MEDF01W MATL TRTRTTNTT, i MTTDlTORfl, ORECi ON', ' TTI UR ftT A Y; ' frKPf KMBTCR 2(V 1917
vxav, three
SLAV iVIOUJIKS
BRAINS
SAYS
RUSSELL
Russiarj
Peasants Described Inti
mate Lives of Muscovitee Masses
Influence of Long Sub-Arctic
flights How They Learn Prohib
Ited Political Facts Secretly.
This is nnothcr of the series of ar
ticles by Charles Kdwnrd Russell,
who has just returned from Russia,
where ho spent three months as u
iii"inlicr of the official United States
commission to the now Russian gov
eminent. (By Chariot Edward KursoU.)
(Copyright 1917 by the Newspaper En
terprise Association.)
The peasant is the baekbono of
liussin also the amis, hands, heart
and a lot of the brain.
Wo think of him as a queer erca-
Tfrure with tousled hair growing low
over his eyes, a thick tangled jungle
of a beard ,a blouse with a belt
around it high boots nnd an air of
foolish, doddering good nature. We
think of him this way, if at all, lic
oauso this is the way he always bns
been pictured for us and we stick to
tradition, every time.
Also, we think ho is very ignorant.
Why notf There are no schools in
Russia, you know, and the whole
population is illiterate. It is a very
barbarous country. A few persons of
the better order arc nice, but the
moujik, or peasant, is the human
limit, lie used to be drunk all the
time. Perhaps now that vodka is
abolished, or said to be abolished, he
lias'nis sober intervals, but nil the
travelers nnd nil the writers agree
that the moujik is the human limit
and what is the use of having liter
ature if it gives us always the wrong
' steer?
Piii.iuiits Can Read.
If this notion about the peasant,
winch is still held by many of us
that ought to know better, were cor
:. root, you could say good night to
Russia. It would be all off there and
. jpthc correspondents that belong to the
i "C Amalgnmnted Hons of Gloom would
linvo good reason for their low-pres-
bin o stuff. Eighty per cent of the
S $ people of Russia arc peasants, nnd
5 a if Iheso arc besotted and ignorant we
y might as well give up Imping for her
.. and think about something else.
- s. Hut it isn't true; it isn't anything
near the truth. The typicnl Russian
.i peasant isn't a Harvard graduate, if
that fact gives you grief, and he
doesn't know anything about differ
ential calculus or Greek roots, lie
never enrried a cane with n big bulg
ing end and was never under the en
lightening influences of the Eulii
JPiecc of l'io fraternity. Hut as a
j. gci.tral rule now be can read or has
someone in hisTainily that can, and
he always bus a good mind and very
often an amazing stock of good com
mon sense.
.f There are other ways of training
the mind besides learning (and
speedily forgetting) bow to rend the
Anubasisy, or wenrtng on your coat
lapel the pin of a Greek letter soci
. etv.
'J'lin Russian long winters nnd the
VjHMisHnt's mode of life have combined
4nlo educate htm without many books
- or learned professors.
1 Ho lives in a village, always. There
is no such thing, so fur as I know, as
a fanner that lives remotely on his
V. farm. Village life bents isolated
. farm house life all to bits. Loneli
lrrvs atrophies the average human
. mind; association with your fellows
:? keeps it in motion nnd being. II
J thoro are only 10 persons in your
j village that is 10 times better than
communing always wun yourscii.
Influence of Climate.
Russia is a very northerly country.
A lot of it lies close to the Arctii
circle, or within. In the summer at
I'ctrograd the light is never out of
tho northwestern sky before the new
day begins in the northeast. In June
nnd July there are a few weeks when
no artificial light is used in tin
streets nil night, nnd none is needed
in the houses that have good win
dows.
But the oilier, way about, a winter
day in Russin is shorter than your
V mother's pie crust. It is over before
it bns well begun. It has Wuitticr's
description in "Snow Hound'' hentcn
off the mnp. "The sun that brief
December day," savs Whitticr, and
in Russia there usually isn't am' sun
to it. A gray light wnrms up about
10 a. m. and quits in a weary, di
trusted fashion at 2 p. m., und Unit's
nil. Duyliihl hn gone off the job
until the nest, morning at 10.
