The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-21
HE SIBERIAN RAILROAD.
IMPORTANT RUSSIAN OFFICIAL.
SAYS LINE WILL BRING
WEALTH TO US.

by Millions Almost to Our Doors.
Valuable Commercial Plum Nearly
Ready for the United States to
PIuck-HighIy Significant Express
siOns of Friendship.
(By Vladimir Teplow, Imperial Consul
General of Russia, at New York;
New York, Jan. 19.-Next to Russia her
self, no country in the world will reap so
much benefit from the completion of the
| trans-Siberian Railroad as the United
States. The benefits it will confer on this
country are so vast that I am surprised
that the facts have not been made clear
to your people long ago.
See what it will do--this railroad. 1t
will throw wide to your commerce the
portals of a country as great in area as
the United States itself. In that country
dwell millions who must depend upon their
neighbors, at least for many years to
come, for their manufactures And the
nearest of these neighbors among manu-.
featuring nations. who will they be? The
people of the United States Il will be
| as though You had continued your own
| great trans-continental railroad lines
! which now end at the Pacifcs eastern
shore-to Asia the Pacific steamships be-
| ing only links in the chain mere ferries.
The new country that will find its out
| let at Vladivostock is purely agricultural
It's manufactures. like the manufactures
of Russia herself, are comparatively I'M
! important. Our great wealth lies in our
| forests and fields, and for many years this
state of things must continue. The Unit
ed States then, as the most accessible
manufacturing neighbor, must be looked
! to as the source from which we may pro-
| cure the machinery necessary to develop
| and work our great area of agricultural
and wooded lands. To the United States
| also, we must look for the machinery with
which we shall develop the great mineral
| deposits that surveys show exist In ST.
! IBERIA and the adjacent territory.
A Bit of Prophecy.
From the day on which the first through
| train is hauled over the new railroad, ex-
pect 10 see the result I predict manifest
! itself both in your Pacific coast cities and
| inland, al your manufacturing centers.
Much of the material for the construc-
ton and operation of the completed Sec
lions of the road has come from the Unit
| ed States. Already, then you have had
great benefits from the enterprise. But
! what you have had is merely drop in the
| bucket. The real benefit will come when
| the road is regularly opened for business.
when communities are building up along
its line, when areas now uninhabited and
| undeveloped shall spring into life under
the. magic touch of immigration. Amer
| lean capital and American enterprise win
| be tremendous factors in Siberia then,
! and there will be no section of your coun-
| try, North, South, East or West that
will not be affected favorably. Your mill
ionaire and your workingman will equally
feel the stimulus.
At the present day Russia imports from
the United States many times as much
as she exports to this country. Last year
we took from you products worth more
! than $50 600 000 while you took from rs
products worth only 81, 100000. This shows
how much we need your products and how
glad we are to get them You sent us
principally machinery. We sent you
small part of our agricultural crops
Now, when this new railroad is finished,
we shall not only add vastly to your field,
but we shall also bring our markets to
your very doors. No other manufactur-
ing nation is so situated that it can reach
this new commercial area TO so good ad-
vantage. The United States through its
Pacific ports, will then enjoy privileges
that coupled with the conditions which
have given you such an important place
in the worlds commerce, will enable yol
to do business under favoring circum-
stances that other nations cannot change,
either in the immediate present or in the
years TO come.
Russian Friendship for America.
Not the least of your advantages lies in
the fact that Americas people and
Americas products are alike immensely
popular with the people of Russia and
her possessions. The feeling of goodwill
| exists alike among the masses and the
classes. An American is always welcom-
ed in Russia. whether he visits the hut
49,. 10. Loo. q hr ,,.1b11
In town and in country, In St Peters
burg and in the farming districts, we all
speak of Americans as our Brothers
across the sea"
This feeling is literally all-pervasive.
1t may not be easy to trace its origin
and growth but it is easy enough to dem
onstrate that it exists. No observant
American who has ever visited Russia can
have failed to notice 1t. We seem, in our
country, to grow up with a strong love
for the enterprising people on this side of
the world. This sentiment is as strong
with the individual as 1t is with the ma
ton. 1 suppose that with as individ-
uals, it is largely because we as a nation
took sides with the United States at the
time of her severest struggles.
4 Historical Reference.
This must naturally have had it's infu-
ence on us as a people. and with the pas
sage of time our good feeling for you has
spread among US until now as l have
said, the peasant and the noble, the mer-
chant and the farmer all alike look upon
all Americans as their brothers. The
sentiment manifests itself in all sorts of
striking ways No American warship
ever visits our waters that is not received
with enthusiastic demonstrations both on
the part of our people and our authori-
| ties.
When. during your Civil War, some Of
the European governments We're almost
actively hostile while nearly all were
! apathetic, Russia never wavered for a mo-
ment in her friendship for the United
States. She showed openly and clearly
| where she stood. How much influence
| her action had i'm moulding Dublic senti-