10 THE SUNDAY . OREGONIAX, PORTIAXD, JANUARY 12, 190S. RUSSIA'S FIGHTTO THROW OFF YOKE Story of Imperial Dyplicity, Perfidy and Violence in . Land of Czars. FREEDOM ONLY MOCKERY Loans Necessitate Calling of Dou mas, but Every Means Is Used , to Abrogate. Constitution and Restore Autocracy. BY WILLIAM H. GALA ANI. Ah. monarchal could ye taste the mirth y mar. Not In the tolls of Glory would ye fret: The' hoarse, dull drum would sleep and Man be happy yet. Childe Harold. 1:47- It is but a very short time since the Russian autocracy astonished the.world by an exhibition of- its duplicity In foreign affairs. With its long: line of perfidy and fraud, as practiced upon the .oppressed millions constituting Russia's enormous population. ' the world at .larRe for some reason or another remained .in the dark. Things, however, have finally come to a pass where it is no longer possible for the Imperial government to conceal the dark method by which the terrorism of autocratic bayonets exercises the divine right of governing by robbery, oppression, medieval torture and mur der. - Forced to Make Grants. ' The story is briefly told. Following the late unpleasantness lit the Far East, Imperial Russia, reduced by an unbroken series of staggering dis asters to bankruptcy and ruin, ' con cluded to grant the people some forrn of representative government. From this there was no escape, as. the au tocracy found itself face, to fate with either a complete overthrdw of the "existing order" oi" a pacification of the long-suffering' people by a grant of full civil liberty. Hence dur ing the month of Augnst. 1905, while Count Wltte had his engagement with Baron Komura at Portsmouth, N.- H-, the mournful orocodile, the Czar of all the Russlas, "invoking the blessings of the Lord," but "preserving the fund amental law regarding the autocratic power," announced the concession of a luuma, or representative Assembly, for the Russian Empire. The form and phraseology of that celebrated docu ment were, however, quite characteris tic of all imperial manifestoes stripped of Its appeals to God and other glitter ing generalities. It contained little or nothing to the purpose. Vfnder such circumstances, and with an abiding faith in the general awakening, the people throughout the whole, emptre proclaimed that they would accept nothing less than a. constitution modeled after Anglo-Saxon principles of civil liberty, and with unparalleled heroism and self-sacrifice continued the programme to which there ' could have been but one result for the au tocracy. - Fears Fate of Others. Once more the Czar of all the Russlas paused the fate of tyrant kings rose be fore him like a dream: he issued another manifesto, a new fundamental law. The document was framed in unmistakable phraseology, plainly expressing and un reservedly granting "the Immutable foun dations of civil liberty." It has since be come known as the October Manifesto, having been proclaimed on October 30, 1916. It was granted by Nicholas II be cause, in his own words, "from the present disorders may arise great na tional disruption they menace the Integ rity and unity of our empire." He there fore resolved that "the supreme duty Im posed upon us by our sovereign Office requires us to efface ourself," and pro claimed it as his "inflexible will first, to extend to the population the immuta ble foundations of eivil liberty, based on the real Inviolability of person, freedom of conscience, speech, union and associa tion; second, . . . to invite the partici pation in the Douma ... or those clauses of the population now completely deprived of electoral rights, leaving the ultimate development of the principle of electoral right in general to the newly established legislative order of things; third, to establish as an unchangeable rule that no law shall, be enforceable without the approval of the State Douma, and that it shall be possible for the elected of the people to exercise real par ticipation in the supervision of the legal ity of the acts of the authorities appoint ed by us." By this remarkable document, supple mented by the "Fundamental Law," published May 7. 