, 1885-04-26
ExILEs IN
Their Treatment said to be Liberal
and Humane.

pcIAA dc Nuou1 ctTOucOuss II tue hlAtc-
ments Of Mr.. Enoch Emory are true.
This gentleman is a Russianized Ameri-
can who has lived for a long time at the
mouth Of the Amoor river.
Don't you find the vast number Of
conyicts sent to Siberia a great curse to
its ad~vancement2n he was recently asked
by n reporter for the San Francisco
Chronicle.
We'll, III tell you; that's a good deal
like the wolf yarns The fact is that
these convicts have really built up our
country, and instead of being a curse, we
gladly welcome them. Their injurious
influence is much like the cruelty and
brutality with which they are alleged TO
be treated. Both equally absurd and sen.
sational. The fact is, that with a very
few exceptions, in the case of hardened
and hopeless criminals, no penal institu-
tons in existence compare with those in
Siberia for liberal and humane treatment,
and even the boasted model prisons OF
England and America are cruel and bar
barous compared to the comfort and ease
that awaits the exile in the frigid regions
OF Siberia. You know there two classes
Of exiles-those who lose their entire po-
liticaf rights and those who are only par
tally deprived Of their privileges. The
latter, after a short term Of confinement,
are usually allowed te have their own
homes and TO engage in business fr
themselves, subject only to official sur
yeillance, and generally become happy
and frequently prosperous. This is almost
always the case with political exiles. Take
the Poles, for instance, they were the real
cause Of the growth and prosperity Of
lrkutsk. When they were banished in
1916 they were sent to that place, but by
the leniency Of their treatment they soon
became satisfied and gradually introduced
manufacturing industries and other mer-
camille pursuits, until from a struggling
frontier post lrkutsk became the CHIEF
city and capital Of Siberia, with Il popula-
ton of nearly $4,000. In 1874, when the
Poles were pardoned, comparative few re-
turned homeland many Of these came
back after a short stay and have since re-
manned in their formerly enforced home,
where they could do better than in Pc.
land. Thus it is with other prisoners,
and Siberia to-day has a better, brighter.
and more ci.ilized class of residents and
finer looking villages than the towns Of
European Russia, for in most cases their
residents are made up of the most intelli.
gent classes, whose superior minds have
reyolted at the severity of the national
government and from this cause have beer
led into political troubles, from which
their duller, %plodding brethren have es-
capped. And as TO that class who are kept
in confinement, they have nothing to dc
but to eat drink and be merry for the
government n n begin to find work for
them all, and So in many cases the more
energetic among them actually beg for
some work to keep them occupied"
How many offenders are annually
banished to that country
We'll, of course, that is Il little difficult
to tell, though ms | have been permitted
very extraordinary liberty in visiting the
various prisons and penal institutions. ]
can form a pretty accurate opinion. ]
should say that probably 10000 a year are
transported across the mountains, per
haps one-fourth of this number being
women-some of these are under sentence
themselves, or follow their husbands into
exile. OF course, many of these exiles re-
turn home after their term Of Punishment
has expired, 80 that I should Judge that
as many as 5000 every year turn their
faces toward the Western ocean, and il
would bring tears to the f%intiest hearts to
see their hapLiness aid uncomfortable joy
at being permit ! to once more call them.
selves free As a rule, however, these
are the young people who have left sweet
hearts or lovers behind, and expect to 6nd
tlam NlSii open arms ard hearts ns warm
as wien the march commenced TO then
. fv l,say icy prison. The c%onvicls are
tr,s,srted very comfortably. in thes,
Z 1ays- the old FOO larches which gave
il~ to all the stores i. terrible privation
@j 'arbarous treatment having been en-.
tireb Discontinued, except on the farther
est confines of Eastern Siberia, where