RUSSIA 1129 



The antagonism between Russia and Finland was reaccentuated by the necessity of 

 enforcing the law of equal rights. In 1910 the Finnish Diet, after three dissolutions for 

 refusing to entertain the subject of Russian Imperial legislation, continued 

 Fi estioa to pursue a provocative policy. In 1911 the claims of Russian subjects in 

 Finland to be allowed to benefit by the aforesaid law and the absolute re- 

 fusal of the Finnish local authorities to admit its validity, or to grant any rights under it, 

 very much aggravated the bad feeling between the two peoples, and matters were made 

 still worse by the Finnish Courts not rendering any assistance to the Russian judicial 

 officers sent into Finland to prosecute the passive resisters. Finally several members of 

 the magistracy of Viborg, Abo and other Finnish towns were arrested and conveyed to 

 St. Petersburg amidst demonstrations of sympathy from their countrymen, to be tried 

 in the Russian Law Courts. In February 1912 an Imperial decree ordered the pilot 

 and lighthouse services of Finland to be placed under the Russian Ministry of Marine, 

 which further embittered Russo-Finnish relations. 



A number of publications giving the Russian side of the Finnish Question have been 

 translated into English and issued by the Russian Commission for Codifying Finnish Laws. 

 Amongst them are, The Legal position of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, 

 by Baron von der Osten-Sacken; Finland, Its Position in the Russian State, by M. Borodkin; 

 The Finnish Revolution in Preparation, by E. Feodorov, with a preface by G. Dobson; The 

 Rights of Finland according to European Scholars, by Prof. Dr. E. N. Berendts, and The 

 Finnish Question and Equal Rights, by P. Souvorov. 



The majority of the third Duma took advantage of every possible opportunity to 

 urge the necessity of extending national education. A distinct attitude of opposition 

 was assumed towards M. Schwartz, Minister of Public Instruction, who had 

 education. tne reputation of a reactionary. His successor, M. Kasso (appointed in 

 1910), was severely censured for his dismissal of a number of professors of 

 the University at Moscow for offering resistance to his measures limiting the independ- 

 ence of university autonomy. The Duma voted a broad scheme of school development 

 which was calculated to establish general elementary instruction throughout the country 

 in about ten years, but this was materially modified by the State Council, which came 

 into acute conflict with the Duma on the question of lay and clerical influence over the 

 proposed schools. The Duma refused to vote money for the latter. When the Emperor 

 last received the members, before the final dissolution of the third Duma, His Majesty 

 remarked, in his farewell speech, that he expected the Duma to vote the necessary funds 

 for the schools in question. On the last day of the session, in order to avoid a vote un- 

 complimentary to the Emperor, the majority took care to be absent when the question 

 was brought up for discussion, and failing the requisite number of members the bill 

 could not be discussed. This difficulty, however, was easily surmounted, as in the case 

 of the Council's refusal to introduce zemstvos into the six western provinces, that is to 

 say, by again bringing into operation the famous article No. 87 of the Fundamental Laws 

 and providing the necessary funds by the issue of an Imperial ukaz. 



It may be mentioned here that the money devoted to elementary education was in-- 

 creased from 23^ million to 72 million roubles in 1912. 



The work of the third Duma in connection with the budget is considered by all 



parties as most effective and praiseworthy. Such a result is largely due to the President 



of the Budget Commission, M. Alexeinko, formerly professor at the Uni- 



budget. versity of Kharkov. In five years the State revenue increased by 45,773,- 



200 (1908, 268,908,500; 1912, 397,640,000). The principal source of this 



increase is the revenue from railways, 1 which have produced more receipts for the period 



mentioned by nearly 20,000,000. It is worthy of note that whereas before 1907 



1 It may be noted that^on January 23, 1911, the Council of Ministers sanctioned the 

 formation of a Societ6 D'Etudes for surveying the route for the projected Great Indian 

 Railway, which is to join the railway systems of Russia and India. The total length of all 

 Russian railways opened for permanent traffic in January 1912 is officially given as 69,332 

 versts, or 46,221 miles. During 1911 new lines were opened for regular traffic over 957 miles 

 and for temporary traffic over 950 miles; new second tracks were laid down over 137 miles; 

 new lines were under construction for 3,967 miles and new lines were projected for i ,654 miles. 



