The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-31

| iiiSlit' Iolu lo5o to last year 1S, OUU acres of state land in western Siberia
 were transformed into immigration 1 plots,
 HOT WATER FOR TEA.
 May is the month when the tide of
 immigration sets in. As Russian red
 tape is quite as slow unwinding as else
 Where, there are often huge crowds of
 Immigrants at stations thousands even, | waiting for days till they can be con- | ducted to their plots. Naturally
 enough, there is misery among the ig-
 norant immigrants who get dumped in
 particular district, knowing little
 about the climate or the soil. So the government has appointed commis-
 sions of inquiry, though neither the i'm
 migrants nor those already settled
 have any voice. Further, there has
 been organized among Russian philan-
 thropists relief committee which has representatives at thirty stations where
 immigrants chiefly stop, and these men give advice to the discouraged and sick.
 l confess to being amazed at the in- ducements held out so that Siberia may
 be speedily peopled. At every station is the big steaming 'samoyar," so that hot water may be obtained for the con- stant occupation of tea drinking. At every station also Is big chest of med ical appliances, and there is always an official who must know how to render first aid to the injured. Food for chill dren, sick persons and indigent may be got free. Other immigrants buy their food at cost price. On arriving at their destination the immigrants will receive seed from the government for next to nothing. Tools may be bought on easy terms.
 Nowhere in the United States-and Siberia is frequently alluded to as the new America-have I seen such an ex- panse of magnificent agricultural land waiting for man and his plough. And yet there is small prospect for genera tions to come that Siberia through Russian farmers will give of its teem- ing abundance to the rest of the world.
 The fact is the Russian is one of the worst farmers on the face of the earth It is probably the strong strain of Tar tar in him that makes him indolent He is certainly no born agricuturist. Catherine IT. recognized this hun dred years ago when she invited Ger man colonists to settle in southern Rus sia, hoping their example would have effect on the Russians themselves. 1 Five years ago went through this col onized region. Compared with Siberia, 1 it is wilderness. The German vil- | lages, however were neat and clean, There was frugality among the people. | The farms might yield little, but they were cared for, properly titled and all | fenced. The Russian villages were | masses of filth and misery The houses all the farm buildings were in a state of decrepitude, and if fence broke 1t broken. The land was neg lected, and gave a wretched return. There was sloth everywhere.
 It always struck me that the moujik cared for nothing but animal satisfac- ton, enough food for the day and enough kopecks so that he might get drunk with vodki on the Sunday.
 BENEVOLENT TREATMENT.
 The government is acting benevolent y to the Siberian settlers, buying American agricultural machinery and eSelllliS Oil tdSy llStdlllllcIt lti iIlo, But the immigrant lacks energy. First of all, he won't live on a farm three, i've or ten miles from anybody else, He insists on living in a village or own, though his farm may be thirty niles away. He tils a stretch of ground, and sows wheat, but he never hinks of reaping till it is dead ripe; hen he cuts with a hand sickle, and lalf the foodstuff rots in the rains When he has used up one piece of ground he moves to another. He does lot understand maturing. He does not ook forward to next year, or the year liter. As a rule, he has no desire to get rich. To get through life with as title trouble as he can seems his only lmbition. The farmers are, of course, all of the i'd serf class. They have behind them tx,x, ]