Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-01-17
THE PEOPLE OF SIBERIA.
Not -Four Per Cent. of Them cohvicts or
Political Exilas

Not -Four Per Cent. of Them cohvicts ar
Political ExiIes.
statistics have their value when
given comparatively. In following uE
the analogy which was always present
In my mind In crossing Siberia, the
analogy between that country and the
United States, it is interesting to COM
pare the area and the population G
both. Siberia has 100000 square
miles to our 100000, while our popH-
lation of 100000 overshadows the
$4,000 of Russia's Asiatic posses
sions. OF this number &c per cent. are
Russians, the rest Indigenous. But
this average is brought down by ths
low per cant. of Russians in the eE
treme NoAth, which, as in NortherE
Canada, is left almost entirely to the
aboriginal Eskimo, and to the hardy
fur trader, while in Southern Siberia
from 60 to 80 per cent. are Russians
Not per cent. of all the Russians are
convicts or political exiles. The num-
Der of convicts varies in the different
sections. In the government OF
Tomsk, in the west, they only amount
to one-sixth per cent, which neces-
sarily make.~l much higher average in
some of the other provinces. These
facts are fatal to the theory that the
Siberian population is composed most
ly of criminals and the sons of GRIM
inals.
1.-THE Russians find the great north
ern steppes as bleak and as inhospit-
able as do the Canadians. Yet the
mineral deposits and the fur trade at
tract certain population. 1t is ex-
traordinary to read of the early con-
quests of the Russians in this country,
and Of their first 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
that is the popular idea. It was in
habited by independent tribes, some OF
which were subject to the Chinese
throne in very roundabout way, pay
ing tribute to a Manchu Khan, who, in
turn, paid tribute to the Son of Heav-
Ell. In finally obtaining possession of
the region, the Russian government
was urged on by it's individual repre-
sentatives there, not by it's own
avowed policy, as it is today. The chief
of these was Muravieff, whose name
will ever be connected with Siberia as
the name of Washington is with our
own country. In 1858, in a treaty
Two Nh fha
slams and Chinese have recently came
in conflict, the Chinese relinquished
all claim to the left bank of the great
river. From that time dates southern
Siberia's mushroom growth. Vladt-
vostok is one of the fruits of it; Khab-
aroffsk, at the end Of this eastern Sec
ton of railroad, is another. Each
city is less than so years old, and each
bears a striking resemblance, as do all
the Siberian cities, to our centres OF
quick growth in the West. Only
large garrison creates military so
ciety, which element of the popula-
ton differentiates these cities from
ours. Absent, too, is the atmosphere
of nervous enterprise and business
Tic IGSu1L VI w lAC dAhOo
terms 'hustling.' The American city
owes it's birth and life to the energy
of the individual, the Siberian city
owes it's founding and it's continued
existence to the government. A site
is not selected in accordance with the
economics Of business, but on account
of military exigency. The city's ten
ure of life does not depend upon a
boom, but on the convenience of the
government Private individuals may
follow in the path automatically blaz-
ed. and turn whatever is possible to
their own advantage, but the city is
not there for them, but for the govern
ment In spite OF this fact, business
thrives, and men are making money,
which speaks well for Siberia. Anna
N. Benjamin, in Ainslee's.