Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-08-17
CROSSES SIBERIA IN MIDwINTFR.
Traveller Says the stories of Cruelty
to ENiles Are ENnggernteh.

Lieut.. Col. Waters. military attache to
the British embassy at st. Petersburg.
who has just arrived in London. has
given some interesting particulars of his
journey across Siberia. Leaving st.
Petersburg Dec. 10 he travelled by rail to
krasnoiarsk, which he reached on Jan. 4.
There he started forth on sledges for a
drive of nearly 1000 miles For hun
dreds of miles he iourneyed night and
day, with but little sleep. till Lake Baikal
was reached. Crossing the lake was an
exceedingly difficult matter, as the ice
was in q dangerous condition. being thin
in some places and heaped UP in others.
On Jan. 81 he reached Kiakhta, on the
Russo-Chinese frontier. whore he was
laid up for a week month later Stryel-
ensk was reached. Here will be the ter
minus of the Siberian portion of the
great railway 10 Nladivostock. In an
other month he arrived at Khor. where
he took the train to Nladiyostock, which
he reached on March %
This journey is unique. inasmuch as II
is the first time that Siberia has been
crossed throughout in the dead OF winter.
Col. Waters says that lie experienced the
greatest courtesy from the Russian Of
ficials throughout the whole route. On
two points Col Waters has formed strong
convictions. These are the trans-Siberian
railway and the treatment of siberian
prisoners. With regard to the former he
says:
Its commercial value is immense. The
line will open up both agricultural and
mineral resources, which, for practical
purposes. are almost ineXhaustible. ST.
IBERIA can produce about every kind of
cereal, all sorts of live stock. and il pos
sesses in abundant quantities the more inl-
portant minerals precious and otherwise
1.-The construction Of Il railway through
Manchuria will open up country exceed
irgly rich i'm gold and very valuable from
an agricultural point of view. There axe,
/ kr ow, some who think that the great
Undertaking VIII affect British commerce.
! am not of that opinion. Our CONNER
cial interests in Manohura are of the
slightest. 1t will affect commerce locally.
by cheapening freights. and will seriously
affect steamship PASSENGER traffic.
From any town in Europe. passengers
Il the Pacific will be able TO travel by the
railway either first or third class much
more chcaply and eXpeditiously than by
sea, and this including the cost of food
en- route, with occasional stOppages of q
da' here and there. l should say the line
cannot be opened for through traffic in
less than four years. aud then the whole
journey of over G,0O1 miles Will be accom-
plished in about sixteen days"
On the exile question. Col. Waters said :
''f can deny with absolute authority the
oft repeated stories Of Siberian horrors
and Russian cruelty During my journey
ir mid-winter. when, according to the
statements of some. TIE traveller might
expect to come across chained gangs of
prisoners on their way to the mines, many
dying unheeded on the roadsides | saw
nothing of the KIM. In the depth of a
Russian winter. with % deg. of frost
| found those exiles travelling in comfort
smoking and singing. In every case they
were well clothed and well fed AS a
matter of fact. in the majority of cases
the Siberian exile is far better off than IL
he were al home"