MAY 20 1001 HE whole world has been agitated soldier on the occasion of his appointment: Tby by the semi-political disturbances throughout Russia, disturbances which originated in student manifestations and gradually spread to factory workmen and other elements. The reports from St. Petersburg and Moscow and the provincial university centers have been meager, conflicting, and confusing, but there is every reason to believe that the troubles were grave in character and significant as a political symptom. Whether many of the students are in sympathy with the revolutionary movement it is not easy for an outsider to determine, but it is certain that most of them are intensely dissatisfied with the rigid restrictions upon their freedom of meeting, discussion, association, and movement. They are watched and distrusted, treated as actual or potential conspirators, and subjected to indignities of all kinds. Above all, they have resented the rule which punished infractions of discipline with service in the army. This rule, indeed, was the primary cause of the recent disturbances. The late minister of education, Bogolepoff, who was assassinated by one of the revolutionists, was a reactionary and tyrant whom even the moderate Liberals detested. The attempt upon the life of Pobedonostseff, the head of the synod, was prompted by a similar reason, for he is deemed the chief supporter of the harsh, autocratic régime. The tsar is believed to be well-meaning but weak, and in spite of the revolt has expressed kindly sentiments toward the students. Certain ministers, M. de Witte among them, are progressive, and through their influence the obnoxious rule for enforced military service has been suspended for the present. The appointment of General Vannovski, a man of eighty who has had little experience in educational matters, as minister of public instruction, has also been welcomed as a step toward conciliation and reform. The tsar wrote as follows in his rescript to this old "The experiences of recent years have shown the existence of defects so material in our scholastic system that I think that the time has come to undertake an immediate and thorough revision and improvement. Highly valuing your experience as a statesman, and your enlightenment, I have chosen you to cooperate with me in the work of renovating and reorganizing Russian schools, and, in appointing you to the present specially important office of minister of public instruction, I am firmly convinced that you will unswervingly endeavor to attain the goal indicated by me, and that you will bring into the work of educating Russian youth your cordial sympathy and sagacity, ripened by wisdom." This has been construed as a pledge of comprehensive revision of school and university regulations on liberal lines. Vannovski is classed among the Liberals. The The troubles are by no means over. hundreds of students under arrest for participation in the manifestations have not been released, and their colleagues demand their return to the universities and a general amnesty. The press is not allowed to comment upon these events and questions, but the writers and educated circles are avowedly in hearty accord with the students. A petition signed by the leading authors, educators, economists, and professors of Russia, setting forth the evils of existing conditions and praying for reform, has been presented to the tsar, but the only effect has been the peremptory dissolution of the Authors' Society, an old and distinguished body devoted to the welfare and advancement of the literary profession. Count Tolstoy has also petitioned the tsar. In spite of the rather unexpected coöperation of workmen with the students, there is no evidence that the movement for a constitutional government has deeply affected the masses of the population. But it is safe to say that most of the cultivated people are thoroughly weary of autocracy, and would welcome some form of representative government. The peasants may not be interested in political freedom, but they have had some experience in local self-government, and are ready for an extension of their rights and privileges. Many Russian thinkers, including Prince Kropotkin, hold that genuine reform for Russia must come through local autonomy and the establishment of "miniature republics" all over the empire under a nominally absolute central government. The only alternative is what is called "revolution from above"-that is, the voluntary surrender of absolutism and the bestowal of constitutional government by a ruler of advanced ideas and a modern spirit. EDWIN H. CONGER, China, who has returned to America. The British budUnited States Minister to get had been eagerly awaited by the commercial interests as well as by the politicians and the theoretical students of public finance. The South African war had entailed a heavy deficit and the need of increased revenue. It was generally felt That the existing direct taxes could not be made heavier without provoking great dissatisfaction, and that a new departure was necessary. Many had demanded a reversion to customs duties, and had proposed a duty on imported grain, on sugar, and even on manufactured goods, especially in iron and steel industries, menaced by American and German competition. Protection, however, is still unpopular in England, even among the Tories, and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the chancellor of the exchequer, is a straightforward opponent of indirect taxation. When the long-delayed budget statement was finally made in the commons (April 18) it was found to embody a compromise, but without the least hint at protection. Sir Michael estimated a deficit for the present year of about $275,000,000, and he placed the cost of the South African war (to which he has been opposed) at over $750,000,000 an amount double the cost of the Crimean war. Since the end of hostilities is not in sight even now, the total cost may reach a billion dollars. Sir Michael asked for authority to borrow $300,000,000 by means of consols (a permanent addition to the national debt), and to suspend the operations of the sinking fund. With regard to taxation, he proposed, first, that the tax on incomes should be increased by two pence on the pound, thus