ASIATIC POSSESSIONS
For many years the people of the United States thought well of Russia.
In a critical hour Russia sent her fleet over, and certainly placed the
American people under no small obligation, as the American historians
and writers of the Civil War period concede. In 1893, during the
World’s Fair at Chicago, Russia still was one of our most favored
nations. This state of affairs did not exactly please England. She
could not forgive Russia’s aggressive policy in Central and Asia Minor
and connived against her at every turn. It is no credit to that great
nation that through her intrigues in Afghanistan the Emir not only
turned out all Russian business men, but actually executed the natives
in Bokhara who traded with them. When in the early nineties the Russian
Ambassador at Kabul committed suicide, because he was continually
harassed by hired assassins who were spending English money, Russia
gave up the struggle.
Up to about ten years ago the English press never lost an opportunity
to abuse her enemy, and as English sentiment is naturally reflected in
our press, the American people gradually began to think less of Russia.
But since the English people have come to understand Russia better,
they have indeed regretted their former attitude. Public sentiment has
changed in England since she has learned that it is to her advantage
to work together with Russia (the same holds true of Russia), lest
some day Kaiser Wilhelm’s prophecy, made some twenty years ago, come
true, and the Asiatics, now ruled more or less through bluff by England
and Russia, wake up and drive the intruders into the Atlantic Ocean,
unless, as a saucy Mongol remarked to me, “the Christians in time will
embrace the Mohammedan faith and amalgamate with us.”
The United States have an all-powerful class of citizens of Semitic
origin who felt they were justified in weaning our people away from
Russia, and, controlling as they do a large portion of the press
of the United States, they took advantage of the events of the
Japanese-Russian war to turn public sentiment in this country against
the Russians. This same class showed its strength and hostility
when our treaty with Russia was abrogated, and caused some of our
Congressmen to make speeches which were anything but justified, and
nearly brought about a rupture with that country.
[Illustration: TWO AFGHAN SOLDIERS
Deserters taken at Kosan, Bokhara. They made me pay them $6 for singing
one Afghan song, “Sultan Djan”]
[Illustration: TREACHEROUS DAGHAS OF AFGHANISTAN
Photographed at Kerki on the border of Afghanistan]
That we have not entirely sacrificed our Russian trade, amounting to
millions annually, is entirely due to such able representatives as
Mr. Guild, of Boston, whom we had in St. Petersburg, and who had to
deal individually with every single proposition. The able _chargé
d’affaires_, Mr. Wilson, who is still in St. Petersburg, has also
proven himself the right man for the difficult task. Such a state of
affairs puts us in a ridiculous position, considering the fact that
Russia is the buyer of our products, and that, with the exception
of cotton, she can do very nicely without any of our goods. Where
in 1911 we sold her the value of $83,000,000, Russia sold us less
than $7,000,000 worth of goods. It is not my intention to criticise
those Americans who feel that Russia is dealing unfairly with their
co-religionists, but it does seem that it should be apparent by this
time that we cannot force Russia to run her country to suit us. In the
eyes of the leading German, French and English newspapers at the time
of the abrogation of the treaty, our government certainly deserved the
severe criticism it received. During the Japanese-Russian war, the fact
that we lent our moral support to Japan, and made it possible for that
country to place its bonds over here, and thus pursue the war (to-day
she is our dreaded rival), left a sore that we will find no easy task
to heal.
The present situation seemed to me to have been well summed up by a
business man of Tashkent, who said, “Once the time comes when we are
not only able to do without your cotton, but can compete with you in
the markets of the world, then your people will not be so anxious
to abrogate treaties with us or seek to meddle with the internal
administration of our country.” After discussing the matter with people
of all classes in nearly every section of European and Asiatic Russia,
I have come to the conclusion that we will sacrifice millions annually
in trade unless we try in every tactful way possible to improve our
relations with Russia.
[Illustration: AUTHOR’S FATHER MR. CHRISTIAN YOUNG, SR.
Photographed on Dr. Young’s ranch near El Paso, Texas.]
