instead of increasing the independence, alertness, 
 and energy of the Russian peasant, the first effect of the 
 emancipation was the contrary. The shiftlessness of the 
 slave became the lethargy of the freedman. In bondage 
 the serf worked only as much as he was forced to; in 
 liberty the freedman would work just as little as he possi- 
 bly could. But this effect also was, historically speak- 
 ing, temporary, although it has taken decades to work a 
 
 332
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 change. Indeed, the unsympathetic foreign observer who 
 usually contents himself with a little country journey of 
 a day or two out of Moscow or some other large Russian 
 city, where he spends most of his time in witnessing 
 cathedrals and admiring pictures, will declare that the 
 Russian agricultural laborer is hopeless as respects his 
 personal industry, his methods of farming, and his 
 character as a man. And such an observer will cite 
 scores of instances to establish the truth of this general- 
 ization. 
 
 For example, the writer observed within easy sight 
 of Moscow itself a peasant ploughing land with the same 
 kind of wooden implements with which his ancestors tilled 
 the same soil in the days of the Tartar subjugation. 
 Bare-headed, his profuse mane of hair loose to the winds, 
 his cotton blouse belted around him, his one poor horse 
 hitched to the ancient plough which his own hands had 
 hewed from some tree cut down by himself — this peasant 
 looked like the fifteenth century personified at work in 
 the early dawn of the twentieth century. 
 
 But these are only the remains of the ancient conditions 
 that are passing away even more rapidly than any 
 rational thinker might have expected ; for it is not good 
 sense to expect that the conditions of ages are to be 
 transformed in a day, a year, or a generation. Nature 
 works slowly in all of her processes; and she works just 
 as leisurely in transforming the soul of man as in modify- 
 ing vegetation. So many people expect things to occur 
 instantly. Time, which is the great factor in all human 
 development, is so seldom taken into account. And 
 when you do take time into account, and also take into 
 account that past out of which present conditions grew, 
 the sane observer of the Russian industrial situation in 
 the country districts must admit that real, substantial, 
 and, historically speaking, even rapid progress is being 
 made. 
 
 "No one need talk to me about Russian popular prog- 
 
 353
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ress," said a young American gentleman who last year 
 made a journey through the empire from the Geiman 
 frontier to the shores of the Yellow Sea. 
 
 "The Russian peasant," continued he, "has not the 
 faintest conception of what manhood means. For ex- 
 ample, we were going along a country -road in our carriage, 
 which was not at all ostentatious. We passed some mou- 
 jiks. Off went every cap, and bowed in shameful obse- 
 quiousness was every head. It was both disgusting and 
 pitiful." 
 
 This young American gentleman, a graduate of Yale, a 
 man of wide travel and exceptional culture, was unable to 
 see anything in this but the slavishness of soul of the Rus- 
 sian peasant; and this was to him a confirmation of his 
 preconceived belief that the oppressions of the govern- 
 ment have extinguished every spark of self-respect in the 
 Russian people, and carefully kept it from being rekin- 
 dled. Yet his interpretation of what he saw, and on 
 which he based his reasoning, was wide of the mark ; for 
 this apparent humility was in large measure the Russian 
 peasant's method of being polite. The obsequiousness 
 of it was due to the custom established when these 
 peasants or their fathers were slaves, and when that 
 method of salute had for generations been a custom; and 
 once a custom among the Russians, always a custom. 
 
 Formerly anybody who rode in a carriage was cer- 
 tainly a landed proprietor, and, therefore, a noble and an 
 owner of serfs. So now he who rides in a carriage must 
 certainly be a person of consequence, to whom defer- 
 ence is due merely as a matter of politeness. Also, the 
 Oriental strain in the Russian blood must be taken into 
 account. And every one knows that the Oriental will go 
 through profound prostrations and a magnificent elo- 
 quence of gladness on greeting a superior, which do not 
 mean anything more than the casual nod of the head, 
 shake of the hand, or our "how do you do?" means 
 among ourselves. So the exaggerated deference which the 
 
 334
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Russian peasant pays to any one who seems to be a per- 
 son of consequence must not be mistaken for any lack of 
 personal independence. 
 
 Of this independence, a story which you will hear over 
 and over again in Russia is an excellent illustration. It 
 is said that, at the exact hour when the peasants under- 
 stood that their emancipation would be proclaimed, a cer- 
 tain noble was travelling in his carriage with coachman, 
 footman, and other servants. Also, he was a man par- 
 ticularly beloved by his serfs. At midnight of the day 
 of emancipation his vehicle was in the thick of a forest 
 through which the road passed. When the serfs were 
 quite sure that it was an hour past the time of their 
 promised liberation, the horses were stopped and the 
 coachman, footman, and all the rest of them came cour- 
 teously to the door, cap in hand, and, profoundly bowing, 
 wished their former master good-night; and, in spite of 
 his expostulations, threats, and pleadings, they left him. 
 They did this, so it is said, to show him that he no longer 
 owned them. They meant to demonstrate that they 
 were freemen. 
 
 Of course this story, which is so well embedded in cur- 
 rent Russian anecdote that it is almost folk-lore now, is 
 entirely untrue; for the kindhness and consideration of 
 the Russian nature would never permit the peasants to 
 do such a thing. But there is absolutely no doubt that 
 many thousands of incidents showing the peasants' per- 
 sonal independence did occur. 
 
 With all of the immediate apparent ill effects of the 
 emancipation (which are here recited to correct any mis- 
 apprehension of the character of the Russian peasant), 
 the permanent and hopeful results are even now beginning 
 to appear. In comparison with the American farmer, the 
 inteUigence of the Russian farmer is very low; but in com- 
 parison with what you are told of the density of the Rus- 
 sian serf of less than half a century ago, the intelligence of 
 the Russian farmer of to-day is credible. In compari- 
 
 335
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 son with the wide-awakeness of the American, the alert- 
 ness of the Russian is somnolent; but, in comparison 
 with his former blindness as a serf, his eyes are now fairly 
 opened. 
 
 Slowly but surely he is coming to an understanding of 
 the meaning of his independence, the rights of property, 
 the commercial value of truth, the good effects of per- 
 sonal industry, the happy consequences of applying new 
 methods in his work, the sure results of economy — in 
 short, all of the lessons which personal industrial liberty 
 teaches human nature anywhere are being learned by 
 the Russian peasant. And so it is that the common 
 man is appearing in the modem Russian; the serf is 
 developing into self-mastery; the Russian peasant, who 
 is the Russian nation, is gradually evolving into a knowl- 
 edge of his own powers through the exercise of his own 
 industrial liberty given him by the Czar at the expense 
 of the Russian nobility. 
 
 And while this Russian peasant, who was but yesterday 
 a slave, is thus slowly becoming a man, with all that man- 
 hood means, his loyalty to his Czar is taking deeper and 
 deeper root. But while this evolution is in progress, his 
 racial instinct to dwell and labor in socialistic communities 
 has not perceptibly abated. He still continues to.be the 
 social being as opposed to the individual being. He is 
 willing to undertake any enterprise, perform any labor, 
 brave any danger in company with his fellows; but he 
 is not yet willing to go it alone. And no student or 
 observer of Russian character with whom the writer ever 
 talked believes that the time will ever come when the 
 Russian people will ever proceed upon anything but 
 communistic lines either in their social living or in their 
 industrial efforts. 
 
 Here, then, is the Russian man, the Russian nation, 
 with whom the world must deal. Here is the man who is 
 planting replicas of the ancient Muscovite community 
 over the agricultural portions of Siberia and making of 
 
 336
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 that imperial domain another Russia. Here is the man 
 who, floating down the Amur on his raft, or toihng east- 
 ward with his impossible wagon, or even travelling tow- 
 ards the rising sun on foot, or going by companies of 
 hundreds and thousands on his world railway, is indolent- 
 ly launching himself on Manchuria and the Far East. 
 
 This is the man who has arrived at the Pacific and looks 
 with dreamy eyes upon the world's waters towards which 
 he has instinctively been pushing for hundreds of years. 
 And, finally, here is the man whom we Americans must 
 study and consider, if we expect our foreign statesman- 
 ship, wherever it touches Russia, to be intelligent and 
 therefore wise. And remember, too, that he is yet a man 
 in the making. The Great Moulder of all human agencies 
 is not yet done with his fashioning of this Russian man of 
 the future. But we may even now see some of the out- 
 Hnes of His large handiwork. We behold this human be- 
 ing, about whom all the world is talking, humorous, pa- 
 tient, obedient, with brain and nerves and heart stored 
 with the sleepy energies of centuries of stolid living; for 
 Russian energy is a field long fallow, in which, neverthe- 
 less, the first furrow has already been turned.
 
 XXIII 
 
 HOLY RUSSIA, THE ORTHODOX NATION 
 
 YOU may know all about the industrial and social life 
 of the Russian peasant — you may know how he works 
 and how he lives; but you know nothing about him, after 
 all, unless you know the religious side of him, and the relig- 
 ious side of him is all sides of him. It has been noted that 
 he is a social being, as distinguished from an individual 
 being. And he is even more of a rehgious being than he 
 is a communistic being. "Faith," said a Russian friend, 
 "is as necessary to the Russian peasant as food or air," 
 That we may make a little more definite what must at best 
 be our vague understanding of this human force which is 
 now taking the attention of the world, and with whom 
 all nations must deal in the future, let us observe the 
 Russian people from the religious point of view. 
 
 The icon is a little picture or image of the Saviour, the 
 Virgin, or of some Russian saint. 
 
 In the telegraph-office on the Amur hangs the icon; in 
 the private office of the Minister of Finance at St. Peters- 
 burg hangs the icon; in the peasant cottage, far out on 
 the plains of Russia, hangs the icon; in the saloon and in 
 almost every room in the passenger-boat on the Volga 
 hangs the icon; in the head offices of the great manu- 
 facturing establishments you will find the icon; in the 
 palatial homes of lordly wealth, the icon; in vodka shops 
 again the icon; in the basest places of sin, still the icon. 
 
 Always and everywhere in Russia is this holy present- 
 ment. It is the outward and visible emblem of a religious 
 feeling instinctive, profound, racial — a religious feeling, 
 
 338
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 more than the intelligent idea of any concrete faith. And 
 be sure that it is a feeling really religious, and not, as 
 almost every traveller will at first assert, merely super- 
 stitious. Not that the Slav is not superstitious. He is 
 superstitious, but he is genuinely religious too. These 
 sacred images, in one form or another, are frequent in 
 the streets of the great cities. It is profitable to stroll 
 quietly down any thoroughfare of the Russian capital. 
 Devote several of these strolls exclusively to observation 
 of the people's manifestations of adoration. To be sure 
 that the practices you will observe are habitual, take a 
 week-day instead of a Sunday. 
 
 There is an icon on the other side of the street. Observe 
 the poor and humble moujik as he passes it. Off goes his 
 cap; his body reverentially bows; his lips move, appar- 
 ently in the recitation of a brief formula of prayer; mean- 
 while he makes with his hand the Russian sign of the 
 cross. This sign of the cross is unlike the briefer Roman 
 Catholic observance. The forehead is touched where 
 rested the crown of thorns, the side is touched where 
 entered the cruel spear, and other motions make it a 
 condensed reproduction of the Saviour's crucifixion on 
 Calvary, quickly done and yet comprehensive. On goes 
 the moujik. Here now comes a merchant. Clearly, this 
 man is well-to-do. His comparatively rich clothing in- 
 dicates that. He will pass it. He has been "emanci- 
 pated" from the custom which the moujik's "ignorance" 
 and ' ' superstition " and all that compel him yet to perform. 
 But off goes the merchant's cap, too, and he does exactly 
 as did the moujik. A woman of good condition comes 
 along. Her reverence is even deeper. The clatter of 
 horses' hoofs is heard. A carriage comes, bearing an 
 officer. He is a man of high rank, too. You have 
 learned that from the uniform. He must be going to 
 an audience of some kind or other, for he wears certain 
 orders, which his unbuttoned great military overcoat, 
 flying back, reveals on his breast. Surely this miHtary 
 
 339
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 commander of the forces of that autocrat who is also the 
 head of the Church (not theoretically, but in the people's 
 mind) will not observe this "nonsense." Besides, he is go- 
 ing too fast. But with hardly slackening speed the officer 
 and his coachman alike perform precisely the poor 
 moujik's obeisance, mutter apparently the same reverent 
 words, make precisely the same holy sign. Clearly, this 
 observance is mortised very firmly into the external hab- 
 its of the Russian people. 
 
 Go to Moscow now. There you will find the same 
 practice, if anything intensified. Now travel into the 
 country districts. Here is not the slightest difference 
 between what you observed upon the street in St. Peters- 
 burg, unless, indeed, you feel as you watch that there is 
 a deeper fervor on the part of the adorers of Him of the 
 thorn-crowned head, who, after all, is, in the hearts and 
 minds of the Russian people, the real prince and lord of 
 them all; for in the Russian mind the Saviour is their 
 real ruler and protector; and in the common thought, the 
 popular belief, the people's conviction (however, not, of 
 course, in the theory of the Church itself), the Czar is 
 His personal representative on earth. To this may be 
 traced a large part (and many versed in Russian life 
 assert by far the larger part) of the profound hold which 
 the Czar has on the loyalty of the Russian millions — a 
 loyalty not understood, and perhaps not to be understood, 
 by Americans or non-Russian Europeans. 
 
 "I-con," said a successful and typical American biisi- 
 ness man of large affairs, with whom the writer spent 
 several days, "it is a good name. This whole thing is a 
 big confidence game. These priests rob the people. Look 
 at the treasures of jewels and gold heaped up in their 
 churches, and all that. They take it from the people. 
 Do not tell me that these priests do not know better. Do 
 not tell me that this government is not simply play- 
 ing on the superstitions of the masses. I tell you, the 
 whole thing, the Church and the government, too, is 
 
 340
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the greatest confidence game ever played upon a peo- 
 ple." 
 
 "Is it not unbearable," said a cultivated English lady, 
 who, however, herself was a High Church woman — "is it 
 not unbearable," said she, "all of this miserable super- 
 stition?" 
 
 These two views fairly well represent the common opin- 
 ion of the American, English, German, or French traveller 
 through Russia. The writer is compelled to believe that 
 such views are widely inaccurate. Superstition there 
 undoubtedly is in Russia, perhaps more so than in any 
 other Christian country, but religion there is, too; and 
 there is more of the genuinely religious aspiration, of the 
 pure Christian spirit, of worship, in short, in what to 
 some travellers is "mummery," in the habitual religious 
 practices of the Russian people than there is of super- 
 stition. 
 
 In a magnificent cathedral of St. Petersburg two Amer- 
 icans stood uncovered, observing the beauty of the 
 pictured works of art, uplifted by the majesty of the 
 architecture, humbled, as every sensitive mind must be, 
 by that strange feeling of reverence that comes into the 
 consciousness of every one of us w^hen standing under the 
 arches of any noble religious edifice or in the presence of 
 the sublime lift of a mighty mountain, or on shipboard 
 in the middle of the ocean at starry and moonless mid- 
 night. An occasional worshipper entered. Here was 
 only a poorly dressed child of the people. Straightway 
 she went to the life-size sacred picture, and, kneel- 
 ing, kissed its feet. After a while came another, appar- 
 ently a woman of wealth and rank, for she was richly and 
 daintily attired, and bore in her demeanor evidence of 
 training and culture. And she also did the like. 
 
 "Do these people really believe and feel anything of a 
 religious nature when they do all these things?" asked the 
 visitor of a Russian gentleman, educated out of Russia, 
 and of learning and travel not surpassed by any president 
 
 341
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 or professor of any American college or university- He 
 was himself a dissenter from the Russian Greek Orthodox 
 Church on its religious side, but a stanch adherent of 
 it on its national side (for you must know, as will be 
 pointed out later, that the Russian Church is first a relig- 
 ious institution, and, second, a patriotic organization; and 
 the paradox is quite common of a man or of a woman who 
 will tell you they reject the Church on its religious side, 
 and yet who are hot adherents of the Church because it 
 represents the nation more even than the government 
 does, and is by far the most powerful influence in unifying 
 the Russian people). And precisely this question is the 
 first one asked by any American or non-Russian European 
 when told of these devotional exercises habitually in use 
 among all of the people throughout all the dominions of 
 the Czar. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," answered this cosmopolitan Russian; "I 
 know what you are thinking. You are thinking that this 
 is mere form on the part of these people. You are think- 
 ing that at the very moment when they are apparently 
 mentally and spiritually prostrating themselves before an 
 icon, their minds are, in reality, intent on their business or 
 their work or their intrigues. You could make no greater 
 mistake. I, who, as you know, am not impressed at all 
 by this sort of thing, tell you that nine hundred and nine- 
 ty-nine out of every one thousand of our people are real- 
 ly, truly, deeply, reverently religious. They mean every 
 item and particular of what their action implies. They 
 believe fervently, unquestionably, devoutly. It is not a 
 matter of mental process with them at all. They make 
 no argument about it. With them God is a fact — the 
 greatest fact in the universe. To them the Saviour is His 
 only begotten Son. There is some superstition in it, of 
 course; but, taking all that into account, there is more 
 genuine religion in it than there is among any people whom, 
 in all my travels around the world, I have observed." 
 
 This information was tested in many ways — by similar 
 
 342
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 questions to men of different opinions, occupations, and 
 stations in life; by careful scrutiny of these customs in 
 their various forms, in points of the empire thousands 
 of miles apart — and the conclusion was forced, by these 
 various lines of inquiry, that the interpretation given 
 in the conversation above quoted is far nearer the truth 
 than the bitter sarcasm of the American business -man 
 and the English lady of culture above quoted. 
 
 That there is superstition mingled in all this reverence 
 is believed to be undoubtedly true. Not only are the 
 obeisance, the murmur of prayer, the sign of the cross 
 physical manifestations of the religious feeling of the 
 men and women who perfoim them; with most of them 
 they are also a sort of incantation, a kind of fonnula of 
 motion and words directed against the evil eye and the 
 unseen powers of darkness, which, to the Russian mind, 
 are in the air about us. The average Russian would 
 probably ascribe any ill-luck which might chance upon 
 him to his failure to observe these reverential practices. 
 
 "Yes," said a highly educated Russian, "the truth is 
 that even the best of us feel that there are unseen powers 
 to be propitiated; but, speaking for myself and what I 
 feel to be an intimate knowledge of our own people, I 
 oeg you to believe that most of this is serious, earnest 
 worship." 
 
 Friends were driving in the national Russian vehicle, 
 the troika (a carriage with three horses, with which 
 everybody who has seen any picture of any kind rep- 
 resenting Russian life is familiar), across the seemingly 
 limitless plains of agricultural Russia. It was not one 
 hundred miles from Moscow. It was ancient land there- 
 fore. 
 
 "This column of trees," said the Russian gentleman, 
 "was planted by the great Catharine." He referred to 
 an avenue of fine elms enclosing the roadway on either 
 side for many versts. "I have forgotten," said he, "what 
 caprice was in her mind when she did this, but we are 
 
 343
 
 THE RUvSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 much obliged to her for it. You see what a beautiful 
 variation it makes in the monotony of this journey." 
 
 "But what can this be?" said the American, pointing 
 ahead. Up the road, half a mile away, a banner was 
 seen advancing, followed by what, at a distance, appeared 
 to be a column of people. 
 
 "You are in luck," responded the Russian friend. "We 
 will drive to the side of the road and wait. This partic- 
 ular thing is a ceremony that you might have stayed a 
 year in Russia and not witnessed. If I am not mistaken, 
 it is a religious procession of the common people, praying 
 for rain." 
 
 Sure enough, he was right. As the strange company 
 approached, you could see peasant men and women run- 
 ning from the fields to join it. At its head marched a 
 blond, broad-shouldered peasant, perhaps thirty years of 
 age. Bare-headed, blue-eyed, ruddy of countenance, fair 
 of brow, with long, yellow hair, trousers in boots, he was 
 for all the world the ideal Russian we all have in our im- 
 aginations. He bore above him a banner, hanging from 
 a cross-piece attached to the staff which he held m his 
 hand. This banner, to the uninstructed observer, was 
 very much like any one that you may see in the procession 
 of some secret order in this country. On it was the pict- 
 ured form and features of some Russian saint. The stan- 
 dard-bearer's eyes and face were lifted towards the skies. 
 His lips moved in appeal, and behind him came perhaps 
 seventy-five or one hundred peasant men and women, 
 their whole souls apparently intent on fervent prayer. 
 
 "Yes, I was right," said the Russian gentleman; "they 
 are asking the heavens for rain. They believe they will 
 get it, too, if they are earnest enough in asking for it, and 
 sincere enough in repenting for their sins or the sins of 
 somebody or other v/ho brought the catastrophe of this 
 drought upon us in this part of Russia." 
 
 "I am glad you saw that," remarked a Russian in- 
 terested in Church affairs. "It illustrates the character 
 
 .344
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 of our people, and the great task the Clnirch has on hand, 
 after all — a task which you Americans do not understand, 
 and, perhaps, cannot understand. The ancestors of all 
 of our people were pagan, as you, of cot^Tse, know. Only a 
 few years ago the great majority of them were serfs. 
 Then, too, please remember, we are all Slavs. It is in our 
 blood to believe in something. So you will find that a 
 great many of the Russian superstitions, centuries old, and 
 having their roots far back yonder in pagan times, still 
 exist, only Christianized in form, if you will permit the ex- 
 pression. It is no easy thing to stamp them out. They 
 must be taken into serious account. 
 
 "So you will observe that from a religious point of view 
 the great duty, the vast work of the Russian Church is 
 to instruct these people in the simple tenets of right 
 and wrong — in the fundamentals of faith in God and 
 Christ and personal immortality. Thus, slowly, very 
 slowly, paganism's superstitions, imparted from remote 
 antiquity, are being extinguished; but to violently try 
 to cast them out suddenly would be worse than useless, 
 for such a process, even if successfitl, would tear growing 
 Christian faith as well as declining pagan superstition out 
 together at the same time. It would be a realization of 
 the injunction against too violently pulling up the tares 
 — 'Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also 
 the wheat with them.'" 
 
 And the more you look into this side of Russian char- 
 acter, the more you will see in this comment. The Rus- 
 sian people believe, without any qualification, in a per- 
 sonal God. The Russian peasants have no more ques- 
 tion about that than they have about the existence of the 
 soil they till, of the air they breathe, or any material form 
 with which they come in contact. As has been said, they 
 also believe in Christ as His only begotten Son, and in im- 
 mortality, and in the power of heaven saints. Indeed, 
 Christianity made conquest of the Russian people with 
 greater ease than it overcame the paganism of Germany, 
 
 345
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Scandinavia, or any other country. There was some- 
 thing about the sweetness, charity, and humility of the 
 Christian faith that instinctively appealed to the »Slav; 
 for, whatever may be said to the contrary, the truth is 
 that the Slav is, by nature, humble, sweet-hearted, char- 
 itable.^ 
 
 But, nevertheless, the very ease with which Christianity 
 established its dominion over the Russian nature left 
 remaining many of the old pagan observances, and so 
 you see, side by side with what your eyes and ears 
 
 * A Danish gentleman of some twenty years experience with the 
 Russians was asked what he considered their chief characteristic. 
 He quickly answered, "Oh, undoubtedly the principal element 
 of Russian character is kindliness." The same question was 
 put to a German of large aflfairs, very great familiarity with the 
 Russian people, and of undoubted probity of character. After 
 thinking for some time he replied, "It is hard to say that one 
 characteristic is more pronounced than another; and yet if the 
 most prominent trait of the Russian had to be selected I am sure 
 that all who know him would say that it is his desire to please 
 others." Again, the French consul at a certain port, who has 
 lived in Russia many years, was requested to give his opinion. He 
 responded, as promptly as the Dane, that, "Certainly the dis- 
 tinguishing feature of Russian character is the wish not to offend 
 — the pleasure the Russian takes in obliging others." 
 
 These are samples from notes of several score of like expressions 
 from men whose intercourse with and knowledge of the Russian 
 people qualify them to speak with authority. Even the young 
 American Russophobist elsewhere quoted said in the same con- 
 versation, "I will admit that the Russian has charm. Much as I 
 hate the Russians, that quality of their character is undeniable." 
 
 No contrary view was heard in numerous conversations in 
 many different parts of the empire and in several different coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Yet this estimate of Russian character sharply conflicts with 
 those violent outbursts of peasant ferocity of which the world 
 hears occasional accounts. The writer's personal observations 
 confirm the judgment of the competent witnesses above quoted; 
 and this, too, is the conclusion of the most careful students. Still 
 the instances of popular frenzies of cruelty are authentic. Again, 
 therefore, we face that familiar thing in Russia, elsewhere noted, 
 the paradox. 
 
 346
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 compel you to believe to be genuine devotion to the 
 highest religious ideals and a pure and lofty faith, very 
 simple, childlike, absurd superstition. 
 
 Let him who doubts the intense devotion of the Russian 
 mind attend the services of the Orthodox Greek Church. 
 Any church will do, and any service will do, but preferably 
 take some notable cathedral beloved of and frequent- 
 ed by the people. If possible, let him attend upon the 
 day of some Christian celebration. Of all the churches 
 of the empire, let the traveller, if he can, choose the cathe- 
 dral in the Kremlin at Moscow. Before the altar all peo- 
 ple, in the opinion of the Russians, are one. The noble, 
 the peasant, the millionaire, the pauper, the native, the 
 foreigner — there is no distinction on account of any hu- 
 man conditions. All are human souls, all worshippers of 
 the one and only most high God. 
 
 So you have difficulty in entrance only because the 
 great audience-chamber is already packed with worship- 
 pers. There are no seats. No grave usher directs you to 
 a decent pew. You must stand. And here the people 
 stood — the Russian people in miniature — a tiny atom, 
 but reproducing, in every detail, the vast empire made up 
 of millions of similar atoms. Here are working-men and 
 working- women. Here are richly dressed, highly edu- 
 cated ladies, leaders of society. Here are small trades- 
 men, and by their side great manufacturers. Here are 
 officers, and beside them, or perhaps in front of them, for 
 that matter, common soldiers. There stands a Russian 
 nobUman who still holds vast estates and bears one of the 
 ancient names of the empire, and by his side stands a cab- 
 driver. 
 
 And this historic chamber, too, is the spot where, for 
 hundreds of years, the Czars of Russia have been crowned. 
 A Uttle back of the centre is a small, raised dais, or plat- 
 form, perhaps a foot in height, where the Czar and Czarina 
 t?^ke their places during the coronation ceremonies. Yet 
 the people stood on it, too. The writer found himself 
 
 347
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 crowded, by the movement of the throng, close to this 
 spot. Immediately before him stood a young working- 
 man from the country. He might have been the twin 
 brother of the peasant who bore the banner in the pro- 
 cession praying for rain, above described. As the ser- 
 vice proceeded, time and again he would sink to his knees 
 and bend his forehead to the floor. Instinctively the 
 crowd made room for these fervent prostrations which 
 here and there all over the church were taking place. 
 Otherwise, they excited no curiosity. Evidently the mind 
 of every auditor was doing the same thing. Everywhere 
 all eyes were intent on the altar and the priest. From 
 their faces shone the fervor of a faith which you may see 
 nowhere in America, except at our occasional revivals. 
 All heads frequently bowed, and all hands as often made 
 the sign of the holy cross. The most hardened infidel, 
 the most blase man of the world, the most blasphemous 
 scoffer cannot, on one of these occasions, fail to feel an 
 atmosphere of religious exaltation. Prayer, devotion, 
 adoration are in the air. 
 
 Prayer, devotion, adoration, exaltation are in the ser- 
 vice, too. The singing especially is rich and sweet. 
 
 "You must not fail," said an American friend in Paris, 
 "to hear the singing on some notable occasion in one of 
 the great Russian cathedrals. Until you have heard that, 
 you have never heard religious music." And in that he 
 was quite right. Whatever else you miss in Russia, do 
 not fail to hear the vocal music of religious Russia. It is 
 futile to attempt to describe it, except, perhaps, to note 
 the luxuriant wealth of the bass voices. 
 
 "You know," said a Russian lady, "that we are so vain 
 and provincial as to think that there is no bass-singing in 
 the world except in our cathedrals." 
 
 The statement is made that the priests who conduct 
 the services in Russian cathedrals are selected always with 
 a view to the depth and richness of their voices. One 
 would be compelled to believe it from the service here 
 
 348
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 poorly described. Deep, sonorous, mellow, without effort, 
 the voice of the priest was the sound of virile, unex- 
 hausted, elemental vocalinity itself, suppressed, purified, 
 beautified by devotion and lofty spiritual feeling. 
 
 You may go when you Hke, but do not go until, after a 
 brief space, the doors behind the altar open and you look 
 into a distant room, golden with holy religious emblems 
 (which, of course, you will not understand), and mysteri- 
 ous with gray-haired priests and swinging censers, and 
 the rising smoke of incense. Indeed, stay through it all, 
 from beginning to end. It is something you will never 
 forget, and something which will interpret " Holy Russia" 
 to you as nothing else can possibly do. And when you 
 go away, you go enriched with a consciousness that, 
 granting all that is said of their superstition, there is a 
 depth and breadth of religious life in Russia as pure and 
 lofty as the world has seen since the Master lived and 
 taught, and, for the sins of mankind, on Calvary died. 
 You may try to reason yourself out of it; you may debate 
 with this one or that one, but you will come into posses- 
 sion of an internal and personal knowledge of that subject 
 which no debating or arguing or reasoning can shake, 
 much less overthrow. 
 
 Indeed, all the writers v/ho have with intelligent and 
 sympathetic insight looked into Russian character have 
 admitted in the last analysis that it is saturated with 
 a pure religion and uplifted by a sincere faith. No 
 analysis of the growth of Christianity in Russia is here 
 attempted, of course, nor is any account of the doctrines 
 and constitution of the Greek Orthodox Church assumed 
 to be set forth. AH that is here attempted is to give a 
 faithful statement of things observed, and discriminating 
 conversations throwing light upon them. It is sought 
 simply to place a picture as accurate as may be of the 
 various things which an impartial traveller is compelled 
 to note in this interesting land, with some of the more 
 obvious reasons of things seen and heard. 
 
 349
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Nothing written about Russia is worth while which 
 leaves out of account the Greek Orthodox Church. 
 You may describe the American Repubhc, and give a 
 very fair idea of the hfe of the people, without reference 
 to any particular Church. England may be pictured, and 
 not a word written concerning even her established re- 
 ligious organization, and yet you can get a very good 
 understanding of English character. So with other na- 
 tions. But Russia is the only state where nothing can be 
 understood without some comprehensive outline of the 
 part religion plays in the life of the people and the affairs 
 of the government; for in Russia the Church is, on the 
 one hand, a definite part of the government itself; on the 
 other hand it is the chief factor in the life of the people. 
 On the one side a state institution, on the other side it 
 is a popular institution. 
 
 You could make no greater mistake than to assume, as 
 the casual traveller always does, that Russia is priest- 
 ridden. It is nothing of the kind. The Russian priest 
 is people-ridden. The Russian Church is the people's 
 Church. Very emphatically, the priesthood is the ser- 
 vant of the masses. There is astonishing reverence for 
 the Church itself and for all that it stands for: there is 
 an intellectual and spiritual regard for the holy icons, 
 amounting almost to idolatry — certainly to worship. As 
 has been pointed out, there is the most utter, abandoned, 
 and unquestioning faith in God and Christ and the Czar 
 (for the Czar is always included in the minds of the peas- 
 ant, and the peasantry are the Russian people, with the 
 All Father and with the Son of Man). 
 
 But the priest exercises no such sovereignty over the 
 minds of his parishioners. In the opinion of the people, 
 the Church is theirs, the icons are theirs, Christ is theirs, 
 Jehovah is their Father, etc., and the priest is their ser- 
 vant, who is supposed to attend to certain necessary 
 formulas to keep the great spiritual machine in motion. 
 There are two things which even the Czar cannot do, and 
 
 35°
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 one of these is to disestablish the Church. Even if the 
 Czar had the legal power to do so, he has not the real 
 power. He might as well attempt to disestablish the 
 Russian people themselves. Indeed, the Czar himself 
 must avow his "orthodoxy" as a preliminary to his 
 crowning. 
 
 Nothing would start a revolution in Russia more quick- 
 ly than an attempt to confiscate the holy treasmes, for 
 the accumulation of gold and precious stones, etc., is the 
 property of the icons, the holy images, whose residence is 
 in the respective monasteries; and these icons, in turn, 
 are the spiritual property of the Russian people. No 
 matter how wretchedly poor the moujik is, he derives ex- 
 treme satisfaction from contemplating the wealth of his 
 pictured saints. Indeed, it is probable that the monas- 
 teries of Russia would beccjme extinct through starvation 
 were it not for the support they receive from the people 
 themselves. All of the famous ones are the centres of 
 enormous pilgrimages. 
 
 In July of the present year (1903) the Associated Press 
 sent out a statement, printed in all English and American 
 papers to the effect that "the Czar, the Czarina, and their 
 suite" had left St. Petersburg "to join the great orthodox 
 pilgrimage to Saroff, province of Tamboff, where the 
 Orthodox Church is to celebrate the canonization of the 
 hermit, Pekhor Moshnin, under the name of St. Seraphin. 
 Six thousand bishops and clergy of European Russia 
 will participate in the ceremonies." 
 
 This despatch of the Associated Press illustrates the 
 Russian passion for religious pilgrimages. It is estimated 
 that the ancient monastery at Kief is annually visited 
 by over one million Russians. This million comes from 
 all over the empire. The same is true of other ancient 
 and famous sacred establishments. Some of these derive 
 an income mounting into tens of millions of rubles a year 
 from the voluntary contributions of these pilgrims. Bear 
 in mind, too, that the pilgrims come to them voluntarily. 
 
 351
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 It is quite a spontaneous affair. There is no encourage- 
 ment to do this on the part of the government. Em- 
 phatically it is not worked up by the priests themselves. 
 It is a purely popular movement, and apparently as per- 
 manent as it is popular, for the Russian must worship 
 something. His mind is chiefly concerned with only 
 two things — the first one is his physical livelihood, his 
 food, and his clothing; the second one is his spiritual 
 welfare. 
 
 And this latter with him is not so much a matter of 
 good deeds as it is a question of sheer faith, of childlike 
 belief. His mind must attach itself to something tan- 
 gible. It is not true that he has no mental conception 
 of the Saviour, of the saints, and of their heavenly offices, 
 for he has; but it is just as true that it is necessary for 
 the Slav to have some physical representation of these 
 holy images which dwells in the mind. And it is also true 
 that to these figures and paintings the Russian attaches 
 something of the feeling of reverence that he has for the 
 divine personages and the heavenly ideals they are de- 
 signed to represent. 
 
