The Revolution in Russia 



3-15 



He has endeavored to bring the peas- 

 ants to the support of his administration 

 by hastening the distribution of land 

 which they have so long and so earnestly 

 demanded. He has appointed a commis- 

 sion to survey, appraise, and allot the 

 crown and state lands as fast as leases 

 expire or can be canceled. He has pur- 

 chased a number of large estates from 

 private proprietors who were willing to 

 sell and is trying to settle the land ques- 

 tion himself before the new douma can 

 take it out of his hands. 



He has remitted to the peasants their 

 arrears in payment for lands now occu- 

 pied and for back taxes to the amount 

 of $37,500,000. He has issued a law 

 permitting peasants to mortgage their 

 lands to obtain money for improvements, 

 for the purchase of implements, and for 

 obtaining additional land. To prevent 

 ■extortion, the transaction must be con- 

 ducted with government banks and the 

 rate of interest is fixed. 



After January i peasants may select 

 their own residences, which has never 

 been permitted before. They can live 

 where they like and move about the Em- 

 pire at pleasure. Heretofore they could 

 not leave their birthplaces without the 

 permission of the elders. He has re- 

 leased them from the communal system, 

 which was tyrannical, and has relieved 

 individuals from responsibilities for the 

 debts of the community. Peasants may 

 now enter educational institutions and 

 obtain civil employment without present- 

 ing discharge papers to show that they 

 have done military service. In other 

 words, all Russian subjects of whatever 

 rank or station, of whatever religion or 

 race, have been placed upon an equality. 



Stolypin has reduced the working day 

 of employees in government shops from 

 twelve to ten hours ; he has a commis- 

 sion engaged in drawing up a broad sys- 

 tem for universal primary education 

 which will involve an expenditure of 

 $103,000,000 annually. He has made a 

 grant of five million roubles, chargeable 

 to next year's budget, for the erection 

 of school-houses in the rural districts, 



and has issued an order to the education 

 department to increase the salaries of 

 school-teachers. 



In addition to these reforms already 

 granted, Mr Stolypin is preparing a 

 number of important measures which 

 will be laid before the douma when it 

 meets. Many of them are intended to 

 specify the rights, liberties, and privi- 

 leges granted by the Czar in the funda- 

 mental law or constitution proclaimed 

 on the loth of May last. These con- 

 cern politics, the press, public meetings, 

 and are generally liberal, but prohibit 

 personal abuse and intemperate criticism 

 of the government. There are several 

 laws in preparation for the benefit of 

 the working classes, including state in- 

 surance, the liability of employers for 

 accidents, and other measures borrowed 

 from Germany. It is proposed to in- 

 crease the revenues by an income tax on 

 the same basis as that of England, and 

 by making the importation and sale of 

 tea a government monopoly, like the 

 manufacture and sale of liquor. In case 

 a moderate and conservative douma is 

 elected Mr Stolypin will submit the 

 draft of a law bringing the ofiEcials of 

 the government within the jurisdiction 

 of the courts, which will destroy the 

 most vital prerogative of the bureau- 

 cracy. 



THE GRAND DUKES HAVE YIELDED TO THE 

 INEVITABLE 



There is no evidence that the grand 

 dukes or other reactionaries are inter- 

 fering with these reforms ; I have the 

 highest authority for saying that the 

 Empress Dowager and the Grand Duke 

 Vladimir approve them, and if the Czar 

 permits them to be carried out he may 

 recover the confidence and the loyalty 

 of his subjects. When a ruler has lost 

 his faith in his people, and a people have 

 lost faith in their ruler, the case is al- 

 most hopeless. Everybody in Russia 

 agrees that the autocracy must go ; even 

 the imperial family admit that it is out 

 of fashion and inconsistent with modern 

 civilization. However, it is perfectly 