[Illustration: CARETAKER OF DR. YOUNG’S KARAKUL SHEEP]
The Tzar rules over one-seventh of the world, and it is his Asiatic
possessions that have made up his enormous empire. For lack of time,
much cannot be said about the conquering of vast Siberia, but a vital
point to us is that the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway through
the entire length of Asia has opened up a country fabulously rich in
resources. What the chernoziem of central and southern Russia used
to be to the world from the standpoint of wheat-raising, Siberia is
becoming now, as immense tracts of wheat land are being opened up. What
happened in Dakota and in Nebraska twenty years ago, from the point of
view of colonization and general development, is taking place to-day
in Siberia, no longer a country isolated from everything and used for
penal settlers only, but a country as fit for habitation as any of our
northwestern States, where one finds the latest agricultural machinery
and people up-to-date in every respect. Just as settlers in the West
have progressed more rapidly than those of the East, so have the
Russians who settle in Siberia left their less fortunate brethren in
European Russia far behind.
Siberia is the coming country of Russia, and if we use any judgment,
we can develop a market for our goods that will bring us millions
annually. But another blunder such as the abrogation of the treaty, and
we will have lost forever our chances of doing business with Russia,
and Germany, by rattling her saber, will get it all.
The section of Asia that will interest us the most is Turkestan,
Central Asia, as it is from here that the beautiful Persian lamb and
Astrakhan furs are imported. The country known as West Turkestan, where
immense areas of cotton are now planted, lies immediately west of
Chinese Turkestan, is bounded on the west by the Caspian Sea, on the
south by Persia, and by Afghanistan and Chinese Turkestan on the east.
On the north it graduates into the plains of Siberia. This country is
one-fourth the size of all Europe. The longitude is the same as that
of South France, Italy and the Balkan Peninsula, but the climate is
different from that of those countries. Owing to the distances from
large bodies of water, the summers are extremely hot and the winters
intensely cold.
[Illustration: GURI-MIR, MAUSOLEUM OF TIMUR
The murderous Tartar conqueror, in the city of Old Samarkand]
Turkestan can be divided into two parts, the low northwestern part,
which comprises two-thirds of the area, and the southeastern
section, which is mountainous and takes up one-third of the desert.
Occasionally one finds large hollows below the level of the ocean, such
as the Sari Kamish, ten thousand square miles in area, and one hundred
and thirty-five feet below the sea level. Between Merv and Khiva is a
hollow with an area of eighteen thousand square miles, two hundred and
thirty feet below the level of the Caspian Sea. In the lower portion of
Turkestan are some of the worst deserts in the world, such as the Kara
Kum, Kizil Kum, Minunistrum, Sari Tishk, Otran and the Hunger steppe.
For thousands of years the storms have blown a fine white sand from the
exposed mountains, and together with that carried down by the rivers,
enormous piles of sand are formed in these awful deserts, considered by
some to be worse than the Sahara.
When traveling on the Transcaspian Railroad from Krasnovodsk east
toward Bokhara and Samarkand, one beholds for miles and miles in every
direction nothing but the shifting sands, in dunes and hillocks,
very much like the choppy waves of the Black Sea. Wave on wave of
sand drifts back and forth. Sometimes the wind will sift a mound
against the Sacksaul, the only plant of the desert. It resembles the
mesquite bushes of Texas, excepting that it has no thorns and furnishes
nourishment for camels and for fatrump and Karakul sheep.
Just as in the Dakotas and in north Russia the railroad tracks are
protected by high snow fences, so here we find dry bushes arranged for
miles in fencelike fashion. In spite of this precaution, traffic is at
times tied up for weeks, and the people at stations, dependent upon the
trains for their water supply, are left to perish. Where water reaches
the clayey soil from the Zaravshan, Sir Daria or Amu Daria rivers, such
crops as cotton, corn, alfalfa, wheat, barley, and fruit such as pears,
peaches, apricots and plums, will grow. The Bokhara melon is much more
delicious than our Rockeford canteloupe and keeps through the entire
year. In Turkestan too, are the Pamirs, which constitute the so-called
roof of the world, where the average elevation is 14,000 to 16,000
feet. In these mountains are wonderful glaciers, higher than those of
the Alps, and one there is thirty miles in length. There are absolutely
no trees in the Pamirs, excepting in the Aktsh Valley, near the fort
of Shah-Djan, where the brother of the Chief of Andijan, Mr. Bjezitsky,
was stationed for three years. He boasts of having planted three trees,
the only trees in the Pamirs. Mr. Bjezitsky is the only Russian who
has traveled through the entire Pamirs. He has gone as far south as
Djilala, the most northern railway station in India, near the River
Indus.