making it one shilling and two pence, and from this source he expects to realize $19,000,000. In the second place, he proposed a graduated duty on refined sugar, the tax on sugar polarized at 98 and upward to be four shillings and two pence a hundredweight. Molasses and glucose are also to be taxed, and from this source a yield of nearly $26,000,000 is anticipated. Finally, an export duty of a shilling a ton on coal was proposed, notwithstanding the fact that a Tory government abolished this species of taxation forty-five years ago. This tax was to yield only about $11,000,000 a year, and, according to Sir Michael, could not possibly injure the coal trade, even if it tended to check exports to some extent. There has been considerable apprehension in England over the possible exhaustion of her coal supplies in the not distant future, and Sir Michael evidently counted on this sentiment to furnish support to his proposal. The budget statement was immediately attacked as the most disastrous ever made to parliament. It offended not only the Liberals, who, in spite of all disclaimers, see therein a step toward a revival of a tariff for revenue with incidental protection, but also the trades affected, the outspoken advocates of duties on grain and manufactured goods, and the friends of "empire" and federation. The last-named expected that the British West Indies, long in distress, would be exempt from the sugar duty, and this exemption was deemed necessary as an appreciation by the mother country of colonial service in the war and a beginning of the imperial customs union favored by Mr. Chamberlain. The keenest opposition, however, has been excited in the coal trade. The miners fear that many collieries will be closed and that thousands of miners will be thrown out of employment. With the taxpayers, who have to pay the piper after the war dance, the budget is decidedly unpopular, and the government, in the divisions upon it, found its majority (normally about 130) reduced to 40. Indeed, the Salisbury government, returned in a "khaki election when the war issue was paramount, has been steadily declining, and even its supporters admit that, were another appeal to the country made, the Tories would suffer defeat. The Liberals, however, are not specially desirous of taking office just now, and there will be no change in the near future. That the credit of the British government syndicates of workmen, 2,685; employers has not suffered is indicated by the success and workmen mixed, 170; agriculturists, of the new issue of consols. The $300,000,- 2,067. The purpose of the agricultural 000 has been heavily oversubscribed, the syndicates is broader than that of manufacUnited States offering to take nearly half turing associations. The membership of the of the issue. The return on the investment, former had risen from 313,800 in 1895 to taking the whole term into account, is less 512,794 in 1899. The agricultural syndithan three per cent, which great corporations cates have organized coöperative societies for with trust funds to care for regard as an the advantageous sale of farm produce, for attractive opportunity. securing cheaper transportation rates, for the purchase of fertilizers, machinery, and implements, for the dissemination of scientific knowledge, for the establishment of mutual banks and insurance, for promoting legislation, etc. Libraries, lecture courses, and arbitration tribunals have been established by these syndicates. We have adverted to productive and distributive coöperation as carried on in Great Britain with remarkable success. In this country, largely owing to the rapidity of industrial development, the efforts of trades unions to obtain recognition, and the growth of trusts, coöperation has not even reached the stage of practical discussion as a "way out" for labor. But it is interesting to know that in France, coöperative organization is also being widely resorted to, and by agricultural as well as manufacturing producers. John C. Covert, our consul at Lyons, has made a partial report upon the subject, and it is to be hoped that a study in detail will follow. In 1884 a law was enacted by the French parliament enabling any twenty persons in one trade, or in several similar trades, to combine in a society. Such societies may possess realty for their own use, conduct employment offices, appoint arbitration committees, establish pension funds, and even organize banks. Last year there were in existence 7,089 societies of this kind, divided as follows: Syndicates of employers, 2, 157; The movement is declared to be very popular in the rural districts, and in a few years every French farmer will be a member of some syndicate. Intensive cultivation is carried farther in France than in any other country, and coöperation is believed to be certain of wider and wider application. The French farmer is thrifty, intelligent, and but slightly interested in national politics. The syndicates, accordingly, devote themselves to economic and social improvement, and ignore the conflicts over purely political questions. the The Commonwealth of Australia new federation of self-governing colonies has held its first general elections, and its first parliament will have assembled and entered upon the discharge of its functions when this reaches the reader's eye. The "paramount issue" in the elections was the question of free trade for the federation vs. a protective tariff-or, more strictly, between a high tariff and a moderate rate of duties. The only colony that has a free trade majority is New South Wales, and as the federation needs at the outset a revenue of about $40,000,000 a year, indirect taxation seems unavoidable. It is agreed by all parties that in the interest of industry and stability this question must be settled at the first session of the parliament. It seems, however, that the present ministry, headed by Mr. Barton, a strong protectionist, is not assured of a majority in the upper house. The senate contains 36 members, and the free trade element claims a majority of one or two, though if the moderates vote with the protectionists, a tie will result. In the lower house, which has 75 members, 42 are protectionists, 29 free traders, and four-labor representa |