The evening times., 1900-01-25
MIGRATION TO SIBERIA
The Aid Given by the Government
TO Russian Settlers.
an Absence of Credit Except ut Ruin
Gus Rates of Interest Great Hard
pitfalls Along the RRilway-Many
Fail to Reach Their Destinations.

VIadivostock, has written 10 the state De
partment as follows;
The Khrestianin settlements in the
Amur territory are situated as follows: On
the vast lowland plain. which is bounded
on the west by the RIVER Zeya. on the east
by Boory. on the nor'h by the River Beer
mOy. and on the south by the River Amur.
The coast line of the River Amur is occu-
pied by COssacks and Chinese Russian sub
iects. The most nOrthe N settlement on the
River Zeya is situated l43 miles from its
source. The most eastfriy settlement from
Zeya is situated on its tributary, the
Boondoond
On the right high bank Of the River
Zeya there are nine settlements; on the
AmU. above tie outlet OF the River -Zeya,
four; on the a nur. below theaZeya, there
are also four settlements Beside these,
there are four more settlements on the land
belonging to the Cossacks Of the Amur
militia.
The government consists Of the military
governor OF the territory. the district Off
Ger. the immigrant officer. the assistant
attorney of the district court. the district
treasurer. and the village police COM
missary. who is also the justice of the
peace
Misunderstanding one Unitarian church.
nine chapels. and one house OF prayer
and twelve public schools.
There are seventy grain elevators
at present Each settlement has its own
elevator. with the exception OF those set
Elements which have been recently formed.
In four of the principal settlements twelve
fairs are held annually; in three, they have
weekly markets.
"On January 7. 1891. there were o 593
families, numbering A. .943 persons namely
1878 males and z0.965 females. including
1854 males from the age Of sixteen 20
sixty, who are obliged TO pay taxes and
are subject 20 military obligations
According 90 religion they are divided
as follows: Greek Catholics. 1924; Unita-
rians, "a orthodox and dissenters 1 1.3S4.
Fifty per cent Of the sett emeutS are Little
Russians the rest are Great Russians.
The first came from European Russia: the
majority OF the second from the provinces
in western siberia.
The settlement Of the Amur territory
by agriculturists began in 1859. with the
. establishment Of the village OF Astrakhan,
on the River Zeya. not far from Biago-
vestchensk.
The formation OF the settlements is
shown i'm the following statement. Deca e
ended 1869, 3S settlements; 1879. il set
.
/ sediments total, 10 settlements.
For the use Of the settlers Of the Amur
+ territory there are provided sos .206 acres
Of land. There is a proposition TO open
/ l5S.sS0 acres more or 96J. $50 acres for
! the use Of 6.955 gamilies instead OF the
/ 6S5.3oO acres originally provided. All the
/ land given 10 settlers is counted as grants;
not as their property The total sowiug g
. acreage In 1897 was 5l.l13 acres. an in
. NJ
/ Live stock belonging to the settlers on
/ January /. 1897. was Horned cattle. 81
/ ESQ; horses. %. POI; sheep 4.5y9; pigs
/ 1889. The average number for each house
/ was. Horses, 3. horned cattle g.
According 90 statistics for the las. ten
/ years, IL is shown that between the start
/ ing points Of Tomsk and Atchinsk 20 The
| final point Of Blagoyestc SIX. 46 per cent
/ OF the migrants fail tC reacn destination.
In TOmsk in 1887 and Atchnsk in 1896
/ there were registered 5,36S families for the
/ Amur territory; Of this number. only . gOs
. families reached BlagOvestchensk
Personal observation shows that this
+ loss, which happens annually in the same
proportion. is to be ascribed, not 10 the
difficulties Of the road or the lack Of means
10 reach the destination, bus 10 other
2 causes. Only those are permitted TO 20 to
the Amur who have enough TO carry them
through. Migrants have a right 10 a gov
ernment subsidy 10 about $50 per family
. The real reasons why such a large percent
age Of migrants fail to reach their desti-
t nation are.
They try 10 settle along the route in
order TO avoid the trouble and expense of
a longer journey.
They are tempted 70 stop in order TO
work on the Siberian Railroad and get good
pay.
They hear bad reports about the condi-
tion OF the Amur territory from those re-
turning 10 Russia.
As soon as a settler arrives at his des-
+ tination, he is assisted from the govern
ment treasury. This rule was adopted on
March u. 1896 Up 10 that time assist
ance was rendered in extreme cases only
and very little at that At present as
sstance is given 10 'Meschians' and .Kres-
tians lowest classes. but not to any 9th
er class. Government land can be acquired
by any man who is Russian subject no
matter 10 what class he belongs. and in
accordance with the rule Of March 10. 1896
needy settlers Of the Amur territory have
a right TO the following government as
sistance. Travelling expenses SO to SSS;
settling expenses. from S3S to SO: seed
for two acres. and timber from the govern
ment forests.
In 1897. Wnyn the migrants heard OF
this rule. they ali clamored for assistance
no one had a right TO these grants unless
he had lived three years in the territory
before he made the application for assist
ance, and then il must be ascertained that
he was really i'm need.
From January !. to October J. 1897. g51
applications were made for assistance
amounting to $50 600. or this number. 3Tt
applications. amounting to $4,000. were
granted; the rest were refused as the,
were not in need
The delay in verifying the applications
is remarkable. For instance. on April
there were brought in j31 applications foI
seed. They verified only 3SS From Apri
/ to June / there were 42O applications.
they verified only 202. OF course. this de
lay Is caused to some extent by the unre-
liability Of applicants and the lack OF
proper administrative force in the terri
tory and districts.
For the four years lS94-97 the follow.
ing grants Of timber were made to Al
families: Logs, 137.O4S, valued at Sl6,555,
poles, S7.215, valued at $244.
The absence OF credit in the territory
is felt very greatly by the settlers A set.
tier who must begin work or an old resi-
dent at whose busiest season a machine
breaks or horse dies is compelled to Dor.
row money. no matter what the conditions
are. What these are one may see from
the following:
"A peasant borrowed s26 from one of tht
local merchants for three months. bindiul
himself to pay the merchant at the enc
OF the term S51 worth Of oats at ; cent.
per 80 pounds less than the market pric,
at the time OF delivery. The peasant ais,
bound himself not to take any cash FOL