Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1912 — BEAR PAWS REACH FAR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BEAR PAWS REACH FAR

THE most startling feature of modern history is the marvelous expansion , of Russia. Americans speak with wellbased pride of the immense extent of our contiguous territory, stretching from ocean to ocean and from the lakes to the gulf, but after all Tlncie Sam has only a little more than 3,000,000 Bquare miles in one block, while Russia has 8,647,657 square miles, or almost three times as much. The empire comprises oneseventh of the land surface of the globe, and the population which professes allegiance to the Czar is estimated at 160,000,000, or* approximately twice as many as the men and women under the Star Spangled Banner. The population of the empire has increased at a rate which puts our vaunted increase clear Into the shade. In 1722 Russia was supposed to have only 14,000,000 people, and as late as 1879 she had 130,000,000. When the men who fought in the war of the rebellion were studying geography Russia’s boundaries did not go as far south as the eastern end of the Black Sea, and thrilling were the stories of her war with the Circassians and the feats of Schamyl, the leader who defied for years the overpowering forces Of Hie great white Czar. The Caucasus haß long been a peaceable part of the Russian empire. Years later the whole Interior of Asia was occupied by wandering tribes of Tartars and Turkomans, among whom ho civilized man ventured exoept at the imminent peril of his life. The first civilized man since Marco Polo to traverse this region was Arminius Vambery, a Hungarian, who was attached to the embassy at Constantinople. This was In 1864. Since that time Russia has acquired Samarkand, Bokhara, Khiva, Turkestan and the Transcaucasian country, and extended her borders southward until the little country of Afghanistan is all that interposes between her and British India. On the southeast she reaches to the mountains which form the western boundary of China and on the extreme west she has taken off a large slioe of Armenia lying between the' "Black Sea and the Caspian until she touches the border of Persia. All this annexation has been accomplished with comparatively little trouble, and the murderous robber tribes have been reduced to comparative peace and order without any great smell of blood.

The news of the day shows a far more startling annexation than any of her previous feats in this direction. It is believed that she will soon have under her control the great country of Mongolia and a large part, if not all, of the ancient empire of Persia. It seems conceded that Mongolia, which is believed to be the home of the Mongolian race, embracing nearly one-third of humanity, is an immense stretch of country estimated at about 1,300,000 square miles, or much more than the entire United States east of the Mississippi. It stretches through Central Asia from Eastern Turkestan to Sungaria and the Altai mountains on the west to Manchuria on the east, and from the empire of China proper on the south to Russian Siberia on the north. The people are supposed to be the original Mongols, and are described as a cheerful, good-natured and hospitable people. They live in tents lined with felt, with a hole in the roof to serve as a chimney. Their ordinary food consists of preparations of milk and millet, buckwheat flour and oatmeal. Their number Is estimated all the way from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000. They are divided into bribes governed each by its own chieftain, ana in the northern part of these are gathered into four Khanates, each governed by a prince claiming descent from Genghis Kahn, the great conqueror. Women are not secluded as In China, and marriage consists in a ceremony which is based upon the old fashion of marriage by capture. A far deeper sentimental interest is connected with Russia’s acquisition of th.e ancient kingdom of Persia, which for time immemorial has played a greater part in the civilization of the world than that of Mongolia. Persia is a country 600,000 square miles in eftent, or about one-fifth of that of the United States, excluding Alaska. It joins the Russian province of Transcaucasia on that part of Asia Minor lying between the Black and the - Caspian Seas and 1 11 Russian province of Tranacaapia still farther to the east On its eastern boundary

lie the buffer states of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, which England has maintained at such trouble between British India and Russia. Therefore, the possession of Persia will bring Russia dangerously near India, the thing of all others that England has been fighting against for a half century and which has always terribly alarmed her. Furthermore, It will give Russia access to the Persian gurf and the great Indian OceaH, something of the utmost important to Russia’s naval power. At present Russia can only get out to sea by the way of Constantinople, which Is blocked by the English at Cypress and by the Baltic Sea, where her ships will have to pass through a narrow passage that can be easily closed by the Germans or the English. Her only port on the Pacific la Vladivostok, which is frozen up half of the year. By getting to the Persian Gulf Russia will have a port In a warm sea and where she can exercise a strong influence upon China, Japan and British India. Therefore, it is inexplicable why England, which has fought so many wars to keep Russia off British India, should permit her occupation of Persia.