RUSSIA PROSPERS.

Bruce Herald, Volume LI, Issue 68, 2 September 1915, Page 3

RUSSIA PROSPERS.

IN SPITE OF WAR. BAN ON VODKA HELPS, In Moscow there are fewer outwai d land visible signs of war than in the capital (states the Moscow correspondent of tho 'New York Sim'). Not to many soldiers exercising, not so many woundled dm 'the streets. On the big squaire of (the Kaiem Liiij that fascinating walled city of cathedrals. I saw young troops being trained 1 , and tough looking reservists, mostly bearded peasants, renewing acquaintance with their drill, •but thisi 'is & sight to be seen ,in every town an Russia. I was tat Viborg in Finland (the other day and even there at 8 o'clock dii the motaning the squares were full of 'infantry at bayonet practice. the Spasski Gate of the Kremlin! I saw a, iregiment mairoh down to entrain, every mian lifting his cap as he went through tho long dusky archway. "Spasski" signifies "Our Savviour." Over thd gate hangs a. figure of Christ, fixed there ,in 1647 by a Czar who ordered that no man should pass through with his head • covered. -Still all hats andi ca-ps are taken off. No Russian would fail in this mark of respect any more than' ho 'would omit, if he is a member of the Orthodox Church, to cross himself three times on passing the shrine of tho "Iberia's Mother of God" in the centre of the town. Before this celebrated l ipactuird there is at all hours of the day a throng of suppliants. They stand' .there in the open street, rich merchants side by side with poor laborers in soiled shirts and high' hoots; officers, Tchinovniks (officials). and professional men; cab drivers, tanners, 'peasants; women of rank servants, street sellers of fruit and cakes. SOLIDARITY WILL INCREASE. Here is an image of Russia-. Here is one explanation of the solidarity of her (people, so noticeable a feature of these troubl'oiis times. That solidarity the war wall increase. The honest desire of almost every one iini Russia is 'to heipl in making the soldier at the front as comfortable as he can be made; to cheer the wounded and the sick, to show the army that the nation is behind! .it, working to the same ends, resolved to make sacrifices loir the same victory. This the soldier knows now. When Russia fought Japan there was no such community of sentiment. The mass of the naiElon luiew not where Japan might be, nor wfuft the nature of its inhabitants, nor why the war had broken out. The airnry .relit that? they were fighting in a cause which aroused no enthusiasm. They were thousands of miles awiay. They seemed to be cut off from their fellow countrymen'. Now the soldiers receive frequent proofs, solid and! satisfactory in charaster (as, for example,, tobacco and food, underclothing and socks, hooks and newspapers), of the interest and sympathy with which their doing are followed and their wants anticipated. Contact is established 1 between them and other social layers of the nation in a manner which is most valuable. Even in l the most recent times the peasants in Russia have known little about -the upper and the new .middle class, while the upper and middle classes have troubled little a.bout them. Tho 'landed aristocracy" began to die out when the serfs were liberated and formed into village communes, each the owner of its sown fields and pasture fend-. PRIESTS ARE OF MASSES.

The "popes" (priests) arei of the "masses" themselves. In most villages there is 110 house better than that of the chief elder, who sleeps on the top of hiis stove, like every one else. Very likely there is none within a hundred miles. Nor are there newspapers to telll the peasant, even when he can iread them, about the other layers of the social cake, the ornamental and the learned, those who do business, those who 'govern, tho.se who teach. Ilussaa/n journalism is too "serious" for that. Thetre has been., in short, a. igulf fixed between) the imiany and the few which, though it did; not prevent solidarity m time of peril, hindered understanding. Across this gulf, as a. riesjult of the war, bridges' are befing thrown. _ A _ very strong and 'big bridge is 'being built by th© Union of Zemstvos (county councils os the nearest translation I can offer), which has its in Moscow. Two hundred 1 thousand beds this union pirovides. Some 36,000 people are working far it.. The whole of me Red) Cross business in the Caucasus has been <undertaken by it amd: canned out exceedingly well.

Apart from such activities as this Moscow 'keeps 'both business and l pleasure going pretty much as usual. Theatres have prospered this winter mom than usual "because people cannot spend) money on drinking.'' A merchant assures! me ffi'at bills are paid far nro.ro quickly ' now than they were formerly, for the same reason. White wine in grape juice 'bottles is not unknown, but the orgies which used, to 'be a feature of Moscow life have ceased entirely. Vodka is not to be had. It used to be common enough to see workmen come out of the vodka, shops, walk a short distance, then! fall down. Their practice was to dlrink a bottle of the dtieap, poisonous soiril right off. It did not iaffect' £hem : instantly, but 'after ia. few minutes 1 'it took away their brains. Down they dropped insensible. No more of that now.