[Illustration: KARAKUL EWE AND LAMB
Note beautiful tight black curls of lamb at birth. After maturity,
curls open and the black pigment oxidizes into gray]
The principal rivers in Transcaspia are the Murgab and Tedjent, and
they furnish considerable water for irrigation purposes. The very
ancient kingdoms of Sodigian, Baktria, and Khorezm occupied the rather
unprotected sections of Central Asia, and were entirely dependent
upon a few rivers for their existence. It was but necessary for a
hostile people to interfere with these rivers, and immediate submission
followed. It was in this way that Assyria and Babylonia imposed their
rule over the people of southwest Turkestan. Persia then occupied this
country until the conquest by Alexander of Macedonia, and it is an
easy matter now to collect coins here made at the time the Greeks held
that country. When the Greeks lost their power, all of Central Asia
came under the control of China, and Jian Kian, who one hundred and
twenty-six years before Christ, traveled through Khiva, speaks of the
grapes, rice, wheat and fruit which grew where the land was watered,
and of the vast amount of territory under irrigation. The Chinese began
first to trade with Central Asia, then went west as far as Rome, and
eventually they made the Aryans of South Turkestan their dependents.
In going from the railway station of Bairam Ali to Merv in Transcaspia,
one sees about forty square miles of ruins of the old city of Merv,
built by Shachrock, son of Timur, in 1409, after the awful Mongolian
invasion. To-day the Russian Emperor irrigates at his own expense an
immense area of land at this place, and is having modern methods of
agriculture taught to the natives. From time immemorial the Aryan
population of Turkestan was subjected to forced hybridization with the
Turkish-Mongolians, and has resulted in a people called the Sarts, who
occupy Central Turkestan. In the same way were formed the Taranchi,
who occupy Chinese and Eastern Turkestan. In the mountains of the
districts of Samarkand and Fergana are still found remnants of the old
Aryan race.
[Illustration: THE FAMOUS “ARBA” OF WEST TURKESTAN
The driver always mounts the horse; the driver here is a Sart]
From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, Turkestan was invaded
by Russia, and caravans from Bokhara and Khiva came to Russia. In
1717, Peter the Great tried to get into Khiva, but every man of his
was slaughtered. Failure after failure taught the Russians where their
weakness lay. Finally Perovsky, Chrutcheiev, Tshernaev, Skobelief,
Kauffman and others conquered the country for Russia. The oldest town
in West Turkestan is Samarkand, which was founded by Persian kings four
thousand years ago. This place has had an interesting history under
the various peoples and dynasties that have ruled it. It was taken for
Russia by the celebrated Kauffman.
The Khanate of Bokhara is of great interest to Americans, as we spend
millions in that country annually. It is from there that we obtain
Persian lamb, Astrakhan and Krimmer furs, also beautiful rugs and
silks. (See Altman’s collection in New York.)
In 1912, 1913, and some five months this year, I traveled in Bokhara
in quest of Karakul sheep, and made three importations to the United
States and Canada. Up to September 1, 1914, no one else had ever
imported any of these animals. Numerous tests have been made by various
breeders and my own associates, and the Department of Agriculture,
proving that we can produce the so-called Persian lamb skins and
broadtail in America, at no small profit to the breeder, by crossing
Karakul rams to our lustrous coarse-wooled long wools, such as
Lincolns, Cotswolds, Leicesters, Black Faced Highlands, etc. But to
obtain satisfactory results only such Karakul rams as are free from
fine wool admixture must be employed, and American breeders are here
warned against the purchasing of worthless animals from unscrupulous
breeders, to whom some inferior stock has been sold by us with the
understanding that none of it must be offered for sale until properly
bred up, which they failed to do.