1906, the ancient autoc racy has come to an end,' and the new. order of things inaugurated. First Ponnia Called. The First Douma elected to carry out the provisions of the above documents was opened In the Winter Palace with much pomp and ceremony on May 10, IS!. Nicholas II, in a three-minute speech, renewed his pledges to the mem bers of the first Douma, and appealed to them, as he did In. the above documents, to unite In the effort of securing the re generation of the empire, and a regenera tion it certainly needed." Be It reniembred that the personnel of the First Russian Parliament consisted of the ablest and most Intellectual men In the land of the Czars. They proceeded at once, to transform the old and corrupt bureaticracy into a well ordered govern ment based upon the principles of human rights. These men proceeded to Investi gate the affairs of state, and to recon struct matters to accord with the new order of things. From the startling dis closures of the part played by the, gov erning patriots in massacres, assassina- tions, looting of public funds, etc., the bureaucrats became panic stricken. But they managed to enlist the cooperation of the grand 'ducal cabal, and, with its assistance, prevailed upon Nicholas II to dismiss Premier Goremykin. to dis perse tlie Douma. and to appoint Stolypin as Prime Minister. Thus the first Douma . came to an untimely end on July 22, 1906. The members of the outlawed First Douma quietly proceeded to Viborg.' Fin land, about 72 miles nory west of St. Petersburg, where, on July 23, they issued a signed statement to the people of Rus sia and urged them, in defense Of their constitutional rights, to refuse to pay taxes or send conscripts to the army un til the powers granted to parliament are restored. By some strange coincidence, on the day of the adoption of the Viborg manifesto. Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-man. at the International Parliamentary Conference, at Westminister, greeted the delegation representing Russia's outlawed first Douma "La Douma est mort. Vive la Douma!" Vrgent Need of Loan. A second Douma was soon called. Not. Indeed, because the governing cabal wanted it. but simply because the bu reaucracy was looking for a loan--a very common thing in. the land of the Czars. Though not as able a representative body as Russia's First Parliament, It shared, nevertheless, the same fate: on June. 3, 1907, ft, too, was outlawed and dispersed, and. before the loan that great object of all of the bureaucracy's desires could be accomplished. The representative members of the Second Douma, no less than their predecessors, have, however, left upon the financial world the .im pression' that the people will consider no national or foreign loan to the bureaucratic-government as binding upon them unless such loan be sanctioned -by a le gally elected representative assembly In regular session. To. -overcome this, the bureaucracy began to devise the neces sary means. ' First of all the governing plunderbund recognized the immediate necessity of preparing public opinion abroad on - the mortal sins of the representatives of the first two legislative bodies outlawed by His Majesty. Accordingly, a 17-page article was prepared, and no, doubt with the direct assistance of the governing council, under the title of "The Real Men ace to Tsardom;" and published in the May issue. of the London National Re view, 'over, the modest signature of "St. Petersburg." The writer. .or writers,; of that , celebrated contribution opens the brief for Tsardom by- expressions of .keen disappointment that "some man of strong will . . . . by sheer dint of his. person ality" "did' not - materialize upon those troublous scenes to "solve the most burn ing '.questions without t even discussing them."- . ... . : : " Would Mold Opinion. ' We are then quietly informed that It is but a "conflict between the cause of a strong monarchy and that of a parlia mentary democracy," and "a self-respecting nation would have chosen" continuity Jl B K Nicholas II. Caar of All the Russia.. posed tax levy and loan, the government has begun a systematic scheme of intimi- ! dation by prosecuting and convicting Jhe members of former Parliaments.. ..Hence it is that the leading members of the Second Douma were charged and con victed by the judicial servants of-, the bureaucracy -withtl) agitation of mutiny in the army and -rebellion among the people: (2) conspiracy .against -the "auto cratic" government by promoting ideas In favor of a democratic republic: 3) refusal to support legislation proposed by ; the government and (4) failure ' to - approve the government budget. The judges, as usual In such -cases; have-'found them guilty and sentenced every one of them to. various punishments.1 including - depri vation of all civil