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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 18, 1906)
March IS, lPOrt. TIIE OMAHA. ILLUSTRATED BEE. Proclamation of Freedom Brings Death and Terror to Warsaw 1 1 ARSAW, February 18. (8peclal Correspondence of The. Bee.) The times are so exciting here that one hardly ha time to write to you people across the ea In your w happy country happy because free. Not withstanding two proclamations of the Im perial decree, one of October 30 and the other of December 18, lWW, by which the so 'railed constitutional lights were given to jthe people of the entire ertrplre, and more particularly to those of Poland, this coun try Is still in a "state of siege" as I write, and the black terror of absolutism Is rag ing In every part of the land In every possi ble manner.' ! ! In Iha flrat nliuA tViA hlimnrntM consti tution has promised the people the right 10 erect and to form a national congress or legislature, called here the "Douma," which Is to congregate In 8t. Petersburg. On hearing such glorious news the people of the city, on the evening of November 1, the day after the first proclamation, organ ised a great procession through the streets, -marching with national flags flying and singing patriotic songs. By common con sent they all met at the end of the various line of march in "Theater square" before the "magistrate's building." or city hall, as It would be called In America. This build ing contains the chief police station of the city and the people expected that, In com memoration of the proclamation of the constitution, and according to Its terms, the political prisoners would be released. War saw Is a city of over 800,000 people and It Is not surprising that, while many persons did not take part In the procession, the square was, In a short time, literally packed with people. , Closaarks Sabre the Pee pie. Then followed an event which could not have taken place outside of the Russian empire. The managers of the parades had ' not taken Into their confidence Mrs. Blbt cofT, wife of the president or mayor of Warsaw, who resides with his family in the city hall. Mrs. Blblcoff is a sister-in-law of Mr. Bcallon, the governor general of Poland. When she saw the great crowd, which was so dense as to be practically Immobile, she became alarmed. Others be I sides her were alarmed, as the authorities,' I. which had permitted the parade, were not prepared for one of Its slse; but their fears were nothing compared to those or the woman. Bhe immediately communl- cated with the governor general by tele- 'phone, telling him of the crowd and of her ! fears. He, without wait ng to Investigate 1 the matter, Immediately Issued a command : by telephone to an officer of the troops, : telling blm to clear the square forthwith. This terrible order' was given to Cossacks I for execution. These semi-barbarous troop ' ers knew nothing of the situation and ; probably cared less. They were told to i clear the square and Instead of executing the order In a sensible manner they entered the square mounted through each of the ' tnnr avsnnoa Inndlns' to It. ard with drawn swords charged the unarmed and peace- able men, women and children there as sembled. It seemed that they felt called upon to avenge the defeats upon the Talu and at Mukden, and well they did their "duty," for, without opening an avenue for the people to leave the square, they rode them down, striking Indiscriminately with the sword men, women and children In all conditions of life, leaving many wounded upon the streets and others maimed for Ilia. Aathotitles Repress the People. This "scarlet first of November" will be recorded in the history of this country as the "baptism of blood" of the glorious (?) constitution. From this Incident began the practice of the strongest repressive meas ures on the part of local authorities, who understand that the new constitution will cut the ground from under their feet. As a consequence the freedom of the press, so heralded In the Imperial manifesto, . has become, in the hands of the administrators of the old system, an excuse for still stronger and closer censorship. Many newspapers have, since the proclamation, been confiscated, the offices closed and the i editors Imprisoned. Their private lodgings liave been searched and their homes jAitted by the police. the same rule applies to the guaranty of personal liberty by' the manifesto and j a loo io rmiRiuus uraij. - - the authorities have prohibited the singing (of hymns In churches which have patriotic tendencles, especial mention being made of , the old hymn beginning with the words ;"Bose cos Polske.." which 1 is been trans- ated Into English by the late Paul Sobo- twskl of Chicago, the hymn beginning: O, Lord, thou has to Poland lent thy n's n . A haltd Uon Protectln IlVs given fame and all Its glory bright nd through long ages saved our earner- lMnd I