The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-11-03
/. ! $1.O0 per year, in advant 9
- Six Months 80 cents.
and Gogols have been very assiduous
in SatjcfviOo tho Nomop1

and Gogols have been very assiduous
in satisfying the demand.
Now comes Mr.. Bonsal and skaters
the whole structure by claiming un-
blushingly that many of the prisoners
in Siberia are in some respects to be
envied by their free compatriots in
European Russia.
The larger number of prisoners sent
to Siberia are peasants who, either
through drunkenness or lack of thrift,
have been unable to accumulate suffi-
cient to take them to the land of gold,
as they call Siberia. Their scheme is
to commit some minor depreciation
against the law, of sufficient gravity to
insure their deportation at the expense
of the government.
Mr.. Bonsal is prepared to have these
assertions meet with incredulity and
surprise, but claims to be swell within
the truth" when he asserts that at least
50 per cent of the prisoners simply look
upon their being sent to Siberia as an
incentive to begin life anew under hap
pier and more prosperous and promis.
ing circumstances.
Prisoners against whose department
and discipline no complaints can be
made are released almost Immediately
upon arrival at their destination, and
most of the leading citizens of the
larger Siberian cities, such as trades
men, doctors and lawyers, and even
members of the civil administration,
are ex convicts.
Many of the prisoners from among
the peasant class, who are not convict
ed of serious crimes, receive when lib
Grated piece of land and small sum
of money together with the necessary
farming implements, after which they
are at liberty to proceed the best way
they can. Wives are permitted to fol-
low their husbands when they are de-
ported to Siberia, and are usually treat
ed very kindly by the officers in charge,
and this permission is generally taken
advantage of by the women. Hus-
bands, on the other hand, who have
the same permission to follow their
wives into exile, seldom take advan-
tage of it, which fact may be taken as
another evidence that women as a rule
are better class of people than men,
from which general statement of fact
hope hear no dissenting voices.
The most certain evidence that Mr..
BonsaPs statements are true is set forth
by him in the fact that not one.fourth
of the exiled prisoners avail themselves
of the permission which is given to re-
turn to their original homes at the ex-
piration of their sentence, although
nostalgia is unusually developed in the
Slavic race. They find their new homes
simply more attractive and the econ
omical conditions more favorable there
than in European Russia.
The writer of this was once soldier
in the Russian army, and the truth of
Mr.. Bonsals statements is most unqual-
ifiedly indorsed. I have often talked
with soldiers who had served as guards
for transports, and while they were
unanimous in detailing the hardships
of the journey, they were no less so in
heir description of the beauty and re-
sources of the country, which L gath
cred from them to be in many respects
similar to the Middle West of the
United States. Many of these soldiers
expressed their determination to return
if possible to Siberia at the expiration
Of their term of military service.
The possibility of ridding society of
it's undesirable element by means of
deportation, and allowing that class to
work out its own salvation, has been
tried frequently, and has generally
proved a glittering success. AS ex-
amples we have Australia, Van Diem
ems Land, New Caledonia, Siberia and
the United States of America, which,
If you will excuse my calling your at
tentiOn to it, was once somewhat large
ly used for that purpose.
If the United States were to appor-
tion share of its neWely acquired
territory for this purpose, merely as an
experiment, it might perhaps furnish
happy solution Of q now somewhat
A.F.o.