rights, which means that hone of them can .be elected 'to' any public position, as in law they are, under such circumstances,--regarded as common outlaws. Why Bombs Are Used. ' . Having disposed' and - forever disfran chised the members of the Second Douma, the government -at once proceeded against tho qf the First Douma. The Viborg manifesto' Issued by them on the day fol-r lowing their dispersion, is the basis for charges 'of high treason against each of them. No doubt, the judges received their Instructions long before the trial began, and these will share the same fate. as the members of the Second Douma. These with the drumhead courts-martial which are dally taking place all over the land, are the means by which the Third Douma is to be forced to do the bidding of Russia's bureaucracy." - All this is. however, but a small' frag ment of a most terrible tragedy --that Is taking place in . the land of the Czars. This is why the people of th land of Imperial duplicity have resolved on mak ing war on the organized lawlessness and brutality of the autocratic government. Deprived of they possibility -of using the repeating rifle and bayonet in regular military formation, they have concluded to resort to the hand grenade . (bomb) and dagger. For a justification of this the best of men and women of-.Russia--have pledged their lives, their fortunes and their honor. 1 with the past." : A mournful lament then follows over "the general limitation of the Monarch's prerogatives" to such an extent that "no law may be permanently entered In .the Statute Book that has not been previously- agreed to by the Douma";. no, not even so unimportant -an Item as "to. modify the electoral regula tions without the consent of the Douma." Humiliating , as ' all this is to the de fender of the old medieval despotism, it Is by far more bitter to contemplate that the "fundamental law" requires that "all taxes, duties and dues shall be first sub mitted to the two Houses of Parliament, and that it shall :be illegal to levy -any whlah have not been approved by the na tion's representatives": aye, even "a loan and the conditions under which it may be concluded" must likewise be submitted to and' approved by them! . All this leads our' contributor to the terrible realiza tion" that' "there would seem to be some withering " curse hanging over the mon archical cause that was once almost wor- ' shipped in Muscovy," else no such a thing were possible in Holy Russia as 'the weakening of the - monarchical and ' the strengthening 'of the . democratic prin ciple.". Finally, when: through with moan ing;' and groaning, whining and 'weeping, the documents establishing the new order of 'things, are proclaimed, "but an essay and that', it ought 'to be nothing more"! And yet, and yet, "if the monarchical principle is to be preserved, it must be defended, and defended stoutly," la the parting admonition that ' comes "from St. Petersburg! ' Verily, it sounds like the late AksakofTs frantic cry, "Pora Do moi!" which, translated Into plain Eng lish means. " Tis time to relapse Into old politico-ecclesiastical barbarism !' - Gives Object Lessons. Let . us ' see - now what ' has taken' place in Russia-since the clumsy effort' to pre pare ..public .opinion abroad -in favor of restoring the autocracy. A third Douma had .been hurriedly summoned, and, after disfranchising the "enemies of the exist ing order,"' the , bureaucracy, . "by actual violence . and . brutal - intimidation, secured a legislative body which In its opinion would obey orders. ' Among the 380 mem bers constituting the Third Douma; there are two . bishop's and '45; priests." a "goodly number of active . and' retired office-holders, members of the '"Black Hundreds" and. similar, '"patriotic" organizations. Among 'tliese.. however, there are 72 Octo berists, ' while. '47 members of the whole body-, served In the. First and Second Douma; these, with the few scattering Liberals,, though . considerably outnum bered by the bureaucratic representatives, have so, far successfully blocked the pro gramme Of -the' servants of - the. old-time autocracy. Indeed, such is their Influ ence that, in framing a reply to the Czar's address, the large majority . were obliged to strike out the word "Autocrat," which to - the . governing machine would have been -a "complete -. recognition . by . the Douma Itself that the Czar is still "Auto crat of all the Russlas." In fact, Kho myakoff . the president of the. Douma, boldly .announced that the Czar- Is no longer Autocrat, ' but - a constitutional monarch, that the Douma is ' the . law making power; that the two chief Items before that body were the agrarian ques tion and tlje budget. ' '. To understand the great importance of the agrarian and financial questions, as these prevail in ' Russia under the man agement of the "existing order," it Is only- necessary to remind the reader that these are the questions which have driven the mass .of Russia's population, to the general revolt resulting In ' the October manifesto: - that the First and Second Dounias were outlawed .ami dispersed be cause the members of these . two bodies have manfully labored to solve these problems 'm accordance with the. letter and spirit of the conditions that brought them together. Almost one-half of Rus sia's white papulation Is made up of peasants, and In the language of John Foster Fraser, a recent traveler, not en tirely in sympathy with the revolution ists, "no one can come away from in vestigating their lives . without tears: the only sensation at the end of it all is to feel drenched with despair. " Must'tevy Heavy Tax. The expenditures have grown to the enormous, sum of 2,515.000.000 roubles, ac cording to. the budget for 1908. Of this vast sum It. Is only possible to collect from all sources, including 636,000,000 roubles- from the government monopoly of the sales of liquor, J.318.000.000 roubles, leaving thus & deficit of 197.000,000 'roubles, which it hi proposed to raise by a loon much larger than the deficit. Be It remembered that oll'this vast'amount'has to come from a land impoverished toy, famine, pestilence and war. .'-" - . . To force the Third Douma to drop the agrarian question and to sanction the'pn- LAND VALUES QUESTIONED Complaint as to Method of Assess 'mcnt in Columbia-County. RAINiER,. Or., Jan. il (To the Editor.) I see' by a' local newspaper that eight timber owners in' Columbia County have appealed to' the Circuit Court to- have- their assessments re duced. It is also stated that all but one of them would have been cited to appear before the Board of Equaliza tion to show cause why their assess ment should not be ' Increased, but for the intervention of the. holidays; I know- nothing about these particu lar cases, but .1 do know that- some timber lands are grossly overvalued. 1 myself .have nearly -4,000,000- feet, ac cording to the cruiser's estimate, that l am anxious to sell at 25 per cent below the assessor's valuation. - -It looks as though the - powers holding forth ' at the courthouse -had. decided to - collect an undue proportion of taxes from- the timber owners, -, not only - by over valuation of timber, but by the In direct means of . - under-valuation .of other property. - And . If evidence of under-valuatlon will be of any use In the suit to be brought In the Circuit Court, plenty of- -such evidence can be found hereabouts. . - , ' i. -' 'I could call to notice several smalf properties that are assessed some for one-half value, others ane-thlrd or less, but the-, most: flagrant case tnat - has come to my notice ls".a tract of land In Rainier,, along the county road lead-" ing out by . Cowlits.street and fronting about four block's from the river, con taining 32 acres. There has recently been sold from this, tract 12 lots 50 -by 100 feet In one block, altogether 220 by 300 feet, containing about one-and-one-third acres, fo $2700. " and the OUR CL EARANGE SALE Continues to demonstrate the advisability of your supplying your year's wants in the line of Ladies' .Wearing Apparel here, and now, by of fering values that are emphatically the very best to be found in the City of Portland Best because prices are lowest. Best because qualities are dependable. Best because styles and varieties are the largest on the Coast . Coats 50 inches long, loose fitted, and ; semi-fitted, Kersey Coats; $20, $22.50 and $25 values, $10 CLEARANCE SALE EXTRA SPECIAL JACKETS In velvet, caracul, crushed velvet, broadcloth, covert, and kersey; military, fit ted and semi-fitted styles. Values or to $32.50 $12.50 See Window Display. Your unrestricted choice of any suit, costume or gown in this house marked $50 or less Monday S20 ft Skirts -. 100 Skirts to select from, in ( Panama, . voiles' and some fancy . mixtures, $25.00 and $27.50 values ' Children's Suits A few Tailored Suits for misses, in fancy mixtures, all (St A QEJ wool, $15.00 values." JV.7J Ladies' Silk Plated Hose Stainless Black Stock- $10.00 ings, reg. 75c values. .. . 