We chant at thy alters our bumble strain, I O. Lord, make the land of our love free t again. uu uuuuio mai amount win De added this This hymn closes with the words: year. The project will be handled In blocks "O. Lord, who rules o'er all the wide ot 1.000.0QO aores each and it will be con world's path, tlnued ' until the whole tract Is redeemed At my commana we raisea irom oust II in tne ruture we aeserve tny wratn Turn us to dust but let that dust free." And this hymn, notwithstanding the im- portal constitutional manifesto, Is abso- lutely prohibited because there Is a prayer In It for freedom, and that freedom would mean the end of the rule of despotic and "conservative" office holders, liberty of speech has met the same des- 1 tniy. Those who have freely expressed tnsir minus ui puoiic moeungs nave oeen aitoeted at nil U1 to dlsta arrested at right In their homes and many od to distant parts of the empire; but. t : ' . - it - . f . .. - : ' : ' J H ' v -7 - J : - ": Jt :U lil -- :.: - . i " " " CITT II ATX IN WARSAW, IN FRONT AND CHILDREN. after all, tho exiles ma be more fortu nate than those Imprisoned In Poland. . Conditions of the Prisons. I must now describe to you some of the prisons In which political prisoners are kept. In the city of Warsaw and Us vicin ity there are about 90,000 prisoners held for political offenses only. Many of these per sons have been In confinement two and three months and have not been given ex amination. It is therefore probable that thuv Ant Innnrmt n nil a rn In a "hold nn . ,U8plclon... The authorities were unpre- pared f(Jr go many ..offenderB.. and ha4 made no provIglon. for (or thenu AfUr he , lson, were fllled they unfortunate prisoner. In the t ,.. , ,hm m, in places which under other circumstances would not be used to shelter low-grade an imals. Not having sufficient furniture for these temporary prisons, they give each prisoner ten pounds of straw to be used at night for a bed and during the day for a seat. I here thought to describe the food given them, but after writing it down I fear to transmit It. as It would require an affidavit before a notary In order to Impress Its truth upon American nWnds, and under the circumstances I am making no affi davits on the subject when such must be recorded by Russian officials. Suffice It to say that such rations' were never Issued to civilised man before, except perhaps dur ing some of the starvation times In towns besieged In the "dark ages." Scenes on the' Streets. It may be better to Illustrate rather than to describe the street life In Warsaw at this time, and for this purpose I send a number of photographs, some of them Most Extensive Irrigation (Copyright. 1908, by Frank Q. Carpenter.) aujari, Alberta, March 15. (Special Correspondence of The Bee.) By all odds the hi ITMMtt If. y53Jj rl'atlon Project on the North American continent Is now under y in mis province of Alberta. In ltt all the Irrigated lands of the Vnited States did not amount to 10.000.000 acres. By this scheme Canada will nHcm i smmn 0f semi-desert, and that h nri.L without government aid. The work has uuaertaaen Dy the Canadian Paclflo railroad, which has exchanged a part of Its land grant for 1,000,000 acres lying be- tween here and Medicine Hat Of this 1.600,000 acres" will be put under water and the balance will be sold to the irrigated land owners for pasture and mixed farm- ing. This tract of Irrigated land Is almost M rreat as all the 'rrlgated land of Colo raoo or caurornla. It Is more than twice that of Utah. Idaho or Wyoming and many "" " any omer western slate. mis worn is now going on. One hun- l1r1 mill An .Km. ""t " , " ,"","" , . reaidJ' toT th turning on of the water and ttled. Altogether. It means supply Ing homes to something like 10,000 families, be and with the towns and other industries which will be built tin Altinir i h ii.t it ultimately means addition of about J00.000 people to Canada's population, a Isi the Great Anierlena Deeert. The lands to be redeemed are a part of what was once known as the Great Amerl- can Desert. This runs northward through the western part of the United States and on mio ianaua. mere is more water here than In our tributary country, but there are dry seasons, which make the lands unfit for ordinary farming, although winter wheat Is now being raiaix! on much ST. MART S LAKE. MONTANA, 1 fL. ft- OF WHICH MOUNTED COSSACKS RODB i t:!': ' . I! 17 COSSACKS DISPERSING CROWDS ON STREETS OFvWARSAW.