RUSSIA'S FREE BRESS.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 211, 18 May 1909, Page 2

RUSSIA'S FREE BRESS.

A young journalist on the staff of the Odesski Listok,' Sergius Fedorovich Stern the son of a wealthy local house proprietor lias been sentenced to a month's arrest bv order of the Governor for discussing the qualifications of several new candidates for municipal election. The incident is noteworthy inasmuch as it further illustrates the so-called political freedom vouchsafed under the present reactionary regime. It is difficult to imagine a municipal or parliamentary election without some little public agitation with regard to the candidates-- their principles, and their capabilities. M. Stern, who is a journalist of brilliant parts, naturally thought himself at : full liberty to* discuss the fitness of various municipal candidates, differentiating between the Progressives and the Black Hundred, and advocating the claims of the former. He-: was summoned to the > Governor* s chancery a couple of days, ago, and curtly and > peremptorily informed by "His Excellency that no agitation or discussion was permissible, nor even any canvassing of the claims of the various candidates for municipal honors. • The electors might vote as they pleased, 'but 'they needed no enlightenment from the l 'Press. Chi the conclusion of this little gubernatorial '.homily, M; Stern was given into the. charge of two waiting gendarmes and taken to prison for a month. There is no possible appeal against these arbitrary acts of a 1 Russian Governor, who is to all intents and purposes an irresponsible dictator within the limits of his official jurisdiction. — Odessa correspondent of the ' Evening- Standard.'