On Tuesday, March 3 (February 19 by the old-style calendar), seventy-five years had elapsed since Emperor Alexander II. signed the historically important manifesto by which he liberated the Russian peasants from serfdom. Abolition of serfdom put an end forever to the ignobility of slavery and opened up for Russian peasant the road toward the free life of a citizen. Such outstanding events seldom occur in human history, and for that reason a noble and grateful posterity cherishes for a long time the memory of them.

In America the day of the emancipation of the Negroes from slavery is practically a national holiday, and the liberator himself is regarded as a national hero. It would be unpardonable in us if we, on our part, failed to commemorate the day when our Russian brothers were set free by the Emperor Alexander II., who later was called the Liberator.

Like the majority of people, most of us Russian immigrants in America are derived of peasant stock, and for that reason not only in Russia but here also March 3 should be our national holiday. In the last few years in Chicago the praiseworthy custom of commemorating great Russians has taken root. Following this custom, we shall duly and solemnly honor the day when the peasants were relieved of the yoke of serfdom by the great Emperor, who like his contemporary, Abraham Lincoln, liberator of the Negroes, met his death in martyrdom at the hands of an assassin.