-Drawn of it. For the past fifteen years the Canadian government has bad engineers at work taking the levels, measuring the atXAomas aMl Inssllna .Aml wm VWtrrt Uch surveys It has been found that there are 70,000,0u0 acres of seml-arld land which need Irrigation occasionally If they are to be used for farming. The government en glneers estimate that 8,000,000 acres can easily be reclaimed and that they will have an unfailing supply of water from the Saskatchewan and Its tributaries if the proper works are made. The land of the Canadian Pacific scheme lies In a solid block on both sides of the railroad between Calgary and Medicine Hat It Is flat or slightly rolling prairie and is now used for g rasing. The strip Is 130 miles long, running back for some miles on each side of the track. The water Is to come. from the Bow river, a beautl- ful mountain stream. It will be fed by other rivers, which flow northward front the United States through the Belly and Bow into the Saskatchewan and thence on to Hudson's bay. Bis Irrigation Ditch. The Bow river flows by Calgary. I drove out today to look at the ditches already excavated and to examine the irrigation project as far as It is completed. Taking carriages, we drove for miles over the nrairie. ridlnv at tlmeM a.lonir fmha.nkirittnta of the main canal, which Is sixty feet wide at the bottom, ten feet deep and takes from the Bow something like 30.000 gal- Ions of water every second. At many These American agents have colonisation places the men were working and the offices at Calgary, and they are formu scenes were much like those I saw on the latlng schemes by which they expect to Panama canal. There were hundreds of horses scooping up the prairie, there were great steam shovels aoualna out the earth and loading it upon cars and there were long train loads of excavated material mov- Ing on the temporary tracks from one plaoe to another. The soil is louder to V J. 1 ! DOWN DEFENSELESS MEN. WOMEN .. 4 ,, i' ii f v v7.k,v-: work than that of the Culebra cut. Cule- . bra Is made of a shaly rock and a single blast may loosen many tona Here the ah rf la Ann irl AmAPS r A r Mtlnlrw rloV anil great boulders which have a consistency something like soft taffy or half worked putty. The stuff Is of such a nature that the steam shovels cannot work In it with- out It is loosened, so that the cost of ex- cavation Is great. I have talked with J. S. Dennis, the manager of this Irrigation project, and also with the civil engineer in charge of It. He tells me that they have taken out about 4,000,000 cubic yards, which, as I figure It, would be just about enough to fill a line of two-horse wagons, at a ton to the wagon, reaching clear around the world. Altogether, 20,000,000 cublo yards will have to be excavated before the whole area Is under water, end the engineers say that the cost of this, will be just about 3,000,000. It Is an enormous undertaking, but It will pay In the Increased value of the lands and in the traffic which will come to the railroad through the settling of the coun try. After Oar Farmers. I understand that the Canadians expect to populate this country with Americans. The railroad has given over the first 110,000 aores, now ready for settlement, to an American syndicate, which has already made big money In selling tracts of spring wheat lands to Immigrants from Minnesota, Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and other states. canvass the irrigated sections of the United States to induce our good farmers to coma here and buy these lands as fast as tl;,ey'are opened up. Said one of the syn 'ulcste to me the other day: "We will work those parts of the union Just as a book publishing house works its territory. Our selling agents will go from farm to farm like the canvasser does sell ing books, and will Induce such as have money to buy this kind on installments. If they are Interested we will flood tbem with literature and will probably bring them to Canada at reduced rates of trans portation to show them what we have to sell." In the meantime the lands are offered at several times the price Hiked for the spring wheat lands further north and east; but the Canadians claim that they are cheap on account of the water, which In sures steady crops year after year regurd It as of seasons. latroilirrd by the Mormons. The practical possibility of an irrigated Canada was suggested by the Mormons. There are about 10.0U) of them now living on Irrigated lands near Lethbrldge, be tween here and the United States boundary. They have established towns, have built up a beet sugar factory with a capital of ll.ouo.0uu, have one flour mill, which Is now turning out a carload ot flour dally, and they are, altogether, one of the most thriv ing peoples of the new Canada. These Mormons produced more than 1.000, OuO bushels of wheat last year, and they are now shipping flour direct to Japan and China. They come from the Irrigated states of Utah and Idaho. They fana ea tracts of about eighty acres each, and I am told that they raise two or three times as inuoh ou such farms aa caa be raised In the non-irrigated sections. . Purlng my stay la Canada I hare run tea Project 1 ti i ! f L BIKtBT nc-BTHW xrt WA FUSAW PEDESTRIAN SEARCHED BT SOLDIER IN PRESENCE OF POLICEMAN. From a Pho tograph Secretly Taken. (jr. from Description by Eye Witness. on the