Raskolniki

3933

Ratibor

her of President Wilson's Industrial Confer-
ence. In 1928 he served as chairman of the
Democratic National Committee. An active
opponent of the prohibition laws, he polled
the Democratic party leaders in 1931 to deter-
mine their attitude toward repeal of the Eigh-
teenth Amendment. Despite vigorous opposi-
tion from Democrats m the south, he swung
the party to repeal and was considered instru-
mental in obtaining inclusion of a repeal plank
in the platform upon which Franklin D.
Roosevelt was elected President in 1932.

Raskolniki, dissenters, members of non-
comformist sects which have seceded from
the Russian church.

Rasmussen, Knud (Johann Victor)
(1879-1933), Danish Arctic explorer, born at
Jakobshavn, Greenland, the son of a mission-
ary and his Eskimo wife. After an excursion
to Lapland (1901) he joined Mylius Erich-
sen's North Greenland expedition as ethnog-
rapher (1902-04). Three more Greenland ex-
peditions (1905-10) were followed by the
first expedition to Thule (1912-13), where he
established the Kap York station, discovered
Peary records deposited in 1892 and dis-
proved the existence of the Peary Channel.
Altogether he led five expeditions to Thule.
His numerous books include Eskimo Folk
Tales, Across Arctic America and Reports
of the Fifth Thule Expedition (1928-30).

Raspberry. A bramble fruit extensively
grown in home gardens throughout all tem-
perate regions. The black raspberry, R. occi-
dentdtis, is of commercial importance as it is
easily grown, is more productive, and the
fruit stands shipping better than the red va-
rieties, R. strigosus. Raspberries do best on
deep, moist, loamy soil, and promptly respond
to heavy fertilizing with well rotted barn-
yard manure. The black raspberry is propa-
gated by rooting the tips of growing canes
late in the summer. The fruit of the rasp-
berry is borne upon the short fruit stalk pro-
duced from the wood of the previous sea-
son's growth* After the canes have borne
fruit once, therefore, they should be removed,
leaving five or six new canes which come up
from the roots to take their place. Among
the more promising varieties of the blacks
are Gregg, Ohio, and Kansas. Cuthbert is
one of the best of the red varieties.

Rasputin, Gregor Efimovich (1873-
1917), Russian lay monk, whose real name
was Grcgor Eftmovich Novikh. He was born
in Tobolsk, Siberia, ?f peasant stock. In his
dissolute early life he was given the sobriquet
of Raaputin, meaning licentious, or profligate,,

His magnetic powers secured him a follow-
ing even in Court circles, where he was intro-
duced to the imperial family (1907), over
whom he exercised a maleficent influence.
The restoration to health of the young crown
prince Alexis was attributed to his interven-
tion. Stories of his infamous conduct scan-
dalized all Petrograd, and attempts were
made to take his life. Finally he was en-
ticed to the palace of Prince Yussupoff (Dec.
29» ^i?)* where he was poisoned and shot.
See Yussupoff*s Rasputin (1927); M. V.
Rodzianko's Reign of Rasputin (1927); Rene
Fiilb'p-Miller's Rasputint the Holy Devil
(1928).

Rastatt, tn., Baden, Germany. Principal
industries are manufacture of lace and cigars.
The palace is built on the model of that at
Versailles.

Rat, the largest species of the rodent genus
Mus, the smaller members of which are
known as mice.

Ratchet and Pawl. The ratchet is usually
a toothed wheel, into which the pawl, a sort
of lever with a tooth, engages, and allows
forward but prevents backward motion. It
is used in capstans and hoisting machinery
for safety.

Ratchet and Pawl.

Rathenau, Walter (1867-1922), German
statesman, born in Berlin. His efficient or^
ganization at the outbreak of the World Wai
enabled Germany to hold out with raw mate-
rials. Foreign Minister in 1922, at the Cannes
conference he secured a diminution of the re-
parations payment of 1922, and at the Genoa
conference concluded the treaty with Russia.
He was assassinated at Berlin by Erwin Kern,
a naval lieutenant, and Lt. Hermann Fischer,
of the army. The assassins committed suicide
a month later as their capture became im-
minent, but in 1933 officials of the National
Socialist Government dedicated a tablet to
their memory as "martyrs."

Rathenow, tnM prov. Brandenburg, Prus-
sia. The principal industry is the manufacture
of spectacles and telescopes; p. 27,565.

Ratibor, tn., prov. Silesia-Prussia; has
railway workshops and manufactories of