The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1900-11-23
THE PEOPLE OF SIBERIA.
Not as Much as Four Per Cent. nj
Them Are Convicts or PoIit-
zeal ExiIes.

Statistics have their value whep
gwen comparatively. In following up
the analogy which was always present
in my mind in crossing Siberia, writes
Anna y. Ben iamin, in Ainslee's. the
analogy between that country and the
United States, it is interesting to COM
pare the area and population of both.
Siberia has 100000 square miles to our
3,500,OO0, while our population is TO-
100000 overshadows the 5,150OOO of
Kussla's Asiatic. possessions. OF this
number Go per cent are Russians, the
rest indigenous. But this average is
brought down by the low per cent. of
russians in the extreme north. which,
as in northern Canada, is left almost
entirely to the aboriginal Eskimo, and
to the hardy fur trader, while in south
ern Siberia from 60 to 80 per cent. are
Russians. Not four per cent. of all
the Russians are convicts or political
eXlles. The number of convicts varies
in the different sections. In the gov
eminent of Tomsk, in the west, thew
only amount to one-siXth per cent,
which necessarily makes much higher
average in some of the other provinces.
These facts are fatal to the theory that
the Siberian population is composed
mostly of criminals and the sons of
The Russians find the great northern
steppes as bleak and as inhospitable
as do the Canadians. Yet the mineral
deposits and the fur trade attract
certain population. It's extraordinary
o read of the early conquests of the
Russians in this country. and of their
1rst settlements here, though there
we're no visions of an Ell Dorado to draw
men on.
None of the country north of the
Amur ever belonged to China, though
hat is the popular idea. 1t was in
abited by independent tribes. some
f which were subject to the Chinese
hrone in a very roundabout way. pay
lg tribute to M:nchu Khan. who. in
urn, paid tribute to the Son of Heaven.
1 finally obtaining possession of the
4gion. the Russian government was
rged on by its individual representa-
YES there. not by its own avowed pol
Y. as it is to-day. The chief of these
as Muravieff. whose name will ever
connected with Siberia as the name
Washington is with our own coun-
v. In 1855. in a treaty drawn up at
lgun, where the Russians and Chinese
I've recently came in conflict. the Chi
'se relinquished all claim to the left
nix of the great river. From that
re dates southern Siberia's mush-
ON growth. Nladivostock is one of
e fruits of it; Khabaroffsk. at the
d of this eastern section of railroad,
another. Each city is less than SO
ars old, and each bears a striking
as do all the Siberian
les, to our centers of quick growth
the west. Only large garrison Gre
IS military society, which element
the population differentiates these
les from ours. Absent, too, is the
nosphere of nervous enterprise and
'iness push, the result of which the
nkee terms "hustling." The Ameri-
city owes its birth and life to the
rgy of the individual. the Siberian
: owes its founding and its contin-
existence to the government. A
Is not selected in accordance with
economics of business. but on &C.
Mt of military exigeney. The city's
ure of life does not depend upon
m, but on the convenience of the
eminent. Private individuals NAV
wv in the path automatically blazed,
turn whatever is possible to their
advantage, but the city is not
e for them, but for the government.
pite of this fact. business IL rives.
men are making money, which
Ks well for Siberia.