[Illustration: THE INHABITANTS OF KHIVA, WEST TURKESTAN, LIVE IN TENTS
RESEMBLING THOSE OF OUR INDIANS
Summer and winter, they wear fur caps about half a foot in height,
which is modest compared to the outrageously high caps of the Turcoman
and Tekintzi, which often are twice that length]
Even as recently as the reign of Alexander II it was still impossible
to penetrate into Bokhara. To cross the Caspian Sea meant certain
death, and the Russians had a proverb, “If you don’t wish to
die, don’t cross the Caspian.” In the early sixties England sent a
representative to Bokhara with a view to making a commercial treaty,
but the fanatical natives could not tolerate a non-believer among them,
and after frightful torture they killed him. This was the fate of every
European who ventured into the forbidden country, and often Russians
living on the border were attacked. After cutting women and children
into pieces and destroying everything by fire, the wild Turcomans would
return to their homes and prepare for other raids. At one time an
Italian ventured into the country of the bloodthirsty Sarts in quest of
the larva of silkworms. He was imprisoned and tortured and a frightful
death awaited him. Frantic efforts were made by the Italian Government
to liberate him, and the kind-hearted Alexander II was appealed to.
At this time several influential Uzbecks from the capital of Bokhara
were in Orenburg trading. The Russian Emperor ordered their detention.
Word was sent to the Emir that unless the Italian was released he would
order the execution of some five hundred Bokharans, including Karavan
Bashi Azis, son of one of the great favorites of the Emir. This
resulted in the liberation of the Italian.
When last in Bokhara I enjoyed the hospitality of this very same Azis,
the oldest and largest dealer in raw Persian and Astrakhan skins in
Bokhara. He is eighty years old and a millionaire. He lives in a house
that has no windows on the outside and looks like any common Mexican
adobe hut, but in the interior is a veritable oriental palace, whose
decorations are most beautiful. Only in the summer palace of the Emir
could one see the same character of decorations and rugs. I could not
help feeling that American money paid for many of these luxuries,
because the States and Canada buy the greater part of the entire output
of Karakul skins, known under the trade name of Persian lamb and
Astrakhan furs.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE SUMMER PALACE OF THE EMIR, THREE MILES
FROM THE CITY OF OLD BOKHARA
Here is shown His Majesty’s bed, and chair used by him when receiving
foreign guests. The decorations are gorgeous inside the house and
outside, and the rugs are among the costliest in the world. The
Atachadja Mirachur stated that this was the only photograph ever
permitted to be taken of the interior of the palace]
I enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. Azis and will never forget the
“ploff” on which we feasted. We were all seated on rugs, there being
no furniture of any kind. A little “taburetka,” a small, low, square
table, was placed over a hole in the floor, into which hot charcoal had
been poured. The table was then covered with a quilt. This positively
constitutes the only furniture in the reception-room of any native,
rich or poor, and while it is thus possible to warm one’s feet, the
rest of the body freezes, as the quilt seldom reaches farther than
the hips, and it certainly does get very cold at times in Bokhara.
Green tea was first served in Chinese cups, and then came the “ploff,”
consisting of mutton, raisins and rice, and served for all in one
dish. No guest ever gets a chance to leave the palace of the Kushbegi
(Minister of Interior) or any of the beks (governors) before he has
thoroughly stuffed himself with “ploff” and fruit, and he is expected
to drink from five to ten cups of green tea.
Though the inhabitants of Transcaspia, who for years were the most
dreaded of desert robbers, have become a peaceful people, they are
still closely guarded by Cossacks. But civilization does not seem to
have affected them in the least in other ways, and they live in their
iurtas (felt tents) and mud houses just like the wildest tribes of the
North American Indians. They are ideal horsemen, and the Tekin horse is
said by some to surpass even Arabian breeds.