 Even this does not put it strong enough. Some of them 
 are, to the mind of the Russian peasant, actual, living 
 beings, endov/ed with miraculous powers. Even the 
 hurried traveller who visits Moscow for onl}^ a day is 
 sure to hear of the miracle-working Virgin. This ancient 
 and sacred image has a chapel of her own near one of the 
 historic gates of Moscow. The sick visit her for healing, 
 and where the afflicted are too ill to come to her she is 
 taken to them. Her revenues are very great. Neverthe- 
 less, let it again be called to mind, for it cannot be repeat- 
 ed too many times, that this peculiar veneration of icons 
 is not something trumped up by the clergy; the clergy 
 themselves, as has been stated, do not exercise any 
 particular awe or even reverence in the Russian mind. 
 Indeed, it may be said that, while the Church is the most 
 popular institution in Russia, the priest is the most 
 
 352
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 unpopular person in the empire. And this again brings 
 us face to face with another of those paradoxes of Russian 
 character and practice, which confront you on every 
 hand, in industry, in rehgion, in statesmanship — every- 
 where excepting only in foreign policy, which is a uniform 
 plan of advance.
 
 XXIV 
 
 PRIEST, PEOPLE, AND CHURCH 
 
 THE priesthood of the Russian Church is divided 
 into what are populariy called the white clergy 
 and the black clergy. The black clergy are monks who 
 are unmarried. The white clergy, who are the real 
 officiating priests in Russia, are all married, and must 
 be. They cannot be priests otherwise. If the Rus- 
 sian has any reverence for any priest it is for a brother of 
 the black clergy. And yet in all Russia, with her one hun- 
 dred and forty millions of people, there are not twelve 
 thousand monks all told, including the novitiates or appli- 
 cants for this sombre branch of the Church. Also, it is 
 true that the black clergy is slowly dying out ; its mem- 
 bers have, for scores of years, been diminishing, and are 
 decreasing now. On the other hand, few as they are in 
 number, they are by far the most important factor in the 
 administration of this great national church organization. 
 But, in spite of their power, in spite of the hold they have 
 on the popular imagination, as keepers of the holy 
 images, in spite of the prestige which is theirs as the 
 inheritors of an illustrious ecclesiastical past, it appears 
 that ultimately they are doomed to extinction merely 
 by lack of recruits. It is futile to attempt to explain 
 this paradox; the facts alone are given. 
 
 On the other hand, the white clergy are themselves few- 
 er in number, in proportion to the people they serve, than 
 the number of Christian ministers of various denomina- 
 tions who have made the service of the Church their life 
 business in America. Also these Russian married priests, 
 
 354
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 in comparison with the servants of any other Church in 
 any other country in the world, lead lives of poverty, and, 
 in many instances, of actual want. Pitiful tales, and true, 
 are told of how, in order to keep their families alive, they 
 are reduced to direst extremities. By the Russian people 
 — meaning the Russian peasant — they are treated with an 
 indifference and even a contempt which an American 
 Protestant minister or Catholic priest would not tolerate 
 for an instant. 
 
 This has been thought by some careless observers to 
 mean that religion has very little hold on the people, 
 and that they chafe under the rule of their Church. In 
 reality it indicates the reverse; for, even at the risk 
 of repetition, it must be stated that the Russian people 
 do not regard the Church as belonging to the priests 
 by any manner of means, but exactly the contrary. 
 The Russian people regard the Church as their institution 
 and the priests as their servants. 
 
 So hard are the conditions of the Russian married priest- 
 hood, whose exclusive business it is to conduct Church 
 services, that one wonders why any young man ever goes 
 into the priesthood. Indeed, it is believed that few would 
 do so were it not for the fact that the white clergy of 
 Russia is an hereditary institution — that is, the sons of 
 priests themselves become priests. And here is a curious 
 thing worthy of note, although its final results defy in- 
 telligent speculation: If a Russian priest dies, another 
 Russian priest, probably the son of some neighboring 
 priest, takes charge of his church and marries one of 
 the members of the dead priest's family. Thus he is 
 provided with a sort of combined spiritual and earthly 
 dowry. 
 
 The question of keeping full the ranks even of the 
 white clergy has been a matter of serious thought on the 
 part of the imperial government. At one time it was 
 proposed to better the conditions of this oppressed priest- 
 hood by decreasing their numbers; but this did not work, 
 
 355
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 because the extent of territory assigned to each priest 
 and the number of souls in each district were already so 
 great as to tax his utmost endeavors. So this device 
 was abandoned. Of course, as everybody knows, the 
 partial support of the Church — that is, of the priesthood 
 — is a part of the business of the imperial government, 
 as you will read in the annual budget of appropriations 
 for this purpose. It is probable that these appropriations 
 will be increased in the future, for the Church is one of 
 the most powerful, if, indeed, not the most powerful arm 
 of the Russian government. The reason of this is that 
 the Church is the one influence which has a greater hold 
 upon the mind and heart of the Russian people than all 
 other influences in the Russian Empire combined; for, 
 again let it be stated that the Church is distinctly a 
 popular institution. Its common faith, common forms, 
 etc., hold the Russian people together. There is nothing 
 like it in all Russia, unless, indeed, it be the hold which 
 the popular conception of the Czar has on the mind of 
 the Russian myriads. 
 
 So the Russian Church is a state affair, although the 
 state, of course, did not create it. It existed before the 
 Russian autocracy, as at present organized. Peter the 
 Great seized upon it purely as a measure of statecraft. 
 He had two reasons for this: On the one hand, he feared 
 that it might become more powerful even than the Czar; 
 on the other hand he saw here, with the instinct of the 
 statesman, a method of solidifying the affections and 
 loyalty of the Russian people in the autocrat himself. 
 And so that mighty personality, one of the greatest re- 
 formers that the world has seen in a thousand years, and, 
 of course, the most powerful Czar who ever reigned over 
 all the Russias, changed the administrative constitution 
 of the Russian Greek Orthodox Church. He took its 
 government away from itself and placed it in a council of 
 state, called the Holy Synod, which in his day was, and still 
 is, principally an arm of the sovereign secular authority. 
 
 356
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 In this Holy Synod, which consists of dignitaries of the 
 Church, appointed at will by the Czar, the Great Peter 
 placed the personal representative of the Czar. This 
 representative he called the Procurator of the Holy 
 Synod. Theoretically this man was not, and is not, 
 himself a churchman. He was designed to be, and 
 is, the eyes, ears, brain, and will of the Czar in this 
 council of Church administration. It immediately re- 
 sulted as Peter had calculated. The Holy Synod soon 
 became an administrative bureau, a department of state, 
 whose minister, the Procurator, was the Czar's repre- 
 sentative. This was, and is, no fiction, and Peter the 
 Great did not intend that it should be; for the Procurator 
 of the Holy Synod was made, and is now, a member of 
 the Czar's ministry, quite as much as the Minister of 
 Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, or the Minister 
 of the Interior. Indeed, the two dominant minds of the 
 Russian cabinet at the present time are Witte, Minis- 
 ter of Finance and now President of the Committee of Min- 
 isters, and Pobyedonostseff , Procurator of the Holy Synod. 
 
 Thus again we see how elemental in its simplicity, 
 after all, the Russian government is; for if on the one 
 side a government has absolute control of the finances 
 of the nation, and on the other side absolute control of 
 the religious administration of the Church, to which the 
 people are passionately devoted, all other elements of 
 power follow obediently in the wake of these. As lead- 
 ing a part as the army plays for the empire, either as a 
 threatening power in the hands of Russian diplomats 
 or as actual force in Russian physical advance, it is 
 weak compared with the strength perpetually derived 
 by the government from the reverent souls of the Rus- 
 sian people through the administration of their beloved 
 Church. 
 
 In short, Peter the Great grasped all the chords of 
 devotion and reverence and worship extending from 
 every Russian hamlet to the great religious capitals, and 
 
 357
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 centred them all in his own royal palace. Before this 
 tirhe the Russian Czars had worn the temporal crown 
 and sat upon the real throne of tangible power; but he 
 saw that if that crown remained and that throne con- 
 tmued unshaken, he must grasp also the sceptre of 
 spiritual power and make himself and his successor, in the 
 minds of the numerous and widely scattered population, 
 their spiritual father as well as their temporal lord. And 
 with Peter the Great, to see a thing was to do it; and so 
 he did it. The result is that to-day the Russian peasant 
 regards the Czar, whom a Russian business - man will 
 refer to as a "modest little officer," as the direct rep- 
 resentative of Heaven on earth, the anointed of Jehovah, 
 a being all but sacred, and entitled to the moujiks' 
 reverence in much the same way as is the Master Himself. 
 
 Thus we begin to comprehend the profound reasons of 
 state underlying the policy of the Russian government 
 towards the Russian Greek Orthodox Church. Loud has 
 been the cry made through Christendom that the Russian 
 Church permits no proselyting. But to the Russian 
 statesman there are sound reasons of state for this. In 
 an empire stretching over such inconceivably vast do- 
 minions, ruling so many scores of millions, embracing so 
 many different peoples, and in the process of absorbing 
 so many separate and distinct nationalities, a common 
 faith, a common spiritual life, a common church member- 
 ship, are far and away the greatest cohesive power existing 
 or that can exist. 
 
 " Putting aside the purely religious side of the question, 
 what instrument of imity could we invent equal in its 
 efficiency to the solidifying power of the Church ? As an 
 intelligent observer, you must grant that no other element 
 of solidarity compares with it." So spoke a Russian public 
 man. 
 
 And so the Russian statesman argues that if the Rus- 
 sian people were split up into the scores of creeds pre- 
 vailing in other countries, the element of solidarity which 
 
 358
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the Church affords would be lost, and nothing could be 
 found to take its place. 
 
 "Besides," said, in substance, Pobyedonostseff, in a re- 
 cent thoughtful article, "the Orthodox Church is doing 
 its real work. It is teaching our one hundred and forty 
 millions the few fundamental beliefs that are important, 
 and instructing them in the simple differences between 
 right and wrong." 
 
 On this point of Church unity it is asserted that the 
 Slav is quite unlike the Teuton, especially unlike the 
 Anglo-Saxon. For example, with us here in America 
 the sufficient reason for sects and denominations is, 
 that in this way we appeal to all classes, and thus 
 bring to the Cross by different routes various groups 
 of personaHties which one great central organization 
 could not reach. But with the Slav it is said to be 
 different. Also, it is said that the other peoples and 
 nationalities over whom he has extended his dominion 
 are, after all, very much like him; and, besides, that the 
 peculiar absorbing and assimilating powers of the Slav, 
 after a few decades, make an aHen people, who have been 
 taken into the empire, as much Russian as the citizen 
 of Moscow. And so it is said that the excuse which 
 is given for the existence, say, of Methodists, Presby- 
 terians, Baptists, Episcopalians and the like in England 
 or America does not exist in Russia. 
 
 "And besides," said a Russian gentleman, "what is the 
 need of all these denominations, after all? You tell me 
 you are a Methodist. I suppose you have friends who are 
 Presbyterians and Baptists and Episcopalians. Is there 
 any essential difference in your creeds when you reach 
 the bottom? If a stranger were to go into one of your 
 cities, not informed beforehand, could he tell from the 
 service itself or from the preaching he heard or the songs 
 he listened to, whether he was in a Presbyterian, a Baptist, 
 or a Methodist church ? After all, every one of you are try- 
 ing to accomplish the same thing. Every one of you, I 
 
 359
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 take it, believe in God, in Christ His Son, and in the soul's 
 immortality. I also take it that none of you have any- 
 thing else extremely important. But those are also the 
 things our Russian Church teaches. So what purpose 
 would be served by permitting our Church to be disrupted 
 by foolish proselyting among its membership, except the 
 disruption of the empire, and that would be the greatest 
 calamity of all." 
 
 So the Russian imperial government more than rules 
 the Church; and rules it with far more of an "iron hand"" 
 than it rules the Russian people. For instance, there 
 was a time when the Russian monasteries and religious 
 associations were extensive land - owners. The Czar 
 remedied that by taking their lands away from them, 
 and the state support to some of these monasteries 
 to this day is excused upon the ground that it is a sort 
 of meagre return for depriving them of their property 
 two or three centuries ago.^ Indeed, the most strenuous 
 advocates of autocracy (and there are plenty of them, 
 and very sincere ones, too) insist that the autocracy 
 exists exclusively for the people, and that history shows 
 that the Czar's authority brooks no rivalry within Russian 
 domains. In support of this they point to the seizures 
 by the Czar of the lands of the monasteries, on the one 
 hand, and, on the other, to the forced sale by Alexander 
 the Liberator of the landed estates of the nobles to those 
 very nobles' former serfs, whom the emancipator at the 
 same time set free. 
 
 "You foreigners," said one of these apologists for au- 
 tocracy, "can rail at our Russian autocracy all you please, 
 but you rail ignorantly; for, after all, the government of 
 the Czar is first, last, and all the time for the Russian peo- 
 ple. The Russian noble is not a power in our land. The 
 
 ' The government might take lands from the monasteries and 
 arouse no popular resentment; but confiscation of the gold, 
 jewels, etc., stored there would be dangerously unpopular, be- 
 cause these treasures belong to the holy icons. 
 
 360
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Czar compels him to sell his estates to his former serfs, 
 whether he wants to or not. The priest is not a power in 
 our land. The Czar, the spiritual head of this great peo- 
 ple, makes the priest his servant and agent." 
 
 Thus we begin to see how it is that a Russian who is in 
 religious belief a dissenter from all the doctrines of the 
 Russian Greek Orthodox Church, or who is even an infi- 
 del or an atheist, may nevertheless be a devoted member 
 and adherent of the national religious organization. It is 
 a part of the empire. It is the soul of Russian nationality- 
 He is a loyal Russian, ready and glad to give his life on the 
 battle-fields of his country in defence of its flag. Why 
 should he not, therefore — nay, why must he not, there- 
 fore — uphold that institution which, in popular meaning, 
 is the breath of life of Russian solidarity. On the other 
 hand, it again becomes clear why peasant, business-man, 
 or nobleman, who is dissatisfied with the civil administra- 
 tion, or who is a civil reformer and yet a devout believer 
 in the Russian Greek Orthodox Church, is held firm in his 
 loyalty by the latter fact. 
 
 Perhaps this is one reason for the solicitude of the Holy 
 Synod as an arm of the government in extending the ser- 
 vice of the national Church wherever the colors of the Czar 
 advance. It has already been noted that the Russian 
 village is seldom without its church ; that even in consider- 
 able towns the number of these sacred edifices appears to 
 be entirely out of proportion to the spiritual needs of the 
 people; and that in the cities ecclesiastical architecture 
 is the dominant and commanding feature. Also it is true 
 that these scores of thousands of Christian temples are 
 constantly attended by the faithful. 
 
 But the activity of the Church authorities does not stop 
 with the erection of these stationary edifices of worship. 
 At a certain village of no particular consequence in Trans- 
 Baikal Siberia the familiar sounds of the Russian sacred 
 service were heard before the train stopped. Where could 
 these sounds come from? Certainly in the many towns 
 
 361
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and cities visited no cathedral had before been observed 
 so near to the railway -track that you could hear the voice 
 of the priest from your car. Yet the rich intoning con- 
 tinued, and the responses rang with a distinctness which 
 showed that they came from a point not many feet away. 
 
 "Oh, that is some church-car," explained a Russian 
 fellow-traveller, in answer to the stranger's inquiry. " Yes, 
 there it is on the siding." 
 
 And there it was on the siding. This car was a cathe- 
 dral on wheels. It was fitted up just as a Russian church 
 is equipped. It was attended by priests assigned to this 
 railroad church service. The purpose of this is that the 
 travelling Russian, and particularly the peasant, who is 
 temporarily without a spiritual home, may be afforded the 
 customary, and to him necessary, religious ministrations. 
 Not that the peasant does not go through his devotions 
 whether he has a church and a priest near or not. For 
 he does go through his daily form of worship no matter 
 what else he may omit. 
 
 On Siberian trains or Amur boato you may behold this 
 exhibition of fervid faith any morning you may please to 
 bestir yourself in time to see it. No matter that the car 
 or boat is crowded; no matter that curious foreigners are 
 scrutinizing him ; no matter what the conditions or who is 
 present, the Russian peasant will stand with his face to 
 the east, murmur his prayer of supplication and of praise 
 to his Maker, and prostrate himself before an invisible 
 throne which only the eyes of his faith behold. And 
 never will you hear from the lips of the most contemptu- 
 ous traveller a single syllable of criticism, so unmistakably 
 genuine is this Russian peasant's devotions. 
 
 Another striking circumstance is that the Russian sol- 
 dier is, if possible, even more punctual and exact than his 
 peaceful peasant brother. It is a mere commonplace that 
 military life destroys the practice of religious worship, 
 and even uproots religion itself. But certainly this does 
 not appear to b© tine of the Russian soldier. Observed 
 
 363
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 under numerous and different conditions, he never failed 
 to appear, in outward form at least, reverent, devotional, 
 full of the spirit of worship. Recall the description pre- 
 viously given of the chanted prayer of the company of 
 Cossacks in the rainy night in central Manchuria. And 
 it is said that the Russian soldier's spiritual and mental 
 attitude before or after great battles is even more im- 
 pressive. The following vivid description of religious 
 services held by the Russian troops before the terrible 
 redoubts of Plevna, during the Turkish war, is taken 
 from the brilliant account of " Army Life in Russia," by 
 F. V. Greene, of the United States Army; 
 
 "After the troops had all been visited an open-air mass was held. 
 One division of about ten thousand men was drawn up on the 
 plain west of Plevna, and about two miles from the high range of 
 hills on which the Turkish batteries stood ; the division was formed 
 on three sides of a square, with a few squadrons of cavalry on each 
 flank. In the centre stood the Emperor, alone and bareheaded, 
 slightly in advance of his suite; in front of him was the priest, m 
 gorgeous robes, with a golden crucifix and the Bible laid on a pile 
 of drums which answered for an altar; a short distance to one side 
 was a choir consisting of twenty or thirty soldiers with fine musical 
 voices. Every one uncovered his head, and the service began in 
 that slow, sad chant which is peculiar to the Greek Church. At the 
 name of Jesus every one of the vast crowd crossed himself. On 
 the opposite hills, as the service went on, could be seen large num- 
 bers of Turks congregating in wonder at the assembly of this large 
 number of men. Finally came the prayer for the repose of those 
 who had died in the battle of a few days before. The Emperor 
 knelt on the ground resting his head on the hilt of his sword; every 
 one followed his example, and the whole division knelt there with 
 their guns in one hand, crossing themselves with the other, and 
 following, in a subdued voice, the words of the chant. 
 
 "Nothing could give a clearer perception of the relations be- 
 tween the Czar and his men than this strangely impressive scene; 
 the Gosudar Imperator (our Lord the Emperor) surrounded by 
 his people, with arms in their hands, facing their hereditary ene- 
 mies in religion and politics, and chanting in slow monotone, 
 whose periods were marked by the booming of distant cannon, the 
 requiem for their dead comrades. The Russians have no fewer 
 daily sins to answer for than other people, but the feeling which
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 binds the lower classes to their Czar is one of purely religious en- 
 thusiasm and veneration, which finds no counterpart elsewhere in 
 these latter days." 
 
 All of this means something; and that something, no 
 matter what you may call it, is the most vital influence 
 in Russian character, and must be taken into serious 
 account in all estimates of the Russian people, their pur- 
 poses and their future. 
 
 The icon, or sacred image, in every place of business — 
 every store, every vodka-shop, every factory, every dwell- 
 ing-place, whether the lordly mansion of the noble rich 
 or the hovel of the Siberian emigrant; whether in the 
 enormous palace of the Czar himself or in the vilest 
 abodes of licensed shame in the empire's cities — all this, 
 let it be repeated, means something. Russian life, Rus- 
 sian culture, even Russian business, and, most of all, Rus- 
 sian purpose are not to be even dimly understood, unless 
 this deepest and yet highest, and certainly most universal, 
 phase of the Russian mind is taken into account. It is 
 not for nothing that noble, peasant, prince, criminal, 
 philanthropist, society leader — all classes — make obei- 
 sance to the holy images. It is not for nothing that every 
 Russian, utterly without regard to station, condition, or 
 any possible human circumstances, wears about his neck 
 and upon his breast, next to his very heart, the little cross. 
 
 Nowhere can you see this latter significant fact better 
 than on a large and crowded boat on the Amur River, at 
 low water, where frequent and long stops are made 
 necessary and where bathing in the river by everybody 
 is practised at each stop. Peasant, emigrant, business- 
 men en route to the Far East, army officers on their way 
 to their commiands in Manchuria, noblemen bearing 
 special commissions from the Czar, wealthy mine-owners 
 from the great gold-fields far to the north of Irkutsk, men, 
 women, and children — not one of them was observed 
 without the little cross hung around the neck, and never 
 
 364
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 removed, not even for bathing. Around the neck of the 
 millionaire it may be attached to a finely wrought gold 
 chain; around the neck of the moujik it will be sus- 
 pended by a common stout string; but it is there, and it 
 is the cross, and it means exactly the same thing to both 
 of them. 
 
 The Russian soldiers in citizens' garb, surreptitiously 
 advancing by tens and scores towards the militant Russian 
 host massing in the Far East for the impending conflict 
 with Japan, bowing to the rising sun and repeating the 
 same prayers uttered at the same moment by scores of 
 millions of other Russians scattered all over the vast 
 empire; the Cossack company in the heart of Manchuria 
 chanting their nightly petition to the throne of grace; the 
 nobler choir in the Kremlin on Easter Day pouring forth 
 songs of joy that Christ is risen — are all engaged in the 
 same service, which has the same meaning, and which re- 
 veals the same profound and universal faith. In the 
 magnificent cathedral of St. Isaac's at St. Petersburg, in 
 the extemporized service at a railvv-ay-station, amid en- 
 camped battalions of armed Russia in the Ussuri littoral, 
 everywhere and always it is "Holy Russia" which speaks 
 — "Holy Russia" ever singing, ever praying, ever ad- 
 vancing. 
 
 And doubt not that it is "Holy Russia" indeed. Grant- 
 ing all their superstition, conceding their ignorance, 
 giving full credit to every unfortunate phase which the 
 Christian religion takes among this peculiar people, he 
 who travels the empire from end to end, with eyes to see 
 and ears to hear, cannot but admit that here is a power 
 in human affairs, bhnd it may be, cruel ofttimes, no 
 doubt, but still reverent, devotional, and fairly saturated 
 with a faith so deep that it is instinctive, and the like 
 of which may not be witnessed in all the earth. What it 
 will all result in he would be foolish, indeed, who would 
 predict. But that it exists is certain; that it moves 
 forward, slowly perhaps, to the eye of the hour, but 
 
 365
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 rapidly to the eye of history, and, in any case, irresist- 
 ibly, is merely a fact. "Holy Russia!" There she stands, 
 or, rather, yonder she marches. Make of her what you 
 will ; say of her what you will ; but do not forget that she 
 exists, and exists increasingly.^ 
 
 * Most of the thousands of Russian churches and cathedrals 
 are built with money voluntarily given by the common people.
 
 w 
 
 'SPITZBEIiGEX 
 
 Ji 
 
 North Cape ^^ ^A ^ ^ '' 
 
 
 
 / . MADRID 
 
 
 
 RUSSIA. AXD THE REMAi:
 
 
 
 r*- . > 
 
 VI,, K., ,\ ^ W<r jT^^i^f S 
 
 
 ■IjiliF^ §s'l'OK.lI()SA 
 "Xi-^ -Hongkong 
 
 O C E jl N 
 
 Manilas Vjg 
 SA'.l .'^4 QI.SI.,\.M)S 
 
 CHINA 
 
 EUROPE AND ASIA
 
 XXV 
 
 RUSSIAN NATIONAL IDEALS 
 
 NO matter how casual his observation, every traveller 
 through Russia will run across evidences of Russian 
 idealism. On the other hand, men who have given their 
 lives to the study of this curious people declare that the 
 Russian is, first of all, an idealist. Again, even we 
 Americans who read Tolstoi, and Turgenieff, and Gorkey 
 have revealed to us in the writings of these first of Russian 
 literary intellects the characteristic of ideality in spite 
 of their realism. Even those who remember the diary 
 of the Russian girl, Maria Bashkirtseff, which, through 
 Mr. Gladstone's enthusiastic endorsement, gained world- 
 wide currency, remember it as a queer conglomeration of 
 ideahstic impressions. All testimony from all sources 
 leads to the conclusion that the Slav mind is essentially 
 idealistic. 
 
 Remember, now, that even deeper than this idealism 
 in the soul of this strange people is religion ; and then call 
 to mind its passion for order, its devotion to mere form; 
 and. with this, recall again that, buffeted for centuries by 
 Asiatics on the east, by other Asiatics on the south, by 
 warlike Europeans on the west, Russia has been com- 
 pelled to d velop a foreign statesmanship, unnecessary 
 and unknown to any other nation, and a diplomacy skil- 
 ful and resourceful beyond that of any other people of 
 ancient or modem times. Take all these things into 
 account, and you have the great springs and sources 
 whence flow the two sovereign ideals of the Russian 
 people. 
 
 1^1
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 These two ideals are, first, the preservation of rehgious 
 faith, and, when the rest of the disputing world shall have 
 grown weary of its spiritual conflicts, the restoration of 
 that simple faith to all mankind; and the second is like 
 unto the first — namely . the preservation of order, form, and 
 authority in civil affairs, and when the rest of the world 
 shall have completed its circle of liberty, and then license, 
 and finally anarchy (which is what the Russians believe 
 we are doing), to restore to the confused, hopeless, strug- 
 gling peoples of the earth those forms of social order and 
 political authority which the Slav thinks are, after all, 
 the foundation-stones of civilization. 
 
 Incident to this last is the more immediate Russian 
 idealistic purpose of spreading her dominions over all of 
 Asia. To the Russian mind, China is to be Russian, 
 Persia is to be Russian, India is to be Russian. It is Rus- 
 sian power which is to restore the cross to Jerusalem. 
 It is Holy Russia that is to bring the authority of His faith 
 to the land where the Saviour of mankind walked and 
 taught and was crucified. So thinks the Russian. 
 
 The son of one of the greatest of Slavophiles happened to 
 be a travelling companion for several days. Tall, slender, 
 blond, blue-eyed, cultivated to the very last point to which 
 the universities of Europe could finish him, the ardor of 
 this young Russian was as startling as it was engaging. 
 
 "Why make a secret of it?" said he. "Did not our 
 great Czar, who made but one fundamental mistake (the 
 mistake of attempting to force western European notions 
 upon Russia), but who was a prophet, point out our des- 
 tiny with the very finger of inspiration? Oh yes; never 
 permit yourself to doubt it for a moment. India will be 
 Russian just as surely as Manchuria will." 
 
 A Russian soldier, not a St. Petersburg carpet knight, 
 nor ladies' warrior either, but a Slav hotspur, a man 
 whose life has been spent on the stricken field, and who 
 at the time of the following conversation was in active 
 service, said: 
 
 368
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "You foreigners call us a rapacious military people. 
 Don't deny it, for we know what is said; we know about 
 the slanders published of us. The world, especially Eng- 
 land, call us the 'nation of the sword.' There is Mr. Kip- 
 ling, who refers to Russia as 'the bear who walks like a 
 man.' Our occupation is supposed to be conquest, and 
 yet" — and here this successful soldier grew as animated 
 in gesture as any sensational orator or emotional evangel- 
 ist in America — " and yet," he continued, "Russia has 
 never waged a war except for an ideal. No other country 
 on earth or in history can say as much, except, perhaps, 
 your own American republic. Look at the lives we lost 
 in our conflict with the Turks. Why did we go into that 
 war? It was purely the act of a Christian nation to pro- 
 tect Christians. There was not and could not be any 
 gain to us. Why do we maintain large numbers of troops 
 near the Balkan states? Because we want those princi- 
 palities? No sensible person, unless he is crazy with prej- 
 udice against us, would say so. What good would they 
 do ? Why did Skobeleff strike with the sword of Gideon 
 in central Asia? Look at that land to-day, as peaceful 
 as any section of your own country, as orderly and as 
 safe; and then recall the terrible waste it was before the 
 maligned Russian soldier gave it civilization, and even an 
 Englishman must see the answer." And much more to 
 the same effect. 
 
 The strange thing about this was that this Russian 
 officer believed exactly what he said as fervently as any 
 missionary that ever went forth in the world's dark 
 places to give to the benighted the light of the gospel. 
 
 "Why do you doubt our zeal and its purity?" said a 
 member of the Slavophile party. "You boast of your 
 high purposes in the Philippines. Other countries have 
 produced men of a faith so passionate that they gladly 
 yielded up the comforts of their native land, and even 
 life itself, in preaching the Word. Take the Jesuit mis- 
 sionaries in the early history of your own country; take 
 24 369
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the same class and consider their fate some centuries 
 ago in Japan. Well, are we Russians the only people who 
 are without the element that other nations pride them- 
 selves upon ? I tell you, no. I tell you that, of all peoples 
 of ancient and modem times, the one most devoted to 
 ideals, so high that they are almost mystical and scarcely 
 understood by the people themselves, is the Russian 
 people." 
 
 Students of expansion will agree with Russian eco- 
 nomic statesmen that Russian advance towards the Per- 
 sian Gulf, on the one hand, and the Yellow Sea, on the 
 other, is due to the fundamental cause of the absolute 
 necessity that this most numerous of peoples shall reach 
 the open sea. An American newspaper, in a studious 
 and thoughtful editorial on the Manchurian question, 
 recently pointed out the fact that the Russian occupation 
 of Manchuria was permanent, and was caused by natural 
 pressure of the growing Russian people combined with Rus- 
 sia's just rights to ice-free ports on the open sea. These 
 contentions of thoughtful American journalists, of capable 
 and observant travellers, of students of the movements 
 of races, and of Russian economic statesmen themselves 
 are probably correct. They explain Manchuria. 
 
 They may even explain central Asia. But they do not 
 explain the presence of Russian agents all through Af- 
 ghanistan. They do not explain Russian influence in 
 Thibet, and practical Russian sovereignty at Lahassa. 
 They do not explain those silent influences in China, 
 always persuasive, never sleeping, which are gradually 
 making groups of Asiatics all over that most ancient and 
 populous of countries Russian in their sympathies. They 
 do not explain the mysterious moral and mental processes 
 going on in the Far Eastern mind, which no observer 
 who really gets beneath the surface of things has failed 
 to note, and which looks to the future turning of the 
 Asiatic peoples to the standard of the Czar. 
 
 But the Russian's conception of his duty and his destiny 
 
 i7<^
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 in the Far East does explain it. His subconscious thought 
 that it is to be the glory of his race to set up the cross 
 over all of Asia's myriads of millions, and to bring them to 
 the faith of the Crucified One, does explain it. You could 
 not find a Russian business -man, much less a Russian 
 statesman, and least of all a Russian diplomat, who would 
 admit for a single instant this proposition when thus 
 baldly put before him. Indeed, the Russian business- 
 man is pretty generally opposed to expansion. 
 
 "Give me no more China wars," said a Russian cotton 
 manufacturer. "That was a ridiculous mistake. It cost 
 hundreds of millions of rubles, and not a kopeck do we 
 get for it. Future trade!" he exclaimed, in answer to a 
 question. "Nonsense; we cannot supply our own market 
 for a generation to come. I should like to know what 
 profit there will be for me to manufacture goods when I 
 consider the price of raw materials, the cost and ineffi- 
 ciency of our labor, and then add to all of that railway 
 freights for thousands and thousands of miles." 
 
 "Do not be afraid that we won't give Manchuria back 
 to China," said a Russian nobleman, whose conversation 
 weeks of close companionship had made quite casual. 
 "We have too much territory now. It strains our ma- 
 chinery of government to run what we have. Of course, 
 we must keep Port Arthur and Dalni. But they are 
 leased to us, with a little piece of land around, and have 
 nothing to do with Manchuria, which is nearly as big as the 
 whole of Russia itself. Of course, even I, who am what 
 you call in America an anti-expansionist, do not like to see 
 that great province given back to Chinese barbarism again, 
 and I feel that we must do our part in Christianizing the 
 world; but our load is already almost heavier than we 
 can bear." 
 
 Nevertheless, as is elsewhere pointed out, no probability 
 in the world of international politics seems greater than 
 the permanency of Russian occupation of Manchuria. 
 But the great reason underlying the continuous march of 
 
 371
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Russia over Asia, from the time when the Russians threw 
 off the Tartar yoke, may be found in a national thought 
 and purpose, a popular ideal so deep and ancient that it 
 may be really called an instinct, which propels the Slav 
 to bear the law and order and authority of the Czar and 
 the religion of the Master over all the East. 
 
 Russia's peculiar preparation for this will be pointed 
 out to you by any enthusiastic Russian. The argument 
 runs in this wise: Russia is next to Asia. From time im- 
 memorial Russia has been the barrier that has saved west- 
 ern Europe from inundations of Asiatic military hordes 
 during the terrible centuries of the past. For two hun- 
 dred years the Russian people were under the actual gov- 
 ernment of the Khan. These two centuries of Tartar sub- 
 jugation of the Slav race made Russia familiar with Asiatic 
 peoples, methods, habits, and thought as no other people 
 will or can ever be. Also, the rule of Russia by the Tar- 
 tars for these two centuries added to the Slav blood a per- 
 ceptible strain of Asiatic blood. (And did not Napoleon 
 say, "Scratch a Russian and you will find a Tartar"?) 
 Indeed, many of the noble houses of Russia bear Tartar 
 names. You may find nobles in the empire who are proud- 
 er of their Tartar origin than they are of their title to no- 
 bility, etc. 
 
 However runs the argument, or whatever the causes, 
 full of charm as they are to the contemplative student, 
 the fact remains that Russia is advancing over Asia, and 
 will continue to advance. The fact remains, too, that 
 she does this against well - reasoned conclusions of her 
 own statesmen ; against the almost unanimous conviction 
 of the business interests of the country; against the 
 surface thought and present-hour consideration of her 
 most intelligent minds; against the protests of the exag- 
 gerated humanitarianism of her intellectual classes, like 
 Tolstoi. But in spite of the best reasoning of her states- 
 men, those very statesmen themselves continue to ad- 
 vance. It is a strange phenomenon. Of course, it will 
 
 372
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 not do to say that this is in obedience to the intelligent 
 will of the Russian masses; for the Russian masses, as an 
 actual, tangible proposition, perhaps know nothing about 
 it and think nothing about it. And yet among these 
 very masses there is this instinct towards Asiatic expan- 
 sion, above noted, which has at the root of it a religious 
 impulse. 
 
