The morning call., 1895-02-24

living along the line of the new railroad. I
rode through the veins of coal in my trip
over the line the grades being cut right
through the coal fields. These are not far
from Vladivostok, and there may yet be
great manufactures in Siberia The island
of SaghaIien is said to be underlaid with
coal, and there are vast coal mines near
Tomsk, on the line of the railroad. There
are, in fact, coal mines all over Siberia. and
the silver and lead deposits are very large.
There are ninety different mines of silver
in one region alone, and there are lead
mines in the eastern part of the country
There are 400 different copper mines in an
other region, and it is almost impossible to
estimate the mineral wealth of Siberia.
The western part of the country has been
producing silver for years, and the Altai
Mountains are one of the richest mining
regions of the world.
Siberia is a very rich country agricul-
turally, and Russia is colonizing it as fast
as she can. It has millions of acres as fat
as the Red River Valley, and it will even
tually be one of the great wheat-raising
| countries of the world. There were a hun
bred thousand Russian immigrants in
| 1892 and the Gar has now special line of
steamers, whose business is to carry Rus
slams from the Black Sea and the Baltic
around to Siberia. They take them in
| colonies and land them at Vladivostock, or
at the ports of the AMOR River. They
are given great advantages as to lands, but
the land is usually parceled out to the
communities and the villagers own the
land in common, as they do in Russia.
This, it seems to me, is a great mistake.
| No country can be developed to its full
| extent except by individual ambition and
Individual effort for individual gain. The
chief trouble in Russia to-day is in it's lana
system. If the land of the Russian empire
were held by individuals instead of by vii
lagos the country would be one of the
richest on the globe. As it is, it is only
half farmed. No one cares to work when
| he has land in common with his neighbors,
and the most shiftless farmers on the globe
to-day are the Russian peasants. Land in
| Siberia found to be sold very cheap The
rates are less than those of our Govern
ment lands, and if [ remember correctly
they are three rubles per desiatine, or about
a dollar an acre in gold. The laws of
Siberia are such that individuals can buy
| land if they wish it, but the peasants seem
to like the village system best They stick
to their old habits and Siberia is likely to
be a second Russia.
was struck with one thing in nv visit
to Siberia, and that was that the Russians
propose to hold the country for them
selves. They don t intend TO throw it open
to the world, though they are glad to have
citizens who win take an oath of allegiance
to Russia and become Russian subjects.
The laws of the country are now such that
only Russian citizens can acquire property,
develop mines or do business. One of the
requirements of citizenship is that the ap-
plicant must be able to speak Russian, and
the people do not propose to be overrun by
a lot of foreign-speaking aliens as America
IS. The mines are open to all the Rus
slams with the single proviso, as I said,
that the Government have the first chance
at the output 1t has already established
smelling houses and assay stations through
out the country, and it takes gold and sill
yer at its market rates. taxing it certain
| percentage, | believe, for the Gear. l was
told that the gold mines of Siberia turned
out last year $45 900 000 worth of gold, and
that there is a single mine not far from
| Vladivostock which has produced Sc, 900 600
| in a single year. l met some rich mine
owners in Vladivostock, and I heard all
sorts of big stories. One mine, which was
! originally listed at $40 a share. has stock
which is now worth $4,000 share, and
! large fortunes have been made out of silver
! The timber resources are enormous, and
after America is denuded of its forests it is
probable that the world Will have to go to
| Siberia for its large timber.
l was much surprised at the extent of
Eastern Siberia. I had an idea that the
AMOR River ran into the sea not far from
| VladiyoStock. 1t always looked to me so
on the map. I told Mr.. Bryner that I
thought l would take little run up the
! AMOR and he informed me that I was
about four days ride by steamer from it's
mouth. He told me that the river was one
of the finest in the world. 1t is nine miles
wide at its mouth, and vessels drawing
twelve feet of water can sail up it 600
miles, while vessels of light draft can go
1000 miles into the interior on this stream
| met one young man who was in business
at the town of Nichoievsk, which is the
| chief city of the Amoor. 1t is a town of
$500 people, and it does big business with
| all Northern Siberia There are forty-seven
and the Russian volunteer feet, bringing
immigrants, comes there many times
every summer. This town, like Vladi-
vostock, is to large extent military set
Element, and the Cxar has his soldiers
scattered all over Siberia. L was told that
he had something like $4,000 men in the
eastern half of the country and he is syste-
matically making it a Russian empire by
colonizing it as he does. Every year or so
the boundary is moved little further
south, and there is yet possibility that
Russia will take more from China than she
has done in the past. The great trans
Siberian road, which is now being pushed
at three different points along the line, will
form a line of communication by which
Russia will be able to control the Asiatic
trade, and there is no telling as to whether
she will not control great part of the
territory of Asia as we'll This road was
begun at Vladivostock, and it is now being