The daily life of a big city

In 1913, Russia celebrated 300 years of rule by the House of Romanov and 21 February was declared a holiday. An army parade was held in Baku and meals were distributed for free across the city. According to a decision taken by the Duma, the Telefonnaya Street was renamed Romanov Street (it is now 28 May Street). On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the rule of the House of Romanov, G. Z. Tagiyev allocated 5,000 rubles to the Baku School of Marine Engineers. The money was to be spent on student scholarships. An amnesty was declared in the country and people serving short sentences were released from prisons. The city administration decided that about 60 prisoners were released from the central prison located in Shamakhinka; 13 criminal and 52 administrative offenders were released from Bailovsk. 

The main celebrations were naturally held in St Petersburg. To participate in the celebrations, a Baku delegation also left for the capital of the empire. Members of the city council, Isa Bay Hacinski and Yusup Dadasev, were selected to participate in the celebrations. A vote was held in which Dadasev gained 22 votes and Hacinski got 18 votes. Haci Mehdi-bay Qulubay oglu Asurbayov and Rza-bay Sulimxanov were entrusted with presenting the Bay community. Three foreigners: Emmanuel Nobel, Gukasov and Mukhin represented the Baku oil industry in St Petersburg. This strongly demonstrates who controlled Baku's oil at the time.

It wasn't just the oil industry that was controlled by foreigners. Foreigners also demonstrated their power over the indigenous Azeri population in other ways. There was an educational commission under the city administration which was in charge of all schooling affairs of Baku. The commission also dealt with the distribution of city scholarships in the empire's higher education institutions and schools across the city. Free city scholarships for university students were overwhelmingly given to ethnic Armenian students. Just two Azeri students received one-time grants of 50 roubles. The reason for this was very simple: the commission was led by Ioanesyants, an ethnic Armenian member of the city council. 

This incident was used by caricaturists from the Muslim humorous magazine Kalniyat. Two caricatures were placed in the January edition of the magazine. One depicted the chairman of the city educational commission handing out scholarships to students and the other one - Muslim students carrying stones on one of the Petersburg bridges in an effort to earn money during non-study hours.