 These two statements make an exact paradox, and seem 
 unintelligible. Contradictory as they are, they are true. 
 Go into the peasant home of the country districts, and, if 
 you find no other pictures on the walls of the dilapidated 
 dwellings, you will find a cheap and tawdry print purport- 
 ing to set out various scenes in the suppression of the 
 Boxers in China by the allied troops. In any book-store 
 of Moscow which caters to the work-people (and you will 
 find many of these little booths), there are piles of these 
 prints. All of them represent the white-clad Russian sol- 
 diers leading the charge, and in most of them there is 
 some representation of the advancing cross. It is note- 
 worthy that these prints, of which the Russian peasant is 
 so fond, are almost equally divided between religious 
 and military subjects. Pictures of the Saviour, the 
 Virgin, the saints, prints representing scenes from the 
 Bible, others representing Russian soldiers battling for 
 the cross in heathen lands — these comprise the entire and 
 exclusive stock-in-trade, so far as pictures are concerned, 
 of these little stores, patronized exclusively by the moujik. 
 
 So, beginning at the bottom, and with the purpose most 
 nearly at hand, control of Asia may be said to be an ideal 
 of the Russian people. Whether the realization of this 
 ideal will be good or bad for civilization, whether Amer- 
 ican policy should fall in with it or fight it to a finish, 
 whether in the end it will be accomplished or not, it is not 
 the purpose of this study to inquire. Facts are being 
 noted, and this idealistic purpose of Holy Russia to ad- 
 vance on Asia is a fact — a present fact, an aggressive, 
 militant, ever-progressing fact. It is a fact which the 
 
 373
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 British Foreign Office troubles over more than any other 
 of its imperial world-problems. It is a fact constantly 
 before the Viceroy of India and his cabinet. It is a fact 
 discussed in the counting-houses of Hong-Kong. It is a 
 fact which the English soldier v/ho holds the "thin, red 
 line" on the outpost of English dominion in the Far East 
 encounters in armed and deadly form and force in his un- 
 ending skirmishes with the hillmen. 
 
 Enlarge this ideal now until it spreads around the world. 
 Take as its interpreter the most intense personality, one 
 of the most instructed minds, and certainly as courageous 
 a soul as Russia possesses, Pobyedonostseff, Procurator of 
 the Holy Synod. He is said by some to be the soul of 
 bigotry; he is certainly bitterly hated by many; but he is 
 the personification of orthodox Russia. This man has 
 written a book. It is published in English under the title 
 of Reflections of a Russian Statesman. There are probably 
 not a dozen copies in the United States; and yet, if any- 
 body expects to understand the Russian point of view, he 
 must read this book. Nearly all of it is given to an attack 
 upon the democratic form of government and atheistic ten- 
 dencies in religion. Here are the titles of some of these 
 essays: "The New Democracy," "The Great Falsehood of 
 Our Time," "Trial by Jury," "The Press." "The Malady 
 of Our Time," "Power and Authority," "The Ideals of 
 Unbelief," etc. 
 
 The views set out in these remarkable essays are a very 
 fair and, at the same time, powerful statement of the pre- 
 vailing thought and aspiration of the Russian people. 
 
 An intensified summary of them is as follows: Democ- 
 racy is not natural. It cannot be permanently successful. 
 It is false, too, because it pretends to be a rule of the peo- 
 ple, whereas it is only the rule by a few politicians, whose 
 purposes are usually selfish and corrupt. The result of gov- 
 ernment of this kind is constant diffusion of power, con- 
 stant increase of license, until all respect for authority is 
 destroyed, and the country so unfortunately circumstanced 
 
 374
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 must choose the alternative of anarchy or the tyranny of 
 some bold, resourceful "man on horseback." Substan- 
 tially, the same is true of religion. By debating about non- 
 essentials, by quoting this or that unimportant passage of 
 the Scripture, by cultivating a passion for innovation in 
 Biblical study, by endless disputes, by splitting up into 
 unending sects and creeds, Protestantism gradually de- 
 moralizes the very foundation of faith itself, until nobody 
 believes very much in anything. Finally, reasons Pobye- 
 donostseff, the non - Russian world will be reduced to 
 atheism in religion and anarchy in government. 
 
 And to restore to sanity, faith, order, a world thus de- 
 moralized, is the great ideal of the Russian soul. 
 
 "Take a long look over the other so-called Christian 
 nations of the world," said a Russian scholar, who is a fer- 
 vent believer in the ideas above condensed from Pobye- 
 donostseff's book. "Can you help seeing that what you 
 call the free preaching of the Word is nothing but a dis- 
 orderly and ignorant mutilation of it? Look how many 
 sects there are in England. Even in Germany it is nearly 
 as bad. My own study of religious life in America com- 
 pels me to believe that your people are not very firmly or 
 deeply grounded in religion. How many of your acquaint- 
 ances believe, without question, in God, a personal father, 
 in Christ, His only begotten Son, sent for the definite pur- 
 pose of saving the world; or in the personal, conscious im- 
 mortality of the soul ? I will not ask you to answer, but I 
 will make bold to say that I do not think you can name a 
 hundred. My own observation in England and America 
 has been that religion is, to non-Russian peoples, merely a 
 respectable habit, a method of civil decency. Now, that is 
 not religion at all, and this process is going to go on and 
 on until, no matter how many church buildings you have 
 and how many preachers and all that, you are all going to 
 arrive, certainly at agnosticism, and very probably at athe- 
 ism itself." 
 
 The Russian religionist argues that some place in the 
 
 375
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 world there must be, not only a Church, but a people who 
 preserve faith in its purity, fervor, and exaltation; not 
 only a Church, but a people who are really, genuinely re- 
 ligious; and that when the rest of the world, weary to 
 death of the vain disputes about this or that point of doc- 
 trine or dogma, and with their faith in God Himself de- 
 stroyed, shall cry out, like a child in darkness, it will be 
 Russia's sacred and divinely appointed mission to give to 
 her sister nations thus benighted an example of a people 
 still believing, still trustful, still religious; a people in 
 whose temples the sacred fire has never been permitted to 
 die or even langmsh, and who have borne forward to the 
 blessing of those who have submitted the cross of man's 
 universal Lord. 
 
 The Russian of education, travel, and culture, who is 
 still, in spite of these things, fervently attached to the 
 Greek Orthodox Church, believes most earnestly that 
 there is no other Church in the world but his Church ; and 
 he thinks, with all possible sincerity, that the religion of 
 the Russian masses, in spite of all of its superstitions, which 
 he freely admits, is far better, fuller of hope for the future 
 of the race, than what he calls that spiritual license, and 
 what we call religious liberty prevailing in other countries. 
 He has sincere respect for the Catholic Church ; although 
 he cordially dislikes, he understands its purposes. But 
 for Protestantism he has no respect at all. Without 
 going into detail of his complaint of the Catholic Church, 
 but stating the largest and most important objection he 
 has to it, it is that even the Church of Rome is too change- 
 able, and that it is not the Church of any one organized, 
 united, consolidated nationality; not the religious ex- 
 pression of any one single people as sucJi, and a part of 
 their physical and civil government as well as of their 
 spiritual life. 
 
 Nevertheless, to the Russian, the Catholic Church, with 
 its superb organization, v/ith its permanence in compari- 
 son with the ever-changing Protestant creeds, is an in- 
 
 376
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 telligent and tolerable institution. Also, tlie Russian ap- 
 proves of the Catholic Church's method of reaching the 
 soul through art — through painting, sculpture, and music; 
 and he denounces Protestantism for excluding these 
 simple and yet, at the same time, as he thinks, most 
 refined and exalted methods of appealing to the in- 
 stinctively religious feeling in the soul of man. The 
 birter antagonism of the Greek Orthodox Church, as such, 
 to the Roman Catholic Church, is said to be political, the 
 Catholic Church being the Church to which the people of 
 Poland belong. 
 
 Holy Russia, then, looks to the regeneration of the 
 world as one of her great, if, indeed, not her very greatest 
 historic mission. Of course, even the most fanatical Rus- 
 sian churchman does not consider this a thing of the pres- 
 ent day or the present decade or the present century. In- 
 deed, the centuries, to the thought of the Russian church- 
 man (or, for that matter, the Russian statesman), are 
 small matters. "All in God's own time " is the motto of 
 the Russian peasant. "If the mills of the gods grind 
 slowly," to us, they do not grind slowly to the Russian. 
 He sees no particular reason for hurry. Let the processes 
 of evil and good work out their distinct results naturally. 
 Let the world's age-old battle between darkness and light 
 not be waged in the flash of a spark struck from the meet- 
 ing of swords of single combatants in some portion of the 
 universal field. It is a gigantic struggle in which the dec- 
 ades are but moments and the centiiries but hours. In the 
 end, light will conquer darkness, thinks the Russian; and, 
 to his niind, the Christian faith is the all-conquering light 
 and the Greek Orthodox Church the only true bearer of 
 that sacred torch. 
 
 Such is the Russian religious ideal. There are strenu- 
 ous dissenters from this vif^w in Russia itself. The 
 American traveller who makes acquaintances among the 
 better classes will find this Russian ideal ridiculed and the 
 Church itself denounced. It is doubted whether in any 
 
 377
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 place in the world there is more bitter resentment against 
 any institution than there is against the Greek Orthodox 
 Church within Russia itself, and that, too, among men and 
 women of exceptional culture; or, it would be more ac- 
 curate to say, perhaps, against Russian ecclesiastical 
 policy as practised by Pobyedonostseff. For example: 
 "It is an outrage!" exclaimed a Russian of excellent at- 
 tainments and abilities — "it is a shame and an outrage, I 
 say, that I, who am a Protestant, must see my children 
 members of the Greek Orthodox Church if I should marry 
 a Russian lady who is a member of that Church, no mat- 
 ter whether she or I or the children themselves wanted 
 to be members of the Greek Orthodox Church or not. 
 How shameful that we have not the liberty of our own 
 consciences!" His bitterness towards the Procurator 
 of the Holy Synod was marked. All he complained 
 of was laid upon this well-hated statesman of the Church. 
 "Your great humanist Lincoln said, quoting the Bible, 
 that 'If a house be divided against itself, that house 
 cannot stand' — did he not?" (You will be surprised 
 to find how widely read some of these Russians are.) 
 "Well, then, how can I found a house? How can 
 I found a family? I do not believe in the Greek Church. 
 Perhaps a Russian whom I might marry, and who 
 was a member of it, because she was baptized in it 
 and because her parents were members of it, might 
 not believe in it either. Perhaps our children would 
 revolt against it. Yet she must continue a member 
 of it, and our children must be members of it. To 
 us Russians that is an awful circumstance, for the worst 
 of us are religious. I am none too good, but I my- 
 self am religious. We must worship. It is in our 
 blood. Yet here would be the spectacle of a father in 
 one Church and the mother and children in another, 
 with no possibility of joining them, unless I became 
 an apostate to my Church and went into the Russian 
 Greek Orthodox Church. Is not that intolerable?" 
 
 378
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 The explanation of this is that in Russia, "once 
 an orthodox, always an orthodox." The children of 
 orthodox parents are orthodox by reason of that cir- 
 cumstance, and cannot be anything else. They may 
 become infidels in belief — atheists even; nevertheless, 
 they are members of the Greek Orthodox Church. 
 They cannot join any other. Moreover, the children even 
 of a father or mother who is a member of the Greek 
 Orthodox Church are, by reason of that circumstance, 
 members of it, are baptized in it, and, most important 
 of all, that fact constitutes a part of their civil status; 
 for, be it remembered, that the Russian Greek Or- 
 thodox Church and the Russian autocratic govern- 
 ment are woven inextricably into each other. They 
 are, socially, one. The Church membership is a part of 
 the civil life. 
 
 The above conversation, which is very faithfully 
 reproduced, might be duplicated by scores, even 
 if you remained for but a brief time in Russia, 
 but during that brief time are so fortunate as to 
 have your associations neither marked out, on the 
 one hand, and confined to the Hnes marked out, 
 or, on the other, if you get acquainted with more than 
 one class of people. 
 
 Nevertheless, and taking all this into account, it is be- 
 lieved that the religious ideal here described, briefly and 
 in rough outhne, is the instinctive purpose and distant 
 hope of the Russians as a people. Among the educated 
 classes it may be said that there are one hundred thou- 
 sand, or perhaps two hundred thousand (any estimate is 
 a mere guess and practically worthless), who dissent from 
 and denounce the Russian Greek Church and its members; 
 among the people it might be that there are, roughly 
 speaking, a handful of millions of the same thinking; but 
 there are nearly one hundred million people in Russia 
 proper, and in all his dominions more than one hundred 
 and forty million souls acknowledging the sovereignty of 
 
 379
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the Czar. And it is such a holy Russia that holds 
 this astonishing ideal, an ideal entertained vaguely, 
 stupidly, and more through instinct than thought by 
 her multiphed millions, but an ideal most vividly held 
 and advocated with astonishing force and plausibility 
 by some of the most highly cultured men and women 
 in the empire. 
 
 Now for the second great thought of Russian destiny. 
 This is purely civil. Its key, too, is found in the essays 
 of Pobyedonostseff, whose argument is condensed above. 
 But do not make the mistake of thinking that Poby- 
 edonostseff's is the only tongue that utters this thought — 
 mountainous and cyclic, we must admit, no matter how 
 distasteful it is to us. This ideal, as has been stated, is 
 the belief that it is the manifest destiny of Russia to re- 
 store order, form, law, respect for authority to a world 
 whose experiments in democracy will finally land it in a 
 chaos of license and anarchy. 
 
 Said a Russian colonel in Manchuria: "We Russians 
 expect some day in the centuries to come to give back to 
 mankind civil order, now disintegrating in all demosratic 
 countries and even constitutional monarchies. ' ' _ You may 
 hear this everywhere from the lips of the adherents of 
 autocracy. 
 
 "It is strange to us that thinking men in countries like 
 England, France, or the United States, and even, to a 
 lesser extent, in Germany, do not see the disintegrating 
 effects of so-called free institutions," said one of these 
 frank, fervent believers in despotism. "Of course," he 
 continued, " it is a far "cry to the end of the process, but the 
 influences are at work very rapidly. No doubt it will 
 take centuries, but 'the Terror' of France is the natural 
 beginning of a democracy, and it will be its natural ending. 
 Can you not see yourself that disorder is constantly in- 
 creasing and that respect for law is constantly diminish- 
 ing? Of course, I do not mean to say that this is rapidly 
 growing, but it is growing, nevertheless. It is a natural 
 
 380
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 thing, but it is like other vast natural movements; it is 
 slow, and, I suppose, to you, who are in the midst of it, 
 imperceptible. You are like a man on a raft, who does 
 not look at the landmarks which are passing, but looks 
 only at the floor of the raft and what is going on on board. 
 There are the same dimensions, the same floor of the raft, 
 the same utensils, the same companions; and so, refusing 
 to look any place else except inwardly, as it were, you 
 people in so-called free countries fail to observe whither 
 you are tending. But the rapids are below you just the 
 same, and you are hastening to them. It is only a ques- 
 tion of time; it may be centuries, bvit, nevertheless, only 
 a question of time, when you will be caught in the boiling 
 waters, your raft broken up, and yourself lost." 
 
 So it is the ideal of the Russian, of the genuine believer 
 in autocracy (although not of the small but, never- 
 theless, growing class who are in favor of a constitutional 
 government in Russia itself) that it is Russia's high 
 destiny some day, centuries hence, to be the only nation, 
 the only organized people, who can give to the rest of 
 the world an example of system, order, and authority, 
 and all of the repose which the enthusiast of autocracy 
 believes can only come from these. 
 
 It will be very difficult for us Americans to grasp this 
 point of view, but it is all the more important to grasp it 
 for that very reason. Otherwise, you shall not under- 
 stand Russia. Not that any of us will understand Russia, 
 even if we do grasp the meaning of her civil and re- 
 Hgious ideals. As has been stated, it is probable that 
 no foreigner, no matter how long there, ever wdll com- 
 prehend the Russian m.illions or the Russian mind. 
 "There are more than a score of different beliefs and 
 separate nationalities now under the Russian colors," 
 said one of the ablest business-men in the empire. "I 
 have lived here all my life; I am a Russian born; I have 
 studied our people with care, and I do not yet understand 
 them myself, and do not expect to." 
 
 381
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 In support of this view, and in contradiction of the de- 
 scription of the civil and reUgious ideals of the Russian 
 people, given in this chapter, is the fact that considerable 
 numbers of Russian subjects are Mohammedans, some few 
 are Buddhists, and still others hold other faiths, not only- 
 dissimilar, but antagonistic to Christianity. It must in 
 fairness also be stated that these antagonistic religions 
 meet with no interference from the Russian government. 
 Indeed, the administration does not even appear to dis- 
 approve of them; or, if the government does disapprove 
 of them, at least it does not make its disapproval appar- 
 ent. More than this, it must also be said that large num- 
 bers of the subjects of the Czar who are famous for their 
 intense devotion to their imperial master are, spiritually, 
 the followers of the Prophet. This is particularly true of 
 the Caucasian Cossacks 
 
 Not only is there no interference by the Russian gov- 
 ernment with these adherents of anti-Christian religions, 
 but the Russian people — peasant, merchant, and soldier 
 — get along with them very well indeed. Do we ever 
 hear of any bloody fanatical outbreak between Russian 
 Christians and Russian Mohammedans where these ele- 
 ments mingle? It is a significant and interesting spec- 
 tacle to behold in Russian Asia orthodox Slavs from 
 Russia in Europe and subjects of the Czar from near the 
 Afghan frontier rendering separately, and in one another's 
 presence, their religious devotions without the slightest 
 apparent animosity, and to see the disciples of these hos- 
 tile faiths mingle like brothers the moment their daily 
 worship is over, and, like brothers, live together day after 
 day. 
 
 Mr. Burton Holmes, the American traveller, tells of the 
 ceremonies attending the administration of the oath to 
 two regiments of young Russian soldiers. One was a 
 Jewish regiment; its services were conducted by a Jewish 
 rabbi. The other was a Christian regiment; its services 
 were conducted by a Greek Orthodox Russian priest. 
 
 382
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Again, when a Mohammedan regiment or other body of 
 troops is mustered into the service, the necessary reHgious 
 ceremonies are performed by a priest of their own faith. 
 Indeed, it is said that throughout their entire active duty 
 in the army the spiritual needs of the soldiers of the Czar 
 are administered by priests of their own faith. These 
 examples might be multiplied almost indefinitely, and it 
 must be admitted that they do not tend to sustain the 
 theory of the Russian national religious ideal presented 
 in this chapter. 
 
 This contradictory state of affairs affords another para- 
 dox of Russian statesmanship; just as, in her economic 
 policy, the active encouragement by the government of 
 centralized factories, and the paternal care and foster- 
 ing protection given to her "kustar trades," is a para- 
 dox of statesmanship in the domain of Russian manu- 
 facturing industr}^^. Indeed, all through Russian life, 
 Russian administration, and Russian history, these coun- 
 ter-currents, flowing side by side in opposite directions, 
 are encountered. But, taking them all into account, 
 it is believed that the general direction and flow of 
 the great stream of Russian purpose are along the lines 
 of the large racial ideals of the Slav, which in this chapter 
 we have been dimly following. The word "dimly" is 
 used advisedly. We might even better, perhaps, employ 
 the word "vaguely," for no one, least of all the casual 
 observer, can perceive, even by the most careful scrutiny, 
 anything more than the mountainous proportions of 
 Russian thought and purpose in the twentieth century, 
 nor faithfully determine more than the general tendencies 
 of the glacier-like movements of this lethargic and multi- 
 tudinous people. 
 
 So stupendous, so complex, so various are the elements 
 which make up the Russian Empire; so remote are the 
 springs of those influences which mould and direct Russian 
 thought ; so elemental and enormous is the evolution going 
 on at the present time ; so indescribable is the whole mighty 
 
 3^3
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 mass of human beings ruled by the Czar, that their prog- 
 ress might be compared to the building of the earth it- 
 self. It is slow; it reaches back through the centuries 
 and forward through the centuries; it defies analysis and 
 will defy analysis until the long process is completed. 
 Certainly no human mind to-day, Russian or non-Rus- 
 sian, can comprehend it. Perhaps when a thousand 
 years have passed and our own part in history has been 
 performed, and Russia, now comparatively resting un- 
 developed, shall have had her cue, and in turn advanced 
 and played her part in the drama of the centuries, and in 
 turn has gone off the stage — then, it may be, some com- 
 prehensive historical analyst may be able to read the 
 riddle of Russian development, work, and purposes in 
 the world, but not until then. Meanwhile, the best that 
 one can do is to note such things of interest as one may 
 in rapidly passing.
 
 XXVI 
 
 RUSSIAN POINTS OF VIEW — RUSSIAN OPINIONS OF AMERICAN 
 INSTITUTIONS 
 
 NOTHING can be more engaging than the opinion 
 held by frank and intelHgent men of other nations 
 concerning ours. Conversely, this is, as every traveller 
 knows, the thing first inquired of by foreigners con- 
 cerning themselves and their country. After all, human 
 beings are very much alike, it appears. "How do you 
 like our town?" is the familiar question that every one 
 of us puts to the visitor within our gates. Enlarge this 
 question a little bit, and it becomes: "How do you find 
 our country?" "What do you think of our institutions?" 
 "What is your opinion of this or that or the other phase 
 of our national life?" And these, too, are the questions 
 addressed to the serious and earnest foreign visitor to most 
 other countries ; and of no spot on the globe is this more 
 true than of Russia. 
 
 Driving across the steppes with a Russian not entirely 
 satisfied with the present state of things in his country ; con- 
 versing with a manufacturer and again with a banker and at 
 another time with a merchant ; talking with men highly in- 
 fluential in Russian affairs and shaping the present policy 
 of the Russian people; discussing matters of interest with 
 a Russian administrator in the Far East; talking with a 
 group of civil and military officers, for weeks travelling 
 companions — always and everywhere your opinion of 
 Russia, of the Russian people, Russian institutions, Rus- 
 sian government, and everything else Russian is eagerly 
 asked for. 
 
 »s 385
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 And, reciprocally, their opinions of America are given 
 with frankness and unreserve. 
 
 Of course their opinions are not uniform. But it is the 
 note through all of their talk which is dominant, and may 
 be said to be the major chord of Russian opinion of things 
 American, which this chapter seeks to strike. And while 
 their disapproval of the theory of republican institutions 
 applies to us as well as to France and England and other 
 free countries, while their rejection of the whole prac- 
 tice and doctrine of representative institutions is distinct 
 and emphatic, another paradox of Russian reasoning is 
 presented in their sincere admiration of American char- 
 acter, as they understand it, of the American people as 
 a nation, and of American achievements in every line of 
 human effort. For the apparent friendship which the Rus- 
 sian people feel for the American people, and which has 
 again and again been observed and set down by scores of 
 unprejudiced American travellers, can be seen, heard, and 
 felt by any visitor to any portion of the empire of the Czar. 
 The causes for this seeming Russian predisposition tow- 
 ards the American people have already been presented in 
 the language of an eminent Russian; and many other and 
 minor causes have aided in producing the same result. 
 And no just reason occurs why this apparent friendship 
 is not genuine. 
 
 These minor causes cannot, of course, be even enumer- 
 ated here ; but one may be mentioned because of its pleas- 
 ing nature, and of the light it throws upon the character 
 of the Russian people. The Czar is always passionately 
 beloved by the great body of his subjects, with an adoring 
 affection not accorded any other ruler. Particularly was 
 this true of Alexander the Liberator. When this auto- 
 cratic breaker of the chains of Russian slavery escaped 
 death at the hands of the assassin in 1866 the American 
 Congress passed resolutions congratulating the Emperor 
 and expressing the friendly feeHng of the American people 
 for Russia. This resolution was sent to the Czar by 
 
 336
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 our Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Several war-ships, 
 among which were two of our monitors fresh from their 
 triumphant engagements in our civil war just closed, was 
 sent as an escort of the representative of the republic 
 who bore this friendly message. The heart of Russia 
 was deeply touched. The American people's message 
 was presented to the Russian throne, it is true, but in 
 effect it went to the Russian millions. It is said that news 
 of this act of tender courtesy travelled with lightning-like 
 rapidity from mouth to mouth throughout all Russia, 
 even to the poorest country village, and that in an in- 
 credibly short time there was not a cottage in the whole 
 empire whose inmates were not talking of this kindly act 
 of the great American people across the sea. This inci- 
 dent, comparatively insignificant in itself, meant, to the 
 simple Russian peasant mind, that the American people 
 were the friends of the Russian people, and that im- 
 pression has remained among the common people of 
 Russia although the incident which caused it may have 
 been forgotten. This circumstance shows the peculiar 
 sensitiveness of the Slav nature to kindly sentiment.^ 
 
 ' An extract from the report of Mr. Fox, who bore to the Czar 
 the resolution of Congress, is worth reproducing: 
 
 "All that I have written myself, and all that was written for 
 the press by persons far more capable than I feel myself to be, to 
 describe the manifestations of these feelings, fail to convey any ade- 
 quate idea of the enthusiasm which pervades the people of Russia 
 towards the United States, and their sincere wishes for the con- 
 tinued prosperity and power of our country. The expression of 
 the sympathy felt by the Emperor for this country in its great 
 struggle for national unity, made by Prince Gortchakoflf in r86i, 
 when several of the great powers of Europe were co-operating in 
 the effort to destroy it, and taking measures to profit by its 
 destruction, was gratefully appreciated by the government and 
 people of the United States as a timely and effective demonstra- 
 tion in our behalf. But it was not until I had traversed so great 
 a part of the Russian Empire and witnessed how cordial and wide- 
 spread, among all classes in that powerful country, was the friend- 
 ship for America, that I appreciated the practical importance of 
 
 387
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 But no matter what the causes, the friendly feeling of 
 the Russian people for the American people is believed to 
 be both strong and gentiine. And that fraternal regard 
 is not in the least impaired by the Russian opinion of the 
 theory and practice of our institutions, presented in this 
 chapter, harsh and intense as those opinions are. 
 
 " I do not well see how your bureaucracy can be defend- 
 ed even by its most radical apologists," said the American. 
 By bureaucracy, as everybody knows, is meant the great 
 system of bureaus estabUshed by Peter the Great. As a 
 matter of fact, Russia is governed by clerks and officials — 
 hundreds of them, thousands of them, tens of thousands 
 of them. Peter the Great saw that his government must 
 have some system. It could not be mere caprice of the 
 imperial will all the time. The country was too vast, its 
 population was too great, its dominions were growing and 
 must continue to grow in extent, and the number of its 
 people were increasing and destined to increase for cen- 
 turies to come. So the constructive Peter classified every- 
 thing. 
 
 He established bureaus for this and bureaus for that and 
 bureaus for the other. These bureaus were grouped under 
 
 the Emperor's sympathy in its bearings upon the coiirse of our 
 great contest and in its influence upon the conduct of other 
 nations towards us. 
 
 "The crowds that gathered around us at every social meeting, 
 singing the plaintive national songs; the flowers presented by the 
 hands of beauty and innocence; the numerous presents offered 
 upon all suitable occasions; the imperial honor granted at Kos- 
 troma of casting down their garments for us to walk upon; the 
 deep feeling which the great mass of the people evinced whenever 
 the name of our country was mentioned, and the very many 
 touching incidents which such sympathies evoked, were not 
 produced by curiosity or instigated by officials. The Russians 
 have been familiar with royal embassies from powerful and 
 magnificent courts for many centuries. It was a heart-impulse 
 of the people in favor of our country which occasioned these ex- 
 traordinary demonstrations towards the messenger of good-will, 
 founded on their instinctive knowledge, that while otu" countries 
 
 388
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 departments. At the head of each of these departments 
 was a minister; at the head of each of these bureaus was 
 a chief. Under these were sub-chiefs, and so on down 
 to the humblest clerk. The theory was that this whole 
 service was to be a merit service. Officials were to be ad- 
 vanced from the very lowest grades to the very highest 
 grades, by length of service and by efficiency, or, rather, 
 by a combination of the two. This is the system of 
 government which prevails in Russia to-day. It is what 
 we would call a perfect "civil service." The great govern- 
 mental machine invented by Peter the Great, perfect in 
 theory, has become all-powerful in practice. Every- 
 thing in Russia must be referred to an official, and this 
 official refers it to the next higher official, and this official 
 in turn refers it to his bureau, and there it runs the gaunt- 
 let of still other officials. 
 
 It is said that the result is that there is not a depart- 
 ment of the Russian government to-day which is not 
 behindhand with its work. The affairs of the Holy 
 Synod, for instance, are reported to be seriously con- 
 gested. So, on good authority, it is said the business 
 of nearly every other department is too great for the best 
 
 were widely separated from each other on the globe and in forms 
 of government, there was yet a community of interest on great 
 points, which identified the friendships of the people with patriot- 
 ism itself." 
 
 The resolution adopted by Congress is as follows: 
 "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the 
 Congress of the United States of America has learned with deep 
 regret the attempt made upon the life of the Emperor of Russia 
 by an enemy of emancipation. The Congress sends greeting to 
 his Imperial Majesty and to the Russian nation, and congratulates 
 the twenty million serfs upon the providential escape from 
 danger of the sovereign to whose head and heart they owe the 
 blessings of their freedom. 
 
 "Section 2. And be it further resolved, that the President of 
 the United States be requested to forward a copy of this resolution 
 to the Emperor of Russia." 
 
 389
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 attention. In short, the affairs of the empire seem to 
 have grown beyond the capacity of the legion of clerks 
 who attend to its business. It could hardly fail to be so, 
 since most details must be passed on to St. Petersburg. 
 As a result, it is said that thousands of matters are simply 
 "pigeon-holed," as we say here in America. Many thou- 
 sands more are said to be decided without adequate or 
 perhaps without any knowledge. And to the American ob- 
 server it appears to be nothing short of marvellous that the 
 government can get along at all. As a matter of fact, the 
 efhciency of the government is amazing when one considers 
 the minute and complex organization of administration. 
 
 So, when an American's opinion is asked, these con- 
 spicuous facts are frankly pointed out. It was suggested 
 that the simple expedient of even a small degree of local 
 self-government would relieve the centralized power of the 
 immense amount of business which is literally breaking 
 it down, as foreign critics assert, but which the Russian 
 emphatically denies. It was pointed out that this simple 
 and natural process would create initiative on the part of 
 the people; and, further, that the people of each locality, 
 aided, if necessary, or even directed by the local nobility, 
 could better understand their needs than a chain of offi- 
 cials running from the locality clear up to St. Petersburg. 
 
 And, indeed, there is a considerable and, it is believed, 
 a growing sentiment in Russia along this line. It is not 
 so many years ago that the zemstvos were inaugurated 
 in Russia by Alexander the Liberator. These were, in a 
 fair degree, machines of local self-government. They were 
 made up of peasants, land-owners, and nobles elected in 
 various ways by their respective classes. At the head 
 of each zemstvo sat as its president the marshal of the 
 nobility of the district, appointed by the Czar. In most 
 of these cases the nobles, and especially the marshals of 
 the nobility, were in hearty sympathy with the people, 
 instead of with the central government at St. Petersburg. 
 
 This sudden development of self-government in the 
 
 390
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 empire of the Czar did not long continue its work of 
 popular legislation. Within recent years there be- 
 gan to be curtailment of its power and privileges. This 
 retrenchment of popular self - government in Russia 
 has gone on with ever-accelerating speed, until at the 
 present time the zemstvo might as well not exist, so 
 far as any real self-government is concerned. The ten- 
 dency steadily is to place all of this power again in the 
 hands of the Governor of the district, appointed directly 
 by the Czar and responsible directly to him. 
 
 At this reaction there are loud and indignant protests. 
 Russian noblemen, who want local and popular self- 
 government, are very outspoken in their indignation, 
 far more outspoken than the people themselves, who 
 seem to care very little about it. Indeed, one reason 
 given for curtailing the power of the zemstvo is the 
 difficulty of getting the people to vote or do anything 
 else in connection with it. We in America, who are 
 accustomed to believe that nobody speaks his mind in 
 Russia, will find it hard to understand that the Russian 
 country gentleman will talk with about the same emphasis 
 against the recentralization of governmental power in St. 
 Petersburg as the American politician will here in Amer- 
 ica against the administration with which he is dissatis- 
 fied. And these expressions of dissent and dissatisfaction 
 are by no means concealed. 
 
 It must not be inferred from the reaction from the 
 local self - government of the zemstvo towards auto- 
 cratic recentralization of power that there is no self- 
 government in Russia at all. On the contrary, any 
 Slavophile will assure you that the only real democ- 
 racy on earth is found in the peculiar Russian village, or, 
 as the Russian word is, "mir." This is the famous Russian 
 commune. As has been stated, all Russian peasants live in 
 villages. These villages are self-governing, so far as their 
 local affairs are concerned, with the one exception of fix- 
 ing the imperial taxes. As has been noted, the land be- 
 
 391
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 longing to the peasants is held by them in common. This 
 land is allotted among the peasants, not by the govern- 
 ment but by the peasants themselves, and not at stated 
 intervals but whenever necessary, and not to the indi- 
 vidual members of the commune, but to the families. The 
 unit in the Russian village is the family. The unit with 
 which the government deal? is the village. The heads of 
 families in these villages get together at a call from the 
 elder. This elder is elected by viva voce vote. These 
 meetings thus called divide the land among the various 
 families. 
 
 There is for this no hard-and-fast rule. These assem- 
 blages simply talk over the matter. They debate among 
 themselves what is right and what is wrong, what is just 
 and what is unjust, and they allot the land accordingly. 
 In these meetings the women who happen to be at the 
 head of the household — as, for instance, the widow of a 
 deceased peasant — participate and do as much talking as 
 the men. 
 
 These little village communes also pass upon and settle 
 many of the minor and petty offences committed by their 
 members. The community exercises a power over each 
 member of it more autocratic than that exercised by the 
 Czar himself over his individual subjects. For example, 
 each member is compelled to do his fair part of the work. 
 He must pay the portion of the taxes which the commune 
 or village allots to him. The government itself collects 
 the tax from the commune and not from the individual. 
 The commune says how much of the tax each family shall 
 pay. If the head of any family is in arrears of his taxes 
 the commune will not let him have a passport, and with- 
 out a passport the government will not let him leave the 
 village. The same is true of the son or daughter of a 
 family, except, we are informed, that in these cases, while 
 the commune itself is supposed to deny or grant the 
 passport, in reality it is the family to which the son or 
 daughter belongs who determines it. 
 
