What the Russians Suffer

IMPROVEMENT ERA

wanted all his boys to go on missions, and it was time a begin- ning was made by the oldest. So a letter was dispatched stating that Stephen would be ready within a month, or sooner if nec- essary. (To be concluded in the October number)

What the Russians Suffer By Dr. Joseph M. Tanner

To all the world the uprising in Russia came as something wholly unexpected. It was generally believed that autocracy had so fastened itself upon the life of that country that it would be impossible to produce a revolution. Revolutions are pro- duced very generally by certain well-defined causes. In this case, the revolution, although it was the outgrowth of years, was touched off by a simple process of famine. Russia had great quantities of grain and other food-stuffs stored away in the dif- ferent parts of the land. Notwithstanding this abundant sup- ply of the necessaries of life, the people were suffering for want of something to eat. What was the trouble? it may be asked. It was the trouble of hunger and maladministration. The railroads were tied up, the elevators were locked, and the bad administrators of the country were doing all that they could to hamper the move- ments of the armies at the front; and, as a matter of course, the people in the cities had to suffer. To stop the means of trans- portation of food to the soldiers meant the hunger of the civil- ians. That was the immediate cause of Russia's revolution. When once it was started, the unexpected again happened. The soldiers went over to the revolutionists. The soldiers had long felt that there was treachery in high places in Russia. The emperor had appointed men who could not be trusted, whose sympathies were German. When Sturmer became their prime minister, people naturally wondered why a man with a German name should be appointed to that high office, but the fact is the Empress of Russia wrought so great an influence over her hus- band. Perhaps her great influence was turned in favor of the country of her birth. Sturmer did not last long, and there was placed at the head of the transportation of the country Proto- papoff, who proved himself equally treacherous to the interest of the people. When these disadvantages were met by the sol- diers who were in a position to know what disadvantage he put

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them at, and also when they realized that it meant the loss of hundreds of thousands of those who were fighting for the Allies, they turned themselves over to the interests of the revolution and thus completed what was begun, but what it was feared, because of the position they would take, could not be carried out. When once the revolution had been effected, the unex- pected again happened. A council of workmen and soldiers was called, which proved to be a dominating factor in settling the requirements of the revolutionists. They are called the Committee, whatever that may mean. But at the bottom of all Russia's troubles, there is that outstanding complaint which the people of that country have long made, and which has af- fected their lives very greatly. That is the matter of social injustice. Perhaps there is no country in the world where social inequality is greater, but if it were merely a matter of social inequality, it could be endured there as it is endured in our own land, but it is also a question of social injustice. The station in life which a man occupies in that country has so much to do with his livelihood, so much to do with everything that relates to his conveniences in the world, that he feels the distinction very keenly, and today one of the things against which the Rus- sians are revolting is the great distinction made in matters of justice, of finance. It is also a question of corruption in high circles, for the rich there are extremely rich, and the poor are degradingly poor. Russia has today perhaps the greatest econ- omic problem in the world to solve. What we are permitted to know of the revolution is such as the aristocratic classes of Russia are willing to give us. They would have us believe that — things are very different from what they are that all this is a question of carrying on the war, that the trouble will be ended as soon as the soldiers come together and decide upon a policy that shall unite the fighting forces of Russia against the com- mon foe. The people, the masses, the so-called proletariat, however, are not so much concerned even about the outcome of the war (for most of them are willing to die) as they are about the injustice under which they are living today. Remem- ber that those who are the head and front of this great revolu- tion are themselves aristocrats through their possession of wealth. They are not altogether satisfactory to the great masses, and they have to demonstrate that their hearts, their interests, are with the proletariat in that country before they shall even- tually gain the confidence of the people. The question, in Russia, therefore, is the great economic problem. This problem is one that is not only affecting Russia, but a problem that is engaging the most serious attention of the leading men in the most advanced nations of the world today.