The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-11-12
SIBERIA.
ITS Manufacturing Industries and Com
mercial Imnortance.

Its Manufacturing Industries and Com
mercial Importance.
In the region of the Am0or the in
dustrjes are OF very small extent. chiefly
on account of lack of means of trans
portation. The only possible commu-
nication at present is upon the rivers.
and is completely closed during a great
part of the year, when the rivers are
impossible for both boats and sledges.
| This is unfortunate. for on the borders
of this immense territory lie important
industrial interests.
At the sources of the tributaries of
the Amoor are gold mines; Kamschatka
and the neighboring islands produce
valuable furs; the island of Saghalin has
rich and excellent coal deposits. More
over, in the southern part, in the So
called Usuri region. are rich timber
lands and some land even capable of
cultivation. The pursuit of these in
dustries, with the fisheries and coal
mines, would make this Usuri region q
valuable source of revenue; at present,
however. they are very slightly de-
velOped. and that mostly by Americans
and Chinese, rather than by Russians.
The latter. however, are making strenu-
Gus exertionS to colOnize the territory,
and thus avail themselves of its re-
sources.
The industries of the two western
provinces, Tobolsk and TomSk, are
somewhat farther advanced; these two
provinces contain over eighty per cent.
of all the manufactures of Siberia.
According to the official reports there
are ?. 800 of these. of which 1.460 are in
Toboisk and eco in Tomsk. In all H.
500 hands are employed. and II, 000.O
roubles value produced annually. The
most important class of manufactures is
that which uses raw animal materials
dyeing and tallow rendering establish
mentS, etc. The class next in import
ance includes the distilleries. brewerieS
and flour mills. Besides these there are
numerous soap, candle and glue fac
tories, carriage factories. rope walks,
felt-boot making establishments, etc.
These latter can scarcely be called
factories, but are rather of the nature
of small workshops. Except the
mines and the smelling works closely
connected with them, there is very little
manufacture of mineral products in
Siberia. There is one exception in the
case of considerable glass works. which
produce 200, 900 roubles' worth annually.
There are also small potteries and brick
kilns. The only textile manufacturing
worthy of notice is done in single
establishment in Tjumen, which pro-
duces annually 200. 000,roubles' worth of
army cloth. The needs of the people
in this line are almost entirely supplied
by household manufactures. Many knit
and woven wooden articles prepared in
this way find market even in European
Russia.
In all the Siberian manufactures there
is almost no national division of labor
or management of capital. The same
person is often both capitalist and
laborer and the production of the raw
material goes hand in hand with the
manufactures. The manufactures are
distributed here and there about the
country, where the raw material is to
be had to the best advantage, for trans
portaton is difficult and costly.
Many products, even those which
have wide demand, produce bad i'm
preston on account of their clumsincss
and taSteless execution. The low stand
ard of living and education among the
peasants, who are the principal custom
ers. is the main cause of this. For
instance, in a town of TobOlsk are pro-
duced coarse, clumsy muskets with flint
locks, which, nevertheless, find ready
sale at good price, even as far as East
Siberia and AmOor.
In general, however, manufacturing
has taken many steps in advance in
Siberia within the last fifteen years. In
many places machinery has taken the
place of hand labor, better processes in
tanning, dyeing, etc., have been intro
duced, and general improvement
is noticeable in the quality of all the
productions. With better means of
transportation and an infusion of Euro
pean enterprise, Siberia will yet con-
tribute an important share to the re-
sources of the world. Science.