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830 privileges withered, and by 1847 the Ukrainians saw their national existence in danger of being merged, in spite of ethno- graphic differences between the two races, in the general subjec- tion of the Russians. A society called the "Cyril-Methodius Brotherhood" was started to keep the national tradition alive, having not only the literary object of promoting the Ukrainian language (till then only in oral use among the peasants) but also a far-reaching political programme. A federation of auton- omous Slavonic states was aimed at.

In 1900 the various Ukrainian political parties began to organize themselves. Of these the most important was that of the National Democrats, founded to fight for equal rights to those of the Poles in Galicia and for the autonomy of the Russian Ukraine as a federated Russian State. In the same year the first Revolutionary Ukrainian party was organized in Lemberg, and in 1905 assumed the name of the Ukrainian Social Demo- cratic Working-men's party. Gradually the efforts of these societies were rewarded by the resurrection of the Ukraine as a result of the break-up of the Russian Empire.

The Ukrainians claim that the relation between them and Russia was purely dynastic, inasmuch as the Tsar was, by treaty, Protector of their State, and that when there was no more a Tsar of Russia they declined to permit the Russian people to succeed to the rights and privileges, of their deposed sovereign. They therefore resumed their long dormant autonomy and founded a provisional Government in the summer of 1917. This Government, supported by the Ukrainian National Congress and the Central Rada appointed by this body, refused to recognize the Bolshevist regime under which Kerensky was supplanted in Oct. 1917. Accordingly, the independence of the Russian Ukraine was proclaimed on Nov. 21 1917, and accredited representatives from France and Great Britain entered into relations with it in Dec. 1917 and Jan. 1918.

Then came the Brest Litovsk meeting and the Treaties of Feb. 9 and n 1918, between the Central Powers and the " Ukrainian People's Republic," treaties which were interpreted by the Rada as a formal recognition of Ukrainian independence, but in effect meant annexation by the Germans. In April 1918 a German coup d'etat overthrew the constitutional Government. Skoropadski was appointed nominally as Hetman but in reality Dictator, and, until the collapse of the Germans on the western front, spared no effort to destroy Ukrainian independence.

After the signing of the Armistice the succeeding steps in the evolution (and subsequent disintegration) of a Ukrainian State were as follows: In Nov. 1918 came the proclamation of the State of the Ukraine of the West (Ruthenian Ukraine), and the conflict of this State with Poland. On Dec. 14 1918 the old Rada of Russian Ukraine was reorganized into a " Directory," with Vinnitchenko and Petlura at its head. On Jan. 3 1919 the union of the Russian and Ruthenian Ukraines was announced, with Hetman Petlura as recognized head of the constitutional Government of the joint republic, having its seat at Kiev.

Subsequently the Ukrainians with varying fortunes resisted in turn or simultaneously the attacks upon their territory made by the Bolshevists on the one hand and by Gen. Denikin's " White " volunteers on the other.

In Feb. 1920 the nominal Government of the Ukraine presented a note to the Peace Conference asking for recdgnition as being a de facto Administration on the same footing with other states which have arisen amid the ruins of Russia. The note pointed out that the population was firmly opposed to Bolshevistic theories and intent upon independence. It asked for the moral support of " Western Civilization " in its task of overthrowing anarchy, and appealed for material assistance to enable it to reorganize its immense resources. Not only did the Ukraine remain unrecognized, but, by the Peace Treaties, large tracts that were claimed as " Ukrainian " (Galicia, Grodno, Minsk, Volhynia, a part of Podolia, Bukovina, Bessarabia) had been previously assigned to Poland, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, or Rumania. Against the delivery of eastern Galicia, in particular, to Polish rule, the " Ukrainian Republic " made a strong protest to the United States in Dec. 1919. At about the same date the

country was described as dotted with a number of miniature republics consisting of a dozen or so towns and villages fortified for defence, each having its own armed force. Gen. Petlura was in Warsaw, and M. Mazeppa, his prime minister, with thei nucleus of the Ukrainian National Government and an army of about 6,000 strong, at Kamenets Podolskiy, and the Government was proving itself totally incapable of organizing the country.

