The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-12-26
SIBERIA A PARADISE
Hill OF Connecticut Tells Of Surprises
in Trip Around World.

mn OF Connecticut ellis OF Surprises
in Trip Around World.
4 Washington. edo. 25.-"In the public
park in Khabarofsk on high bluff over
looking the Amoor and Oussouri valleys
said Representative Hill Of Connecticut
today IN recounting some Of the incidents
Of his recent trip around the world.
there stands a splendid statue Of Gen.
Mouravief. His back is turned upon the
conquests Of the past, and he Is looking
at and pointing toward Manchuria. It
was he who in 1854 notified China that
with or without her consent he purposed
TO resume control Of the Anoor river. In
1850 he re-estabIished the Cossack sta
tons for its entire length and in 1860 by
the treaty of river navigable for two
thousand miles and the whole Pacific
coast OF Aanchuria reaching westward
to the Oussouri river and southwark to
Korea. That accession made Siberia
what il IS today. Without II, she would
have remained a trackless waste. With
It, she viii become the dominant power
in the Orient and II is not impossible
that in some distant future the United
States Of North America viii clasp hands
across the straits with the United States
OF North Asia
AS I sat and gazed on this mans sta
tue and thought OF the events Of the last
two years, I fancied I could see the
bronze eyes twinkle and the lips move
with words of triumph. for the Cossack
has marched again. and by carrying fire
and sword almost 70 the Chinese wall,
has established Russian control over all
10
summarized IN the Russian saying that
the empire only goes where the Cos
sack can march dry shod.
Few people realize the immensely Of
Siberia 10 think Of single state
stretching through one hundred and thir-
~ degrees OF longitude and possessing
one-ninth Of all the land surface Of the
globe is staggering. Let US measure it
by the countries. we are familiar with:
The United States and all its possessions
and all Europe except Russia, could be
put into Siberia, with land enough left
10 make thirty-hve states like Connecti-
cut And Manchuria will make seventy
more.
Il had thought Of Siberia as a convict
settlement only. I found It a country
of nearly nine million people. O. per cent
Of whom were either natives or voluntary
immigrants. and an living better and en-
joying more political and religious liber-
ty than in European Russia.
7 had believed Siberia TO be a frozen
wilderness. The part through which
Travelled was like Minnesota and the foot
hills Of the Rockies. where wheat and rye
and vegetables mature. where strawber-
ries. currants and raspberries abound.
where sheep cattle and horses Craze IN
sheltered throughout the year. and where
a greater extent of virgin forests of splen-
did birch and pine is found than the
whole area Of the United states. For
about 800 miles north Of the Trans-Siber-
ian road, like conditions prevail and north
of this tinable land are go miles more
OF unbroken forests. before the frozen
tundra OF Arctic waste is reached
L expected TO find in every town
convict prison full Of exiles and Grimm
ais. With the exception OF the two
convict barges floating down the Amoor
on their way TO Saghalien. saw no trace
Of the system. but / did see IN every town
and village. no matter how small, the
dome Of a Russian church. and in the
larger cities Roman Catholic and Luther
an churches as wei.