Of course, in these conditions farm
work praeticnlly censes in September
nnd doesn't get started again until
March or April. The farmer has
close to his house in the village hi.-
horse, cows and piirs. Wlien be has
fed those and put the wood handv to
be thrown into the big brick oven that
heats the whole house he has nothing
else to do.
Heating the house, bv tho way, is
easier than you miirlit think, consid
ering the fiendish climate. The house
is n li i it nt logs curciuiiy inmnicn anil
fitted together and every clunk
caulked airtight with moss and ulas
ter, so that not a breath of cold air
can penetrate. The windows are dou
ble and enulked like tho timbers. The
.house is small nnd Hip room in" it
scanty. Tho brent brick oven easily
keeps the temperature nt 70 or
above. And T may say that no na
tional yearning for fresh air in win
ter complicates tho heating problem
in any way.
Peasant' Industries.
It is to these long nights of idle
ness that Russia owes two develop
ments that have been invaluable to
her the spread of information
among the peasants and '.ho perfect
ing of what are called the pcensants'
industries.
There is nothing to do but to tnllf,
to enrve thin"-. t" ""' nd to knit.
So the pcasnnts do all these at tin
same time.
They sit in a row, talking and
working. Everv scrap of knowledge
possessed by one becomes the com
mon property.
In tho old days of the poisonous
czar every effort was made to keep
the people from knowing anything
that might stir them to revolt. For a
long time the policy was absolute ig
norance of everything except how to
plant, reap and serve the czar. After
the revolution of 1005 and the insti
tution of the dunui a change was
forced and schools became common
The great object of government then
was to supervise and control this ed
ucation nnd to that end no books,
magazines or newspapers were allow
ed in the country except such as the
government approved
Story of Revolution.
A peasant that could read secret
ed prohibited literature and rend it
by stealth to hjs working compan
inexpeniWpackaqe-all the value i7m the cigarette
ft i 1 1 1
ML ., '. , , j.
the bigget iillmq high grade cigarette m the world
ions. A peasant that beard prohib
ited doctrine in one village repeated
it in another. The men and women
sat and carved and wove nnd knitted
and absorbed day after day the phil
osophy of freedom.
To givo but one illustration, a
chapter in history that the czar nar
ticularly desired to have kept from
his peole was the American revolu
tion. Tho story of it spread over an
Russin.
The soil was pood. The natural
instincts of the Russians are all dem
ocratic. For centuries their land was
a collection of small republics. Every
timo they heard of n struggle for lib
erty iinywhero the lesson e.iine home
to them and slowly under tho watch
ful eyes of the nolieo the revolution
ripened. The long nights nnd the vil
lage gatherings miulo their school
house and tuition. Without them
there might bnvo been no revolt. The
czar and tho police spy might have
reigned on indefinitely.
F
AMERICAN HEADQUARTERS IN
FRANCE, Sept. 19. (By the Associ
ated Press.) Brigadier General
George B. Duncan and Major Camp
bell King are the first American of
ficers to receive the war cross in the
French awards growing out ot Ameri
can participation in the rocont Verdun
offensive, when they acted as observa
tion oficers in forward artillery posts.
Whether tho officers will be permit
ted to accept the decoration Is not
known.
The citation for Gonoral Duncan
reads:
"He assisted our forces under cir
cumstances of extreme danger during
a very violent bombardment at Ver
dun." A piece of shrapnel struck tho steel
hat of the officer. ,
Major King also visited the forward
1 dressing stations.
RENCH WAR CROSS
wit-
of the beI: tobacco-properly blended
2
IN
E
Young Officers Making Good and En
listed Men Showing Wonderful Ap
titude in Learning Trencli Warfare
: Methods From French Instructors
Almost Ready to Meet Germans.
BY C. C. LYON.
WITH TI1ID AMERICAN TROOPS
IN FRANCE, .(Coutroto Americain),
Sept. 20. Tho American troops havo
now had three mouths training In
France.
What aro the big outstanding fea
tures? 1. General Pershing Is fast de
veloping his forces Into a real fight
ing machine.