 392
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Of course, such a system as this would not work with 
 us at all; but the Russian peasant is a peculiar human 
 being. He is exceedingly good-natured and reasonable. 
 In their meetings, which, weather permitting, are usually 
 in the open, under the trees, and which may last for a few 
 hours or several days, there is merely a crystallization of 
 opinions. Then a vote is taken. The minority fall in 
 with the majority. Everybody "lines up," to use a 
 familiar American political expression. Grumbling there 
 usually is, but it is confined to the person against whom 
 the decision runs; and everybody laughs and jokes the 
 grumbler out of face, and so everything goes along very 
 smoothly. It must be added that the elder (starosta) 
 elected by these villagers does not exercise any influence 
 over the decisions of his fellows. Indeed, he does not 
 attempt to. If he did, he would be put down by the rest. 
 Nobody wants to be elder. There is no pay in it, and a 
 great deal of responsibility; but when anybody is elected, 
 there is no getting out of it as a usual thing. And all 
 this, declares the Slavophile, is the only real self-govern- 
 ment in the world. 
 
 A number of these villages are combined into a larger 
 kind of a tribunal, which settles more important disputes 
 and adjudges more important crimes. Again, a number 
 of these are combined together in what has already been 
 referred to as the zemstvo, or district legislative as- 
 sembly. 
 
 To return now, after these modifications, to the great 
 burden of bureaucracy which the American traveller, 
 when asked for an opinion, always criticises. 
 
 "Of course, our system of bureaus and government by 
 them, or rather through them, has its defects. But what 
 government has not?" answered a Russian civil officer. 
 "Take your own American government, for example," he 
 continued. "To us it appears most irrational. For in- 
 stance, there is an uprising against some vicious element, 
 as in the case of the Italians some years ago at New 
 
 393
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Orleans." (You will find the Russian educated man 
 pretty well up on most of the things going on in the United 
 States and elsewhere in the world.) "It looked absurd 
 to all Europe, and especially us Russians, that, while your 
 national government admitted the offence, it could do 
 nothing, because a State government within your national 
 government alone was responsible. That looks to us 
 Russians like a contradiction in terms. How, we ask, 
 can there be a government which is sovereign over its 
 whole territory and yet not responsible for what is done 
 within that territory?" 
 
 "We will have our meals at the following hours," said 
 General Deitrich, on his way to take command of the 
 " Russian railway -guards " (in reality, picked Russian sol- 
 diers) in Manchuria. "You see, we do not permit any 
 republic over here, not even on our boats," said he, 
 laughing pleasantly. 
 
 Regretful comment on parliamentary institutions is not 
 uncommon. Below is given a Russian's criticism upon 
 our American form of government, which can be heard 
 in Russia from the lips of the highly educated Russians, 
 who also happen to be apologists for and advocates of 
 autocracy. It is useful only as showing the opinions of 
 such Russians of all liberal government and their pro- 
 found misunderstanding of our republic. 
 
 "I am very free to admit almost all of your criticism 
 of our Tchinovnic (clerk) system," said he. "Of course, 
 it is cumbersome, and of course business gets congested. 
 At the same time, I do not think it is much more congested 
 than it is in the English Parliament, where I have myself 
 listened to half a day consumed by a fruitless debate 
 over some trivial local matter affecting some town in 
 Scotland." (Any one who has spent a day in the British 
 House of Commons has witnessed the same thing. ) ' ' Then, 
 too, you must take into account the difference in race. 
 We are Slav; do not forget that. We are devoted to 
 form. We are not so much accustomed to take orders 
 
 394
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 as we are under a mental, a moral, and physical — racial — 
 necessity to take orders." 
 
 And he referred to the fact that when the Russian 
 people had literally thrown the Czar headlong from the 
 throne, and had the government in their hands to do with 
 it what they liked, they simply crowned another Czar 
 and went about their business as before. 
 
 "But now consider your own institutions," he contin- 
 ued. "The educated and instructed Russian always 
 laughs when he hears you Americans boast of your free 
 self-government. As a matter of fact, do you have as 
 much self-government as we do? From the best infor- 
 mation I have been able to obtain, both from reading and 
 from travel, the impression received is that you are gov- 
 erned by parties. Your parties nominate your ticket — do 
 they not ? — and set forth certain declarations in what you 
 call a platform. Then everybody belonging to that party 
 votes for it, and you call that self-government. It does 
 not look to me very much like self-government; but con- 
 ceding that there is a measure of self-government in it in 
 theory, is it so in practice? 
 
 "We understand that your parties are really ruled by 
 a few powerful politicians, who give up their entire time 
 and energy to that business. The delegates to American 
 political conventions, which are supposed, in theory, to be 
 selected by the people, are usually selected, as we under- 
 stand it, by a few local politicians who are powerful in 
 their community, and who do the bidding of other power- 
 ful politicians higher up. Furthermore, we are informed 
 that these men are not powerful by reason of pre-eminent 
 virtue or culture or patriotism, but by skilful use of cor- 
 rupt methods. Men who can be depended upon to do the 
 bidding of these politicians are placed on the committees 
 which prepare your platforms of principles. In short, in 
 your so-called democratic government everything is 'cut 
 and dried,' as I heard the expression used in England. 
 Your conventions of delegates, which are supposed to be 
 
 395
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 elected by the people, but which, in reality, are selected, 
 as I have indicated, accept the platform just as it is pre- 
 sented to them by the few who constitute this committee, 
 and this committee receives its instructions from the big 
 politician who runs the whole thing. 
 
 "Now, we Russians do not see very much difference be- 
 tween this and an autocratic form of government, except 
 that in the case of the Czar's government the sovereign is 
 above all reward or the hope of it, above all fear of dis- 
 placement, and is forced by his conscience and the public 
 opinion of the nation, and his own desire to do the best he 
 can for our people, and perhaps, above all, by his wish to 
 appear well in history, and hand his government down to 
 his son in a better condition than it was when he took it 
 up; whereas, with your political czars, they last for but a 
 short time, and are influenced more or less by their own 
 selfish designs. 
 
 "Then, again," continued the Russian critic of our in- 
 stitutions, in giving this curious Russian point of view, 
 "suppose your government is run exactly as it is sup- 
 posed, in theory, to be run. Consider the immense waste 
 of energy it entails. Suppose your public men to be 
 unselfish and patriotic to an ideal degree. Well, after 
 they have proposed certain laws or declared certain prin- 
 ciples, they must waste the greater part of their energy 
 going about the country in your campaigns speaking to the 
 people. As a matter of fact, they go about the country 
 speaking not to the people but to their partisans. The 
 point that I am now making is that the very best that is 
 in them is given, not to the study of public questions, not 
 to the grave consideration of laws, but to haranguing 
 crowds. 
 
 "After this expenditure of energy, and to no great pur- 
 pose cither, your public men have very little real strength 
 left for the actual work of the nation. So in the nation or 
 the State, or even the city, the result of this is that your 
 laws are not carefully drawn, are almost certain to be re- 
 
 396
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 pealed, etc. Another result is that your government, take 
 it altogether, is by far and away the most expensive in the 
 world. I mean if you take the expense of your city and 
 other municipal governments, your State government, and 
 your national government, that you Americans spend far 
 more of what your producers create than any other gov- 
 ernment in the world. As I have said, it all ends in your 
 not governing yourselves at all. To us Russians it ap- 
 pears that your boasted self-government is merely a gov- 
 ernment by cliques. 
 
 "Of course, I admit that you sometimes have great ex- 
 ceptions; sometimes, doubtless, you develop public men of 
 such pre-eminent ability that they command the attention 
 and respect of your people themselves. No doubt, such 
 men, when such exceptions are found, are more powerful 
 than the temporary and corrupt cliques of politicians 
 who usually dominate your public affairs. I am willing 
 to admit that when such a man is encountered in Amer- 
 ican public life the cliques are unable to overthrow him, 
 and will not try to do so, because so great is the hold of 
 such a man on your masses that the people would turn and 
 destroy your little governing groups of politicians who 
 thus offended them. It seems to us Russians that such 
 men occasionally appearing in American public life are 
 about the only hope you have of being saved from your- 
 selves. Your Washingtons and your Lincolns are, after all, 
 your salvation ; and so, in spite of your theories of popular 
 government, you get back, in the end, to the principle of 
 autocracy disguised under the name and character of some 
 popular hero who is worthy of and receives the support 
 and affection of your masses. 
 
 "Then, again, take it in diplomacy. It appears to us 
 Russians, and indeed to most Europeans, that there is no 
 such thing as American diplomacy, and cannot be. This 
 year you have one political party in power, and that party 
 pursues a certain foreign policy. The next year, perhaps, 
 the opposing political party gets into power, and that suc- 
 
 397
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ceeding administration, which may have been elected 
 solely on account of some internal policy and not at all 
 with reference to the foreign policy pursued by the party 
 it succeeded, nevertheless reverses the whole foreign pol- 
 icy of your nation, or tries to do so. It even turns out of 
 ofhce your nation's ambassadors all over the world, no 
 matter how able those ambassadors are and no matter 
 what serious and delicate problems any ambassador may 
 have on his hands. It may be that he is in the very midst 
 of an important and far-reaching negotiation which all 
 the other statesmen of the world regard as highly beneficial 
 to your nation. No matter; out he goes. The reason is 
 that he does not belong to the party that has come into 
 power. 
 
 "Now, to us Russians that seems childish. Then, again, 
 your ambassador may only have begun to get acquainted 
 with the country to which he is accredited. In reality, 
 he may only have begun to master the usages and prac- 
 tices which might make him valuable at the court to 
 which he is sent. Again no matter; out he goes; and just 
 because he belongs to the unsuccessful political party 
 which, as I say, may have come into power purely on 
 account of some exclusively internal policy affecting your 
 country and your country alone. This silly practice ex- 
 tends even to your consuls at all important points; and, 
 strangest of all, the only consuls you keep in office, when 
 there is a change of administration, are those at unim- 
 portant points. To us Russians this practice of your 
 American Republic seems almost insane; and yet it is a 
 part of what you call your free institutions. 
 
 "Or take the question of taxes. Our government is 
 criticised because the people have no part in saying how 
 much tares they shall pay. As a matter of fact, of 
 course, this is not true in local affairs, although it is true 
 in imperial affairs. But suppose it were true even in 
 municipal affairs ? Where is the difference between your 
 democratic form of government as it is practised in your 
 
 398
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 dties and our autocratic form of government as it is 
 practised in Russia? How many men who really pay 
 the taxes of New York have, as a matter of fact, very 
 much to say about it ? Some of our statesmen have made 
 a practical study of the American cities as they have of 
 the municipal governments of all other countries, in order 
 to see where we could improve conditions here, and we 
 have been astonished to find that in the matter of at least 
 two of your great cities the whole question of taxes and 
 municipal administration is said to be determined by 
 two or three men, sometimes only one man at the head 
 of some political organization. 
 
 "Now, referring again to the exhaustion of your public 
 men in what is really idle harrangue on the stump, com- 
 pare them with our Russian statesmen. Of course, our 
 statesmen have their failings, too, and very great ones. 
 No Russian claims that his public men are perfect. But, 
 nevertheless, they have all their time and all their energy 
 to devote to the real work of the empire. Your public 
 men, on the contrary, are compelled to dissipate by far 
 the greater part of their time and energy in the work 
 of your almost continuous elections. It is strange to us 
 that you Americans do not awaken to the enormous ex- 
 penditure of energy in your numerous campaigns. There 
 is always some campaign or other on hand. You are 
 always electing somebody to something. It entails a loss 
 of vital power which, it seems to us, might be better given 
 to the real service of the nation." 
 
 When reminded of our miraculous progress in com- 
 parison with the snail-like progress of Russia, the Russian 
 critic replied : "All that is conceded, but yet your progress 
 has not been greater than ours since we started to adopt 
 modern methods. And, besides, can anybody say what 
 the end of your apparent 'progress' is going to be? May 
 it not be that you are exhausting yourself and your re- 
 sources, like a man who gets false energy out of stimu- 
 lants. I cannot admit," said he, "that our respective 
 
 399
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 experiments have gone far enough for anybody to give a 
 just opinion of the comparative merits or demerits of 
 American and Russian so-called progress." 
 
 Many pages of similar opinions might be given here, 
 but the above is typical and fairly illustrative of the 
 autocratic Russian point of view. Of course, it is not 
 said that this is the unanimous Russian conclusion. On 
 the contrary, very able Russians hold to the opposite 
 opinion; but the above is believed to be a fair presenta- 
 tion of the prevailing Russian thought. The best way to 
 learn to appreciate our American institutions is to visit 
 other lands and find how immeasurably better off we 
 Americans are than any other people. Go about the 
 world and you will come to love the United States more 
 than ever.
 
 XXVII 
 
 THINGS CASUALLY OBSERVED 
 
 ALL Russian stores and shops, of course, have "signs," 
 J-\ just as American stores and shops have. But the 
 Russian signs are peculiar. Instead of having the word 
 "dry-goods" or "meat market" or what not on their 
 signs, there are, instead, pictures of what the shop or store 
 has to selL Here is one that has pictures of fruits — very 
 well, that is a fruit store. Another picture has a quarter 
 of beef, or sausages and the like — that is a meat store. 
 You cannot fail to find a dry -goods establishment, be- 
 cause a picture of its wares is conspicuously placed in 
 front of it. The reason for this you perhaps will be told, 
 is that the people cannot read, but that they do under- 
 stand the pictures. This is not the exact truth, but it is 
 a suggestion of the truth. It was the original reason for 
 making the pictures rather than written signs, but that 
 reason has to a considerable degree now passed away. 
 
 This method of sign-painting is now continued more 
 largely as a matter of custom than of necessity ; for be it 
 again repeated, that of all the people in the world, except 
 perhaps the Asiatics, those most devoted to custom are 
 the Russians. No doubt it is true also that large num- 
 bers of people, particularly the older members of the 
 poorer classes, cannot yet read and write, and the picture 
 signs may be continued for their convenience. Neverthe- 
 less, in cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow the change 
 from picture signs to written signs is rapidly going on ; and 
 in the two or three cities of this class the pictures are usu- 
 ally accompanied by the written words. Also, especially 
 36 401
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 in St. Petersburg, the pictures are being dropped from 
 the signs entirely. This indicates a rapid advance of 
 literacy, because it is being done in spite of the fact 
 that much illiteracy remains, and in spite of the more 
 powerful influence of custom. 
 
 Do not imagine that you cannot get anything you want 
 in a Russian city as readily as you can in an American 
 city. The fact has already been noted that even in Si- 
 berian cities any possible thing you desire may be pur- 
 chased in their department stores. Of course, the same 
 is true in the larger Russian cities, although it is a singular 
 fact that the idea of the department store has not devel- 
 oped in Russia itself as it has in Siberia. Whereas the 
 tendency in Siberia, and even in Manchuria, is towards 
 the department-store principle, in Russia the shop prin- 
 ciple is still dominant. 
 
 In Moscow there is an arcade which, it is said, is not 
 surpassed by any similar arrangement in the world. In 
 this arcade are shops which sell every conceivable thing 
 except meats and the like. They are similar to the shops 
 in the arcade in Cleveland, Ohio. Residents of Moscow 
 also boast that this Muscovite metropolis has the great- 
 est and best-equipped apothecary establishment in the 
 world. Careful inspection of this immense drug-store 
 makes the visitor believe that this claim is perhaps not 
 an idle one. The singular circumstance should be noted 
 that in chemistry and the science of medicine Russia 
 (always comparatively speaking) has made more rapid 
 progress within the last half - century than any sister 
 nation. Many reasons are assigned for this, and perhaps 
 the most plausible is that, shut off from poHtical activity, 
 the vigorous and aggressive minds of the empire devote 
 their energies instead to science in its various forms, and 
 especially to medicine. It is said that even Vienna can- 
 not boast of as perfect a medical college as exists in one 
 of the universities of Russia. 
 
 The points of similarity between Russian and Chinese 
 
 402
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 customs are so many that a very entertaining little vol- 
 ume might be written comparing them. It has already 
 been noted that the Russians, like the Chinese, live, as a 
 usual thing, in little clumps of houses — small, rural com- 
 munities called villages. In the course of an inspection 
 of Chinese agricultural districts, the farmers were always 
 found living with their families in these little villages. 
 The same is universally true in Russia. But since 
 we are speaking of medicine, let us note another strange 
 similarity — the practice concerning the paying for med- 
 ical services. In China, as everybody knows, the phy- 
 sician is paid as long as the employer is in good health; 
 the doctor's pay ceases when his employer gets siok, 
 and does not begin again until he recovers. Of course, 
 this is not true in Russia, but there is an analogy, never- 
 theless. For example, if you stay in Russia any length 
 of time, and are too active in your investigations, as 
 the American is sure to be, you will, of course, get sick 
 more or less seriously. You must have a physician. 
 Usually 3"0u find him an excellent doctor. He goes 
 about his business without loss of time, and you recover 
 as quickly as you would under the care of his American 
 professional brother. Then you ask what the fee is. 
 But there is no fee. "Nothing at all," the Russian doctor 
 will say to you, or "What you like." But if some Rus- 
 sian friend has recommended this physician to you, he 
 will tell you beforehand that nobody in Russia ever 
 asks a physician for the amount of his bill. There is a 
 sort of universal understanding that a gentleman is to 
 pay his doctor a certain amount, and the physician 
 depends upon his patient's generosity and sense of the 
 proprieties for adequate compensation. 
 
 It is a curious custom. The Slavophile will assure you 
 that it is a custom peculiarly Slav, and that it has its 
 origin, like most Russian customs, in humanitarianism on 
 the part of the doctor and graciousness on the part of the 
 patient. The Slavophile's theory- is that the custom orig- 
 
 403
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 inated in the desire of the physician to give his healing 
 services freely to the afflicted, and with no thought of pay. 
 "It is repugnant to the Russian mind," said a Russian 
 friend, "that the physician engaged in the almost holy 
 calling of alleviating pain, of curing human ills, of saving 
 human life, should put a price upon his services. You 
 might as well expect a drowning man, in a shipwreck, who 
 is saved by the efforts of life-savers, who risked their own 
 lives in the attempt, to say to his rescuers, 'What is your 
 fee for this?' " 
 
 Another explanation was that the practice has its origin, 
 as do so many Russian customs, in the Scripture, and that 
 the healing of the afflicted by the Saviour, without money 
 and without price, was the sacred ideal out of which grew 
 this strange modern custom. "The Good Samaritan is 
 at the bottom of it," said a Russian lady. Of course, 
 nobody knows what the first reason of this practice is, but 
 it exists. Russian doctors seem to get along very well, 
 for the Russian patient who is cured is a very generous 
 man. Indeed, generosity is a Russian trait, especially 
 among themselves. No doubt is here expressed of their 
 sharpness in money matters, of the hard bargains they 
 drive, or even that there may be corruption in business and 
 governmental life, on stories of which the English-speak- 
 ing world has been for a century fed. But without af- 
 firming or denying this, it is, nevertheless, true that the 
 Russian nature is a peculiarly generous one. 
 
 The Russian peasant's hospitality, for example, reminds 
 one of the stories which we Americans love to hear of 
 the hospitality of our forefathers when they were settlers 
 in the wilderness. A certain Russian nobleman intro- 
 duced an American to the father, the head of the fam- 
 ily, before whose cottage, or hut, the troika stopped on 
 entering the village. Immediately, of course, the peas- 
 ant father invited both gentlemen into his very humble 
 home. There the most simple and, because simple, charm- 
 ing manners were found. The coarse fare of the family 
 
 404
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ^as laid before their guests. There was no apology about 
 it. The women were very glad to show their guests how 
 they wove the family clothing on the rude loom, etc. 
 
 For this courtesy a piece of money was offered the head 
 of the household. He received it without a word, but 
 with a look of grave surprise. When this small Russian 
 home had been left, the Russian nobleman said: "Oh, I 
 forgot to tell you never to give a Russian peasant or any 
 member of his family anything when he invites you into 
 his home. He does not expect it, and is very much of- 
 fended at it. You are his guest. In his opinion he is the 
 lord of that castle. He and all of his family are imme- 
 diately at your service, and everything they have, simple 
 though it be, is yours." 
 
 On the contrary, the servants of every Russian house of 
 any pretensions, and even minor officers on guard at pub- 
 lic buildings, etc., all expect gifts of money, and some- 
 times considerable of it, too. But these are not a part of 
 the Russian people, and this practice, which is common to 
 English, French, and Germans, as well as Russians, is not 
 characteristically Russian. 
 
 It is doubted whether there are one hundred thousand 
 out of our eighty million Americans who believe that 
 there is any jury system in Russia. Even few men 
 who have given considerable attention to the rise of 
 Russian power in the modern world understand this 
 fact. The law courts in several cities, both in Russia 
 and Siberia, were visited. In Moscow the writer saw 
 criminals tried by a jury of twelve men, and, except for 
 the language spoken, it would be impossible to tell that 
 that jury was not a very substantial American jury instead 
 of a Russian one. Inquiry as to its membership showed 
 that on that jury there were shopkeepers, clerks, mer- 
 chants, one nobleman, a banker, etc. The methods em- 
 ployed seemed to be very similar to those you may witness 
 any day in an American criminal court. The only visible 
 exceptions were that there were three judges instead of one 
 
 405
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and that these judges were uniformed; but when it is re- 
 membered that every class of government officials in Rus- 
 sia has its distinct and separate uniform, and that uniforms 
 in Russia do not necessarily mean military service at all, 
 but, on the contrary, may distinguish the civil official from 
 the military official, this fact is not strange. Another ex- 
 ception is that the lawyers all wear evening dress — that 
 is to say, the low-cut vest, the white and stiffly laundried 
 shirt, the standing collar, the white lawn tie, and all of 
 the appointments of the dress of an American gentleman 
 when he goes out to dinner in the evening, are the costume 
 of the Russian lawyer during the sessions of court. At 
 least, this was true in Moscow on the occasions when the 
 courts of that real Muscovite capital were visited. 
 
 Visit now another court-room. This time let us take a 
 department answering to our equity court here or in Eng- 
 land. Here is the bench for the judge, precisely as in 
 America. Here are seats for anybody who wants to ob- 
 serve the proceedings of the court, exactly as in America. 
 (This is also true in the criminal courts, which are fre- 
 quently largely attended by interested spectators.) A man 
 and a woman, evidently a Russian farmer and his wife, 
 are sitting expectantly on two of these seats in the body 
 of the room, just as you will see American litigants 
 of the same class awaiting the opening of court. The 
 judge enters, seats himself, opens a book, and then calls 
 the names of these two people. There is no answer, for 
 evidently they are without a lawyer. So the judge looks 
 about, and asks if these people are there. The man gets 
 up and says that they are. The judge tells them to come 
 forward. They go forward, and then there are other pro- 
 ceedings, without the least bit of difference, so far as you 
 can see, in form of procedure, from those of the similar 
 courts in our own country. 
 
 Some differences, however, are even visible to the eye 
 and ear of the uninstructed stranger. Over the bench 
 of every court -room hangs the portrait of the Czar. In 
 
 406
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 every court-room, too, and in every judge's ofifice, there 
 is the holy icon. Also, on a pedestal near the bench, is a 
 volume of the Sacred Scriptures. 
 
 "What is this room for?" was asked of a Siberian law- 
 yer who was explaining the various rooms of the court- 
 house in a Siberian city. Here was a room for the wit- 
 nesses who were waiting until they could be examined. 
 Here was a room for the lawyers. Here was the judge's 
 room. Over there was the jury-room, and, of course, the 
 court-room showed in itself what it was, because it was like 
 a court-room any place else. "But what was this room 
 for?" was asked. The answer became apparent almost 
 with the question, for out of it stepped the familiar 
 Russian priest, benevolent of appearance, with long, 
 blond beard and flowing hair, and dark garments reach- 
 ing to his feet. The priest in Russia, it appears, ad- 
 ministers the oath to the witnesses. At least, this was 
 true in two courts visited, one in Russia itself and one in 
 Siberia. 
 
 "You see," said a lawyer, with great irreverence, all 
 the more astonishing because irreverence is seldom found 
 in Russia — "you see," said he, "these people would not 
 think they had been sworn unless the priest administered 
 the oath on the Scriptures." Thus, again, cropped out 
 the religious nature of the Russian. 
 
 It is rather startling, considering our notions of Russian 
 and Siberian life, to hear the cry of a newsboy on a boat 
 in the Amur River. Yet at certain points the Russian 
 counterpart of the American news-vender boards these 
 far-Siberian craft and sells daily papers, magazines, and 
 other current and transient literature. 
 
 A long, low, one-story brick building attracted the 
 traveller's attention in Irkutsk, Siberia. It was the 
 office of one of the daily newspapers of this commercial 
 capital of the Czar's far dominions. It is a two-sheet, 
 four-page pubHcation, filled almost exclusively with news. 
 The more important information from Europe it receives 
 
 407
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 by telegraph. Other news is copied from the news items 
 of the more notable Russian journals. In the few copies 
 inspected there was a fairly free discussion of all subjects 
 of local and provincial interest; no editorial comment, 
 however, was found on any political subject in the sense 
 that we understand political subjects here in America. 
 
 To the American stranger within her gates St. Peters- 
 burg presents many surprises. But no surprise, perhaps, 
 is greater than the news-stands on her streets, which are 
 not unlike the news-stands in New York, only, of course, 
 smaller and fewer. Numbers of different daily papers are 
 published in the capital, and sold just as we sell them here. 
 In Moscow the same is true. No business man in this 
 industrial capital of old Russia is without his daily paper 
 any more than the American business man is. Upon 
 having random copies of different papers translated, they 
 were found to be surprisingly full of both local and foreign 
 information, and the expression of opinion concerning 
 matters of interest to their readers was astonishingly 
 free — surprising and astonishing only when we consider 
 the prevailing American view as to the suppression of 
 free speech in Russia. 
 
 Of course, in comparison with our American news- 
 papers, these Russian newspapers are inferior from every 
 point of view. Indeed, the American newspaper man 
 would not call them newspapers at all, perhaps. Also, 
 there is, of course, nothing but contrast in the freedom of 
 speech and opinion as exemplified by English, French, or 
 American newspapers and the relatively guarded and 
 timid utterances of the Russian press. The point is that 
 Russia is not without her daily newspaper. The people 
 are not without their current literature. Here is a 
 partial list of newspapers and magazines published in 
 Moscow, which will give some idea of their scope: 
 Architectural Motives, Bulletins of the Polytechnic So- 
 ciety, The Veterinary Review, Round the World, Philo- 
 sophical and Psychological Matters, Tlie Smuiay, Sunday 
 
 408
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Conversations, Medical Commiinicatiotis, The Moscow 
 Metropolitan Police News, Statistics of Prices on Materials 
 and Provisions, The Pedagogical Magazine, The Book- 
 sellers' News, The Bicyclist News, The Surgery News, The 
 Friend to Animals, Reading for the Soul, The Children s 
 Magazine, Physics and Geography, Russian Physician's 
 Journal, The Sport Journal, Communications of the Mos- 
 cow Imperial Technical Society, Geography, The Dentist, 
 The Moscow Townhall News, The PJiysical AntJiropolog- 
 ical Review, The Clinical Journal, The Hunting Journal, 
 The Pilot, The Courier, The Commercial and Technical 
 Advertiser, The Lumber Trade News, Little Tales, The 
 Mathematical Review, The Medical Guide, The Medicinal 
 Review, The Miller, The Moscow Newspaper, The Moscow 
 News, The Moscow Messenger, The Moscow Ecclesiastical 
 News, The Ant, The News of the Day, The News of the 
 Season, The Pedagogical News, The Orthodox Messenger, 
 Nature and Hunting and Sport Journal, The Breeding of 
 Birds, The Distraction, The Artisan's Journal, The Native 
 Language, The Russian Thought, The Russian Archives, 
 The Russian Messenger, The Russian Zither-Player, The 
 Russian News, The Rtcsso - English Commercial News, 
 Russian Horticulture, The Russian Speech, Garden and 
 Orchard, The Agricultural Journal, The Family, Judiciary 
 Dramas, Play Bills, Theatrical News, Technical Communi- 
 cations and Industrial News, The Commercial and Indus- 
 trial News, Communications of the Physical Society, Com- 
 munications of the Physiological Institute, Moscow Uni- 
 versity, The Pharmaceutical News, The Pharmaceutist, The 
 Philological Review, The Photographic Review, Lectures at 
 the Imperial Historical and Archceological Society, The Eth- 
 nological Review. All told, there are over one hundred 
 periodicals in Moscow alone. 
 
 Here is a small number of St. Petersburg periodicals: 
 Tlte Artillery Journal, Archives for Biology, Archives for 
 Veterinary Sciences, Archives for Psychology, Neurology, 
 and Judicial Psycho-Pathology, The Typical Theatre Pla^y 
 
 409
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Bills, The Bibliographical Newspaper, Bibliographical 
 News, The Bibliographer, The Exchange News, God to 
 Aid, The Hospital Gazette, The Tartar, Care for Your 
 Health, The Russian Telegraphic Agency's Bulletins, 
 The Bicycle, The Veterinary Library, The Veterinary 
 Assistant Surgeon, The Byzantine Messenger, The Vio- 
 loncellist, The Army Physician's Jourital, The Mili- 
 tary Magazine, The Revival, The Sunday, Education 
 and Instruction, The Physician, The Homoeopathist, The 
 World's Post, The Universal Technical Review, The Met- 
 ropolitan News, Statistics of Prices, The Vienna Fashion, 
 The Military Clergy's Messenger, The Graphical Art News, 
 The European Messenger, The Physical Sciences Messenger, 
 The Imperial Russian Horticultural Society's Messenger, 
 The Foreign Literature Magazine, Foreign Agriculture, 
 The Engineering Department's Messenger, The Fashion, 
 The Corn Trade Gazette, The Sea Engineer's Society's Mes- 
 senger, The Military Science Journal, The Technical So- 
 ciety's Gazette, The Veterinary Gazette, The Law Messenger, 
 The Breeding of Birds, The Russian Red Cross Society's 
 Messenger, The A grictdtural Journal, The Russian Brewery 
 Jotirnal, Theatrical and Musical Journal, The Sobriety 
 Gazette, The Financial, Industrial, and Commercial Mes- 
 senger, The Orderly, The Mining Journal, The Advertiser, 
 The Citizen, Graphical Art and Printing Industry, The 
 Freight's List, The Village, Journal for Theatre and Art, 
 The Home Library, Leisure and Work, Leisure for Blind 
 People, The Russian Newspaper, Leisure for Children, The 
 Childhood, The Zoological Museum's Animals, The Imperial 
 Theatre's Annals, The Weekly Report, The Railways, For 
 Women, Old Times, The Picturesque Review, The Life, Life 
 and School, Journal for Feminine Pathology, The Journal 
 for Everybody , Review of Reviews and Encyclopedian Re- 
 view, The Medical Chemistry and Pharmacy Journal, The 
 Board of Schools Journal, The Justice Department's Journal, 
 Words for the Soul, The Star, The Agricultural Gazette, The 
 Architect, The Dentist's Journal, The Toys, Communica- 
 
 410
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 iions of the Agricultural Department, Art and Artistic Re- 
 view, The Historical Review, The Breeding of Horses, The 
 Peasant's Housekeeping, The Horizon, The Deaf Mute's 
 Education, Literature, Literature for the Family, The Ray, 
 The Forest Journal, The Lord's Worlds, The World of 
 Art, The Fashionable Courier, The Naval Magazine, Music 
 and Song, The Observer, The People, The Scientific Re- 
 view, The Architect's Week, The News and Exchange Ga- 
 zette, The New Journal for Foreign Literature, Art and 
 Science, The Novelist, The Cidture, The St. Petersburg 
 Gazette, Polytechnic Sciences, The Post and Telegraph 
 Journal, The Government's Messenger, The Industrial 
 World, The Explorator, Russia, The Russian School, The 
 Russian Elementary Tutor, The Russian Tourist, The Rus- 
 sian Wealth, The Russian Economist, The Metropolitan 
 Courier, The Insurance Review, The Insurance News, The 
 Northern Courier, The Prison's Messenger , The Church 
 Messenger , The Church News, School and Housekeeping, 
 The Electricity, The Electrician, The Lawyer's Gazette, The 
 Universal History Messenger. 
 
 The total number of St. Petersburg periodicals is con- 
 siderably over three hundred. 
 
 Of the publications above mentioned, those which deal 
 with scientific and military subjects are very creditable. 
 Perhaps there are no more thoroughly scientific publica- 
 tions printed in America than there are in Russia. This, 
 of course, however, is a matter of opinion. The military 
 publications, too, are said to be quite equal to those of 
 any other country. 
 
 The censorship of foreign newspapers and magazines 
 is still rigid in Russia. However, it is in the process 
 of relaxation ; also it is by no means perfect. For exam- 
 ple, the letter of Tolstoi to the Czar and his ministers, 
 which went to the limit of our American ideas of free pe- 
 tition, was found blotted out in one copy of the London 
 Times, and yet another copy, obtained in Russia, had the 
 whole letter without an erasure. This suggests a languor 
 
 4n
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and indifference on the part of the censors. The method 
 of censoring foreign publications distasteful to the govern- 
 ment is simple. It consists merely in obliterating the 
 entire article or paragraph. In the middle of a page 
 you will see, perhaps, a whole column made blank and 
 black. It is as if a roller of printer's ink had been run 
 over the objectionable article. Where the obliteration of 
 an article is attempted, it is, so far as observed, quite 
 thorough. Not a word or a letter can be made out. The 
 whole thing is simply sponged off, as it were, with black- 
 ness. 
 
 Not all books are permitted in Russian book-stores, 
 yet suppression is not so complete as the uninstructed 
 American visitor imagines. For example, a certain novel 
 by an English author, which the writer was informed 
 would be objectionable if found by the custom officers 
 on crossing the German frontier into Russia, was thrown 
 out of the car window; yet in the English book -store 
 in St. Petersburg this very novel was found on sale. 
 Again, information was had in London that a certain 
 book on Russia was not permitted within the dominions 
 of the Czar, yet this entire work was purchased in a Rus- 
 sian book-store. Still again, a certain writer has pub- 
 lished several volumes of great learning and astonishing 
 research upon Russian institutions and practices. Positive 
 information was had that this work also was excluded, 
 yet an excellent English translation of every page of it 
 was procured right in St. Petersburg. Nevertheless, 
 books, papers, magazines, and all literature which tend 
 to discredit Russian institutions and to undermine the 
 people's respect for authority of the government are 
 still carefully excluded. 
 
 "We do not understand why we should allow other 
 people to abuse us in our own house," said a Russian 
 apologist for this practice. "With the exception of a 
 very small percentage of us, we Russian people are very 
 well content with our Russian institutions and Russian 
 
 412
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 administration. Yet here comes a volume by some fanat- 
 ical critic of everything Russian, with ideas and notions 
 subversive of the whole scheme of our Slav civilization. 
 Nine times out of ten the writer is ignorant of the facts 
 which he assumes to set forth. Oftener still his views 
 and arguments based on those facts are plainly the work 
 of some hare-brained person who wants to reform the 
 world. Very frequently people abuse us with the pen 
 who have never been within the borders of our land ; but 
 if we admit the work of a thoroughly studious, well-in- 
 formed writer, whose facts are accurate and whose criti- 
 cisms are carefully reasoned, we must admit all. We 
 think it better and easier to exclude all. Especially is this 
 so when we fail to see what possible good it could do, 
 anyhow." 
 
