DESTITUTION AND RELIEF 43 



unfortunate conditions connected with the neces- 

 sarily defective political economy of their country, 

 with intoxication and with their religion, a curi- 

 ous blending of Paganism and Christianity. 

 Happily, their great ruler is alive to a sense of his 

 serious responsibilities; the higher classes are 

 active in support of his beneficent measures for 

 their relief, and the people of our favoured land 

 have thrown a cheery light upon the dark picture 

 that the world may see it and arise to lift up their 

 fallen brothers and sisters. 



It would seem after what I have said, as though 

 there could have been no very bright side to life in 

 Russia at the time of my sojourn there, but I 

 assure you there was and that it was my privilege 

 to see it. 



The total grant by the Russian government for 

 food and seed-grain in 1891 and up to May I, 1892, 

 amounted to over $150,000,000. This grant was 

 made of necessity in the form of a loan to the 

 peasants, it being wisely regarded as incompatible 

 with the stability of government to give away 

 money absolutely from the public exchequer. Of 

 course the repayment of the loan, depending solely 

 upon the ability of the borrowers to return it 



