The morning call., 1893-08-12
THE TRUTH ABOUT SIBERIA.

The Russian Governments side of the
Siberia story has just been presented with
some force by GermaD-Max Behrman-
WIN tersely sums up the case in the phrase
that Siberia is an asylum for moral im-
beciles. Five per cent OF the exiles are
politcal offenders, who tried to secure the
triumph of their political principles by
throwing dynamite bombs, by under
mining railroads, by numbering Governors
and generals. by demolshing public build
ings, by assassinating traitors to "the
cause" The other ninety five are common
criminals. who have been guilty of muir
der, rape. burglary, robbery and atrocIous
cruelty. In any other country these GRIM
inals would have been hanged or executed
In Russia the law forbids capital punish
ment except in cases of political oHenSes
of the gravest character The RUSSIAN
peasant is type of very low ofder Vi
humanity. He throttleS his vile, lynches
a suspected thief, buTies old women as
witches, beats a Jew to death Win
wagon-spoke, exhibits all the traits OF par-
barous brutality which marked the ancient
Muscovite. He is incapable OF learning
obedience to law. When. at the instlgatlon
of Igp ateff, in 1881. the last Jew batting
raid broke out the Government was COM
pelled to shoos down or exile ten thousand
rioters before the raid was checked.
Tran sferred to Siberia these savage law
breakers are controlled by force and cru
eltv. If a thousand of them were confined
in one of our penitentiarIes they would
break out in revolt, would lose certain
proportion of their number in the fight and
their families with unheard-of brutality
According to Russian theory it is only
possible to keep them in subsection by
methods as savage as themselves
The empire of Russia contains many
millions more people than the United
States. or these people the great bulk
are ignorant. and little effort is being
made to educate them. Only per cent
of the aggregate population are at school,
and of the recruits for the army lily 20 per
cent can read and write It's easy to conceive
what must become OF a passionate, lawless
race when it is allowed to ripen in such
ignorance. Siberia seems to be the only
alternative to a Draconian code. 1t is a
place of infamy, Of course, but Is 1t not IN
a measure a necessity?
lHeE6 are III OlDSIld ali tOlu dUUut
4.3C0, 900 people. original settlers, convcts
and their descendants. There are no sta
It's tics to show how these several classes
compare in numbers, but the annual sup
ply of convicts appears to be at present
about 70, Goo From the fact that the death
rate is on 10 per cent. and the birth rate
SO, it NAV be inferred that the country is
healthy. and that the ialleTs. brutal as they
are, do not depopuate the j4ils. The
country is said 10 be full of natural re-
sources, but the inhabitants have done
little or nothing to develop them. Under
parallel conditions the convcts OF Botany
Bay and Tasmania developed a country
which attained high degree of pros Derity.
The Russian cunvicts seem content with
leading life little above that of animals.
Now and then a man of culture and high
attributes is carried away by his passions
or by political theories and is sentenced to
a Siberian prison. Those who see him
herding with brutes and exposed to the
lash of brutal sergeant deplore his sad
fate. 1t is deplorable indeed. But the
remedy for Siberian wrongs must be APP
piled at the other end. The chief fault
lies not in the province of Tobolsk OF
Irkutsk, but in the rural population of
EurODean Russia.