 Reading among the people is increasing. This is due 
 to the rapid growth of both common and ecclesias- 
 tical schools throughout the empire, and it is also due to 
 a peculiar custom prevailing in the Russian army. It is 
 said to be the duty of the officers to instruct the illiterate 
 recruit in reading and writing. No doubt this duty is 
 performed very negligently; yet certain it is that peas- 
 ants from the agricultural districts of the empire hundreds 
 of miles from any large city, who had been taken into the 
 army and were being sent uninformed to the Far Eastern 
 frontier, were seen day after day absorbed in various 
 little pocket volumes. One of these little books, which a 
 peasant soldier was not only reading but carefully study- 
 ing, was a simple and elemental work on physiology. An- 
 other soldier had a little paper-covered book on the horse, 
 its proper management and care, together with an ac- 
 count of the diseases of the horse, and how they should 
 be treated. Still another one had a paper-covered novel, 
 dealing of adventure and hair -breadth 'scapes. It was 
 the Russian counterpart of our American dime novel. 
 
 It is certain that the working-people in the great cities 
 do considerable reading. The country peasants also do 
 
 413
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 some reading. In the book-stores, or stalls, where the 
 military and religious prints to which reference has been 
 made were sold there were perfect stacks of these low- 
 class works of fiction. Mostly they are stories of desper- 
 ate adventure. Also they have pictures on the back 
 covers representing frightful encounters. One of these 
 novels was found which assumed to tell of the life of the 
 American pioneer and his conflicts with the American 
 Indian. On the back of it was a picture of the American 
 Indian and the trapper engaged in deadly conflict. 
 
 "I should judge from your supply of those books that 
 you have a heavy demand for them," was suggested to 
 the bookseller. 
 
 "Oh yes, that is quite true," he answered. "The peo- 
 ple buy these novelettes constantly, and in great quan- 
 tities. They buy more of these than they do of any other 
 kind of books we keep. Next to these are Bible stories 
 and religious legends. Indeed, the sale of these religious 
 booklets almost equals the sale of the novels of advent- 
 ure." 
 
 It was found that the sale of this low-priced and low- 
 grade literature was in about the reversed proportion of 
 the sale of the colored prints or pictures; that is, more 
 religious pictures were sold than prints representing war 
 scenes, although the sale of the latter almost equalled the 
 former. Conversely, more stories of adventure and travel 
 are sold than books containing stories of Biblical times, 
 although the sale of the latter almost equalled the former. 
 
 At several of the book-stands patronized exclusively 
 by the working -people, some of Tolstoi's stories were 
 found on sale. They are readily purchased and widely 
 read. Time did not permit such careful inquiry as to dis- 
 cover whether or not all of his novels are published and 
 read in Russia, though the information was — and such 
 investigation as could be made confirmed it — that only 
 one or two of Tolstoi's novels are suppressed. Practi- 
 cally all oi his religious and sociological essays, how- 
 
 414
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 ever, are probably prohibited. Many of these essays and 
 articles of the great Russian dreamer are fearless, even 
 violent, and most direct attacks upon the Russian na- 
 tional Church, on the one hand, and upon all government, 
 and especially Russian government, on the other hand. 
 
 Their suppression is not surprising when one considers 
 the Russian point of view. No one ever attacked any 
 Church organization more unsparingly than does Tolstoi, 
 and this while still a member of the Church organization 
 which he is assailing. His last attack upon the Church 
 was so bitter, and he denounced with such violence not 
 only the Church organization and administration of Rus- 
 sia but the whole modern practice of Chiistianity, that 
 the Church authorities excluded Tolstoi from membership 
 in the Church. It was the same thing frequently done 
 twenty years ago in every religious community in the 
 United States. The expulsion from a Church society 
 of any of our American denominations years ago because 
 some member of some local Church disagreed with the 
 teachings of his denomination on some Scriptural passage 
 was, in a very mild form, the same punishment for the 
 same offence for which Tolstoi was excommunicated from 
 the Russian Church.
 
 XXVIII 
 
 THE RUSSIAN COMMON SCHOOL AND COUNTRY HOSPITAL 
 
 PERHAPS our hospital will interest you," said a 
 resident of a Russian country town, which was the 
 headquarters or seat of the zemstvo of that locality. 
 Hospital in a town of that size ! It was surprising ; for no 
 such institution would be found in an American town of 
 many times its population. So the hospital was visited. 
 It was located perhaps half a mile from the town itself. 
 It stood in a pleasant field, with shady trees hard by. It 
 was a long, low building of brick, with but a single story. 
 Two young physicians were in charge. Busy about their 
 duties were several women nurses, dressed as the Amer- 
 ican trained nurse is attired. The rooms, and, indeed, 
 the whole place, were scrupulously clean, and the fa- 
 miliar odor of disinfectants characteristic of all such 
 places filled the air. The few patients appeared to be 
 well attended, and the beds on which they lay were com- 
 fortable and spotless. The laboratory equipment of this 
 establishment appeared to be extremely generous, and 
 the surgical instruments especially were numerous and up 
 to date. 
 
 "Yes," said the Russian who guided the visitor from 
 the town to this institution of healing, " we are very mucK 
 pleased with our progress in hospital building and in 
 all departments of the medical profession. Indeed, there 
 seems to be in recent years an epidemic of hospital 
 building, but whether it is permanent or not, of course I 
 cannot say." But whether permanent or not, certain it 
 is that you will run across a surprising number of up-to- 
 
 416
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 date hospitals in certain country districts of the empire. 
 Upon this being called to the attention of a Russian lady 
 of travel and education, she said: "I think it is a very 
 hopeful development. There are four such hospitals 
 within a radius of one hundred versts from this spot. 
 They are all for the common people, too. This does not 
 look like we are such a hard-hearted people as our enemies 
 make us out to be, does it?" 
 
 In travelling across the country, from one estate to an- 
 other, three little red school-houses were noted and ex- 
 amined. One was found in the centre of, perhaps, the 
 most thriving agricultural village visited. It was about 
 the size of an ordinary American country school-house, 
 surrounded by a httle yard, fenced in, and full of young 
 trees. In the school-room itself were wooden benches and 
 desks, exactly like those in an American country school 
 some years ago. Every American who was raised in the 
 country and who has reached thirty years of age has 
 gone to school in just such a school -house, and sat on just 
 such benches, and carved just such wooden desks. And 
 these Russian boys and girls apparently do the same 
 things that the American boys and girls in our country 
 schools did twenty years ago. 
 
 The school was not in session in any country school- 
 house visited, because it was summer, and the year's term 
 had expired and the fall term had not begun. In the 
 little school-house described, in the peasant village, the 
 teacher was a young woman. She did not live in the vil- 
 lage, however, and there was no opportunity of conversa- 
 tion with her. Several peasant mothers of the children 
 who attended the school dropped curiously in, however, 
 and the conversation with these women was engaging in 
 its simplicity and fervor. None of these women could 
 read and write, but they were delighted beyond measure 
 that their children were being taught these wonderful ac- 
 complishments. 
 
 "Oh yes," said one of these Russian mothers, "we are 
 
 '7 417
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 so glad that our children will know how to read and write 
 and make figures and do everything else that the high peo- 
 ple can do." 
 
 "We had no chance ourselves, you see," said another, 
 "and it makes us all happier to think that our boys and 
 girls can have a chance." 
 
 With others the expressions were duplicates of those 
 old-time i\.merican fathers and mothers who "had no 
 education," but who were willing to deprive themselves 
 even of the necessaries of life to "give our children a 
 chance." With all the racial differences and the improve- 
 ments of them, how alike, after all, is human nature when 
 you get to the heart of it. 
 
 Many copy-books were still in the school-room, and 
 these were inspected. The penmanship of the young 
 learner was very poor. Not in one single instance, in 
 the copy-book of either a boy or girl, were observed 
 neatness and precision of chirography. It was pointed 
 out that this inattention to the details of penmanship 
 was perhaps partly racial, the Russian being universally 
 negligent, despite his passion for foi-m; and that it was 
 partly due to the intellectual languor from which the 
 Russian peasant is just recovering. The contrast be- 
 tween the writing of these Russian children and the 
 penmanship of the children who are beginning to learn 
 to write in American schools in our Pacific possessions is 
 startling. 
 
 Scores of copy-books were examined in various towns 
 of Luzon, and the printed copy at the top of the page 
 was reproduced with almost the precision of an en- 
 graving. No American copy-book has been seen which 
 presents such perfect, literal, exact reprod^^ction of the 
 copy at the top of the page as those made by the Philip- 
 pine children in our American schools in the Philippines. 
 This superiority of penmanship on the part of Filipino 
 children over Russian children does not, by any manner 
 of means, indicate greater intelligence of the former; it 
 
 418
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 indicates, first of all, a peculiar adeptness in copying and 
 in all things done by the hand, which is a characteristic 
 of the Filipino and Malay everywhere; it indicates, in the 
 second place, the superiority of our American method 
 of teaching. 
 
 At another little red school - house, standing perhaps 
 a quarter of a mile from another Russian country village, 
 the teacher was a man. He was married, and at the 
 time the school was visited husband and wife were liv- 
 ing in the school-house itself. It was a duplicate of the 
 school-house above described. This particular teacher 
 seemed to have in his work the enthusiasm of a missionary. 
 And when your Russian is an enthusiast he is the most 
 enthusiastic enthusiast in the world. The mission of 
 this young Russian man was to give his whole Hfe to the 
 instruction of the rising generation of Russians, so far 
 as he could. 
 
 "I find my scholars eager to learn," said he. "I do not 
 find teaching hard. I am in love with my work. My 
 pay, of course, is small. I can hardly live on it; but 
 what of that? I do live on it, and that is enough. I am 
 not teaching in order to make money. I am teaching in 
 order to do good. All I expect, all I ask, all I want is 
 enough to keep me comfortable. My wife and myself 
 are very happy in our work." 
 
 Also, throughout the country is an occasional ecclesias- 
 tical school or seminary. These are usually large brick 
 buildings, very much like similar brick buildings in the 
 smaller American towns. These are established and con- 
 ducted by the Church authorities. In these institutions 
 everything is taught that is taught in the common schools 
 of the country, and much more besides. Especial stress, 
 however, is laid upon religious instruction. 
 
 Indeed, religious instruction permeates every branch of 
 study and every hour of the school-day in the Russian 
 school, just as religion saturates all Russian life, official, 
 commercial, domestic. A set of school-books was pur- 
 
 419
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 chased in a Siberian town. Here is a translation from 
 one of the elementary readers, which, perhaps, gives a 
 better idea of h(5w religion is the beginning and the end 
 of all Russian instruction than any other description can 
 give. The first paragraph of the first page, after the 
 alphabet and numerals (in Slavic, Arabic, and Roman), 
 is as follows: 
 
 "Now, dear boys, we have finished the spelling, and may, with- 
 out haste, read words and whole sentences. In all this God has 
 helped us in His love and mercy to us. To Him we consecrate the 
 learning we have gained, and this we fulfil in reading and learning 
 prayers with which it is necessary for us to commence, live, and 
 finish every day. But before we commence to learn to pray to 
 God, let us try to acquire the clearest possible understanding about 
 what praying means and how should we pray. In the prayers we 
 either glorify, that is. praise God, or beg Him satisfy our wants, or 
 thank Him for His mercy to us," etc. 
 
 This book, as has been said, is an elementary reader. 
 It is paper-covered, and on the outside is a picture of a 
 child kneeling in prayer, its head lifted to a light which 
 is breaking from heaven through the clouds. The hands 
 are brought together in an attitude of supplication. 
 The second picture in the book is of two of the Scriptural 
 prophets holding between them the Russian cross. Then 
 follow pictures representing the creation of the heavens 
 and the earth; of Adam and Eve in the Garden; of the 
 Tower of Babel; of Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, and 
 stayed in the act by the angel ; of the Egyptians perishing 
 in the waters of the Red Sea. 
 
 Then full-page and very fair illustrations of the angel 
 telling Mary of the coming of Christ ; of the Saviour in the 
 manger ; of the star in the east and the wise men adoring 
 it; of the ascension into heaven, etc., etc. Throughout 
 the book the majority of the illustrations are from the 
 Bible. 
 
 That we may get some idea of what is taught in the 
 Russian common schools, let us take from a descriptive 
 
 420
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 geography some quotations. Here is a description of 
 the United States, its people, government, and institu- 
 tions, taken from a Russian elementary descriptive geog- 
 raphy : 
 
 "The United States form a federation of thirtj'-nine (1894) 
 independent republics (States), ten Territories, and one District, 
 Columbia, in which is situated the capital of the empire, Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 "The federation is governed by the Congress, which is composed 
 of deputies elected by the inhabitants. 
 
 " Congress makes the laws concerning war or peace, dealing with 
 other empires, settles duties and taxes, etc. 
 
 "The President watches over the execution of these laws (elect- 
 ed four years). 
 
 " In all other affairs of State administration, every State is gov- 
 erned by its Senate, which is composed of deputies elected by the 
 State. 
 
 "The executive power in each State belongs to the elected Gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 "The Territories are administered by the Governors nominated 
 by the President of the United States. 
 
 "In this country there is no difference of class among the people. 
 All inhabitants enjoy the same rights, and only differ in the way of 
 occupations. 
 
 " There is no state (government) religion. Everybody is at liberty 
 to confess to the faith which he likes best. The most people belong 
 to the Protestant Church, which here is divided into many sects. 
 
 " In no empire is there paid so much attention to the public in- 
 struction as in the United States; no other country has such enor- 
 mous money sums donated for this purpose as the United States, 
 and, therefore, the number of public schools and other educational 
 institutions here is very great. The towns of Boston and Phila- 
 delphia especially have numerous institutions for the culture of 
 science. 
 
 "The sources of wealth of the inhabitants of the States remind 
 of Russia; just as here agriculture and cattle farming form the 
 principal occupation of the people. But through the warmer cli- 
 mate of the States, both these sources are more productive than in 
 Russia." 
 
 The maps in this geography are fairly accurate, but are, 
 of course, enormously inferior to the maps in our Ameri- 
 can elementary geographies. The pictures, however, rep- 
 
 421
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 resenting animal and plant life and native customs in 
 various countries, are equal to and not dissimilar from 
 those of our American geographies of like grade studied 
 by most Americans, who are now grown men and women, 
 when they were boys and girls. 
 
 Extracts from still another book, an elementary histo- 
 ry, will show what the Russian children are taught con- 
 cerning the other European countries. Here is one on 
 Germany : 
 
 "Thirty-six per cent, of the German population confess to the 
 Catholic and sixty- four per cent, the Protestant faith; the Cath- 
 olics are in majority in the South, the Protestants in the North. 
 
 "Elementary instruction is obligatory all over GeiTnany for all 
 inhabitants. Nowhere in Europe, except in Switzerland, are 
 there so many public schools (sixty thousand) and other places of 
 instruction as here; in Germany are twenty universities, of which 
 many are famous all over the world, gathering scholars not only 
 from Europe but from other parts of the world. Such are the 
 Universities of Berlin, Leipsic, Heidelberg, and others. 
 
 "The German Empire is a federation of twenty-six states, each 
 of which has its own governm.ent and its own laws; but affairs con- 
 cerning the defence of the German Empire, its dealings with other 
 states, as also the administration of posts, telegraphs, railways, 
 and the monetary system, are laid in the hands of the German 
 Emperor, whose power in all named matters is limited by the 
 parliament (Reichstag) and Imperial Council, consisting of depu- 
 ties from all the states of the empire. The Prussian King at the 
 same time is German Emperor." 
 
 Here is one on France: 
 
 "Nearly eleven - twelfths of all the population belong to the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 "The instruction of the people ranges lower than in other em- 
 pires of Central Europe, with the exception of Austria, but higher 
 instructirn in France has many institutions, and Frenchmen have 
 dc ne much in the field of science and art. 
 
 "The form of government is the republican; the law-giving 
 power belongs to the National Assembly', the executive power to 
 the President. In administrative respect the country is divided 
 into eighty-seven parts, called departments. The departments 
 carry the names of the rivers on which they are situated." 
 
 422
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 Again, here is one on England; 
 
 "State religion, Anglican Church, but a great part of the peo- 
 ple in Scotland profess the Presbyterian faith, in Ireland the 
 Catholic; besides, there are in England many foUowei^s of different 
 sects. 
 
 "In England, as in France, the public instruction is not widely 
 expanded; but for higher instruction you find many institutions 
 and twelve unixersities. 
 
 "The form of government is the monarchical, in connection with 
 a parliament. In administrative respect all England is divided 
 into one hundred and seventeen counties." 
 
 "That structure there will interest you," said the 
 interpreter, pointing to a very large and fairly attractive 
 brick building in a certain Siberian city. "It is the 
 Girls' Seminary." 
 
 To the real extent to which the instruction of women is 
 carried in Russia no guess is hazarded. But it seemed 
 that there was no end of girls' schools and girls' seminaries, 
 and this, that, or the other institution for the instruction 
 of girls. Also technical schools of various sorts are 
 springing up throughout the empire. Frequently you 
 will run upon some special institution of learning such 
 as the University for the Study of Oriental Languages 
 at Vladivostock. In Blagovestchensk, Siberia, a neat 
 little structure was pointed out as a school of riparian 
 navigation. And Russians contend that their military 
 schools, and particularly one institution of this kind, 
 are the most perfect in the world. The common schools 
 are fairly numerous, too. Strange to say, they are more 
 numerous in Siberia, in proportion to the population, 
 than in Russia itself. Here again it is observed, in' 
 education, as has before been observed in railway ad- 
 ministration, that reforms come from without inward, 
 instead of the reverse. 
 
 It must not be inferred from this that education in 
 Russia is universal, or even general, and especially that no 
 great educational wave is sweeping over the empire. 
 
 423
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 But the truth is that popular education in Russia has a 
 very fair beginning, and that substantial and even notable 
 progress is being made. A good index of this is found 
 in the increasing numbers of peasants who can read 
 and write when taken into the army from their homes. 
 It is said that at the time of the Crimean war but one 
 peasant out of every fifty taken into the service was able 
 to read and write. Only a few years ago this had been 
 reduced to five; and at the present time the information 
 is that one out of every three Russian peasants can read 
 and write when first taken into the army. This shows 
 deplorable illiteracy, it is true, even at the present time; 
 but it also shows extraordinary progress during the past 
 five decades. For if fifty years ago but one peasant out 
 of every fifty could read and write when he went into the 
 army, and to-day one in three can read and write when he 
 is taken into the army, the increase of literacy among the 
 common people of Russia is shown to be astonishingly 
 rapid. 
 
 There are, all told, something over eighty thousand 
 schools in Russia, taught by over one hundred and 
 fifteen thousand teachers, and attended by about four 
 million pupils. Compared with the immense school at- 
 tendance in the United States, the number of children in 
 Russian schools is very small indeed; and when it is re- 
 membered that the population of the Russian Empire is 
 approximately sixty millions greater than the population 
 of the United States, the disparity of the school attend- 
 ance in the two countries becomes all the more striking. 
 The contrast between school attendance in Russia and 
 other European countries, including England, is also 
 considerable; but, of course, by no means so emphatic 
 as the comparison of Russian and American school at- 
 tendance. 
 
 From another view -point, however, these Russian 
 educational statistics are by no means gloomy. Re- 
 membering that the overwhelming masses of the people 
 
 424
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 of Russia were slaves within the memory of living men; 
 remembering that Russian educational progress, as Amer- 
 icans understand that term, can hardly be said to have 
 begun a quarter of a century ago; remembering the 
 wilderness of popular ignorance which education had to 
 penetrate throughout the empire, it is the contention of 
 patriotic Russians that education among the common 
 people of the empire has made very respectable progress 
 and that the present outlook is decidedly hopeful. It is 
 certain that, in estimating the quality and weight of this 
 people in the coming affairs of the world, other nations 
 must understand that, speaking in historical terms, they 
 must reckon with Russia as a consolidated nation, whose 
 peasant masses can read and write and think, and whose 
 intellectual advance, while slow, like all the massed move- 
 ments of the Slav, is steady, continuous, and increasing, 
 and also like the characteristics of Russian advance in 
 every other direction.
 
 XXIX 
 
 THREE RUSSIANS OF WORLD FAME 
 
 THE subjects of the Czar number one hundred and 
 forty million souls. Out of these one hundred and 
 forty million human beings, three men loom so vastly 
 that they have taken the attention of the entire con- 
 temporary world. So true is this that it is no im- 
 moderate simile to say that they are three mountain 
 peaks, rising sharp and clear and to far heights out of the 
 steppes and plains made up of the masses of Russia's 
 millions. Two of these three men were the most de- 
 termined upholders of the theory and practice of autoc- 
 racy. One of these three men is the most determined 
 opponent now living of the government of the Czar and 
 of all government. Two of these men are the ablest 
 minds to whom the Czar looks for counsel and the strong- 
 est wills that guard his throne; one of these three is the 
 incessant protestor against the plans, policies, and pur- 
 poses of his sovereign. 
 
 It is a striking and significant fact that the two of these 
 three men who are the Czar's ablest and most efficient 
 helpers, as well as the most determined believers in 
 autocracy as the only correct theory of government, came 
 from the common people, and rose through a series of 
 lowly stations to the seats of the mighty; while the one 
 of the three who objects, protests, denounces, is one of 
 the great nobles of the empire, belonging to one of 
 Russia's oldest and most illustrious lordly houses. The 
 first two are of the common people in birth, of the common 
 people, too, in toil and struggle; but of the autocracy by 
 
 426
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 virtue of their very natures, by force of their astonishing 
 wills, and by reason of their firm and almost fanatical 
 convictions. The other one of these three men is by 
 birth an aristocrat of the aristocrats, by training and 
 early life, again, an aristocrat of the aristocrats; but by 
 his very nature a socialist, and by conviction more fanat- 
 ical than the autocratic convictions of the other two, an 
 aggressive disbeliever in every form of human govern- 
 ment which maintains itself by force, no matter whether 
 that government be republican or monarchial. 
 
 These three men are Leo Tolstoi, Sergius Witte, and 
 Constantine Pobyedonostseff — Tolstoi, the noble, whom 
 nature, conviction, and desire have made a peasant; 
 Witte and Pobyedonostseff, whom nature, conviction, and 
 desire have made the high officers of autocracy. 
 
 In considering these three men, we note that, first of all, 
 there are certain similarities. Each is equally dogmatic. 
 Each is equally sure that he is right and that everybody 
 else is wrong. Each is an autocrat of nature's making. 
 Neither is acquainted with the verb "to fail." Neither 
 believes in the word "impossible." And all of them are 
 intensely unpopular. 
 
 A charming bit of rural Russia are the gently rolling 
 slopes and woods that lead up to Tolstoi's estates. Al- 
 most in sight of them an immense manufacturing es- 
 tablishment has been erected, and it is to this which 
 Count Tolstoi refers in his article in the North American 
 Revieiv of April, 1901. It is a splendid road over which 
 your troika dashes until within full view of Count Tolstoi's 
 house— one of the few excellent roads of Russia. Before 
 entering Tolstoi's grounds you turn from this splendid 
 highway onto a dirt road that leads down between mod- 
 est hills, green with grass or proud with noble forest, 
 and pass through a valley. On the left are fields, and 
 peasants at work. From this valley the ground rises 
 by easy elevation to a knoll, concealed and adorned with 
 great trees. The road leads directly between two massive 
 
 427
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 stone pillars, which, however, support no gate. One 
 of them perceptibly leans out of plumb. A heavy mud- 
 hole, just before you pass between them, has been has- 
 tily filled in. A little pond or lakelet to the left, with 
 all the possibilities of loveliness, is muddy and unat- 
 tractive. To the right a smaller pond is covered with 
 patches of green scum. An avenue of trees, cathedral- 
 like, border and bend above the roadway leading from 
 the entrance to the crest of the hill, where the build- 
 ings are. The roadway itself has not seen gravel for a 
 long time, and is full of furrows and ruts. The house, 
 painted white, and with vines climbing up the slender 
 pillars of the porch, is modest. There is an open space 
 just before it, then more trees, and then beyond another 
 house, where the son of the great Autocrat of Protest has 
 his residence. Beyond this are the stables. Upon the 
 other side of the house is the great square common to 
 pretentious Russian country homes, surrounded by a 
 broad and generous walk or avenue, which is bordered on 
 either side by splendid trees. 
 
 Before the Count has risen you will have time to visit 
 the peasant village across the ravine. There are two 
 or three brick houses, of a single story, of course, in 
 its long, broad street. They seem to be evidence of 
 some spurt of activity many years ago. They are neglect- 
 ed now. Most of the cottages are neglected, too. Poverty, 
 want of care, rebellion at system are visible on every 
 side. The peasants look poor and ill - dressed. A leg- 
 less beggar cries piteously for alms. Conditions of non- 
 improvement and degeneration are so pronounced that 
 your mind reverts to another peasant village, on the 
 estate of a certain noble, not two hundred miles away — 
 clean, well built, well kept, industrious, with yards and 
 vines and fruit; and, in the midst of all, a little school- 
 house, with desks and benches, for all the world like an 
 American country school-house many years ago. 
 
 Some beggars are seated beneath the tree, immediately 
 
 428
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 in front of Tolstoi's door. They enter while you wait, 
 and then return apparently pleased. Soon Count Tolstoi 
 comes out himself. What a mighty man he must have 
 been in his youth! What a mighty mind still glows 
 through those clear and cold, gray eyes! The front-head 
 IS a dome where thought dwells; but the back-head, too, 
 is powerful — a thing so often absent in mere thinkers. 
 This man, you are sure, will never be content merely to 
 think — he must do. And the face — it is the face of de- 
 termination itself. William Lloyd Garrison had such a 
 face. The spirit of Garrison is there — " I will not equivo- 
 cate, I will not retreat a single inch, and I w411 be heard." 
 
 The garb of the man fits in v/ell with the picture of his 
 mentality and character. It is a coarse, cool, bluish stuff; 
 trousers thrust, after the Russian manner, into the top- 
 boots; the simple blouse belted; no collar to conceal the 
 shrunken but yet sinewy neck. To be sure, the physical 
 appearance of the man is not remarkable ; on the contrary, 
 it is typical. You may see thousands upon thousands of 
 Russian peasants who look like Tolstoi; but let his per- 
 sonality seize upon you and you will see no person who 
 looks like Tolstoi. It is a personality to compel and 
 repel. It is mentality which does not compromise or 
 argue, but announces. 
 
 More charming manners cannot be imagined. He has 
 the courtesy of nature — of the trees, the flowers, and the 
 breezes of the spring. Like every great man, he is simple ; 
 but there is a touch of the grandeur of the old-time fash- 
 ion about him, too. And as you walk with him among 
 the stately avenues of trees, and listen to his large con- 
 versation on great topics, the vastness of the man looms 
 up — vast in his conceptions, vast in his fanaticism, vast 
 in his dogmatism — above all, vast in his utter fearlessness. 
 
 He talks about great things from the very first sen- 
 tence and without any invitation. No trivialities for 
 him. It is unnecessary, of course, for Americans, who 
 have so thoroughly read Tolstoi to recount his views. 
 
 429
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Some passages, from a half-day's listening to his words, 
 may serve to vitalize the printed page, however. The 
 subject of first interest to him is his own land; the sub- 
 ject of next interest to him is America — not that he ap- 
 proves of our institutions, for he does not. He is in as 
 complete revolt against our form of government as against 
 all other forms of government. And for our material 
 development he has nothing but contempt. 
 
 "You are given over to material things," said he. 
 "Your forces seem to be spent on mills and railroads and 
 the like. None of your great minds is now engaged in 
 literature. The literary productions of America to-day 
 are trivial — foolish. And in your statesmen there has 
 been a decadence almost appalling. From Lincoln and 
 the men of that time to your present public men has been 
 a dreadful descent. 
 
 "Who are your writers now?" he asked. Upon their 
 being named, he recognized two or three, and the rest, 
 he declared, he never heard of. He put the stamp of 
 "trivial" on most he knew of. Henry George he ex- 
 cepted, with enthusiasm. Whittier, he admitted, had a 
 nobility of purpose and felicity of expression that lifted 
 him out of the ordinary. So had Emerson. He men- 
 tioned Thomas Paine's Common Sense, the Age of Reason, 
 the Rights of Mail — he had read one of these and wanted 
 the others. "He is your greatest mind," said Tolstoi. 
 "Paine was profound and truthful, and dealt with funda- 
 mental things. Paine was worth while. So is Henry 
 George. He is dead, is he not? Too bad. Your country 
 and the world lost one of its greatest thinkers when he died. 
 Both of these men had something of a conception of the 
 wrong of governments and society, as now understood." 
 
 It was not a far cry from the subject of Paine to the 
 subject of religion in general. Questions are unnecessary. 
 His vivid mind burns steadily and needs not the fuel of 
 interrogation. Of the Saviour he spoke reverently but 
 not worshipfully. "Christ," said he, "the last great super- 
 
 430
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 stition." Did he not think Him divine? "Divine? Cer- 
 tainly not, except as all great teachers are divine; not 
 otherwise." Inspired? "Yes, as all great teachers are in- 
 spired, and not otherwise." That He is the literal Son of 
 God, that there was immaculate conception, that His 
 agony saves people? "Superstition, superstition!" "The 
 sacraments of the Church, founded upon the doctrine of 
 his body and blood, are disgusting and foolish. But Jesus 
 of Nazareth is the greatest teacher mankind has yet 
 produced." Such was the tenor of the talk. 
 
 The failure to apply the teachings of Christ to the con- 
 crete activities of every day was an easy transition. "All 
 rulers are usurpers," he said. But did he not think order 
 and law were necessary? "What order or what law does 
 Nature give? Such as she gives is enough, and anything 
 more is irrational and artificial." The courts are points 
 upon which his hostility is especially focused. Did he not 
 think that the introduction of the jury system into Russia 
 was a far step towards the protection of popular rights and 
 liberties? "The jury," he exclaimed — "a jury is worse 
 than a czar.^ It is just twelve times worse, for it is twelve 
 czars. What right have twelve men to sit in judgment upon 
 another, more than one man?" According to the words 
 of the Scriptures, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," 
 was suggested. "Yes, that is it; but it is even deeper. 
 We are all here in a state of nature. We have been per- 
 verted by artificial things. Let us return to a state of 
 nature. Who gave man authority over his fellow-men?" 
 
 But would he have no restraint? "No; none at all." 
 No matter what was the cause of violence, would he have 
 no restraint? "No; none whatever." 
 
 "The statesmanship of Russian statesmen is stupid. 
 No other word describes it. The maintenance of our 
 great armies is unnecessary and outrageous. All war is 
 
 ' Notwithstanding Tolstoi's antagonism to all government by 
 force, it is said that the Czar is very fond of him, and that Tolstoi 
 is the ardent personal friend of the Czar. 
 
 43^
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 murder. The extension of our power over Manchuria, 
 and the whole Chinese business, are without reason or 
 sense. What good will it do?" 
 
 " It is too bad to see our statesmen following in the foot- 
 steps of yours in the matter of manufacturing and com- 
 mercialism in general. Look at the hideous smoke-stacks 
 of the great factories that are now scattered over Russia. 
 They disfigure God's landscape." Count Tolstoi's whole 
 talk here was Ruskinesque. Turning to the economic and 
 political features of the manufacturing advance of Russia, 
 he said: "It is all a mistake. We have more than a hun- 
 dred million people. Scarcely more than one million of these 
 are engaged in manufacturing." (He did not mean the 
 hand manufacturing done by the " kustar trades " — that he 
 approved of.) "How unjust that the remainder should 
 be burdened for these few ! Our country is naturally ag- 
 ricultural. We are an agricultural people. No good can 
 come from turning us away from the natural current of 
 our capabilities and physical condition." Tariffs are his 
 particular abomination. "Tariffs," he said, "are un- 
 natural. They are a pitiable artificiality to secure selfish 
 ends. They keep the people of the world from mingling 
 with one another." 
 
 "You are still having trouble in the PhiHppines, are 
 you not? What is the condition there?"* He was ex- 
 tremely curious about our progress in the archipelago. 
 " It is all a mistake," commented he; "so is England's ex- 
 periment in India, South Africa — every place. So is ours 
 in China. I do not consider that the so-called civilizing 
 effects of the more advanced peoples justify, from any 
 point of view, the government of another. Let them be 
 as nature made them. If they are happier in their naked- 
 ness and beneath their palm-trees, let them remain so. 
 It is not important that they do not develop the resources 
 of the countries where nature has placed them. If nature 
 
 *This conversation occurred in June, 1901. 
 432
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 has placed mineral and wood and other things there, 
 nature also placed them there. They may be better 
 clothed, better fed, understand more under so-called civ- 
 ilized administration, but a bird in a cage is not as happy 
 as one on the wing, no matter how gilded the cage may 
 be." 
 
 Referring to the famous letter printed by the London 
 Times, which he was represented as having sent to the 
 Czar and his ministers, Count Tolstoi said that it was true 
 that he had written and sent this letter. "Why not?" 
 said he. "Why should I not say what I think and what 
 I please?" 
 
 Such were the general tenor, atmosphere, and character 
 of his remarkable conversation. It was protest against 
 everything in the existing order, including religion. Witte 
 he regarded as a foohsh surface juggler, and Pobyedo- 
 nostseff as the intellectual incarnation of tyranny. Any 
 one, by reading certain of Tolstoi's later writings, such as 
 his North American Review article of April, 1901, may re- 
 produce for himself the conversation which he would be 
 sure to have with this fearless Russian idealist and great- 
 est of modern literary artists. His mind does not now 
 dwell with any particular pride on his immortal creations 
 of fiction. One gets the impression that he considers 
 them trivial also — trivial, at least, in comparison with what 
 he feels to be the mature thought of his advanced years. 
 And all of his thought now is of fundamental reforms 
 which search out the very heart of things. Of recent 
 years, and at the present time, he has given attention 
 chiefly to the problem of education. He thinks very poor- 
 ly of our methods of education. Curiously enough, on this 
 point his mind coincides somewhat with that of Pobyedo- 
 nostseff , his great antagonist. Both of them seem to 
 agree that the important thing is to instruct the people in 
 morals, but when they come to what morals mean and 
 how to teach them their minds instantly fly apart again. 
 
 Hasty though this sketch of Tolstoi is, space must be 
 »8 433
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 taken for the mention of one without whom Tolstoi, with 
 all his genius, all his art, all his fanatical will, would 
 not be so well knoum to the world. That person is Tol- 
 stoi's wife. It could be well wished that some person 
 sufficiently familiar might write a volume on the subject 
 of the wife of this greatest literary artist which the nine- 
 teenth century has produced. Tolstoi himself is no ex- 
 ception to those weaknesses which genius everywhere, in 
 some form or other, displays — a neghgence of his affairs, 
 which, if some person did not attend to them for him, 
 would soon starve him out, and an almost abnormal 
 dissatisfaction with his own work. 
 
