RUSSIANS r. ENGLISHMEN.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPICTATOR."]
Sin,—The opening sentence of the very interesting article in the Spectator of November 16th under the heading " The Russian Trans-Asiatic Railway" is based upon the general but entirely mistaken view that Russians put less value upon time than we. Shocking as it may sound, Russian city men are bred in the exactly opposite belief. It is a current saying in St. Petersburg that if you want a man to do steady and methodical work, you should get a German or an Englishman; if you want a man to do work rapid and long-continued, though very probably subject to interruption by physical collapse in consequence, none will do it like a Russian. The rate of mortality amongst city men, according to the statistical tables in use with the Russian insurance companies, is higher than the rate here, and its being higher is quite acknowledged to be due to work pursued with feverish pertinacity from year-end to year-end without pause, which causes the sudden and utter breakdown (to an extent believed to be unknown elsewhere) of men in.the prime of life and strong to outward
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