764 



RUSSIA, 



office, and railroad system, with those of the 

 empire and the introduction of the Russian 

 currency and abolition of the Finnish gold coin- 

 age, though not of the metallic standard. The 

 postal service of the empire was extended to 

 Finland by a ukase issued in the summer. The 

 law introducing the Russian silver currency was 

 promulgated later. On the recommendation of 

 the Minister of Finance the paper ruble was 

 also made legal tender at a rate fixed monthly in 

 accordance with the quotations of the London 

 Exchange. In regard to the separate customs 

 frontier, which a section of the Finns were will- 

 ing to see abolished for the sake of extending 

 their trade in Russia, it was decided to leave it 

 for the present as it is, lest Finnish competition 

 should ruin Russian paper mills and other in- 

 dustries. Near the close of the year the Czar 

 announced his purpose of incorporating the 

 army of the duchy as a brigade in the imperial 

 army. These measures were all preliminary to 

 the entire suppression of the national Govern- 

 ment that Finland has enjoyed by special con- 

 cessions of the Czars since 1810, and the reduc- 

 tion of the grand duchy to a province of the 

 empire on the same footing as the other prov- 

 inces. A commission was appointed to revise 

 the Constitution of Finland with the view of its 

 complete absorption. 



The Tolstoi Reforms. The project of the 

 late Minister of the Interior, miscalled reform, 

 was inaugurated by the appointment, on Feb. 

 13, 1890, of district chiefs in six governments. 

 Instead of selecting only persons of superior 

 education, as the laws as approved by the Em- 

 peror on July 24, 1889, prescribed, it was found 

 necessary to appoint temporarily men who 

 seemed fitted for the office without regard to 

 their school training. Among the 288 Nat- 

 schalniki, only 12 were of higher military rank 

 than captain and 10 of corresponding rank in 

 the civil service, while not more than 1 per cent, 

 possessed the desired university education. The 

 introduction of the new administrative system in 

 six more governments was postponed till October, 

 and the scheme was subjected to modifications 

 in the light of the experience gained, which 

 augured, on the whole, unfavorably for the suc- 

 cess of the project. 



Edicts against the Jews. The Jewish pop- 

 ulation of Russia is estimated at 5,000,000. A 

 partial census taken recently in the western and 

 southwestern provinces makes the Jews 11 -3 per 

 cent, of the whole population. The total num- 

 ber was 2,843,364, of whom 2,261,863 were found 

 in the towns. In Odessa they number 73,389, 

 constituting 35*1 per cent, of the population. 

 Since 1881 oppressive regulations and popular 

 violence, depriving them of their means of live- 

 lihood, have driven large numbers to emigrate 

 to England, the United States, and other coun- 

 tries. This movement has abated since the 

 peasant riots against the Jews that spread 

 through the southern provinces in 1882 and 

 1883. According to the laws decreed on the 

 recommendation of Gen. Ignatieff's commission 

 in May, 1882, which have not hitherto been 

 strictly enforced, Jews are permitted to reside 

 in only sixteen of the sixty-eight governments of 

 European Russia. Merchants of the first guild 

 and professional men are alone excepted from 



this restriction, though by special law of 1865 

 mechanics could obtain licenses to live tempora- 

 rily outside the pale, which comprises the west- 

 ern frontier provinces and Poland. Within the 

 pale Jews have been restricted by law to the 

 towns. They are unable to hold real estate or 

 to employ Christian labor. In 1890 the Govern- 

 ment undertook to apply the laws that had been 

 allowed to become a dead letter. By a new edict 

 all Jews in villages, with the exception of settlers 

 in Jewish agricultural colonies established before 

 1882, were compelled to take up their residence 

 in the cities. The licenses of artisans were with- 

 drawn ; also the right to carry on trade in Riga, 

 Libau, Rostoff, and other towns beyond the 

 pale. The professions and the Government serv- 

 ice were closed altogether to persons of this 

 faith. The former regulations limited the pro- 

 portion of Jewish students in the universities 

 and other institutions of learning to 5 per cent. 

 This proportion was reduced to 3 per cent., and 

 from many schools all the Jewish students were 

 driven away. The Council of State considered 

 a project for modifying and making more 

 stringent the anti-Jewish regulations in Decem- 

 ber. The zone of 50 versts from the frontier, 

 within which Jews were permitted to live, was 

 to be increased to 100 versts. The May laws 

 were extended to Poland, which was before 

 exempt from their application. Jewish lawyers 

 were prohibited from practicing except by special 

 permission of the Minister of the Interior. Em- 

 ployment as military surgeons and in any ca- 

 pacity under the Government was taken away 

 from those who had been admitted to such oc- 

 cupations, and the profession of engineering was 

 shut against Jews, who were also forbidden to 

 engage in mining operations or purchase shares 

 in mining property. It was calculated that by 

 these new and revived edicts about 2,000,000 

 persons were suddenly deprived of the means of 

 support. The right to vote for members of the 

 zemstvos or provincial councils was taken away. 

 Many hundreds of small towns were included in 

 the category of country villages, and the Jewish 

 inhabitants were driven into the principal cities. 

 The governors of many provinces by adminis- 

 trative decrees added arbitrary regulations of 

 their own and enforced the new edicts with a 

 thoroughness that nothing could mitigate but 

 bribery. One governor issued an ordinance per- 

 mitting the police to flog Jews publicly who 

 showed them or any Christians disrespect. For- 

 eign Jews were generally expelled from the 

 country, except those who became merchants of 

 the first guild. By the new law, apothecaries, 

 dentists, physicians assistants, and midwives, as 

 well as artisans, are expelled from the places 

 where they have been living outside the pale. 



University Troubles. The Russian students 

 are constantly restive under the university reg- 

 ulations of 1884, which suppressed all the an- 

 cient rights of academic self-government, placed 

 the schools under the supervision of Government 

 inspectors and the students under surveillance, 

 and drove away the best of the professors. At 

 the Petroffsky Agricultural Academy, in Moscow, 

 the officials in February objected to a students' 

 entertainment at which strangers were admitted 

 and refreshments were sold for the benefit, it 

 was suspected, of political exiles. An ordinance 