 For be it known that Tolstoi's great novels, such as 
 Anna Karanina, War and Peace, and the like, have been 
 rewritten time and time again before they were given to 
 the world. It happens that the great dreamer's hand- 
 writing is almost undecipherable. It is current that he has 
 difficulty sometimes in reading it himself. There is only 
 one person in Russia that can read every word that he 
 writes, and that person is his wife. Every piece of liter- 
 ary work that Tolstoi has ever done has been copied, from 
 the first word to the last, by this devoted woman. It is 
 said, on good authority, that she copied over her hus- 
 band's novel, War and Peace, no fewer than six times. 
 Anna Karanina she transcribed several times. If the read- 
 er will pick up a copy of either of these novels, and think 
 what it means to write out every word of them, the reader 
 will understand the enormous labor performed by the wife 
 of Tolstoi. If the reader will then reflect that these two 
 novels are only a portion of his voluminous work, some 
 dim comprehension will be secured of the world's debt to 
 this silent partner of the most famous man the Slav race 
 has produced, excepting only Peter the Great. 
 
 And this is only a portion of her labors. She it is who 
 prevented Tolstoi from transferring every foot of his es- 
 tates to the peasantry and leaving himself and his family 
 without a roof of their own. She it is who personally 
 
 434
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 manages his still considerable holdings. She it is who 
 attends to every item of the Count's finances. She it is 
 who sees to the income from the literary product of her 
 famous husband's amazing mind. For it must be known 
 that if Tolstoi could have his way every word he writes 
 would be given to the world without the slightest reward. 
 Tolstoi thinks that no man has a right to put a price upon 
 his thought. Keeping in the background, doing her work 
 with patience and in silence, the wife of Tolstoi is not only 
 his helpmeet, in the marital sense of that term, not only 
 his amanuensis, his financier, his comforter; she is his very 
 preserver. 
 
 Whether she agrees or disagrees with her husband's 
 views is not known, except that she bitterly resents the 
 action of the Greek Orthodox Church in excommunicating 
 him, not so much on account of the excommunication 
 itself as on account of its results. But whether this 
 glorious woman is in agreement or antagonism with her 
 husband's opinions and life, the love, aid, comfort, and 
 protection with which she has surrounded him form one 
 of the noblest and most beautiful stories afforded by the 
 household life of any great man of the nineteenth and 
 twentieth centuries. 
 
 The statement had been published throughout the 
 United States in 1901 that Count Tolstoi was banished. 
 Of course, this was not true. He lives at his home in the 
 country, some miles beyond Tula, goes to town when he 
 likes, to Moscow when he wishes, and in general, so far 
 as could be observed, has as perfect personal liberty of 
 movement and even speech as is enjoyed by a citizen of 
 the United States. He was excommunicated by the 
 Church; but denying, as he does, and with violence, every 
 teaching of that institution — denying even the divinity 
 of Christ — it appears to the impartial inquirer that the 
 Church could take no other action. As has been re- 
 marked in another chapter, the same thing has been 
 done many thousands of times by the various denomina- 
 
 435
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 tions of the United States, where their members dissented 
 from their doctrines, for a much milder offence and on 
 far less material points than is the case with Tolstoi and 
 the Greek Orthodox Church. Believing nothing that the 
 Church teaches, asserting even, with all the fearlessness 
 of his volcanic nature, that its teachings are false in fact 
 and ruinous in practice — teaching this in every way and 
 on every .occasion, how could the Church itself retain him 
 as a member? 
 
 Such is the Autocrat of Protest in Russia. But he is 
 not popular even among those who are in favor of im- 
 provement in many features of the Russian government 
 and generally feel that the continuance of the advanced 
 ideas begun by Alexander the Liberator is desirable. For 
 example, an informing conversation occurred among 
 several Russian gentlemen; but whether liberal or re- 
 actionary, there was general condemnation of Tolstoi's 
 theories. "He is erratic, impossible, impracticable, and 
 thus delays by unwise insistence upon fanatic propositions 
 any real practical advance," said a brilliant man who 
 was himself a Hberal. "His power among extremists is 
 due to the fact that because of his outspokenness and 
 radicahsm his name has become the flag of revolt," was 
 the way a highly educated officer put it. Thus, the cur- 
 rent of talk among Russians who would Hke to see some 
 things bettered cannot be said to be favorable to Tolstoi. 
 Nevertheless, all concede his splendid abilities, and it is 
 easy to see that all Russians are proud of this the greatest 
 intellect the Slav race has produced. Even where you 
 will hear emphatic dissent from Tolstoi's more violent 
 opinions, you will be astonished to find that the very man 
 who thus denounces the views of Tolstoi the dreamer is a 
 warm and even affectionate friend of Tolstoi the man. 
 
 "Oh yes, we all know here that Tolstoi is down on the 
 Saviour," said one of the most accomphshed women of 
 the empire — one of the inner circle of the highest nobility, 
 and, of course, a stanch adherent of the government. 
 
 436
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 " It is said, you know, that Tolstoi is jealous of Christ. It 
 will end with him trying to establish a religion of his own." 
 
 This keen and witty woman's observations are a very 
 fair reflection of the opinion the cultivated class entertains 
 of Russia's greatest writer. 
 
 "Oh," said a wealthy young merchant of Moscow, 
 "Tolstoi is impossible. We pay no attention to him 
 here." Several peasants expressed utter indifference to 
 him, and knew little or nothing about his teachings. Here 
 and there you will find a Russian of the common people 
 who knows something of him, but from such information 
 as could be gathered it appeared that he has not yet 
 reached even the fringe of the vast masses of Russians. 
 Such, at least, was the result of the inquiries which the 
 writer was able to make, which were too few, perhaps, 
 and too superficial to be the ba.sis of valuable judgment. 
 On the other hand, it must be stated that others who have 
 made more careful inquiry state that among the peasantry 
 Tolstoi is beloved and reverenced as the "good old man" 
 who is thinking of them and wants to help them. An 
 incident was related by such an observer of a peasant 
 who, upon being asked about Tolstoi, referred to him with 
 childlike affection as "the father of the peasant," who 
 knew what was best for them. But it is believed that so 
 far as his name has penetrated into the homes of the 
 Russian peasantry, it stands for some vague good, with- 
 out any definite notions of what that good is. 
 
 But whichever view may be correct, it is certain that 
 the influence of Tolstoi upon Russian thought and opinion 
 is not yet so great as it is upon the thought and opinion 
 of non-Russian nations, and especially the American 
 people. As factors influencing Russian policy and Rus- 
 sian tendencies, it is doubted whether Tolstoi and his 
 work are yet appreciable. Indeed, it is doubted whether 
 Tolstoi himself thinks that he is accomplishing anytliing 
 or will accomplish anything during the present generation 
 or the next. He is looking to the future. 
 
 437
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 "All this wrong and folly are but passing phases," said 
 he. "The people of the world two hundred years from 
 now will be as much surprised that we endure many of 
 the things which are now considered as admirable parts 
 of our civilizations as we are amazed at many of the 
 horrid practices of the dark ages." 
 
 As a force to be estimated in weighing Russian activities 
 in the world at the present hour, this wonderful man 
 may be left out of account. That he is a splendid dreamer 
 of an ideal reign of peace and brotherhood over all the 
 earth will be admitted even by his worst enemies in 
 Russia itself. But his dreams are as yet nothing more 
 than dreams. And so, with his dreaming, we may leave 
 him to turn to the two other overpowering personalities 
 of Russia, who are intellects of equal vigor, wills of 
 equal dogmatism, and who, in addition, are the most 
 effective present forces of the empire. 
 
 Of these let us first consider Sergius Witte — the in- 
 carnation of the practical, the personification of the busi- 
 ness and commercial spirit of Russia, the business-man 
 of the empire, the first modem, up-to-date financier and 
 administrator Russia has yet produced. This is the man 
 who took the almost Orientally disorganized finances of 
 Russia in hand and reduced them, first, to a system along 
 recognized lines of sound economics, and finally estab- 
 lished the gold standard. This is the man through whose 
 influence the government has become the owner and 
 operator of more than two-thirds of the railroad mileage 
 of the empire. This is the man who has adjusted tariffs 
 on imports along the lines of radical protection for the 
 purpose of building up Russian industry. This is the 
 man who is determined that Russia shall herself manu- 
 facture everything the Russian people need. He it is who 
 has taken in charge the monopoly of vodka. He is the 
 chief inspiration of the "working-man's palace" in St. 
 Petersburg and of similar movements throughout the 
 empire. He is the controlling mind that directs the 
 
 438
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 construction of the great Manchurian railway. He 
 negotiates all the loans for the Russian government. 
 His eye is upon every manufacturing establishment 
 throughout the Czar's dominions. He is reforming the 
 laws of mines and mining everywhere. It is Witte who 
 has draughted the most comprehensive employer's lia- 
 bility law in Europe. Silent, taciturn, relentless, im- 
 movable, his personality has gradually grown upon the 
 statesmen and financiers of other nations, until only 
 two other men fill the imagination of Europe in equal 
 measure. 
 
 This greatest dreamer of the present day will tell you 
 that he has no use for dreams or dreamers ; but by that 
 he means those men who entertain theories which 
 cannot be reduced to facts. "What can be done?" — 
 that is his only question. Witte is the man who "does 
 things" in Russia. 
 
 Perhaps there is no man in America so busy as he is ; 
 yet he does not appear hurried. He is a very tall man, 
 very ungainly, and, though stiff in manner, is cordial with 
 that genuineness which captivates. 
 
 The first thing that impresses you about Witte is per- 
 fect simplicity. This seems to be characteristic of all 
 extraordinary men. A child or a backwoodsman or the 
 most highly cultivated man of the world Cand the manner 
 of these three are almost the same) could not be simpler 
 than this powerful minister. He speaks in a low voice, 
 looking directly at you. What a steady eye! The free- 
 dom of his conversation, in view of your previous notions 
 of Russia and Russians, astonishes you. There is not a 
 cabinet officer in Washington who will talk with the 
 apparent unreserve of this chief counsellor of the Czar. 
 His eyes are large and brown, with an expression of pa- 
 tience and weariness about them which reminds you of 
 what you read about the eyes of Lincoln. The eyes are 
 not sharp or luminous, but have the speculative expression 
 of those minds which are not content with things as they 
 
 439
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 are, but are planning and dreaming of the things as they 
 should be. His forehead is high, but not too high, of 
 medium breadth; but between the ears the breadth is 
 perceptibly greater, and the back-head, where resides the 
 "drive" of the human intellect, is perfectly developed. 
 His hair is brown, has a slightly waving effect, is of medi- 
 um length, and is worn brushed back from the forehead. 
 In his office he wears a common, unpretentious sack-coat, 
 well-worn trousers, which bag at the knees, and shoes that 
 show they do not receive overmuch attention. Every- 
 thing reveals the characteristic indifference of great men 
 for the details of personal appearance. 
 
 Where Tolstoi was interested in moral conditions, ab- 
 stractly considered, Witte was interested in economic con- 
 ditions reduced to actual facts. Particularly was he in- 
 terested in those organizations of industry known in our 
 country as trusts. Whether they were over-capitalized or 
 had sufficient assets behind them was a matter to which 
 he seemed to have given almost as much thought as he 
 had given to problems affecting the Russian Empire itself. 
 But Witte 's interest in this feature of trust phenomena 
 seemed to be only incidental to his general interest in the 
 commercial possibilities of these aggregations of capital, 
 especially in relation to foreign trade. How they were 
 steadily to maintain prices appeared to him to be a matter 
 of real concern. When it was suggested that he was able, 
 by government purchases from steel organizations in Rus- 
 sia, and other methods, to influence, and indeed largely 
 to maintain, prices, he replied: "Yes, but you forget that 
 for any emergency we can immediately devise and put 
 into operation a law which our world of people immediately 
 obey "; and there spoke the true autocrat, this time the 
 autocrat of finance and commercialism. Indeed, the 
 three pre-eminent contemporary Russians — Tolstoi, Witte, 
 and Pobyedonostseff — may each be called an intellectual 
 autocrat— the Autocrat of Protest, the Autocrat of Com- 
 mercialism, and the Autocrat of Orthodoxy. 
 
 440
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 It will be hard to find in America any one man who has 
 so many enemies as this first of the Russians. But a 
 traveller, listening to the assaults upon him from one end 
 of the empire to the other, cannot but arrive at the con- 
 clusion that his enemies have been made by measures 
 devised for the good of the whole Russian people, from 
 adherence to which interested parties have not been able 
 to shake him. The result of these hatreds is a swarm 
 of calumnies, most, perhaps all, of which are declared by 
 the best -informed men to be maliciously untrue. Certain 
 it is that this greatest business-man ever called to the 
 councils of the Czar is doing more to eradicate corruption 
 from the Russian Empire than any one force in Russian 
 history. He is doing this not by moralizing, but by the 
 introduction of business method into the government's 
 practical administration. A system of audits and coun- 
 ter audits is being effected which makes the pocketing of 
 large sums of money by contractors very difficult, no 
 matter how many oflEicials connive at it. 
 
 When he becomes convinced of corrupt practices in 
 any business or establishment, he does not hesitate to take 
 special methods with reference to it. These arbitrary 
 acts are, of course, very rare, the correction of nearly all 
 abuses being left to the ordinary administration of rights 
 and remedies in the courts of justice. 
 
 Witte is "a pessimist of conditions and an optimist of 
 possibilities," to use the phrase of a brilliant writer. In- 
 deed, his unpopularity began early in his ministerial 
 career by his declaration that the abounding prosperity 
 of Russia some years since was abnormal, and that a dis- 
 astrous reaction was sure to follow. He plainly told in- 
 vestors that they were building great plants in Russia 
 without reckoning with ultimate conditions. He dis- 
 couraged rash enterprise everywhere. In conversation 
 and public speech he proclaimed that the values of many 
 corporations' shares, especially banking concerns, were 
 swollen and fictitious. His maxim was, and is, that any 
 
 441
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 prosperity which is unnatural is no prosperity at all, and 
 that it is the sure and certain parent of disaster. 
 
 When he took office the Russian ruble was a more fluc- 
 tuating currency than the Chinese tael. Gambling upon 
 its changing value prevailed throughout the empire, and 
 indeed all over Europe. Business was unsettled, invest- 
 ment excited and feverish, and the whole commercial 
 world in that delirium of uncertain activity which comes 
 from the expectation of unnatural profits and of the ele- 
 ment of chance. Witte called in the circulation, reduced 
 it to a limit, supplied the well-known principles of sound 
 economics to the currency, and, finally, effected the coup 
 of his career by placing Russia on the gold standard, to- 
 gether with the great commercial nations of the world. 
 The brief limitations of this chapter do not permit even a 
 summary of this extraordinary man's practical activity. 
 These instances are given only as a hint of what he has 
 done and is doing. 
 
 His most ambitious project, next to the establishment 
 of the gold standard, is the scheme which is now being put 
 into operation for taking over to the government the 
 monopoly of vodka. Hereafter the government is to con- 
 trol the manufacture, and actually to conduct the sale, of 
 this universally consumed national Russian drink. The 
 conception was daring, its execution cautious. As in 
 every radical reform in Russia, it was first tried in one 
 province, and, succeeding there, it was gradually extended 
 to others, being improved and remedied as experience and 
 actual operation suggested. It has been said that the tax 
 on vodka maintained the army and navy of Russia. This, 
 of course, is an exaggeration, but it is probably no ex- 
 aggeration that the profits which the government ulti- 
 mately will derive from its sale will largely support the 
 army and navy. Together with this reform, the govern- 
 ment is introducing practical temperance measures. The 
 instance cited in another chapter will be recalled, of 
 minute instructions to the district officials upon the 
 
 442
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 subject of temperance of the people, and the hterature, 
 brief and easily read, to be distributed to the people, 
 found in the government offices of a country town. The 
 active mind behind all of this is Witte. 
 
 The consequences of the Russian government's monop- 
 oly of the manufacture and sale of vodka are so numerous, 
 far-reaching, and radically important that a chapter, or 
 even a volume, might be profitably employed in their de- 
 scription. The best that can be done in these pages is to 
 note the large general effects which are most striking to 
 the observer's eye. First of all, the vodka-shop, which 
 hitherto has been perhaps the most prominent feature of 
 every Russian town or village, is disappearing, if, indeed, 
 it has not already disappeared. These public-houses were 
 at once the opportunity and the inducement for the peas- 
 ant to drink. In these nests of congenial intoxication the 
 peasants would gather, and, imbibing until their ready 
 money was exhausted, would mortgage their belongings, 
 and even their apparel, to purchase more of this Rus- 
 sian drink. The result was that these vodka-shops, scat- 
 tered by the tens of thousands all over the empire, were 
 centres not only of drunkenness but of poverty. All this is 
 being abolished, if, indeed, the process is not now entirely 
 complete. The peasant can no longer repair to these 
 places of his fleeting joy and permanent ruin. He must 
 buy vodka at government stores, and either take it home 
 to drink, or at least consume it some place else than at the 
 place where he purchases it. 
 
 Then, again, the peasant can no longer buy his vodka by 
 the drink. He cannot buy less than a certain quantity 
 fixed by the government. This quantity of vodka fixed by 
 the government is bottled by the government and sealed 
 by the government. Thus the temptation to loiter on 
 the premises and to treat his fellows, which were the source 
 of much of the drunkenness of the Russian people in for- 
 mer times, is taken away from the peasant. 
 
 In the third place, the vodka that the peasant buys un- 
 
 443
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 der this government system of manufacture and distribu- 
 tion is comparatively pure. Indeed, it is claimed that it 
 is entirely free from the poisonous adulterations which 
 made the vodka consumed by the Russian peasant under 
 the old system a terrible and maddening drink. The 
 peasant may still become drunk on the vodka he pur- 
 chases at the government stores, although the chances of 
 his doing so are reduced to a minimum in comparison with 
 the certainties existing under the old system; but if he 
 does drink to intoxication, his health will not suffer, except 
 as it is impaired by the alcohol itself, unmixed with other 
 poisonous ingredients. 
 
 One unexpected result of the abolition of the vodka- 
 shop, or saloon, as we would call it in this country, grows 
 out of the peculiarly social nature of the Russian peasant. 
 They must get together and talk. As has been noted, the 
 Russian peasant is the least solitary of all human beings. 
 Apparently, he cannot live alone even for a short time. It 
 was this phase of his character which supported the vodka- 
 shop as much if not more than the desire to drink. The 
 public - house afforded the peasantry a common place 
 of meeting and conversation. When these places were 
 taken away from them their gregarious nature im- 
 mediately sought a substitute. This has been found in 
 other public-houses springing up in place of the vodka- 
 shops, where tea, instead of vodka, is sold, served, and 
 consumed. Thus the drinking of tea, already a national 
 habit, is encouraged and increased. Thus, too, is the 
 peasant more and more weaned from the vodka habit. 
 
 The national habit of tea-drinking suggests the next 
 plan contemplated by this constructive Russian states- 
 man. This plan is to make the sale and distribution of 
 tea a government monopoly. Already this plan has been 
 matured, although not yet put into practice. Already, 
 too, it is arousing bitter protest, for the tea-dealers of 
 Russia are numerous, and everybody consumes tea. From 
 the highest nobleman to the humblest peasant the one 
 
 444
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 necessity, next to bread itself, appears to be tea. It is 
 probably true that a gallon of tea is consumed by the 
 people of Russia to every pint of plain water they drink. 
 Witte reasons that, from a moral point of view, the dealers 
 have no more right to derive private profit from the ne- 
 cessity of the people than they have to enrich themselves 
 by sale of common drinking-water. From a financial 
 point of view, he reasons that in the sale of this common 
 article of consumption the government could fill its treas- 
 ury with an unfailing stream of taxation, which would 
 not be felt by those who paid it. From the point of view 
 of economics and human interest, he argued that a better 
 quality of tea would be supplied by the government, at a 
 cheaper price, to Russia's one hundred and forty millions 
 than by irresponsible dealers, whose object, of course, is to 
 sell the poorest article at the highest possible price. And 
 so it is said to have been decided that the government of 
 Russia will go into the tea business, just as it has gone 
 into the liquor business, and just as it has gone into the 
 railway business, except that the tea-houses which have 
 taken the place of the vodka-shops are not to be abolished. 
 
 It is said by many that the tea monopoly will not be 
 carried into practice, although plans for it have been per- 
 fected in minute detail. The best information, however, 
 is that when the time arrives which the government 
 thinks most suitable for introducing its plan, it will be 
 put into effect in much the same manner that the vodka 
 reform was consummated. If this is done, it will mean 
 that the Russian government has gone into a business 
 of stupendous proportions, even when compared with its 
 other vast undertakings of a similar character. 
 
 The largest owner and operator of railwaj'S in the world, 
 the largest dealer in alcoholic liquors in the world. Rus- 
 sia, will, if the tea monopoly is undertaken, become a 
 greater buyer and seller of tea than all other dealers of 
 the world put together. Should this process continue, 
 it requires no seer to behold the development of Russia 
 
 445
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 into a communistic state. But it is no dreamer, no 
 enthusiast, no excited lecturer who is accompHshing these 
 visions of sociaHsm; it is the hardest -headed, clearest- 
 eyed, most modern business -man that Russia has ever 
 produced who is working out into practical results what 
 the world has heretofore regarded as the idle fancies of 
 pure imagination. 
 
 These are some of the monumental achievements of 
 Sergius Witte in the realms of Russian practical states- 
 manship. Any one of them would be suflficient to estab- 
 lish the fame of any American public man. But these 
 gigantic plans already accomplished are not the full 
 measure of Witte's activities. The tariff protector of 
 Russian manufacturing interests and their special cham- 
 pion, Witte is, possibly, even more concerned in the in- 
 dustrial welfare of the Russian agriculturalist. Observing 
 the needs of the Russian peasant, only recently freed from 
 slavery, Witte has established a reserve fund from which, 
 time and again, the government has loaned the peasantry 
 many millions of rubles each year, in those provinces 
 where drought and failure of crops have reduced the peas- 
 ant farmers to serious straits. It is said also that he is 
 the inspiration of the commissions which of recent years 
 have been studying the causes of Russian agricultural de- 
 pression and attempting to devise remedies therefor. In 
 short, where there are practical things to be done in the 
 realms of finance, manufacturing, agriculture, transporta- 
 tion, empire building, Witte's mind and hand are present. 
 
 One of the defects of Russian administration has been 
 the variances of the ministry. One minister's plans would 
 interfere with those of another, and there were constant 
 strife and contention, so that, instead of statesmanship 
 with a common purpose and all forces in accord, there have 
 been heterogeneous and confused adoption and execution 
 of divergent schemes. It needed a strong hand and a 
 master-mind to consolidate the ministry.- This Witte has 
 nearly accomplished, and that, too, by sheer force of 
 
 446
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 reason. The Czar shows that rarest instinct of rulers, 
 and that most necessary one, of knowing his wisest man 
 and trusting him. Such is the relation said to exist be- 
 tween the Czar and Witte. While not given a free hand, 
 it is seldom that his measures are disapproved. So great 
 is the respect of his sovereign for this most resourceful 
 of his advisers that it is said that Witte does not in an 
 emergency follow the ordinary course of submitting his 
 proposition to his fellow-ministers, but goes directly to 
 the Czar for his approval. 
 
 So it is that Witte has brought system and solidarity to 
 the cabinet of the Russian Czar, and in the same way 
 he is bringing system and order into the complex chaos 
 of commercial and industrial conditions throughout the 
 Russian Empire. Nor does his activity stop there. It is 
 said that Witte has eyes in every financial centre in the 
 world. For example, it is not generally understood, but 
 it is true, that he has an agent in Washington, not known 
 as an attache of the legation, who keeps him carefully 
 and accurately informed on all financial conditions in this 
 country. The movements of our corporations, trusts, 
 politicians are all laid before this enterprising statesman 
 of the Slav people. He is in the councils of every cabinet, 
 in the sense that he follows all their decisions and policies 
 carefully and instantly. He has agents in Paris, Berlin, 
 Vienaa. At every salient point in the Orient are the eyes 
 of Witte. He is as carefully informed upon the financial 
 conditions in London as the English statesmen themselves, 
 and, indeed, more so, for he is more remorselessly indus- 
 trious. 
 
 In short, Witte intends that Russia shall be in practical 
 touch with all the rest of the world, which it is the ambition 
 of every Russian statesman and the whole Russian people 
 some day — perhaps in the far distance, but still some day 
 — to dominate. It is a great work, in which all the en- 
 ergies of his life are consumed, for which he receives a 
 financial reward that is comparatively contemptible, the 
 
 447
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 hatred of active interests in the empire with whose schemes 
 he interferes, the indifference of the vast mass of the 
 people, who do not know of his connection with the work 
 he is doing for them; and to balance all this, only the ap- 
 proval, confidence, and affection of his emperor, the ad- 
 miration of the statesmen of other countries, and the 
 final panegyric of history.^ 
 
 It is interesting to note that this great mind, whom 
 Tolstoi considers a surface and artificial juggler, is of Dutch 
 origin, although this is strenuously denied by the Rus- 
 sians, who begin to see the mountainous proportions of 
 the man, and who, with racial jealousy, are now claiming 
 him all for themselves. Whether this is true or not, true 
 it is that he has worked himself up, unaided, against 
 obstacles that seemed almost insurmountable, from the 
 humblest of positions to the greatest. There is not a 
 life-work in America which more perfectly illustrates the 
 power of merit in building a career than does the story of 
 Sergius Witte, Minister of Finance, and practical Chan- 
 cellor of the empire. He came from the people. It is true 
 that some claim that Witte's family was noble; but if so, 
 they were not of any practical consequence; and, besides, 
 it amounts to nothing to be a nobleman in Russia, unless 
 nobihty is also accompanied by wealth or abihty. From 
 the time of Peter until now many of Russia's greatest 
 public servants have been of comparatively lowlv origin. 
 The biography of Witte, briefly told, is as follows: 
 
 With a fair education he began as a clerk in one of the 
 departments of the Odessa railroad, with headquarters 
 at that port. Within a short time it was noted that he 
 was the most competent man in the whole force. Ac- 
 cordingly, he was given more important work. Again, 
 
 * The recent rumors that Witte is not in as high favor as former- 
 ly should be accepted with caution. Even if temporarily 
 "promoted up-stairs," it seems probable that his future power will 
 be as great or greater than formerly. Indeed, it is seriously 
 doubted that he has lost much influence even for the moment, 
 
 448
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 he did his work better than anybody else had done it 
 before. And so, steadily and rapidly, he rose to the 
 management of the road itself. In this position he 
 proved the best railway administrator of a limited line 
 who had yet appeared upon the field of Russia's railroad 
 activities. 
 
 During the Turkish war his genius for organization is 
 said to have saved the military situation. With the 
 confusion of things then prevailing in Russia, and which 
 still prevails to a considerable extent in spite of Witte's 
 work, there was the very gravest danger of congestion 
 in forwarding the troops. It appears that Witte had 
 foreseen this difficulty, and had worked out in advance 
 a system which, when the time arrived, he put into 
 successful execution. He did this, too, without obtruding 
 himself offensively upon the notice of anybody. Never- 
 theless, a work so important to the empire did not, of 
 course, go unnoticed. It attracted the attention of the 
 government and the admiration of the railway men of 
 the empire and of Europe. 
 
 After the Turkish war a greater line than the Odessa 
 road claimed his services. He was made managing 
 director of this line, and he made it the best road in the 
 empire. He became an expert on railroad tariffs. He 
 improved the road-bed. He improved the rolling-stock. 
 He introduced rigid system. He so economized that he 
 turned channels of expenditure into channels of revenue. 
 The government and all of Russia, and indeed the railroad 
 world of Europe, could not but be impressed, and were 
 impressed. And so Vyshnegradsky, then Finance Minis- 
 ter, offered him the head of the railroad department of 
 the Ministry of Finance, because of his unrivalled knowl- 
 edge and resource in the matter of railway tariffs. He 
 accepted, and for a few months conducted this depart- 
 ment with the same notable ability that had formerly 
 marked his railway management. Then the position of 
 Minister of Ways and Communications became vacant, 
 »• 449
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 and the Czar appointed Witte, who had made himself 
 by effort and abiHty, and nothing else, the chief railway 
 man of the empire, to this cabinet position. He held it 
 for a year with brilliancy and distinction. Then fate 
 yielded at last her entire favors to this man who could 
 not be denied. The position of Minister of Finance 
 became vacant, and the Czar looked over the heads of 
 bankers, over theoretical financiers, over all, to the 
 practical man of affairs, who knew how to create sources 
 of revenue and how to spend economically that revenue 
 after it had been collected. 
 
 Thus Witte mounted to the high place at the right hand 
 of the Czar. Such is the story of this patient, sleepless, 
 ceaselessly active, stern, and silent man. It is possible 
 that he will continue for the remainder of his life the most 
 powerful influence among the Czar's one hundred and forty 
 millions of subjects. It seems to be on the cards of 
 fate that more and more, as years go by, the name 
 of Witte will be heard in every centre of finance and 
 in every cabinet of every government on earth. He is 
 scarcely more than fifty years of age. With his vast en- 
 ergies, his great daring, and his productive mind, tempered 
 by a lifetime of practical experience, it is probable that 
 his future work will be even more striking than his past 
 activities. Should Sergius Witte die, or should he be the 
 victim of court intrigue, and deprived of his power, Russia 
 will have lost her ablest statesman and the Czar his most 
 resourceful minister. To make Russia commercially and 
 industrially modem; to make Russia absolutely self- 
 supporting; to place Russia's treasury in as opulent 
 a condition as the reproductive forces of her people, which 
 are so great that she turns away from her military service 
 every year almost five hundred thousand young men ; and, 
 finally, to impel Russia onward towards the mastery of 
 the earth — this is the mission, this is the secret ambition 
 of this most practical mind of that great world of men 
 and human possibilities which we call the Russian Empire. 
 
 450
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 He is the chief exponent of the aggressive forces of order, 
 system, and material advance, against which Tolstoi is the 
 principal voice of protest.* 
 
 But Tolstoi is fiercer against the Church than he is 
 against what he considers the gross commercialism of 
 Witte. And the man upon whom his hatred is focused is 
 Constantine K. Pobyedonostseff, Procurator of the Holy 
 Synod. Upon his head, too, is poured all the discontent 
 of every Russian who objects to the autocracy of the 
 Greek Church, which, as has been pointed out, is a political 
 as well as a religious organization. It is not possible, of 
 course, to give a history of the Church, or even a sketch 
 of Pobyedonostseff's ecclesiastical statesmanship. It is 
 enough to say that it has been the rigid, unyielding 
 maintenance of one general plan and purpose — namely, 
 the inflexible solidarity of the Church establishment and 
 its absolute identity with the government itself. It has 
 been his ambition to make and keep the Church and the 
 government as inseparable as are the soul and body of the 
 living, thinking man. 
 
 Pobyedonostseff has sternly refused to submit to the 
 fiercely demanded reform of permitting a person once 
 a member of the Russian Church to leave. "Once an 
 orthodox Russian, always an orthodox Russian." He 
 has resisted all demands to revise the Church's creed. 
 The ideal of his life is stability — authority; and to this 
 ideal he is devoted with a passionate singleness of purpose 
 which is the secret of most of his power. It is the claim 
 of the Greek Church that as it is the purest and most 
 ancient form of Christianity, so it is the only religious 
 institution which never changes. Its priests boast that 
 it is as much more permanent and unchangeable than 
 the Roman Catholic Church as the latter is more 
 permanent and unchangeable than the various Protestant 
 
 ' Witte's devotion to the Czar is illustrated by the following 
 striking sentence in his financial report for 1900: "To a Russian 
 xio obstacle is insui-moun table when his Czar commands."
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 denominations. "Let the people have a fixed faith," 
 says Pobyedonostseflf. "The soul of the people, finding 
 expression through the ages and from remote antiquity 
 in the fundamental doctrines of the Church, is the surest 
 proof of its auhenticity and of its real representation of 
 the soul of the nation." This is his idea. 
 
 Against this adamantine character all the waves of 
 reform have beaten in vain. With a terrible calmness 
 he has denied every application for what protesters call 
 relief. He has crushed at their first appearance all im- 
 pulses of what reformers call advance, but what he calls 
 degeneration. To his belief the fundamental truths are 
 the things of vital, permanent, and eternal moment to the 
 souls of the people. " Let them be taught the simple, the 
 profound, and the everlasting truths," he exclaims. To 
 believe with all your soul in one God, the Father of man- 
 kind ; to believe without doubting and with all the passion 
 of unquestioning faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, as the 
 Saviour of the world ; to learn the simple and fundamental 
 difference between right and wrong, between good and 
 evil; to make and keep the people simple, obedient, 
 united; to guard the Church as the instrumentality 
 through which all these shall be protected from all change, 
 all innovation — these to Pobyedonostseff are the neces- 
 sary things. 
 
 Thus the Church becomes to him the most precious of 
 all institutions. To make the Russian people one people, 
 to bind together Fin and Slav and Tartar and Circassian, 
 and, finally, Chinamen too, by the invisible and unbreak- 
 able bonds of a simple and common faith the roots of 
 which run back unbroken through the soil of the centuries 
 — this is the vast ambition of this statesman of the Church. 
 And so it is that Pobyedonostseff rules with an iron hand. 
 So it is that, being the apostle of Russian patriotism, 
 intensified into the white heat of religious passion, and 
 thus in a sense the highest personification of the Russian 
 nation, Pobyedonostseff has the mind and heart of his Czar. 
 
 452
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 And so it is that the object of all dissent, the person 
 at whose breast is aimed every shaft speeded at the 
 Church itself and its doctrine on the one hand, and on 
 the other the visible and responsible head to which all 
 officers, priests, and members of that enormous organiza- 
 tion attribute all their misfortunes, fancied and real 
 — so it is that Pobyedonostseff is the most hated man 
 in Russia. But even PobyedonostsefiE's bitterest foes in 
 Russia gladly admit his absolute purity of character. 
 His name has never been connected with scandal, al- 
 though his fierce denunciation of the immorality of even 
 the leading characters of Russian high life, fearlessly pub- 
 lished, stings like a whip of scorpions and intensifies the 
 already burning hatred felt for him. Retaliation by way 
 of charge of dishonesty or immorality or any word or deed 
 of a personally improper kind has never been possible. 
 It is admitted, too, that he is totally without personal 
 ambition, even by those who speak of him as bigoted and 
 fanatical and cruel, and that he is actuated in all his 
 policies and plans by a devoted and fervent, if narrow, 
 ideal. The color of money has never stained his hand. 
 Single-mindedness, simplicity, purity, intensity, fearless- 
 ness, and a determination that is fanatical — these are the 
 elements of Constantine PobyedonostseflF's character. 
 
