Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1909 — Where Everybody Speaks. [ARTICLE]

Where Everybody Speaks.

A St. Petersburg correspondent writes: “But, alter all; the thing which sets the strike in moftgt4* hpwobr Russia. perhapp more than in other countries, w'e see, the sparer of the creative word. A strain of peculiar idealism runs through all Russian literature, and has led us always to hope that when jluseja’a how came she would advance on finer and higher lines than the more material and practical .people of Europt. The hour has come and, as far as one pan judge from language, the hopes may be justified. After her centuries of suppression Russia is reveling in a spiritual debauch of words. Meetings are held almost every night- Entrance is by ticket, but still the crowds fight at the door to hear first principles. Without any practice or tradition in speaking, it is suddenly discovered that Russia is a nation of orators. “I was present at an enormous meeting to protest against the atrocious persecution of the Jews by the police and the reactionary ‘black bands.’ That huge empty shed called ‘The Town oi Salt’ was crammed with an intensely excited audience, only few of whom were Jews. Speaker after speaker rose and not one failed for a moment. In some cases, even withput understanding a quarter of what was said, one could tell how true an orator the man was from the breathlessness of the hearers, from that feeling of diffused unity in the crowd, and from the deep gasp of applause which greeted the end. “It is the same in the workmen’s meetings of the strikes committee, at which I was again present one night. One common workman after another got up and made his point without muddle or shyness or hesitating—no harking back and beating for words. And all the speeches are on that high level of thought. ‘What do I know,' said a workman quietly to me—‘what do I know hut the street, the factory and the prison? But I will die in .prison for the movement 1 No wonder he spoke well.”