The Turcoman women do not always cover their faces as do the Sart,
Tadjick, Uzbeck, and Jewish women. When girls are seven to eight years
old, they have already been sold for wives, and, provided they are
paid for, are delivered by the parents or nearest male relative when
twelve to fifteen years old. If only partially paid for, the girl may
live a while with her betrothed, but must again return home until the
balance is paid. The price now paid for a wife is fixed by the Russian
Government at twenty-five hundred rubles, although secretly much higher
prices sometimes obtain.
There is less polygamy in Turkestan now than in former days. This is no
doubt due to the influence of Russians and others who trade among the
natives, and never miss an opportunity to tell them of the financial
advantages of monogamy.
Old Bokhara City and Old Samarkand are indescribably filthy. The water
holes, known as “gowsy,” are never cleaned, and it seems incredible
that a people who perform their daily gluteal ablutions (a religious
rite practiced by every Bokharan, from the Emir down to the shepherd
in the desert) in these mud holes would also drink out of them! But
they do, and as a result about thirty per cent. of them suffer
from the dread disease known as “reshta.” Infection due to filth
causes the death of many. Is it any wonder that cholera, plague, fatal
dysenteries, and the dread “pendinka” are always prevalent?
[Illustration: A TEKIN WEDDING
Transcaspia, West Turkestan]
A European must not touch a morsel of food that has not been boiled
for at least fifteen minutes. In spite of the greatest care, in some
districts few Europeans escape “pendinka,” which causes wounds to
appear all over the body that cannot be healed up with any known
medicine. They leave frightful scars; but fortunately after nine months
this awful disease cures itself, usually leaving no bad effects, though
it sometimes predisposes one to rheumatism, as can be testified to by
my own experience.
In her treaty with Bokhara, Russia agreed not to interfere with the
Emir in the internal management of affairs, but it seems that His
Highness is unable to bring about any reforms whatsoever, and for that
reason has refused to reside in Old Bokhara City, preferring to live
on his estate, about one hundred miles east of the capital. Only a few
years ago, when the old Emir still lived, criminals were hurled from
the tower minaret, which is about three hundred feet high; others
were chopped to pieces on the square in front of the palace, while the
public looked on, apparently enjoying the awful sight. Still others
were thrown into a noisome stink hole and there left to die. This hole
has never been cleaned and proves the method of punishment most feared
by the natives.
It has taken the Russian Government and the Emir several years to do
away with some of these awful penalties, but as the Russian Ambassador
stated, to bring about other reforms now would mean a bloody war, so
by educating the children of the better Sarts in the Russian schools,
which have been established in the principal towns, it is hoped that in
time the natives may learn to live like human beings.
Russia’s problems with her fifty millions of Asiatic polygamists are of
a most serious nature, and she must take every precaution to prevent
the Mongol from asserting himself again and ruling the white race, as
he has done before. We may thank God that we have no race problems to
solve quite as serious as Russia’s.
A Russian prince said to me, “Admit our Asiatics and we will admit all
Jews.”
I do not think we want to trade with Russia.
[Illustration: THE MINARET, THE TOWER OF DEATH, IN OLD BOKHARA CITY
Only a few years ago, a woman found guilty of prostitution was put into
a sack and hurled head downward on the Registan Square]
NOTE
The last pages of this book were written on the northern border of
Afghanistan, and when I parted with the camels in Old Bokhara City, I
was already apprised of the possibility of trouble between Russia and
Austria. I was not in the least disturbed, but scarcely had I reached
my birthplace, one of the German colonies in Bessarabia, when certain
events occurred which made war a stern reality. I left Libau three
days before the town was bombarded by the Germans, and en route to
St. Petersburg came face to face with mobilization. I witnessed the
mob which broke up the German Embassy, and saw numerous processions
of many nationalities, and it became evident that the Russian people
were together in this war. I saw a demonstration by the Hebrews, who
carried a picture of the Emperor through the streets, and numerous
flags and emblems placarded “Down with the Kaiser,” and I learned
subsequently that a handful of Jews in St. Petersburg raised in two
days one hundred and forty thousand rubles for the war fund. The
leading Russian newspapers stated that all over Russia the Hebrews
were collecting money and offering their services to the government. I
prophesy that after the termination of this terrible war, whether it
ends satisfactorily to the Russians or not, the Jews will win by their
loyalty what they most covet--namely, the right to live in any section
of the empire, a right to which they were entitled long ago. That the
demands of the Polish and Finnish people will be satisfied in every
respect is a foregone conclusion.