 Time and again you have read of him as the Tomas de 
 Torquemada of the Russian people. More than once I 
 have heard him described as the spirit of the Spanish 
 Inquisition living and breathing the atmosphere of the 
 twentieth century. So you would expect that, upon 
 meeting him, you would find a relentless countenance 
 at once a mask for, and an expression of, ferocity and 
 fanaticism. And the conversation with him was looked 
 forward to with keener interest than that with Tolstoi or 
 even with Witte himself. 
 
 What of this man, then, and his surroundings? Un- 
 less you visit him in the office of the Holy Synod, you 
 will find him in a very unpretentious building, which 
 
 453
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 stands flush with the sidewalk on one of the streets of St. 
 Petersburg. Upon entering you are in a hallway, wide 
 and of medium height, with two soldiers standing at either 
 side. Turning to the right, you mount three low, broad 
 steps into another hallway or room, with lower ceiling 
 than the first, where again two soldiers are motionless 
 sentinels. One of these announces you, and a broad 
 door is entered into a large, low room, full of shadow. 
 
 There are books by the score, by the hundred. The 
 man who works here is a student — that is plain. You 
 know that he has translated more than one English 
 classic into Russian. You know, too, that our own 
 Emerson is Pobyedonostseff's favorite author. So the 
 regiments of books in several languages do not surprise 
 you. At the extreme end, in still deeper shadow as it 
 appears from where you enter the door, there is an ample, 
 broad, heavy desk, made out of some dark wood. At 
 this desk sits an old man whose shoulders droop with 
 age — that thing you observe, although he is bending 
 forward, lost to all other things in the writing in which 
 he is engaged. He turns quickly, however, and ad- 
 vances towards you, and in a low, pleasant voice, full of 
 all courtesy and kindliness, speaks, and makes you in- 
 stantly at home. You see the face now and the head. 
 The hair, now becoming scanty and quite gray, is cut 
 as close as possible. It is a large and finely shaped head, 
 with the regions of thought and reflection highly devel- 
 oped. The face is mild, even benevolent. The gray eyes 
 are almost affectionate. The features are aglow with 
 intelligence. The impression immediately produced is 
 that of acute and profound mentality. In a photograph 
 his face looks like that of the typical New England 
 professor of twenty years ago. But, with the living man 
 before you, it is the last face that you would have picked 
 out as that of the ruthless autocrat of religious stability. 
 His talk is mellow, alive, informing. His memory is 
 sensitive and instantaneous. 
 
 454
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 Everybody knows of the visit of the late Charles A, 
 Dana, of the New York Sun, to this kindred mind. Mr. 
 Dana sought the interview, and, it is said, went to him 
 with disapproval. He came away the captivated admirer 
 of this prince of Russian religious permanency. The 
 incident of Mr. Dana's visit being called to his attention, 
 Pobyedonostseff remembered it instantly, and all of its 
 details, and spoke of Mr. Dana with admiration and 
 enthusiasm. "A wonderful man," he said, "so broad, 
 so catholic, so well informed. His was a mind and spirit 
 of true greatness." 
 
 Pobyedonostseff has the courage of his convictions in 
 the most ultimate degree. He does not believe in demo- 
 cratic institutions. He does not apologize for Russian 
 autocracy; he does not even defend it; he asserts that it 
 is the only correct principle of government — asserts, 
 asserts, asserts! The whole man is assertion! 
 
 "People who live in parlimentary governments flatter 
 themselves that they govern themselves ; but they do not. 
 A small oligarchy governs them. I have studied that 
 system well, Votes are influenced by the appeals of 
 demagogues. Other votes are bought outright by actual 
 cash. Still other votes are influenced by the unthinking 
 force of party association; and all of this programme is 
 arranged and operated by the few wire - pullers behind 
 the scenes. These wire - pullers are the real rulers in 
 democratic governments. And are they pure ? Are they 
 learned? Are they wise? Do they have the real in- 
 terests of the people at heart, or is their own petty per- 
 sonal interest the thing that controls them most? And 
 if this last is so, are they equal to the enlightened govern- 
 ing class at whose head sits a hereditary Czar, above 
 corruption, above jealousies, above the mutations of 
 party, and influenced under God only by the consideration 
 of the welfare of the people for whom he is responsible to 
 God? Sometimes elections turn upon the mere chance 
 as to whether one party or the other gets the voters 
 
 455
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 belonging to their organization out to the polls. In those 
 instances chance rules. It is like throwing dice. Is 
 there anything rational in such a government as this?" 
 This, of course, is not a verbatim report of a consecutive 
 conversation; but it accurately represents his views. 
 
 But perhaps there can be no better method of setting 
 out the mental quality of this autocrat of Russian 
 orthodoxy than to reproduce his own words from the 
 book mentioned in another chapter, entitled The Re- 
 flections of a Russian Statesman. Let us take as our 
 first example some paragraphs from his philippic against 
 "The Press." We shall thus see what a universe of 
 opposite and antagonistic thought rolls between the be- 
 liefs of this dominant Russian mind and our American 
 conceptions of the character, work, and duties of that 
 most active and omnipresent agent of our modern civiliza- 
 tion, the newspaper. Says Pobyedonostseff : 
 
 "The newspaper has usurped the position of judicial observer 
 of the events of the day ; it judges not only the actions and words of 
 men, but affects a knowledge of their unexpressed opinions, their 
 intentions, and their enterprises; it praises and condemns at dis- 
 cretion; it incites some, threatens others; drags to the pillory one, 
 and others exalts as idols to be adored and examples worthy of the 
 emulation of all. In the name of public opinion it bestows re- 
 wards on some, and punishes others with the severity of excom- 
 munication. The question naturally occurs: Who are these rep- 
 resentatives of this terrible power, public opinion? Whence is 
 derived their right and authority to rule in the name of the com- 
 munity, to demolish existing institutions, and to proclaim new 
 ideals of ethics and legislation?" 
 
 Then he answers his own questions: 
 
 "Any vagabond babbler or unacknowledegd genius, any enter- 
 prising tradesman, with his own money, or with the money of 
 others, may found a newspaper, even a great newspaper. He 
 may attract a host of writers and feuilletonists, ready to deliver 
 judgment on any subject at a moment's notice; he may hire illiter- 
 ate reporters to keep him supplied with rumors and scandals. His 
 staff is then complete. From that day he sits in judgment on all 
 
 4S6
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 the world, on ministers and administrators, on literattire and art, 
 on finance and industry. It is true that the new journal becomes a 
 power only when it is sold on the market — that is, when it circu- 
 lates among the public. For this talent is needed, and the matter 
 published must be attractive and congenial for the readers. Here, 
 we might think, was some guarantee of the moral value of the un- 
 dertaking — men of talent will not serve a feeble or contemptible 
 editor or publisher; the public will not support a newspaper which 
 is not a faithful echo of public opinion. 
 
 "This guarantee is fictitious. Experience proves that money 
 will attract talent under any conditions, and that talent is ready 
 to write as its paymaster requires. Experience proves that the 
 most contemptible persons — retired money-lenders, Jewish fac- 
 tors, news- venders, and bankrupt gamblers — may found news- 
 papers, secure the services of talented writers, and place their 
 editions on the market as organs of public opinion. The healthy 
 taste of the public is not to be relied upon. The great mass of 
 readers, idlers for the most part, is ruled less by a few healthy in- 
 stincts than by a base and despicable hankering for idle amuse- 
 ment ; and the support of the people may be secured by any editor 
 who provides for the satisfaction of these hankerings, for the love 
 of scandal, and for intellectual pruriency of the basest kind. Of 
 this we meet with evidence daily ; even in our capital no search is 
 necessary to find it ; it is enough to note the supply and demand of 
 the news-venders' shops and at the railway-stations. 
 
 "Svich a paper may flourish, attain consideration as an organ 
 of public opinion, and be immensely remunerative to its owners, 
 while no paper conducted upon firm moral principles, or founded 
 to meet the healthier instincts of the people could compete with it 
 for a moment." 
 
 Finally he delivers this last blow at what he con- 
 siders the irresponsibility of the journalist: 
 
 "For the journalist, with a power comprehending all things, re- 
 quires no sanction. He derives his authority from no election, he 
 receives support from no one. His newspaper becomes an author- 
 ity in the State, and for this authority no endorsement is required. 
 The man in the street may establish such an organ, and exercise 
 the concomitant authority with an irresponsibility enjoyed by no 
 other power in the world. That this is in no way exaggeration 
 there are innumerable proofs. How often have superficial and un- 
 scrupulous journalists paved the way for evolution, fomented irri- 
 tation into enmity, and brought about desolating wars ? For con- 
 
 457
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 duct such as this a monarch would lose his throne, a minister 
 would be disgraced, impeached, and punished; but the journalist 
 stands dry above the waters he has disturbed, from the ruin he 
 has caused he rises triumphant, and briskly continues his destruc- 
 tive work. 
 
 "This is by no means the worst. When a judge has power to 
 dishonor us, to deprive us of our property and of our freedom, he 
 receives his power from the hands of the state only after such pro- 
 longed labor and experience as qualify him for his calling. His 
 power is restricted by rigorous laws, his judgments are subject to 
 revision by higher powers, and his sentence may be altered or 
 commuted. The journalist has the fullest power to defame and 
 dishonor me, to injure my material interests, even to restrict my 
 liberty by attacks which force me to leave my place of abode. 
 These judicial powers he has usurped; no higher authority has 
 conferred them upon him; he has never proven by examination 
 his fitness to exercise them; he has in no way shown his trust- 
 worthiness or his impartiality: his court is ruled by no formal pro- 
 cedure; and from his judgment there lies no appeal. 
 
 " Its defenders assure us that the Press itself heals the wounds it 
 has inflicted; but any thinking mind can see that these are mere 
 idle words. The attacks of the Press on individuals may cause 
 irreparable injiiry. Retractions and explanations can in no way 
 give them full satisfaction. Not half of those who read the de- 
 nunciatory article will read the apology or the explanation, and 
 in the minds of the mass of frivolous readers insulting or calum- 
 nious suggestions leave behind an ineffaceable stain. Criminal 
 prosecution for defamation is but the feeblest defence, and civil 
 action seldom succeeds in exposing the offender, while it subjects 
 the offended to fresh attack. The journalist, moreover, has a 
 thousand means of wounding and terrifying individuals without 
 furnishing them with sufficient grounds for legal prosecution. 
 
 "It is hard to imagine a despotism more irrespon.sible and vio- 
 lent than the despotism of printed words. Is it not strange and 
 irrational, then, that those who struggle most for the preservation 
 of this despotism are the impassioned champions of freedom, the, 
 ferocious enemies of legal restrictions and of all interference by the 
 established authority. We cannot help remembering those wise 
 men who went mad because they knew of their wisdom." 
 
 This denunciation of the modem newspaper will re- 
 veal from what a different and hostile view - point the 
 Russian, who is a fervent believer in orthodoxy and 
 autocracy, looks upon things which to the American, or 
 
 458
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 indeed the non-Russian European, mind are essential parts 
 of modem progress. And yet this is only a phase of 
 Pobyedonostseff 's boundless antagonism to all forms and 
 manifestations of what to us is hberty, but what to him 
 is license. A single quotation from his essay, "The Great 
 Falsehood of Our Time," directed against the English 
 Electoral system, will throw a flood of light upon his views 
 as well as reveal his method of thought and expression: 
 
 "Elections are a matter of art, having, as the military art, their 
 strategy and tactics. The candidate is not brought into direct re- 
 lations with his constituents. As intermediary stands the com- 
 mittee, a self-constituted institution, the chief weapon of which 
 is impudence. The candidate, if he is unknown, begins by assem- 
 bling a number of friends and patrons. Then all together organ- 
 ize a hunt among the rich and weak-minded aristocrats of the 
 neighborhood, whom they convince that it is their duty, their pre- 
 rogative, and their privilege to stand at the head as leaders of 
 public opinion. There is little difficulty in finding stupid or idle 
 people who are taken in by this trickery; and then, above their sig- 
 natures, appear manifestoes in the newspapers and on the walls 
 and pillars, which seduce the mass, eager always in the pursuit 
 of names, titles, and wealth. Thus are formed the committees 
 which direct and control the elections. They resemble in much 
 public companies. The composition of the committee is carefully 
 elaborated; it contains some effective forces — energetic men who 
 pursue, at all costs, material ends; while simple and frivolous idlers 
 constitute the ballast. The committees organize meetings, where 
 speeches arc delivered, where he who possesses a powerful voice, 
 and can quickly and skilfully string phrases together, produces al- 
 waj'^s an impression on the mass, and acquires notoriety — thus 
 comes out the candidate for future election, who, with favoring 
 conditions, may even supersede him whom he came to help. 
 Phrases, and nothing but phra,ses, dominate these meetings. The 
 crowd hears only him who cries the loudest, and who, with impu- 
 dence and with flattery, conforms most artfully to the impulses 
 and tendencies of the mob. 
 
 "On the day of polling few give their votes intelligently; these 
 are the individual influential electors whom it has been worth 
 while to convince in private. The mass of the electors, after the 
 practice of the herd, votes for one of the candidates nominated by 
 the committees. Not one exactly knows the man, or considers his 
 character, his capacity, his convictions; all vote merely because 
 
 459
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 they have heard his name so often. It ■would be vain to struggle 
 against this herd. If a level-headed elector wished to act intelli- 
 gently in such a grave aflair, and not to give way to the violence 
 of the committee, he would have to abstain altogether, or to give 
 his vote for his candidate according to his conviction. However 
 he might act, he could not prevent the election of the candidate 
 favored by the mass of frivolous, indifferent, and prejudiced elec- 
 tors. 
 
 "In theory, the elected candidate must be the favorite of the 
 majority; in fact, he is the favorite of a minority, sometimes very 
 small, but representing an organized force, while the majority, 
 like sand, has no coherence, and is, therefore, incapable of resisting 
 the cliqvie and the faction. In theory, the election favors the in- 
 telligent and capable; in reality, it favors the pushing and im- 
 pudent." 
 
 It will be seen from these quotations that Pobyedon- 
 ostseff is as intellectually intense, as mentally passionate, 
 as he is in manners urbane and charming; but he is not 
 always soothing and velvet-voiced even in personal talk 
 and contact. At the close of the conversation the policy 
 of the Church was mentioned. Instantly it appeared that 
 every nerve of his sensitive organism had been touched 
 into abnormal alertness. "Yes, what of the policy of the 
 Church?" It was suggested that, when considered as a 
 great cohesive force, whose purpose it was to bind together 
 into a solid and substantial society scores of millions of 
 people widely scattered, it was a coherent and reasonable 
 policy, as viewed even by an ultra-republican. He an- 
 swered, his form gradually straightening as he spoke, until 
 he stood as erect as a man of twenty. The years rolled 
 away from his virile shoulders, the light of youth blazed 
 from his eyes, his voice grew more vibrant as he proceeded, 
 until, at the last word, it rang as a trumpet. " Yes, yes," 
 he said, "you are quite right about that. But, sir, you 
 make one terrible mistake. You refer to Russia as a state. 
 No! no! Russia is no state ; Russia is a world ! " 
 
 It was the most illuminating, as it was the most quotable, 
 single sentence heard within the dominions of the Czar. 
 There was the master word that unlocked all the com- 
 
 460
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE 
 
 plexities ®f Witte's statesmanship; there was laid bare 
 the unspoken — almost unthought — aspiration of the Rus- 
 sian people, so profound as to be an instinct; there spoke 
 the determination of the virile Slav race, which, despite 
 frightful mortality, due to unhygienic living and con- 
 ditions — despite the fact that no Russian child but the 
 fittest survives — is yet adding to its numbers by over 
 two million souls every year. This was the voice of the 
 soul of Russia — Russia that ever waits, Russia that is 
 ever patient, Russia that ever advances, Russia that never 
 hurries, Russia that looks upon other peoples as dis- 
 organized communities and dying races and considers her- 
 self the heir of all the ages, Russia that believes and feels 
 that she is not a state, but a world. " No! no! Russia is 
 no state; Russia is a world!"' So exclaims the apostle 
 of Russian orthodoxy, so devoutly believe the Russian 
 people, so plan the far-seeing Russian statesmen. All 
 men estimating the thought and tendencies of nations, 
 when putting Russia to the test of analysis, should, if they 
 would truly understand as they analyze, repeat these 
 words of Pobyedonostseff , Procurator of the Holy Synod 
 of Russia's national Church: ''Russia is no state; Russia 
 is a world.'' For these eight words express the feeling 
 and the faith of the most numerous of modem peoples 
 and the most extensive of modern empires.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 TREATY OF SHIMONOSEKI, BY WHICH SOUTHERN 
 MANCHURIA WAS CEDED TO JAPAN 
 
 (Signed April 17, 1895; ratified at Chefoo, May 8, 1895.) 
 
 Article I. China recognizes definitely the full and complete in- 
 dependence and autonomy of Korea, and in consequence the pay- 
 ment of tribute and the performance of ceremonies and formal- 
 ities by Korea to China in derogation of such independence and 
 autonomy shall wholly cease for the future. 
 
 Article II. China cedes to Japan in perpetuity and full sov- 
 ereignty the following territories, together with all fortifications, 
 arsenals, and public property thereon: 
 
 (a) . The southern portion of the province of Feng-t'ien within 
 the following boundaries: 
 
 The line of demarcation begins at the mouth of the river Yalu 
 and ascends that stream to the mouth of the river Anping; from 
 thence the line runs to Feng Huang; from thence to Haicheng; 
 from thence to Ying-Kow, forming a line which describes the 
 southern portion of the territory. The places above named are 
 included in the ceded territory. When the line reaches the river 
 Liao at Ying-Kow it follows the course of that stream to its mouth, 
 where it terminates. The mid-channel of the river Liao shall be 
 taken as the line of demarcation. 
 
 This cession also includes all islands appertaining or belonging 
 to the province of Feng-t'ien, situated in the eastern portion of 
 the bay of Liaotung and in the northern part of the Yellow Sea. 
 
 (b). The island of Formosa, together with all islands apper- 
 taining to the said island of Formosa. 
 
 (c). The Pescadores Group — that is to say, all islands lying be- 
 tween the one hundred and nineteenth and twelfth degrees of 
 longitude east of Greenu-ich and the twenty-third and two hun- 
 dred and fortieth degrees of north latitude. 
 
 Article III. The alignments of the frontiers described in the 
 preceding article, and shown on the map, shall be subject to veri- 
 
 463
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 fication and demarcation on the spot by a Joint Commission of 
 delimitation, consisting of two or more Japanese, and two or more 
 Chinese delegates, to be appointed immediately after the exchange 
 of the ratifications of this act. In case the boundaries laid down in 
 this act are found to be defective at any point, either on account of 
 topography or in consideration of good administration, it shall also 
 be the duty of the Delimitation Commission to rectify the same. 
 
 The Delimitation Commission will enter upon its duties as soon 
 as possible, and will bring its labors to a conclusion within the 
 period of one year after appointment. 
 
 The alignments laid down in this act shall, however, be main- 
 tained until the rectifications of the Delimitation Commission, if 
 any are made, shall have received the approval of the govern- 
 ments of Japan and China. 
 
 Article IV. China agrees to pay to Japan as a war indemnity 
 the sum of two hundred million Kuping taels. The said sum to 
 be paid in eight instalments. The first instalment of fifty million 
 taels to be paid within six months, and the second instalment of 
 fifty million taels to be paid within twelve months after the ex- 
 change of the ratifications of this act. The remaining sum to be 
 paid in six equal annual instalments as follows: The first of such 
 equal instalments to be paid within two years; the second within 
 three years; the third within four years; the fourth within five 
 years; the fifth within six years; and the sixth within seven years, 
 after the exchange of the ratifications of this act. Interest at the 
 rate of five per centum per annum shall begin to run on all iinpaid 
 portions of the said indemnity from the date the first instalment 
 falls due. 
 
 China, however, shall have the right to pay by anticipation at 
 any time any or all of said instalments. In case the whole amoimt 
 of said indemnity is paid within three years after the exchange of 
 ratifications of the present act, all interest shall be waived and 
 the interest for two years and a half or for any less period, if then 
 already paid, shall be included as a part of the principal amount 
 of the indemnity. 
 
 Ai'ticle V. The inhabitants of the territories ceded to Japan, 
 who wish to take up their residence outside the ceded districts, 
 shall be at liberty to sell their real property and retire. For this 
 purpose a period of two years from the date of the exchange of the 
 ratifications of the present act shall be granted. At the expira- 
 tion of that period, those of the inhabitants who shall not have left 
 such territories shall, at the option of Japan, be deemed to be Jap- 
 anese subjects. 
 
 Each of the two governments shall, immediately upon the ex- 
 change of the ratifications of the present act, send one or more com- 
 
 464
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 missioners to Formosa to effect a final transfer of that province, 
 and within the space of two months after the exchange of the rat- 
 ifications of this act such transfer shall be completed. 
 
 Article VI. All treaties between Japan and China having come 
 to an end in consequence of war, China engages immediately upon 
 the exchange of the ratifications of this act, to appoint plenipo- 
 tentiaries to conclude, with the Japanese plenipotentiaries, a 
 treaty of commerce and navigation and a convention to regu- 
 late frontier intercourse and trade. The treaties, conventions, 
 and regulations now subsisting between China and European 
 powers shall serve as a basis for the said treaty and convention 
 between Japan and China. From the date of the exchange of the 
 ratifications of this act until the said treaty and convention are 
 brought into actual operation, the Japanese government, its of- 
 ficials, commerce, navigations, frontier intercourse and trade, in- 
 dustries, ships, and subjects, shall, in every respect, be accorded 
 by China most favored-nation treatment. 
 
 China makes, in addition, the following concessions, to take 
 effect six months after the date of the present act: 
 
 First. The following cities, towns, and ports, in addition to those 
 already opened, shall be opened to the trade, residence, industries, 
 and manufactures of Japanese subjects, under the same conditions 
 and with the same privileges and facilities as exist at the present 
 open cities, towns, and ports of China: 
 
 1. Shashih, in the province of Hupeh. 
 
 2. Chung-King, in the province of Szechuan. 
 
 3. Suchow, in the Province of Kiang-Su. 
 
 4. Hangchow, in the province of Chekiang. 
 
 The Japanese government shall have the right to station con- 
 suls at any or all of the above-named places. 
 
 Second. Steam navigation for vessels under the Japanese flag 
 for the conveyance of passengers and cargo shall be extended to 
 the following places: 
 
 1. On the upper Yang-tse River, from Ichang to Chung- King. 
 
 2. On the Woosung River and the Canal, from Shanghai to 
 Suchow and Hangchow. 
 
 The rules and regulations which now govern the navigation of 
 the inland waters of China by foreign vessels shall, so far as ap- 
 plicable, be enforced in respect to the above-named routes, until 
 new rules and regulations are conjointly agreed to. 
 
 Third. Japanese subjects purchasing goods or produce in the 
 interior of China or transporting imported merchandise into the 
 interior of China, shall have the right temporarily to rent or hire 
 warehouses for the storage of articles so purchased or transported 
 without the payment of any taxes or exactions whatever. 
 so 465
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Fourth. Japanese subjects shall be free to engage in all kinds of 
 manufacturing industries in all the open cities, towns, and ports of 
 China, and shall be at liberty to import into China all kinds of 
 machinery, paying only the stipulated import duties thereon. 
 
 All articles manufactured by Japanese subjects in China shall, 
 in respect of inland transit and internal taxes, duties, charges, and 
 exactions of all kinds, and also in respect of warehousing and 
 storage facilities in the interior of China, stand upon the same foot- 
 ing and enjoy the same privileges and exemptions as merchandise 
 imported by Japanese subjects into China. 
 
 In the event additional rules and regulations are necessary 
 in connection with these concessions, they shall be embodied 
 in the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation provided for by this 
 article. 
 
 Article VII. Subject to the provisions of the next succeeding 
 article, the evacuation of China by the armies of Japan shall be 
 completely effected within three months after the exchange of the 
 ratifications of the present act. 
 
 Article VIII. As a guarantee of the faithful performance of 
 the stipulations of this act, China consents to the temporary 
 occupation by the military forces of Japan, of Wei-Hai-Wei, in the 
 province of Shang-Tung. 
 
 Upon the payment of the first two instalments of the war 
 indemnity herein stipulated for and the exchange of the rati- 
 fications of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, said place 
 shall be evacuated by the Japanese forces, provided the Chinese 
 government consents to pledge, under suitable and sufficient 
 arrangements, the Customs Revenue of China as security for the 
 payment of the final instalment of said indemnity. 
 
 It is, however, expressly understood that no such evacuation 
 shall take place until after the exchange of the ratifications of 
 the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation. 
 
 Article IX. Immediately upon the exchange of the ratifica- 
 tions of this act, all prisoners of war then held shall be restored, 
 and China undertakes not to ill-treat or punish prisoners of war so 
 restored to her by Japan. China also engages to at once release 
 all Japanese subjects accused of being military spies or charged 
 with any other military offences. China further engages not to 
 punish in any manner, nor to allow to be punished, those Chinese 
 subjects who have in any manner been compromised in their 
 relations with the Japanese army during the war. 
 
 Article X. All offensive military operations shall cease upon 
 the exchange of the ratifications of this act. 
 
 Article XI. The present act shall be ratified by their Majesties 
 the Emperor of Japan and the Emperor of China, and the ratifi- 
 
 466
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 cations shall be exchanged at Chefoo, on the eighth day of the fifth 
 month of the twenty-eighth year of Meiji, corresponding to the 
 fotirteenth day of the fourth month of the twenty-first year of 
 Kuang Hsu. 
 
 In witness whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed 
 the same and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. 
 
 Done at Shimonoseki, in duplicate, this seventeenth day of the 
 fourth month of the twenty-eighth year of Meiji, corresponding to 
 the twenty-third day of the third month of the twenty-first year 
 of Kuang Hsu. 
 
 Count Ito Hirobumi. 
 
 Viscount Mutsu Munemitsu. 
 
 Li Hung Chang. 
 
 Li Ching-Fong. 
 
 SEPARATE ARTICLES 
 
 Article I. The Japanese Military Forces which are, under Ar- 
 ticle VI I L of the Treaty of Peace signed this day, to temporarily 
 occupy Wei-Hai-Wei, shall not exceed one brigade, and from the 
 date of the exchange of the ratifications of the said Treaty of 
 Peace, China shall pay annually one-fourth of the amount of the 
 expenses of such temporary occupation — that is to say, at the rate 
 of 500,000 Kuping taels per annum. 
 
 Article II. The territory temporarily occupied at Wei-Hai-Wei 
 shall comprise the island of Liu Kunk and a belt of land five Jap- 
 anese ri wide along the entire coast-line of the bay of Wei-Hai-Wei. 
 
 No Chinese troops shall be permitted to approach or occupy 
 any places within a zone five Japanese ri wide beyond the boun- 
 daries of the occupied territory. 
 
 Article III. The Civil Administration of the occupied territory 
 shall remain in the hands of the Chinese authorities. But such 
 authorities shall at all times be obliged to conform to the orders 
 which the Japanese army of occupation may deem it necessary 
 to give in the interest of the health, maintenance, safety, dis- 
 tribution, or discipline of the troops. 
 
 All military offences committed within the occupied territory 
 shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Japanese military 
 authorities. 
 
 The foregoing Separate Articles shall have the same force, 
 value, and effect as if they had been word for word inserted in the 
 Treaty of Peace signed this day. 
 
 In witness whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed 
 the same and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. 
 
 467
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Done at Shimonoseki, in duplicate, this seventeenth day of the 
 fourth month of the twenty-eighth year of Meiji, corresponding to 
 the twenty-first year of Kuang Hsu. 
 
 Count Ito Hirobumi. 
 
 Viscount Mutsu Munemitsu. 
 
 Li Hung Chang. 
 
 MIKADO'S RESCRIPT WITHDRAWING FROM MAN- 
 CHURIA. (May lo, 1895.) 
 
 We recently complied with the request of China, and in con- 
 sequence appointed plenipotentiaries and caused them to confer 
 with the plenipotentiaries appointed by China and to conclude a 
 Treaty of Peace between the two Empires. 
 
 Since then the governments of their Majesties the Emperors of 
 Russia and Germany and of the Republic of France have united 
 in a recommendation to our government not to permanently 
 possess the peninsula of Feng-t'ien, our newly acquired territory, 
 on the ground that such permanent possession would be detrimen- 
 tal to the lasting peace of the Orient. 
 
 Devoted as we unalterably are and ever have been to the 
 principles of peace, we were constrained to take up arms against 
 China for no other reason than our desire to secure for the Orient 
 an enduring peace. 
 
 Now the friendly recommendation of the three powers was 
 equally prompted by the same desire. Consulting, therefore, 
 the best interests of peace and animated by a desire not t< 
 bring upon our people added hardship or to impede the pre 
 ress of national destiny by creating new complications ai 
 thereby making the situation difficult and retarding the resto 
 ration of peace, we do not hesitate to accept such recommenca- 
 tion. 
 
 By concluding the Treaty of Peace, China has already shov.-n 
 her sincerity of regret for the violation of her engagements, anc! 
 thereby the justice of our cause has been proclaimed to thc- 
 world. 
 
 Under the circumstances we can find nothing to impair the 
 honor and dignity of our empire if we now yield to the dictates 
 of magnanimity and, taking into consideration the general 
 situation, accept the advice of the friendly powers. 
 
 Accordingly we have commanded our government, and have 
 caused them to reply to the three powers in the above 
 sense. 
 
 Regarding the arrangements by which w© will renoiince the 
 
 468
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 permanent possession of the Peninsula, we have specially com- 
 manded our government that the necessary measures shall be 
 made the subject of future negotiations and adjustment with the 
 government of China. 
 
 Now, the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Peace has 
 already been effected, the friendly relations between the two 
 Empires have been re-established, and cordial relations with all 
 other powers are also strengthened. 
 
 We therefore command our subjects to respect our will ; to take 
 into careful consideration the general situation ; to be circumspect 
 in all things; to avoid erroneous tendencies; and not to impair 
 or thwart the high aspirations of our empire. 
 
 [imperial sign manual.] 
 [countersigned by all ministers of state.] 
 
 THE (REPUTED) CASSINI CONVENTION 
 
 TEXT PUBLISHED BY THE NORTH CHINA "DAILY NEWS " AS 
 
 THAT OF AN AGREEMENT CONCLUDED AT PEKIN BY 
 
 COUNT CASSINI, THE RUSSIAN MINISTER, 
 
 IN 1895 
 
 His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of China, having received 
 the various benefits arising from the loyal support of his Imperial 
 Majesty, the Emperor of Russia, at the close of the late war between 
 China and Japan, and being desirous that the communications be- 
 tween the frontier territories of their respective empires and the 
 international commerce of the two countries should be managed 
 to their mutual advantage, has commanded the mutual settlement 
 of certain matters in order the better to consolidate the basis of 
 friendship between the two empires. In this connection, there- 
 fore, his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of China, has specially ap- 
 pointed the Imperial High Commissioners, the Princes and great 
 officers of the Crown, composing the Imperial Chinese Ministrv of 
 War, with plenipotentiary powers, to confer and agree upon 
 certain matters, at Pekin, with his Excellency, Count Cassini, 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of H.I.M., 
 the Emperor of Russia, to the Court of China, concerning the con- 
 necting of the railway system of the three Eastern Provinces 
 (Feng-t'ien, Kirin, and Hei-Lung-Kiang) with that of the Imperial 
 Russian Railway in the province of Siberia, with the object of 
 facilitating the transport of goods between the two empires, and 
 of strengthenmg the frontier defences and sea-coasts. And, 
 
 469
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 furthermore, to agree upon certain special privileges to be con- 
 ceded by China to Russia as a response to the loyal aid given 
 by Russia in the retrocession of Liaotung and its dependen- 
 cies: 
 
 1. Owing to the fact that the Russian Great Siberian Railway 
 is on the point of completion, China consents to allow Russia to 
 prolong her railway into Chinese territories (a) from the Russian 
 port of Vladivostock into the Chinese city of Htmchun, in the 
 province of Kirin, from thence northwestward to the provincial 
 capital of Kirin, and (b) from a railway-station of some city in 
 Siberia to the Chinese town of Aigun in Hei-Lung-Kiang province, 
 from thence southwestward to the provincial capital of Tsitsihar, 
 and from thence to the town of Petunfi in Kirin province, 
 and from thence southeastward to the provincial capital of 
 Kirin. 
 
 2. All railways built by Russia into the Chinese provinces of 
 Hei-Lung-Kiang and Kirin shall be built at the sole expense of 
 Rvtssia, and the regulations and buildings thereof shall be solely 
 on the Russian system, with which China has nothing to do, and 
 the entire control shall be in the hands of Russia for the space of 
 thirty years. At the end of the said period China shall be allowed 
 to prepare the necessary funds wherewith, after proper estimation 
 of the value of the said railway.^, she shall redeem them, the rolling- 
 stock, machine-shops, and buildings connected therewith. But 
 as to how China will at that date redeem these railways shall be 
 left for future consideration. 
 
 3. China is now in the possession of a railway, which she intends 
 to extend from Shanhaikwan into the provincial capital of Feng- 
 t'ien — namely, Mukden (Shengking), and from Mukden to the 
 provincial capital of Kirin. If China should hereafter find it in- 
 convenient to build this road, she shall allow Russia to provide the 
 funds to build the railway from the city of Kirin on behalf of 
 China, the redemption of which road shall be permissible to China 
 at the end of ten years. With reference to the route to be taken 
 by this railway, Russia shall follow the surveys already made by 
 China in connection therewith, from Kirin to Mtikden, New- 
 Chwang, etc. 
 
 4. The railway to be built by China, beginning from Shanhaik- 
 wan, in Feng-t'ien, to New-Chwang, to Kaiping, to Chinchou, to 
 Lushunk'ou (Port Arthur) , and to Talienhwan and their depen- 
 dencies, shall follow the Russian railway regulations, in order to 
 facilitate the commercial intercourse between the respective em- 
 pires. 
 
 5. With reference to the railways to be built by Russia into 
 Chinese territory, the routes along which the said roads shall pass 
 
 470
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 must be protected, as usual, by the local, civil, and military offi- 
 cials of the country. They shall, moreover, afford all facilities 
 and aid to the civil and military officials of Russia at the various 
 railway-stations, together with all the Russian artisans and labor- 
 ers connected therewith. But, owing to the fact that the said 
 railways will pass, for the greater part, through barren and sparse- 
 ly inhabited territory, in which it will be difficiilt for the Chinese 
 authorities to be always able to grant the necessary protection and 
 aid, Russia shall be allowed to place special battalions of horse and 
 foot soldiers at the various important stations for the better pro- 
 tection of the railway property. 
 
