New-York tribune., 1899-06-11

arrangements for visiting the various penal es-
Establishments in the Asiatic portion of his DO
minions next month in order TO make a personal
investigation Of the entire matter.
There are two reasons which actuating
the Car in taking steps to bring about this
great work Of reform. In the first place ne
realizes that Siberia has reached a stage OF
development at which it can no longer be
utilized as the dumping ground for people who
Cor one reason or another are not wanted in
European Russia and that the time has come
to remove from Siberia the stigma inseparahle
from its employment by the official "or'd d.
a penal colony And. then too. Nicholas, who
is an enlightened and progressive mon-rch' III
spite OF all the reports to the contrary, l. clever
enough to understand that penal transp'T' 'auon
is a form of punishment which, dating from
three and four centuries ago, should nave no
place in modern civilization, and that 1t mas W
the march Of events been reduced TO an az
achroL.sm.
Although in former days exile to SlperIa was
,egarded as n living death. and its horrors were
painted in such vivid colors that the very "d"e
If this huge section of the empire of the Gar
Was calculated to cause shudder YET to-ods'
thanks to the opening up of the country oy
ships and postal communications, it has gradu-
ally come to be recognized as iauu "
traordinarv natural wealth and of magnih-
cent resources; indeed an ideal region Io'
immigration. To such an extent has 1t recently
grown to he looked upon as land OF promise
that the Russian authorities have been COM
PEELED to devise special means to restrict ana 10
even prevent altogether the wholesale inmlgf@
t..sr an
ton of Jews, and especially, OF those Eeriha"
settlers who are regarded in European hussia
much in the same way as were the Yankees III
the Southern States prior to the Civil war lh"'
is TO say, strangers who by their industry en-
terprise and thrift secure possession ot an 'ne
good things of a district at the experse ot 'ne
natives of the locality. In many respects resi-
dence in Siberia has become more agreeap'e
than west of the Ural range. For, owins 10 'he
vast extent of the country and the comparative
paucty of officials, people enjoy far more ED
erty and are less subject to irksome supervision
on the part Of arbitrary police authorizes III
Siberia than in Russia proper.
OBSTACLE TO INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
one of the chief obstacles to the development
Of the resources of this land of promise mas
been its use as penal colony. Experience has
shown that there is more disastrous oHHh'
cast upon the progress and prosperity OF a couh-
try than an attempt to colonize it with conviets
The almost fantastic growth of the wealth ana
Importance OF the Austraasian colonies of Great
Britain dates only from the time when the lat-
ter ceased to ship her criminal classes 70 the
Antpodes by way OF punishment while the
grandeur of the United States of North America
may be said to have been established when Eng
land, France and Spain were prevented from
dumping any longer upon these shores the dregs
OF their jails In order to realize the extent 70
which Siberia has suffered from penal trans