0t Waists Waists in net, silk, linen, wool . and lingerie, values up to $11.75 Golf Gloves $2.95 Regular 65c values 25c WHOLESALE AND RETAIL J.M.AC HESON CO. FIFTH AND ALDER STS. whole 32 acres are assessed at $600. r To further illustrate our able asses sor's method of "whipping . the. devlf around a stump," I call attention to a property located on the "river, about two mile above Rainier. There are 110 acres of '. timber bonsrht by the owner ' about Ave years agro - for' $800, also 215 acres mostly roug"ht land (no timber), '.for which he paid 3850 14 years ago.- --According to the cruiser, there are- 4,000,000 feet of timber on the 110 acres first mentioned.' which at $2- per" thousand Xthe assessor's valu ation on the adjoining quarter section) would be $8000, leaving $800 to apply on the 215 acres bought for $3850 14 years ago. And to show its enhanced value. 1 will say that the owner has recently contracted to Bell a narrow strip 2600 feet along the river for a greater price than the 215 acree or iginally cost. That is the kfnd of a "square deal' the timber owners are getting In Co lumbia County. JOHN BACKUS. Perfect fitting glasses $1 atMctzger's. BIG EAS Little Rents Make Small Profits SIDE The New TOR Our conception of real value -is something mora than quality, some thing more than price, something more than selection. It is the three In common an excellent scope for selection, .from a stock of highest grade modern furniture at a price in keeping with our small rentals " and comparatively, small . expense. To the better furnishing -of the East Side we devote our most con stant endeavors and our every en ergy- i We've devel Loped a wonder- ful system of better value-giving a remarkably clear ' solution of "Why It's Worth While" trading 'at this' fast growing store. Corner Union Avenue and East Burnside Street EXTRA SPECIALS FOR THE THREE DAYS-MONDAY, TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY SAVINGS THAT MEAN MUCH TO SHREWD PATRONS Metal Beds in Three Colors, Blue, Green and White, Worth $7.50, at $4.85 ' Cross the river and pay $10 ' for the same beds and even' then, -they're well worth the; rnqney. ' They come in the very neatest . sort of brass; trim's,' The" beds are of ex tra' strong tubing, and pre sent 'the attractive appear ance of, much higher-priced beds. - Kor three days, a spe cial that -will bring hosts of; it!!??!'.. $4.85 Ask- to be shown; our. complete and excellent showing of '"" Brass Beds- priced inost reasonably.; ' Note: Mission Parlor Stands in Two Styles $3.15 and $2.85 These came with the latest shipments to the new store. Our manager thought them excellent for sale leaders at $5 j . .and $4. They are in the weathered oak finish strong and . serviceable. No. 464 Stand with the oval top; worth $7.00 marked for a special $3.00, and now offered 5 No. 461 Same stand, only the square top; worth .f6.00-rinarked for a spe- 'S.$fd.:.u.$2.83 ffm Two Very Exceptional Din ::: tag; Table specials at $14.75 and $16.95 V A right worthy Dining Table Sale . never fails to be popular.' . We've . chosen the two best numbers from a selling standpoint two tables that meet the great demand for an extra good table at a mod erate price. Y , ' . . ' No. 631-6-77-Extension Dining Table, in', ex cellent quartered finish, fine grain and pol .ish; oar price $25 worth tfjl ? QC anywhere, else $35 now. ; . . P O.SiJ No. 493-6-r-Extension Table in. the weath ered r oak . finish ; our price $20.00 any where else $25.00 $14 75 One of Our Most Popular : Combina tion Bookcases. Regular ; . $20 at $14.90 ' There '8 a complete and systematic air about the library that includes a combination desk anoV case. They are convenient to a degree ' of ; excellence. ; The one here presented comes in an extra fine mahogany finish, with every modern equipment, plate mirror, etc. West Side stores would ask and receive $27.50 for a case the equal of this. - Combination Case and Writing Desk h Qf No. 247 our reg. $20 value ; now . . . . ' W Men's Suits, Top Coats, Cravenettes and , Over coats, worth to $22.50 ; . the choice 1 . . . ... $12.65 . . . ... I. ' $2.50 Solid Oak Umbrella Racks. . . . . . . . , .... No. 344 Oak Parlor Rocker, regular $5.00 value. No.. 203 Regular $8.00 Hall or. Parlor Chair. ... Regular $6.00 Weathered Oak Hall Chairs... . .:. . .$1.25 .$3.35 .$5.15 .$2.90 Take a trial run on our great "Special" Sewing - Machine . ..$25.00 Pavments of 50c a week.