The great demoralizing effect which vodka has produced among the
peasants has already been removed by the Emperor, and I am sure laws
will be passed which will make it extremely difficult for the peasants
to obtain this life-wrecking poison, responsible for ninety per cent.
of all of Russia’s ailments. Until the early fall of 1914, Russians
were perishing with drink. Drink was the real obstacle to progress,
and more than anything else retarded the manifestations of the many
talents of this gifted nation. Yet lo and behold! when people saw
that the exigencies of the present war were demanding the utmost
self-possession, the coolest brain and the clearest eye, there came
a word from the Imperial Throne, half stern command, half earnest
supplication: Stop drinking, close the drinking shops, devote sober
heads and calm hearts to your country! And drink was stopped. Saloons
and houses trading in vodka were closed. People obeyed because they
believed the Emperor was right.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO OLD FORT OF OLD PALACE
It was here I was received by His Highness the Kushbegi, Vice Emir of
Bokhara in 1912, 1913 and 1914]
The Anglican Bishop of London said in a recent address that what
especially won his heart to the Russian people (“Our Eastern ally”) was
exactly this wonderful, tremendous, self-sacrifice involving an annual
revenue to the state of ninety-three millions sterling, let alone the
sacrifice of personal habits, which at first, at least to many people,
meant sickness and in few cases even death, and the loss of their
habitual though factitious psychic equilibrium. The eminent British
ecclesiastic added: “When we in England hear of our public houses
(saloons) being crowded sometimes even in the early mornings now, I
hope that we shall follow the example of our Russian ally.”
The following despatches on this subject are most interesting:
LONDON, January 25, 1915.--A despatch from Petrograd says that
Kharitonoff, Secretary of the Russian Treasury, speaking before the
Douma Budget Committee to-day, declared that, owing to the great
increase in the national savings due to prohibition, the extraordinary
outlay occasioned by the war has as yet caused no great suffering in
Russia.
As proof of this, Kharitonoff said the national savings in December,
1913, which had amounted to 700,000 rubles, had increased to
29,100,000 rubles in December, 1914. He added that the total savings
for 1913 amounted to 34,000,000, as compared with 84,000,000 rubles
for 1914.
About vodka, a Petrograd despatch says:
With war and without vodka, Russia is more prosperous than with vodka
and without the war.
That the Tzar and all the people are together to-day as they have never
been before in the history of the empire is a well-known fact. What is
especially gratifying is the knowledge that this war will break the
backs of the last remaining bureaucrats, who owe their existence to the
old, haughty, aristocratic German barons of the Baltic provinces, who
have always been under the influence of Berlin.
The teaching of the Russian language in all of the public schools has
been made compulsory. This is a measure which I had been advocating
for years, but which had always been met with opposition on the part
of my friends, who told me that the Americans must have queer ideas of
liberty when they forced the English language upon all their people
regardless of nationality. All arguments to the effect that one
language and one system of teaching in all public schools in the entire
land meant the creation of a homogeneous unit and the obliteration
of the spirit of nationality--often a block to the concerted action
of a people--were met with ridicule and derision. In view of all
nationalities seeming only too eager to support Russia to-day in her
terrible war, and seeming ready to sacrifice the last drop of blood
for their country, one might be led to believe that the opposition
with which I met whenever in the past I discussed the necessity of
Russification of all the empire’s people along the same lines as
practiced by us in this country, was justified. Yet prior to the war
I was confronted with a picture of the various conflicting elements
of Russia’s vast domain expending most of their time and efforts to
exterminate each other, due mostly to strong feeling entertained
by certain nationalities. Every one knows of the great animosity
which exists between the Russians and the Jews, the Tartars and the
Armenians, the Poles and the Russians, the Sarts and the Persians, the
Uzbecks and the Tadjicks, the Osetins and the Liazgins, and known, too,
is the attitude of the Teutons of the Russian Empire, who hold their
heads high above every other nationality, to give the impression that
they are conferring a favor on all the others by condescending to live
among them, and who are ever anxious to impose their language and their
iron discipline on all of them, feeling that because they educated the
Russians along practically every line imaginable, that that entitled
them to be the only rulers of the land.
