Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-09
A GROWING CITY
Vladivostok is Destined to Become a
Great Northern Center.
RUSSIA'S GREATEST SIBERIAN PORT
Commerce, Customs, People and
Possibilities for American Trade.
LAWS AGAINST FOREIGN EMS


i,-ostok as booming And booming 1t is-in
q Russian sense The Siberian railroad
work calls for many supplies In the form
of TOOLS machinery and provisions that are
brought to and sold through Nladivostok,
and from this place are also sent goods and
provisions used in a large back country
The demand for machinery and mlscela-
peous supplies Is steadily increasing. ana
In the very nature of things must continue
to increase. Say all there Is to be said OF
Siberia's natural resources-and 1t seems
impossible to say too much-the Industrial
conditions are against the country becom-
ing self-sustaining. The Siberian or the
peasant and other common classes is 100
often lazy and shiftless, has not thought OF
the morrow and does not take kindly to
farming life. Farming in eastern Siberia,
Under the most favorable Russian condi-
tons according to what l have seen and
heard, will not reduce the demand for food
stuffs from the United States, for the rea-
son that the population of this portion OF
Siberia is growing faster than the agri-
cultural output.
The talk of eastern Siberian wheat com
peting with Pacific coast wheat is boSh
The kernel of the Siberian wheat Is small
and damp and makes poor flour and the
wheat cannot be improved. The fneSt
samples of American wheat sown in this SOIL
at once degenerates into Siberian wheat,
media ely yields the standard article OF the
golden state. Siberia is sui generis. The
arctic plants and animals are seen in lower
ATTITUDES iii Siberia than in any other coun-
try in the world, and animals and plants
peculiar to the temperate and even the
tropical zone are found in southern Siberia.
The tiger grows larger in Siberia and has
a richer fur than his famous mate In INDIA
and SO in plant life.
No Place for a Foreigner.
Tvs in, J1af ha
draw more and more heavily upon the out
side world for machinery, manufactured ar
tioles and Ioodstuffs. A good country for
the rowing American? Not by any means.
The foreigner who succeeds in Siberia must
have rare tact, a good financial backing and
the faculty of minding his own business
You enter the country on passport, live
In the country by official permission or the
government, and the police authorities per
NIT you to leave. You cannot enter Vlad-
ivistok until the chief of police has seen
your passport, and no agent Will sell you
ticket for an outgoing ship or steamer
until the chief of police has said you may
leave. You cannot live at hotel without
registering your name, occupation, etc,
on d police certiticate and you may be sure
the landlord will promptly poke the paper
under your and ask your signature.
Americans have succeeded and are sue
ceedlng in Siberia in a few instances, but
their success is due to partnership with
whom business and concessions have been
secured. No foreigner may buy real estate
in Nadivostok. The law forbids it. A few
pieces of land that We're acquired years ago
are held by Americans, and the smart ad-
vance in city lots in the last two years has
Injured to their advantage, but i'll future the
Russian will be the sole beneficiary of his
boom Foreigners have to learn how TO do
business in Siberia, and the number of for
e.gn houses is small. First of all, you must
respect Russian custom You take off your
hat when you enter store, and remove
your oVercoat and oVerShoe5 before enter
ing house office. Religion and loyalty
are synonymous terms with the Russian. If
above the common grade he Is a Stickler for
formality. Society and government are both
bureaucratic. No matter what hour of the
Gay you make an official call or call on a
high official, you must wear your dress suit.
This rule Is imperative. The official hour
for calling is O'Clock in the morning.
How the City is Ruled.
Nladvostok is nominally ruled by a
mayor and council who elected by the
few hundred residents entitled to vote, but
the city is really dominated by Maj. Gen.
Tsh!tsnagof, governor of the maritime
province of Vladivostok, a soldier of fine
record and distinguished appearance, whose
courtesy l have cause to hold in grat eful
recollection. / met him the day after he
assumed charge of the district. and he was
kind enough to spare half an hour from his
official duties to talk of Siberia and its
prospects. Like all other high officials with
whom l came In contact, he is ambitious
for the speedy development of the country,
and believes that development will aid the
commercial interests of the United States
We were in Nladivostok a week, and had
a fair chance to catch the spirit of tn.
place; to see that large business calls for
Il rare combination of cleverness and COM
mercial courage; to see that the merchant
or mercantile agent must be equal to deal
ing in every commodity. from an eyelet to
machine for unloading coal at the rate of
100 tons an hour: to see with pleasure and
pride two American sailing ships enter the
harbor the same day, and note that a sin
gle japanese flag was the only other for
eign signal in port.
AS soon as the Siberian railway shall
have been finished and the fare from St
Petersburg to this point fixed at the rate
already decided upon-120 rubles (sBD-
Nladivostok Will take on metropolitan airs
Even now pretty theater of modern arch
itecture and equipment, stalls boxes, fold
ing chairs, etc, seating 500 persons Is
about to he opened in blaze of glory In
an educational way the city makes an ex-
attend the seven schools. The general
stores show the spring goods of late de-
Signs. quite up to our standard, and the
two leading stores have ready-made suit
wrap and millinery departments where
gowns and hats of modern style may be
Bought. The wives of the officers and mer-
chants were more stylishly dressed than the
majority OF women We in Shanghai,
the swell city of the orient. The sailor hat
las reached Siberia, and Is worn by wo-
men and children OF all classes and all
ages. Siberian matrons and maids are fire.
Quently dissatisfied with the designs of
swagger American hatters and too often
mar the intended effect of the trim sailor
by loading 1t with snowy feathers and flow
ers- The Tam O'Shanter Is popular with
small girls, and Is made in coiors that set
the teeth on edge An occasional tam band
on the hat of a school girl bears the name
OF Russian ship. The schoolboy no mat
ter how small. wears the cap and high
boots of the accepted Russian dress, and
his gray blouse Is always confined with a
shining black belt and metal buckle His
pranks on the street prove that he is
good running mate for his lively American
brother.
No Exiles There.
We did not meet any exiles as such in
VladiVostok, but had a daily view of
as fine an assortment of jailbirds as any
place show. The city jail is a one
story wooden building. and stands in
yard bounded by spike-topped wooden
fence The soldiers on guard day and
night, and from our windows we could
see sentinels marching to and fro on the