this Mormon country. It is reached by the line of the Alberta Railway and Irri gation company, which la used largely to carry coal from Lethbrldge down to Mon tana. The lands are aliiost dead flat and are cut up by canals fed by the St. Mary's river. Seventy-five thousand acres are already1 under cultivation and the railway and Irrigation company above referred to has altogether almost l.COO.OOO acres yet to re deem. The company received a concession for a part of these lands for opening up the coal mines and building the railroad, and looked upon them as fitted only for grazing until the Mormons came in and proposed to Irrigate them. As It Is the Irrigation works are only five years old and they have the town of Raymond, which has a population of 2,000, situated In the heart of them and smaller settlements along the line of the railroad. Mormons In Canals. I talked with Peter L. Naismlth, the man ager of the company, and C. A. Magrath, the land commissioner, about Its character and possibilities. They tell me the lands are excellent and that they are being rap Idly settled. Mr. Magrath, while not a Mormon himself, has represented these people In the territorial legislature and has known them from the time they came to Canada. He says they make excellent clti sens and are conforming to the Canadian laws In every respect. I asked him how they acted In regard to plural marriages. He replied: "The Canadian Mormons are monoga mists. We have some citizens who were polygamlsts in Utah, but they brought but one family each to this country. Shortly after their arrival they sent delegates to Ottawa to ask if they might bring their plural wives provided no further plural marriages were made. Sir Johu Macdon ald. who was then premier,, replied In the negative, saying that, while he wm glad VIEW .1 I f 4 taken from life and others drawn by per sons who witnessed the incidents they portray. The photographs from life were taken from a window of a house near the scene, after all precautions were taken to avoid discovery. This picture shows how one looks when a policeman, guarded by a soldier, commands him to throw up his hands and submit to a search for contra- band articles or arms. Each man In the city, as well as In the oountry. Is obliged to have a passport with him at all times to prove bis identity, otherwise he will be arrested as a danger- ous subject and conducted to one of the model prisons by the assisting soldier. Often you can see an old man or a small child being taken to the police station by several soldiers. You stop, naturally think- Ing that some desperate criminal has been apprehended. Bystanders will inform you that the offense of the prisoner consisted In selling newspapers, and perhaps he is the sole support of a family. Although such arrests are in direct contravention of the law, we are living In a "state of siege," and no excuses are permitted. February 11 a "general review" was or- dered by the governor general of Poland, who is also commander-in-chief of the forces of the country. At this review 121 privates were decorated with the cross of the Order of St. Anna for bravery in action on the streets of Warsaw during the pres- ent state of siege. The Illustrations shown herewith prove better than argument the character of the courage and bravery which wins such a cross. t Soldiers Mrssgers to People. One of 'the-principal reasons why the bureaucracy' hai much support on the part f soldiers Is that officers and men are not permitted to serve in stations near Continent to have the Mormons come to Canada, they could not live there unless they obeyed the laws. As a result the extra wives re mained where they were." "I do not believe there Is any polygamy in Canada," continued Mr. Magrath. "The mounted police keep a close tab on the Mormons, and If there were plural mar riages we should surely know. Now and then some person In eastern Canada de nounces the existence of Mormonlum in Utah and alleges that polygamy exists. It may be so In the United States, but it Is not so here. As for me, I can get a cer tificate from my church that I am a staunch Episcopalian, but I find the Mor mons good enough for me to live among. They are interested In politics, although they have no union of church and state. They are thrifty, and altogether they are excellent citizens." Mormon Sugar Mill. I visited the Mormon sugar mill. It Is situated Just outside Richmond In the midst of beet fields, covering hundreds of acres. It Is now making 100,000 pounds of sugar daily, and Is paying dividends of t per cent. The company has altogether about 2U0.O00 acres, upon some of which beets are raised. Other parts are devoted to cattle ranges, and 15,000 head of stock are now feeding upon them. The factory has the best ot modern machinery. The beets are carried by water from the shed where they are unloaded, being washed on the way. They are next lifted to the top of the factory In buckets running on an endless chain, and fall from there Into cutters filled with knives, which slice them up so that they look like little pieces of celery. The sliced beets are now dropped Into round tanks, where they are so treated by fusion that all the Juice In them contain ing the sugar comes out. This is carried Into great boilers, consisting of miles of (Continued on Page Seven.) 