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Ukrainian Government will be obliged to take into account the needs of a national industry and if it (the mines of Donetz, for example) requires a market in Russia for a part of its production, it will be necessary to settle this question. It must take into consideration the interests of Russia herself so as to avoid any political conflicts with the northern neighbour.
The Ukraine and Northern Russia, although two agricultural countries, totally differ in their social and economic life. Russia is more directly connected with Asia, and is interested in the exploitation of its immense wealth. The Ukraine, on the other hand, is a country attached to the West. From the agricultural point of view the two countries are also very different. In Russia, the Commune (the Mir) plays a considerable part. In the Ukraine the small private ownership occupies the principal place, and in this respect she resembles France. There still remains in the Ukraine some large estates which are more or less artificial, but the tendency is to partition them, and the question, when it arises, will be definitely settled in the sense of "the land for the people."
The economic forces of the Ukraine, which have developed in spite of all the hindrances brought about by the Tsarist régime, constitute the best guarantee that the Ukraine, in re-appearing again on the world's stage as a free State, will not renounce the rank to which she has the right.
Her population is industrious and capable of progressing very quickly. The enormous development which has taken place in the Ukraine through the co-operative societies formed by the peasants themselves during the last few years shows it in a very striking manner.
CHAPTER IV.
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
From the preceding one concludes that the Ukraine possesses all the necessary elements for the formation