 6. With reference to the customs duties to be collected on 
 goods exported from and imported into the respective countries 
 by the said railways, they shall follow the regulations provided by 
 the Treaty of Commerce between China and Russia, ratified in the 
 first year of the reign of Tung Chin, fourth day, second moon 
 (20th of February, 1862, O. S.), regulating overland transit of 
 goods between the two empires. 
 
 7. There has always been in existence a rule prohibiting the ex- 
 ploitation of the mines in Hei-Lung-Kiang and Kirin provinces, and 
 in the Ch'angpai mountains (Long White mountain range) . After 
 the ratification of this Treaty, Russians and subjects of the Chinese 
 Empire shall be permitted hereafter to exploit and open any of 
 the mines therein mentioned ; but before doing so they shall be 
 required first to petition the Chinese local authorities on the sub- 
 ject, who, on the other hand, shall grant the necessary commis- 
 sions (huchas) in accordance with the mining regulations in force 
 in China Proper. 
 
 8. Although there exist certain battalions of foreign-drilled 
 troops (Lienchun) in the three Eastern provinces, yet the greater 
 portion of the local territorial Army Corps thereof still follow the 
 ancient regulations of the empire. Should, therefore, China in 
 the future require to reform, in accordance with the Western sys- 
 tem, the whole army organization of the said provinces, she shall 
 be permitted to engage from Russia qualified military officers for 
 that purpose, and the rules for the guidance of this arrangement 
 shall be in accordance with those obtaining in the Liang- Kiang 
 provinces in regard to the German military officers now engaged 
 there. 
 
 g. Russia has never possessed a seaport in Asia which is free 
 from ice and open all the year round. If, therefore, there should 
 suddenly arise military operations in this Continent, it will natu- 
 rally be difficult for the Russian Eastern Seas and Pacific Fleets to 
 move about freely and at pleasure. As China is well aware of this, 
 she is willing to lease temporarily to Russia the port of Kiaochou, 
 
 471
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 in the province of Shan-Tung, the period of such lease being lim- 
 ited to fifteen years. At the end of this period China shall buy all 
 the barracks, godowns, machine-shops, and docks built there by 
 Russia (during her occupation of the said port). But, should 
 there be no danger of military operations, Russia shall not enter 
 immediately into possession of the said port, or hold the impor- 
 tant points dominating the port, in order to obviate the chance of 
 exciting the jealousy and suspicions of other powers. With ref- 
 erence to the amount of rent and the way it is to be paid, this shall 
 form the subject of consideration in a Protocol at some future 
 date. 
 
 10. As the Liaotung ports of Lushunk'ou (Port Arthur) and 
 Talienhwan and their dependencies are important strategical 
 points, it shall be incumbent upon China to properly fortify them 
 with all haste, and to repair all their fortifications, etc., in order to 
 provide against future dangers; Russia shall, therefore, lend all 
 necessary assistance in helping to protect these two ports, and shall 
 not permit any foreign power to encroach upon them. China, on 
 her part, also binds herself never to cede them to another country, 
 but if, in futvire, the exigencies of the case require it, and Rus- 
 sia should find herself suddenly involved in a war, China consents 
 to allow Russia temporarily to concentrate her land and naval 
 forces within the said ports, in order the better to enable Russia 
 to attack the enemy or to guard her own position. 
 
 11. If, however, there be no danger of military operations in 
 which Russia is engaged, China shall have entire control over the 
 administration of the said ports of Lushunk'ou and Talienhwan ; 
 nor shall Russia interfere in any way therein. But, as regards the 
 building of the railway in the three Eastern Provinces, and the 
 exploitation and opening of the mines therein, they shall be per- 
 mitted to be proceeded with immediately after the ratification of 
 this Convention, and at the pleasure of the people concerned there- 
 in. With reference to the Civil and Military officers of Russia and 
 Russian merchants and traders travelling (in any part of the terri- 
 tories herein mentioned) , wherever they shall go, they shall be 
 given all the privilege of prptection and facilities within the power 
 of the local authorities; nor shall these officials be allowed to put 
 obstructions in the way or delay the journeys of the Russian officers 
 and subjects herein mentioned. 
 
 12. After this Convention shall have received the respective 
 signatures of their Imperial Majesties (the Emperors of China and 
 of Russia) the articles included therein shall go into immediate 
 force, and, with the excej)tion of the clauses regarding Port Ar- 
 thur, Talienhwan, and Kiaochou, shall be notified to the various 
 local authorities of the two empires. As to the place for the ex* 
 
 472
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 change of ratifications, it shall be left to be decided at some future 
 time, but the exchange shall take place within the space of six 
 months. 
 
 It has, furthermore, been agreed upon between the respective 
 Plenipotentiaries of the High Contracting Powers to make this 
 Convention out in three languages — namely, Chinese, Russian, 
 and French, one copy of each language to be held by the respec- 
 tive High Contracting Parties, after the signing and sealing there- 
 of. And it has, furthermore, been shown, upon comparison, that 
 the contents of the documents, as given in the three languages 
 aforesaid, tally with each other in all respects; but in case of 
 dispute, in the future, the wording of the French copy shall be 
 deemed the correct version. 
 
 THE RUSSO-MANCHURIAN RAILWAY AGREEMENT 
 
 STATUTES OF THE CHINESE EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY 
 
 Section i . On the strength of the Agreement concluded on the 
 27th August (8th September), 1896, by the Imperial Chinese 
 Government with the Russo-Chinese Bank, a Company is formed, 
 under the name of the "Eastern Chinese Railway Company," for 
 the construction and working of a railway within the confines of 
 China, from one of the points on the western borders of the Prov- 
 ince of Hei-Lung-Kiang to one of the points on the eastern bor- 
 ders of the Province of Kirin, and for the connection of this rail- 
 way with those branches which the Imperial Russian Govern- 
 ment will construct to the Chinese frontier from Trans- Baikalia 
 and the Southern Ussuri lines. 
 
 The Company is empowered, subject to the sanction of the 
 Chinese Government, to exploit, in connection with the railway, 
 or independently of it, coal-mines, as also to exploit in China other 
 enterprises — mining, industrial, and commercial. For the work- 
 ing of these enterprises, which may be independent of the railway, 
 the Company shall keep accounts separate from those of the rail- 
 way. 
 
 The formation of the Company shall be undertaken by the 
 Russo-Chinese Bank. 
 
 With the formation of the Company all rights and obligations 
 are transferred to it in regard to the construction and working of 
 the line ceded in virtue of the above-named Agreement of the 27th 
 August (8th September), 1896. 
 
 The Company shall be recognized as formed on the presentation 
 to the Minister of Finances of a Warrant of the State Bank, certify- 
 
 473
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 ing the payment of the first instalment on the shares. In any 
 case, such payment must be made not later than two months from 
 the day of confirmation of the present Statutes. 
 
 The succeeding instalments on the shares shall be paid in such 
 order of gradation that the shares shall be fully paid up at their 
 nominal value not later than one year from the day of formation 
 of the Company. 
 
 Owners of shares of the Company may only be Russian and 
 Chinese subjects. 
 
 Section 2. In virtue of the Agreement with the Chinese gov- 
 ernment, the Company shall retain possession of the Chinese East- 
 em Railway during the course of eighty years from the day of the 
 opening of traffic along the whole line. 
 
 Section 3. In recognition that the enterprise of the Chinese 
 Eastern Railway will be realized only owing to the guarantee 
 given by the Russian Government in regard to the revenue of the 
 line for covering working expenses, as well as for effecting the ob- 
 ligatory payments on the bonds (sections 11, 16), the Company 
 on its part binds itself to the Russian Government, during the 
 whole term of the Concession, under the following obligations: 
 
 (A) The Chinese Eastern Railway, with all its appurtenances 
 and rolling-stock, must be always maintained in full order for sat- 
 isfying all the requirements of the service of the line in regard to 
 the safety, comfort, and uninterrupted conveyance of passengers 
 and goods. 
 
 (B) The traffic on the Chinese Eastern line must be maintained 
 conformably with the degree of traffic on the Russian railway lines 
 adjoining the Chinese line. 
 
 (C) The trains of all descriptions running between the Russian 
 Trans-Baikal and Ussuri lines shall be received by the Chinese 
 Eastern Railway and despatched to their destination, in full com- 
 plement, without delay. 
 
 (D) All through trains, both passenger and goods, shall be de- 
 spatched by the Eastern Chinese Railway at rates of speed not 
 lower than those which shall be adopted on the Siberian Rail- 
 way. 
 
 (E) The Chinese Eastern Railway is bound to establish and 
 maintain a telegraph along the whole extent of the line, and to 
 connect it with the telegraph wire of the Russian adjoining rail- 
 ways, and to receive and despatch, without delay, through tele- 
 grams sent from one frontier station of the line to another, as also 
 telegrams sent from Russia to China, and conversely. 
 
 (F) Should, with the development of traffic on the Chinese 
 Eastern Railway, its technical organization prove insufficient for 
 satisfying the requirements of a regular and uninterrupted passen- 
 
 474
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 ger and goods traffic, the Chinese Eastern Railway shall imme- 
 diately, on receipt of a notification on the part of the Russian rail- 
 ways to augment its capacity to a corresponding degree, adopt the 
 necessary measures for further developing its technical organiza- 
 tion and the traffic on it. In the event of a difference of opinion 
 arising between the above-mentioned railways, the Chinese East- 
 em Railway shall submit to the decision of the Russian Minister 
 of Finances. If the means at the command of the Chinese East- 
 em Railway prove insufficient for carrying out the necessary work 
 of its development, the Board of Management of the railway may 
 at all times apply to the Russian Minister of Finances for pecu- 
 niary assistance on the part of the Ru?sian Government. 
 
 (G) For all transit conveyance of passengers and goods, as also 
 for the transmission of telegrams, there will be established by 
 agreement of the Company with the Russian Government, for the 
 whole term of duration of the Concession, 
 
 11 Maximum Tariffs, which cannot be raised without the con- 
 sent of the Russian Government during the whole term above re- 
 ferred to. Within these limits the Tariffs of direct communica- 
 tion, both for railway carriages and telegrams, will be fixed by the 
 Board of Management of the Company on the strength of a mutual 
 agreement with the Russian Minister of Finances. 
 
 (H) The Russian letter and parcels post, as also the officials 
 accompanying the same, shall be carried by the Chinese Eastern 
 Railway free of charge. 
 
 For this purpose the Company shall set apart in each ordinary 
 passenger train a carriage compartment of three fathoms in length. 
 The Russian postal authorities may, moreover, if they deem it 
 necessary, place on the line postal carriages, constructed by them 
 at their own cost; and the repair, maintenance (interior fittings 
 excepted) , as well as the running of such carriages with the trains, 
 shall be free of charge and at the cost of the railway. 
 
 The above-mentioned engagements — by which, as already 
 stated, the grant of a guarantee by the Russian Government is 
 conditioned, and the consequent realization of the enterprise of 
 the Chinese Eastern Railway — shall be binding on the railway 
 until the same, after the expiration of the eighty years' term of 
 the Concession shall, without payment, become the property of 
 the Chinese Government (section 29). The redemption of the 
 line from the Company before the above-mentioned term, in ac- 
 cordance with section 30 of the present Statutes, shall not in any 
 way diminish the effect of the above-specified engagements, and 
 these latter, together with the railway, shall be transferred to its 
 new proprietor. 
 
 In the same manner, during the course of the whole eighty 
 
 475
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 years' term of the Concession (^ 21 , the following privileges grant- 
 ed to the railway by the Imperial Chinese Government shall r**- 
 main in force: 
 
 (a) Passengers' luggage, as also goods, carried in transit from 
 one Russian station (? to another) shall not be liable to any Chinese 
 customs duties, and shall be exempt from all internal Chinese 
 dues and taxes. 
 
 (b) The rates for the carriage of passengers and goods, for tele- 
 grams, etc., shall be free from all Chinese taxes and dues. 
 
 (c) Goods imported from Russia into China by rail, and ex- 
 ported from China to Russia in the same manner, shall pay respec- 
 tively an import or export Chinese duty to the extent of one-third 
 less as compared with the duty imposed at Chinese seaport cus- 
 tom-houses. 
 
 (d) If goods imported by the railway are destined for convey- 
 ance inland, they shall in such case be subject to payment of transit 
 duty to the extent of one-half of the import duty levied on them, 
 and they shall then be exempted from any additional imposts. 
 Goods which shall not have paid transit duty shall be liable to 
 payment of all established internal carrier and lits-zin (? likin) 
 dues. 
 
 Section 4. In regard to the place of acquisition of materials for 
 the requirements of the railway, the Company shall not be liable 
 to any limitations. If materials be obtained beyond the confines 
 of Russia, they shall, on importation through Russian territory, 
 be freed from payment of Russian customs duties. 
 
 Section 5. The breadth of the railway track must be the same as 
 that of the Russian lines (five feet). 
 
 The Company must cornmence the work not later than the i6th 
 August, 1897, and conduct it in such a manner that the whole line 
 shall be completed not later than six years from the time when the 
 direction of the line shall be finally determined and the necessary 
 land assigned to the Company. 
 
 When tracing the line of the railway, cemeteries and graves, as 
 also towns and villages, must, so far as possible, be left aside of the 
 railway. 
 
 When effecting the connection, in accordance with section i of 
 these Statutes, of the Chinese Eastern Railway with the Russian 
 Trans-Baikal and South Ussuri lines, the Company shall have the 
 right, with a view to reduction of expenditure, of abstaining from 
 bviilding its own frontier stations and of utilizing the frontier sta- 
 tions of the above-named Russian lines. The conditions on which 
 they shall be so utilized shall be determined by agreement of the 
 Board of the Company with the Boards of the respective rail- 
 ways, 
 
 476
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Section 6. The tariffs for the carriage of passengers and goods, 
 as also for supplementary carriage rates, shall be determined by 
 the Company itself, within the limits indicated in section 3. 
 
 Section 7. Crimes, litigation, etc., on the territory of the Chinese 
 Eastern Railway shall be dealt with by local authorities, Chinese 
 and Russian, on the basis of existing Treaties. 
 
 In regard to the carriage of passengers and goods, the responsi- 
 bility of such conveyance, the lapse of time for claims, the order of 
 recovering money from the railway when adjudged, and the rela- 
 tions of the railway to the public shall be defined in rules drawn 
 up by the Company and established before the opening of the rail- 
 way traffic; and these rules shall be framed in accordance with 
 those existing on Russian railways. 
 
 Section 8. The Chinese Government has undertaken to adopt 
 measures for securing the safety of the railway and of all employed 
 on it against any extraneous attacks. 
 
 The preservation of order and decorum on the lands assigned to 
 the railway and its appurtenances shall be confided to police 
 agents appointed by the Company. 
 
 The Company shall, for this purpose, draw up and establish 
 police regulations. 
 
 Section 9. The whole amount of the capital of the Company 
 shall be determined according to the cost of construction calcu- 
 lated on the basis of estimates framed when the survey of the line 
 was carried out. The foundation capital shall be charged with 
 (a) the payment of interest and amortization of the foundation 
 capital during the construction of the railway; (b) the purchase 
 from the Russian Government of the results of the surveys of the 
 direction of the railway to Manchuria which were made by Russian 
 engineers; the sum payable for these surveys will be determined 
 by agreement of the Russian Minister of Finances with the Com- 
 pany. 
 
 The capital of the Company shall be formed by the issue of 
 shares and bonds. 
 
 Section 10. The share capital of the Company shall be fixed at 
 5,000,000 nominal credit rubles, and divided into 1000 shares at 
 5000 nominal credit rubles. 
 
 The shares are to be issued at their nominal value. 
 
 The guarantee of the Russian Government does not extend to 
 them. 
 
 Section 11. The remaining portion of the capital of the Com- 
 pany will be formed by the issue of bonds. The bonds will Ye 
 issued in measure of requirement, and each time with the special 
 sanction of the Minister of Finances. The nominal amount and 
 value of each separate issue of bonds, the time and condition of 
 
 477
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 the issue, as also the form of these bonds, shall be subject to the 
 sanction of the Minister of Finances. 
 
 The Russian Government will guarantee the interest on and 
 amortization of the bonds. 
 
 For the realization of these bonds the Company must have re- 
 course to the Russo-Chinese Bank, but the Russian Government re- 
 serves to itself the right of appropriating the bond loan at a price 
 which shall be determinded between the Company and the Bank, 
 and to pay to the Company the agreed amount in ready money. 
 
 Section 12. As payments are received for bonds guaranteed by 
 the Russian Government, the Company shall be boimd to keep 
 such sums, or interest-bearing securities purchased with the same 
 by permission of the Russian Minister of Finances, under the 
 special supervision of the Russian Ministry of Finances. 
 
 Out of the above receipts the Company shall have the right to 
 make the following payments: 
 
 (a) According to actual fulfilment of the work in progress 
 and execution of orders, and at the time when various expendi- 
 tures shall become necessary, such payments to be made on the 
 scale and on the conditions specified in the working estimates. 
 
 (b) During the construction of the line, of interest, as it be- 
 comes due, on the bonds issued by the Compan)'-, subject to the 
 conditions of their issue, and the Company shall pay the sums 
 necessary for the above purpose within the limits of the amount 
 realized by it in the emission of its bonds. 
 
 Section 13. On the payment of the first allotment on the shares, 
 the founders shall receive temporary certificates, on which, subse- 
 quently, when the Board of Management of the Company shall 
 have been formed, the receipt of the further instalments on the 
 shares will be inscribed. 
 
 When the shares shall be fully paid up, the temporary certifi- 
 cates issued to the founders shall be replaced by shares. 
 
 The shares of the Company are issued to bearer, under the sig- 
 nature of not fewer than three members of the Board of Manage- 
 ment. To the shares will be attached a coupon-sheet for the re- 
 ceipt once yearly under them of any dividend that may be pay- 
 able. On the coupon-sheets becoming exhausted, new sheets will 
 be issued. A dividend on the shares out of the net profits of any 
 year, supposing such accrue, shall be payable on the adoption by 
 the general meeting of shareholders of the annual report for that 
 year, and the dividend shall be payable at the offices of the Com- 
 pany, or at such places which it may indicate. 
 
 The Company shall notify, for general information in the Official 
 Gazette and in the Finance Messenger, as also in one of the Chinese 
 newspapers, the extent and place of payment of the dividend, 
 
 478
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Section 14. The reserve capital is destined 
 
 (a) For the capital repair of the railway, its buildings and ap- 
 purtenances. 
 
 (b) For defraj'ing extraordinary expenditure of the Company 
 in repairing the railway and its appurtenances. 
 
 The reserve capital of the Company is formed out of annual 
 sums put aside from the net profits of the working of the railway 
 (section 17). 
 
 The reserve capital must be kept in Russian State interest- 
 bearing securities, or in railway bonds guaranteed by the Russian 
 Government. 
 
 At the expiration of the term of possession of the railway by 
 the Company, the reserve capital shall be, first of all, employed in 
 the payment of the debts of the Company, including among them 
 sums dtie to the Russian Government, if such exist; and after the 
 debts of the Company shall have been paid, the remainder of the 
 reserve capital shall be divided among the shareholders. In the 
 event of the redemption of the railway by the Chinese Govern- 
 ment, the reserve capital becomes the property of the sharehold- 
 ers. 
 
 Section 15. The net revenue of the Company shall be the re- 
 mainder of the gross receipts after deduction of working expenses. 
 Under these expenses are classed: 
 
 (a) General outlays, including assignments towards pension 
 and relief funds, if such be established on the line. 
 
 (b) Maintenance of the staff of the Board of Management, and 
 of all the services, as also the maintenance of employes and la- 
 borers not on the permanent list. 
 
 (c) Ovitlays for materials and articles used for the railway, as 
 also expenditure in the shape of remuneration for using buildings, 
 rolling-stock, and other various requisites for the purposes of the 
 railway. 
 
 (d) Outlays for the maintenance, repair, and renewal of the per- 
 manent way, works of construction, buildings, rolling-stock, and 
 other appurtenances of the railway. 
 
 (e) Expenditure connected with the adoption of the measures 
 and instructions of the Board of Management for insuring the 
 safety and regularity of the railway service. 
 
 (f) Expenditure for the improvement and development of the 
 railway, as also the creating and developing its resources. 
 
 Section 16. Should the gross receipts of the railway prove in- 
 sufficient for defraying the working expenses and for meeting the 
 yearly payments due on the bonds, the Company will receive the 
 deficient sum from the Russian Government, through the Rus- 
 sian Minister of Finances. The payments referred to will be made 
 
 479
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 to the Company as advances, at a rate of interest of six per cent, 
 per annum. Sums paid in excess to the Company in consequence 
 of its demands and on account of the guarantee will be deducted 
 from succeeding money payments. 
 
 On the presentation to the general meeting of shareholders of the 
 annual report of the working of the railway for a given year, the 
 Company shall at the same time submit to the general meeting, 
 for confirmation, a detailed statement of the sums owing by the 
 Company to the Russian Government, with the interest that has 
 accrued thereon. On the confirmation of this statement b}'' the 
 general meeting, the Board of Management shall deliver to the 
 Russian Government an acknowledgment of the Company's debt, 
 to the full determined amount of the same, and this acknowledg- 
 ment, \mtil its substitution by another, shall bear annually inter- 
 est at the rate of six per cent. 
 
 The acknowledgment above mentioned, given by the Board of 
 Management to the Russian Government, shall not be subject to 
 bill or deed stamp tax. 
 
 Subjects of minor importance are dealt with in the following 
 sections: 
 
 Section 17. Distribution of net profits of the railway. 
 
 Section iS. Functions of Board of Management, the seal of 
 which will be at Pekin and St. Petersburg. 
 
 Section 19. Constitution of the Board, which is to consist of nine 
 members elected by the shareholders. The Chairman is to be 
 appointed by the Chinese Government. The Vice-Chairman is to 
 be chosen by the members of the Board from among themselves. 
 
 Sections 20-28. Administrative details. 
 
 Section 2q. In accordance with the Agreement concluded with 
 the Chinese Government, the latter, after the expiration of eighty 
 years of possession of the railway by the Company, enters into 
 possession of it and its appurtenances. 
 
 The reserve and other funds belonging to the Company shall be 
 employed in paying the money due to the Russian Government 
 under the guarantee (section 16), and in satisfaction of other 
 debts of the Company, and the remainder shall be distributed 
 among the shareholders. 
 
 Any money that may remain owing by the Company to the 
 Russian Government at the expiration of eighty years in respect 
 of the guarantee shall be written off. The Russo-Chinese Bank 
 will incur no responsibility in respect of the same. 
 
 Section 30. In accordance with the Agreement concluded with 
 the Chinese Government, on the expiration of thirty-six years 
 from the time of completion of the whole line and its opening 
 for trafhc, the Chinese Government has the right of acquiring the 
 
 480
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 line, on refunding to the Company in full all the outlays made on 
 it, and on payment for everything done for the requirements of 
 the railway, such payments to be made with accrued interest. 
 
 It follows, as a matter of course, that the portion of the share 
 capital which has been amortized by drawing, and the part of the 
 debt owing to the Russian Government under the guarantee, and 
 repaid out of the net profits (section 1 7) will not constitute part 
 of the purchase money. 
 
 In no case can the Chinese Government enter into possession of 
 the railway before it has lodged in the Russian State Bank the 
 necessary purchase money. 
 
 The purchase money lodged by the Chinese Government shall 
 be employed in paying the debt of the Company under its bonds, 
 and all sums, with interest, owing to the Russian Government, 
 the remainder of the money being then at the disposal of the share- 
 holders. 
 
 ANGLO-RUSSIAN AGREEMENT RESPECTING SPHERES 
 OF INFLUENCE IN CHINA 
 
 (Signed April 28, i8gp) 
 
 Sir C. Scott to Count Mouravieff: 
 
 The undersigned British Ambassador, duly authorized to that 
 effect, has the honor to make the following declaration to his Ex- 
 cellency Count Mouravieff, the Russian Minister of Foreign Af- 
 fairs: Great Britain and Russia, animated by a sincere desire to 
 avoid in China all cause of conflict on questions where their inter- 
 ests meet, and taking into consideration the economic and geo- 
 graphical gravitation of certain parts of the empire, have agreed 
 as follows: 
 
 1 . Great Britain engages not to seek for her own account, or on 
 behalf of British subjects, or of others, any railway concession to 
 the north of the Great Wall of China, and not to obstruct, directly 
 or indirectly, applications for railway concessions in that region 
 supported by the Russian government. 
 
 2. Russia, on her part, engages not to seek for her own accotmt, 
 or in behalf of Russian subjects, or of others, any railway conces- 
 sion on the basin of the Yang-tse, and not to obstruct, directly 
 or indirectly, applications for railway concessions in that region 
 supported by the British government. 
 
 The two contracting parties, having no wise in view to infringe 
 in any way the sovereign rights of China on existing treaties, will 
 not fail to communicate to the Chinese government the present 
 3» 481
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 arrangement, which, by averting all cause of complications be- 
 tween them, is of a natvire to consolidate peace in the Far East, 
 and to serve primordial interests of China itself. 
 
 (Signed) Charles S. Scott. 
 St. Petersburg, April 28, iSgg. 
 
 (A copy of the above note was signed at the same time by the 
 Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, "duly authorized to that 
 effect.") 
 
 TREATY OF OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE 
 BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND JAPAN 
 
 {Signed at London, January jo, igo2) 
 
 The governments of Great Britain and Japan, actuated solely 
 by a desire to maintain the status quo and general peace in the 
 extreme East, being moreover specially interested in maintaining 
 the independence and territorial integrity of the Empire of China 
 and the Empire of Korea, and in securing equal opportunities in 
 those countries for the commerce and industry of all nations, 
 hereby agree as follows: 
 
 Article I. The high contracting parties having mutually recog- 
 nized the independence of China and of Korea, declare themselves 
 to be entirely uninfluenced by an)' aggressive tendencies in either 
 country. Having in view, however, their special interests, of 
 which those of Great Britain relate principally to China, while 
 Japan, in addition to the intei'ests which she possesses in China, is 
 interested in a peculiar degree politically, as well as commercially 
 and industrially, in Korea, the high contracting parties recognize 
 that it will be admissible for either of them to take such measures 
 as may be indispensable in order to safeguard those interests if 
 threatened either by the aggressive action of any other power, or 
 by disturbances arising in China or Korea, and necessitating the 
 intervention of either of the high contracting parties for the pro- 
 tection of the lives and property of its subjects. 
 
 Article II. If either Great Britain or Japan, in the defence of 
 their respective interests as above described, should become in- 
 volved in war with another power, the other high contracting 
 party will maintain a strict neutrality, and use its efforts to pre- 
 vent other powers from joining in hostilities against its ally. 
 
 Article III. If in the above event any other power or powers 
 should join in hostilities against that ally, the other high contract- 
 
 482
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 ing party will come to its assistance and will conduct the war in 
 common, and make peace in mutual agreement with it. 
 
 Article IV. The high contracting parties agree that neither of 
 them will, without consulting the other, enter into separate ar- 
 rangements with another power to the prejudice of the interests 
 above described. 
 
 Article V. Whenever, in the opinion of either Great Britain 
 or Japan, the above-mentioned interests are in jeopardy, the 
 two governments will communicate with each other fully and 
 frankly. 
 
 Article VI. The present agreement shall come into effect im- 
 mediately after the date of its signature, and remain in force for 
 five years from that date. 
 
 In case neither of the high contracting parties should have no- 
 tified twelve months before the expiration of the said five years 
 the intention of terminating it, it shall remain binding until the 
 expiration of one year from the day on which either of the high 
 contracting parties shall have denounced it. But if, when the 
 date fixed for its expiration arrives, either ally is actually engaged 
 in war, the alliance shall, ipso facto, continue until peace is con- 
 cluded. 
 
 In faith whereof the undersigned, duly authorized by their re- 
 spective go\-ernments, have signed this agreement, and have af- 
 fixed thereto their seals. 
 
 Done in duplicate at London the 30th January, 1902. 
 
 [l. s.] Lansdowne, 
 
 His Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of 
 State for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 [l. s.] Havashi, 
 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten- 
 tiary of his Majesty the Emperor of Japan at 
 the Court of St. James. 
 
 SPECIMEN OF THE REGULATIONS CONCERNING 
 
 FOREIGN JOINT STOCK COMPANIES 
 
 OPERATING IN RUSSIA 
 
 Conditions on which the English Joint Stock Company, under 
 the name of "The South Russian Oil Company, Limited," is 
 permitted to carry on its operations in Russia: 
 
 I. The English Joint Stock Company, under the name of " The 
 South Russian Oil Company, Limited," begins its operations in 
 Russia by working the lot of oil-bearing land acquired by the said 
 
 483
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 company from N. W. Schmelling, situated in the Kizlar district 
 of the Terek Territory and occupying an area of 30 dessyatinas, 
 1 26 1 square sagenes (84 acres). 
 
 2. The Company is subject to the laws and regulations in force 
 in Russia and bearing upon the object of the Company's opera- 
 tions, and it is likewise subject to the regulations laid down in the 
 Law of the Imperial Tax on Industry and Trade {Gazette of Laws, 
 1898, No. 76, art. 964), as well as any laws and regulations that 
 may hereafter be passed. 
 
 3. The acquisition by the Company of any real estate in Russia, 
 either by purchase or hire, is to be made in accordance with the 
 general laws in force in the empire, and with the Imperial decree 
 of March 14, 1887 (see p. 515), in particular. Moreover, real 
 estate may be acquired solely for the requirements of the under- 
 taking, after the local authorities of the province (or territory) 
 have certified that the acquisition of such property is really 
 necessary. 
 
 The acquisition by the Company, on any terms whatever, of 
 oil-bearing land in the Caucasus, over and above that acquired 
 by the Company under article i, as well as any prospecting or 
 obtaining of lots for working oil in the above-mentioned territory, 
 is permitted only on condition of observing the regulations con- 
 tained in note i, article 547, and note 2, article 544, volume vii. 
 of the Mining Code, edition of 1895 (see p. 514). 
 
 4. The real estate and movable property of the Company within 
 the limits of the [Russian] empire, as well as all sums due to the 
 Company, are to be used primarily to m.eet the claims rising out 
 of the operations of the Company in Russia. 
 
 5. A special responsible agency is to be established in Russia 
 for the management of the Company's business. This agency is 
 to be fully empowered (a) to carry on all the general operations of 
 the Company, including the right and duty of being defendant in 
 any lawsuit that may arise in Russia in connection with the 
 Company; and (b) in particular, to decide immediately and in- 
 dependently, in the name of the Company, all cases when claims 
 against the Company are brought either by the Russian govern- 
 ment or by private persons, whether the latter be unconnected 
 with the Company, or in its service, operatives included. The 
 Company is obliged to give notice of the address of this agency 
 to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Agriculture and State 
 Domains, the civil governor of the Caucasus, and the provincial 
 (or territorial) authorities of the place where the real estate of the 
 Company is situated; moreover, the Company must advertise the 
 address, for general information, in the "official magazines," the 
 Gazette of Finance, Industry, and Commerce, in the official ga- 
 
 484
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 zettes of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and in the local provincial 
 gazette, with the observance of existing regulations in reference 
 to such advertisements. 
 
 All the book-keeping of the Company in connection with its 
 operations in Russia is to be centred in the above-mentioned 
 ag'ency. 
 
 6. In the appointment of managers of oil-fields and managers 
 of the Company's affairs, the Company is obliged to follow the 
 regulations laid down in article 547 (note i) and supplement to 
 article 544 (note 2) of volume vii. of the Mining Code, edition of 
 1895 (see p. 514). 
 
 7. Under articles 102-104, 107 and no of the Imperial Tax on 
 Industry Law (Gazette of Laws, i8g8, No. 76, article 964), the 
 responsible agents of the Company are obliged (a) within two 
 months after the confirmation of the Annual Report by the general 
 meeting, to file two copies at the Ministry of Finance (Depart- 
 ment of Manufactures and Trade), and four copies at the local 
 office of the Exchequer in the province where the agency has its 
 offices — of the full reports and balance-sheets, both of the Com- 
 pany's operations in general and of its operations in Russia in 
 particular, and likewise a copy of the protocol of the confirmation 
 of the reports; (b) to publish in the Gazette of Finance the 
 closing balance-sheet and summary of the annual return of the 
 Company, showing in the summary of the operations carried on 
 in Russia the amount of foundation capital for such operations, 
 the reserve, etc., the profit and loss account for the last financial 
 year, and the amount of net profit on the aforesaid operations; 
 (c) to give the local office of the Exchequer or its manager any 
 supplementary information that may be required and any ex- 
 planations that may be necessary for the auditing of the returns, 
 being responsible for non-observance of the requirements of this 
 (7) article under articles 104 and 164 of the Imperial Industrial 
 Tax Law; and (d) in the cases mentioned in article no of the 
 aforesaid law, to submit to the demands of the local Exchequer 
 office in regard to the examination and verification, with the 
 object of ascertaining the net profit, of books and documents, 
 as well as the premises of the Company. 
 
 8. The time and place of the general meetings are to be an- 
 nounced in the publications mentioned in article 5 at least a month 
 before the date of the meeting, and such announcements are to 
 contain an explanation of the subjects to be discussed, and the 
 name and address of the bank in Russia where the shares of the 
 Company must be presented in order to obtain the right of taking 
 part in the general meeting. 
 
 9. Any disputes that may arise between the Company and 
 
 485
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 government institutions or private persons, in regard to the 
 operations of the company in the empire, are to be settled ac- 
 cording to the laws in force in Russia by a Russian court of 
 law. 
 
 10. The operations of the Company in Russia are exclusively 
 restricted to the objects mentioned in article i of these con- 
 ditions, and for the amalgamation or union with other similar 
 companies or undertakings, as well as for any alteration or 
 stipplementing of the statutes (in particular, the increase or de- 
 crease of capital and the issue of debentures), the company is 
 first obliged to obtain the sanction of the Ministry of Finance, of 
 Agriculture and State Domains in Russia; in case of liquidation 
 the company must inform the same ministries. 
 
 11. In regard to the cessation of its operations in Russia, the 
 company is obliged to submit to the laws and government reg- 
 ulations now in force or which may hereafter be enacted. 
 
 THE END
 
 UC SOUTHERN Rgjg^^^^^ 
 
 '"a 001 392 871 8 
 
 ^"'^®''®'*y o^ California 
 
 -^nc n J"^"i' REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 . Box 951 -^Rft 
 
 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095 1388 
 
 Return this material to th^ lihr. ry from which it was jorrru.^ 
 
 
 o 1 n 1 /-v