7 7;-'-' sssfnfj)m or SUCTION or BIO alberta irrig attno ditch. their homes, but are sent to strange dis tricts, where the customs and the very language of the people are' as unknown to him as they would be to a native of the United States, who knew nothing but what had come under his personal observation, for the average soldier cannot read and therefore knows only what he sees or what he Is told. As a result of this practice there Is no sympathy between the people and the soldiers who are placed over them, This condition not only prevails in Poland, but in all parts of the Russian empire, Doing more acute in tho capitals, St. Petersburg and Moscow, than In some of the provinces. In fact. It might not be safe for the soldiers to maintain a different attitude at present, for the people have been so long taught to look upon the troops as their oppressors that strange men, in army uniform, would be attacked or treated as spies were they not to stand together under their officers while In strange parts of the empire, Between Soldiers and ritlaeas. To gain an Idea of the feeling existing between the people of the towns and the soldiers, and the reasons therefor, I will give a literal translation of an incident reported by the Moscow correspondent of the Daily Russ of St. Petersburg,. Mr. - N. Klrlloff, whose reputation throughout Rus- la warrants all in putting implicit faith In his report. Under the heading, "Hor rible," be writes: On December 21, near the bridge "Oar baty" In the eastern part of Moscow, there were congregated several soldiers of differ ent branches ot the service In company of an otlicur. They were holding loud con versation and laughing, when a student wearing the uniform of the university passed. He was instantly surrounded by soldiers, and tne omcer exclaimed: "Now, reblate (comrades), make room for the boy and we shull have a performance." Then -turning-to the boy he Commands: ' "Take oft your trousers." The poor boy, pale, stands silent and mo tionless. "Take off your trousers, I said!" repeats the officer, furiously. The student, without a drop of blood sliowinj in his face, whiter than the sur rounding snow,, stands silently looking around him.- lie sees tne triumphant smile on the face of the soldiers and with head hung down awaits his doom. "Forward, comrades, you have to assist the student. His hands are frozen and they refuse to obey him." The officer's voice changes and from harsh and strong begins to oe sweet and Joyful. The poor student observes this with satisfaction. "Take off his clothing," said the officer to his assistants. They obey the order and lay the boy upon the ground. s "Give him a portion," is the command. Instantly the infantrymen step forward with the "naghaykas in their strong hands. Tho lashes begin. This work Is of long duration, accompanied by Jokes and laughter; but the student lies silent with , his face In the snow. He mukes no reply to the ironical questions, nor does he move when kicked in the head. "Btop!" commands the officer, but the soldiers, who are suited with the work, obey slowly. "Your honor, we also would like to have a hand in it," said two sokilers of the ar tillery, saluting the officer with real knightly grace. "Certainly, you shall have some fun in It," replied the kindly officer. Tho second charge begins and two artil lerists take the blood-stained "naghaykas" In their muscular hands and follow the ex ecution on the body of the poor student, whose face is stuck tight In the snow and whose body only mechanically trembles un der the strokes of the whle. "Your honor, we should also like to have a show In the exercise," said a dragoon, addressing the officer, who naturally did not refuse. The strokes are repeated by fresh hands, but the mutilated body has already ceased to tremble under the fash. "Now, 1 think you have had enough, my boy, as you have now finished three fac ulties," and the words are seconded by loud and Joyous laughter of the braves. Bo cloned the execution of the student of the Moscow university, while his face still stuck In the snow. How many long years of life man would give, knowing that thereby he would abolish such scenes from the world. In my next letter I shall glvs you more joyous descriptions, telling something of the preparations for the elections to the "Douma," which are being conducted with no more idea of what the thing means than an American would have of how to behave himself In a Polish police station. F. BV- Jr7 ""7 i si M V 4 1