2. Young offlcars from the Amer
ican training camp schools ere mak
ing good with a whoop. ,
3. The enlisted men aro showing
wonderful aptitude In learning trench
warfare methods from their French
instructors, .
At High Speed.
In developing tho American troops
into a high speed, enthusiast!! war
machlno, Gen. Pershing and Gen. Sl
bcrt make an ideal combination
Slbort is field commander of the
first expedition.
Pershing has furnished tho iron
discipline that was ueoded by the
new army.
Slbert, now afoctlonately called
"Papa" Sibert, by his men, has fur
nished the pats on the back.
Pershing recently visited his troops.
Since ho went back to Paris there
has been a general clicking of heels;
IF
DEVELOPING REAL
WAR
MACHIN
r r i a 4 i
for 1154
iqf (leers give their commands with'
jhore pep and tho men go thru their
work with more energy and ear
nestness; there has been a noticeable
perking up In personal appearances;
and the wholo military works have
moved more swiftly and smoothly.
Pershing is a commander With a
big punch. Nothing escapes his eagle
evo. Ho knows exactly what is noed
cd to put the American army on a
par with tho French and English.
American Aptitude.
Of course, tho final succoss of the
American army In France Is going
to dopend, not on the generals who
command, but on the enlisted men
themselves the bos who'll "go ovor
tho top" and into the Gorman
trenches.
' Alroady, tho French marvel at the
aptitude of the average American prl
vato at bis quick wit and his ability
to grasp and master new things.
In a hand grcnaae class the other
day tho distance became so great that
the French instructors thought the
Amorlrans couldn t put tho grenades
ovor tho barriers, .
But tho American boys, every last
one of whom had played baseball since
ho was knee-high to a prnssbopper,
stepped up and hit the bull's eye with
the grenades.
Most folks back home Imngtno it
may take months to prepare "our
boys" for this war game. Not at all.
If he keeps up the pace he is now
going, tho Germans may meet htm
very, very soon.
PEACE SHARES BOOM
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 2 0,r Condi
tions In Russia occasioned a small
peace boonj this week on German
stock markets. So-called peace shares,
such as shipping and colonial stocks,
made gains, while munition stocks
were correspondingly depressed. The
movement, howevor, according to Ber
lin and Hamburg newspapers, was on
a 'limited scope.
i .'.I.
E
LENS COAL MINES
CANADIAN HEADQUARTERS IN
FRANCE, Seept. lit. Sharp outpost
actions occurred west of Lens yes
terday and today, in which tho enemy
wero the aggressors. Tho objective
of today's skirmish wus a house in
tho western part of Lens, occupied by
us us an outpost.'' Lust night a
strong parly of Germans attacked tho
bouse, but, were driven off. They re
turned to tho attack in stronger i'orco
and captured tho house Tho Can
adians who bad held it at onco or
ganized a counter-attack, driving out
thu Germans.
Artillery activity has been greater
today, aided by brilliant sunshine,
than for several days. The tendency
of tho enemy already noted to devote,
moro attention to shelling our buck
areas with long-range, high velocity
guns increases, as does bis use of gas
shells in sections where non-combat
ants live. Tho object apparently is
to terrorize mine workers nnd their
families and make more difficult the
work of raising coul.
Beyond a doubt, in no part of the
western front, not even at Verdun it
self, has thero been so prolonged and
steady n gunfire maintained during
tho past thrco years as around
Yp'res. This trngio city of tho deud
looks hideous, but it doubtless is true
that in tho moonlight, when the shad
ow8 of pinnacles nnd mounds of
crumbling stone that mark tho site of
tho Cloth hall, one of tho chief ar
chitectural glories of the middle
ages, inn upon tno granil place,
Ypres has a beauty that not all the
malevolence of tho pcoplo can de
stroy.
John M. Scott, general passcngor
ago tnof the Southern Pacific, Is in
i the city today from Portland.
ty S
G1vft a brilliant trios? shine that
Iff doe not nib off or dust o if that
annralH to the Iron that lasts lour
m times kb long as any other.
I Bl
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(ova, your cook am
vr your iiiva rung
If yon don't find it
thu bust polish you
cvur uii ud, your
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groet'ry d idler ia
authoriMt to re
fund your
moi-ay.
9mnatn
tr u nM
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