[Illustration: KHIRGIZ WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN WEST TURKESTAN
They are the only Mohammedans who never did veil. Like the Mongolians,
and their relatives the Burats, Kalmicks and Jakutsi, they were
originally Buddhists]
The Douma should discountenance every proposed unreasonable restrictive
measure resulting from the war against those Germans who have been
Russian citizens for a long time. In this way they will avoid adding to
Russia’s already full measure of race problems. I fear that the very
recent compulsory introduction of the Russian language into all German
schools and throughout the empire has been more the result of revenge
upon the millions of Germans living in Russia than the desire to
Russianize the hundreds of different nationalities of the empire, but
no matter what the motive may have been, I predict that in this case
the end will justify the means. With one national ideal, united on all
national problems--as she is to-day on the one great question of the
war--and ever ready to make sacrifices for a still greater Russia,
upholding the motto, “One People, One Country and One Flag,” Russia
would become invincible.
Those of Russia’s great men who are doing the thinking for the empire
should remember that in order to accomplish what we have in this
country--namely, the practical obliteration of all nationalities and
subsequent general amalgamation, they must ever bear before them the
fact that there should be equal privileges for all and special favors
for none. While we in the States have not been entirely successful
in carrying out this maxim, the bulk of our people and many of our
greatest reformers are working earnestly in that direction.
The great moment has arrived for Russia. All caste distinction
and special privileges to the nobility should be eliminated and
every nationality put on an equal footing. All people born in
Russia, regardless of their nationality, should be honored with the
political term “Russians” in the same sense as we in America use
the term “Americans,” and religion should not be the only means of
classification, for every sane man knows that no child is responsible
for a religion which the Russian Government, as has been the case until
recently, and Russian parents force upon it. I have never contented
myself with the fact that because I am of Teutonic origin and because
my parents determined upon my being a Stundist, that I had not the
right to consider myself a full-fledged Russian until I saw fit to
accept the anointment imposed by the Russian Church, at my request, I
must admit, or that because of my German origin I could not consider
myself an American when the Constitution of the United States granted
me that right.
Every fair-minded Russian must acknowledge that it is an injustice to
say that only those of Slavic origin or those having become members of
the Greek Orthodox Church are true Russians. Have few people not of
Slavic origin and not members of the Greek Orthodox Church helped to
make Russia the great empire she is?
[Illustration: HIGH-CLASS, VEILED, SART WOMAN
In Old Tashkent, the capital of Sir Daria Province, West Turkestan,
Central Asia, where the Russian Governor General of Turkestan resides.
The architecture of the house and the introduction of windows indicate
the dawn of civilization]
Most Russians resent the idea of Hebrews born in Russia calling
themselves Russians--which, biologically speaking, they are not--yet if
they are born in Russia and are Russian citizens, I cannot see why they
may not apply to themselves the political term “Russians.”
The peasantry should be compelled to remain sober forever, and the
necessary protective laws made for the peasants who desire to sell
their land, and if the most stringent laws governing the rate of
interest are enforced, the laws now on the statutes affecting Hebrews
could be repealed, and the same rights granted to them as are accorded
to all other nationalities without doing the peasants the slightest
injustice.
That the nationalization of all those Russians who are styled
foreigners by the true Slavic Russians is most imperative, I am firmly
convinced.
I think the Emperor voiced the proper sentiment in this matter when, in
appealing to all his people after the declaration of war, he stated,
“Let us forget all internal dissension, and let us all be Russians.”
Transcriber's Notes:
Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Perceived typographical errors have been changed.