In April understandings were reached with Poland and Rumania, and the Ukrainian army was cooperating with the Poles against the Bolshevist army. On April 27 the Polish Government formally recognized the Ukraine or what remained of their claim as an independent State, and accepted the provisional National " Directory," with Petlura as head, as the Government of the country. In May it was officially stated by Mr. Bonar Law in the British Parliament that conditions in the Ukraine had not been settled enough to warrant the recognition by the Allied Powers of any government set up: there. Later in the year Petlura's Ukrainian Government was' temporarily housed at Reshoff, W. of Lemberg, and in Oct. Gen. ! Wrangel had temporarily become a power in the Ukraine. By Oct. 23 Petlufa had reestablished his Government at Kamenets ! Podolskiy, and his troops were pushing on towards Kiev. On t Nov. 4, in a written reply to a question in the House of Commons the Government stated that the Ukraine had not been recognized either as a de jure or de facto Government. By the Treaty of : Riga between Soviet Russia and Poland, in Oct. 1920, a further large part of the Ukrainian claim passed to Poland.

Reports of happenings in the Ukraine during 1921 were extremely meagre. The defeat and withdrawal of Wrangel's army had no tranquillizing effect on the region, but was, on the contrary, followed by a crop of serious peasant risings. Petlura and the " Ukrainian People's Government " had their headquarters in southern Poland, at Tarnow.

Resources, Industry and Trade. The resources of the Russian Ukraine are naturally very great: covering an area nearly equal to that of France, Italy and England combined, this region contains the best part of the Black Earth zone (the granary of eastern Europe), most of the coal and iron, 80% of the beet, 70% of the tobacco and one-third of the live stock of pre-war Russia. According to figures available during peace-time the total national wealth derived from the different branches of industry in this region was over 265,000,000, of which agricultural products amounted to 158,1 live stock 26-5, metallurgy and mining 37-5, manufactures 30-5,1 poultry 4-5, forestry 4-5 and other sources 5 millions of pounds.

Of the land, 65 % is arable, 10 % forests, 12 % pasturage, 6 % other products and 6% sterile. The grain crop is the main source of agricultural wealth and normally represents 32 % of the total production of grain of the whole Russian Empire. The sugar industry occupies second place: in 1910-1 there were 580,000 ac. under; sugar-beet cultivation. The manufacture of sugar is by far the chief manufacturing industry and 143 out of the 238 sugar factories in the whole of Russia were situated in Podolia, Volhynia and Kiev. The tobacco industry is also of importance, including the cultivation of Turkish, American and other lower-grade varieties. At the beginning of the war the census of the live stock of the region was as follows: horses 8,000,000; horned cattle, sheep and goats 27,600,000; and pigs 6,300,000; and the export of stock, meat and animal products, mostly through the ports of Odessa and Nikolayev, was approximately: cattle (horned), 240,000; horses, 15,000; pigs, 130,000; beef, 9,000 tons; pork and dressed poultry, 12,000 tons; eggs, 65,000 tons; hides, 6,500 tons.

The coal-mining industry is located in the Donets-Basin district, which comprises an area of some 8,poo sq.m. the larger part of which falls within the Ukrainian " claim." The better kinds of coal (anthracite, steam and coke) are obtained in the governments of Ekaterinoslav and Kharkov. Taking the percentage of production in 1915, the Don district amounted to 85-6%, other parts of former Russia 14-4%, and the average production in the years 1913-5 was 20 millions of tons annually. The export is normally carried on at Berdyansk and Mariupol. The output of mercury, found in the district of Ekaterinoslav, increased during the war as follows: 64-5 tons in 1913, 115 tons in 1915, and 100 tons in 1917.

The total exports from nine of the Ukrainian governments between 1909 and 1913 averaged 76,000,000 and the total imports 52,000,000. The exports were, cereals 64 % and sugar 22 per cent. Commerce is much facilitated by the navigability of the Ukrainian rivers, that of the Dnieper being 1,250 m., the Desna 537 m. and the Dniester 521 miles. (H. W. M.)

UNDERWOOD, OSCAR WILDER (1862- ), American politician, was born at Louisville, Ky., May 6 1862. He studied at