Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-01-10
Queer Features of Busting and
Booming Blagovestchensk.
The COsSACKS AND CONVICFS
Vicissitudes of River travelling on
the Amur and ShiIka.
SUMNER HOME FEATURES

Written for The Evening Star.
Blagovestehensk is the Chicago of Siberia.
1t is 1,155 miles from the mouth of the
Amur river, 1,0S6 miles from Vladivostock
and like its prototype In Illinois, L. S. A,
permits its light to play beyond bushel.
There is no lack of bounce in the Blago-
vestchenskian. He knows his city is big
and busting for Siberia and is not afraid
to say it. The city stands on plain thirty
feet above the river and is several miles
square. The plan shows 1o11 blocks, 500
feet square. No street is less than 100 feet
wide. Big street is three miles long and $50
feet wide. 1t is a legal line of demarcation.
The drunken man reeling through the city
north of Big street is arrested, jailed and
fined. South of Big street drunkenness is
not a breach of law and the criminals may
do about as they please. In the summer of
1899 the population was 10000. The 10000
Chinese drowned or driven away in the
Boxer revolt reduced the population by
about that number. The Chinese are the
hewers of wood and drawers of water and
small farmers of this region. and thousands
of them will undoubtedly drift back. Their
labor is essential in the development of
eastern Siberia. Until the Boxer trouble
they and the Siberians were on excellent
terms.
The city has sixteen schools, ten church
es, seven banks and 5000 houses. As 1
was on commercial mission and aimed to
find out all the facts and figures relating
to the resources of the country. made a
long stay, and specially studied local af
fairs. The industries include match fac
tory three iron foundries, six wineries,
three breweries, four sawmills, three rope
factories. potash, glass, mattress and soap
factories, one each; a furnace brick kiln,
twelve common brick kilns, ten tanneries
and three lime kilns, in all an investment
of $915,O00 Il 100000 roubles). The bust
ness Of the place amounts to $10,O000o0
a year Three thousand merchants take
out licenses to trade in the 1,0o0-mile line
of the Amur river system between khaba-
rovsk and the junction of the Amur and
Shiika, of which the city is the center
Twenty large and two hundred small firms
handle this trade. Ordinarily such statis-
tics would be dry reading, despite the in
clusion of breweries and wineries. The fig
ures are interesting because they mirror
and suggest conditions.
Wall of the Siberian Taxpayer.
Among the brick buildings are at least
dozen that would do credit to the average
American city of $1,000. In the city hall
the room of the mayor and council has a
bust portrait of the late emperor. and a
full-length painting of the present car The
on a three-sded tablet, framed in heavy
gold and dominated by the imperial eagle
the whole carefully glazed, Is a unique fea-
ture of the room. Every Saturday the
mayor and council sit In state and hear
the complaints Of the people, especially the
taxpayers. The taxes amount to 100000 a
year. Every cent is spent, and" said a
taxpayer to me, in mournful tones, the
taxes grow larger and larger" The pathos
Of his voice had familiar sound. 1t re-
called a distant land. Once more / real
lied that all. the world is kin.
Equine Beauties From TOmsk.
The roguish little Baikal ponies that dash
about yladivostock are succeeded at Blago-
vestchensk by large and handsome horses
from Tomsk. They have a graceful bear
ing full names, full forelocks and sweep
ing tails. and are truly equine beauties.
Not one locked tail, name or forelock did
we see in Siberia, and in no place have We
ever noticed better groomed horses. The
ordinary cartman yields nothing TO the
SWEETEST official in pride of steed. He denies
himself that his horse may be well fed and
gayly harnessed.
"HeIlO" is the Word.
The boast Of Blagovestchensk is its tele-
phone system. The telephone wires at
Viadivostock and Khabarovsk are for mill
tary use. The Blagovestchensk line has
go subscribers. They pay an annual fee
OF so roubles (s40) and are allowed all the
switches they want. In the central office
are several girls of meek aspect and weary
face, who look as IL the Russians are as
eXacting and impatient in matters tele-
phonic the people We call our own. In
order to get through the wilds of Siberia,
into which my mission called me- we were
forced to learn some Russian. The Buriats
and other natives know no French, German
or English. therefore we rejoiced and were
exceeding glad when we found the Russian
Ia fell 1tfn
This compulsory use of our American word
paid us for maddening struggles with the
Russian vernacular. Our giee was modified
by the discovery that the artistic and inlaid
telephones were Of Swedish make.
What Liars These MortaIs BE.
Even as the child gives rein to fancy
and tells fancyings as facts, SO those
of larger growth spin tales baseless as the
fabric of a dream-where the weather is
concerned. One can almost imagine Adam
and Eve trying to gid the climate of the
garden and Noah styling the food a YER
nal shower. People seem to feel they have
an inalienable right to commend the
weather of their own locality, be it what
1t may. I'VE have fine climate the year
round said old resident of Blagovest-
chensk You might not think it." he
added, but the thermometer seldom falls
under 40 degrees below zero here. Now UP
Siberian as he was, and accustomed to
low temperature, he quailed under my
freezing glance and changed the subject
Well on the Beaten Track.
On the morning of June IS we left on the
little steamer Siberiac for Stretyinsk on
the Shilka river, 735 miles away. The trip
was scheduled for eight days.
The steamer had thirty cabin and 100
deck passengers. The latter were Siberian
peasants and Tartars, men. women. chill
dren and babies, Chinese, japanese and
mixed races, an orderly, though odorifer-
Gus, crowd, which SO numbered the deck
that walking was disagreeable by day and
impossible at night. Hanging from the
raftefs on the upper deck and swinging
with the boat were strings of dried Esh
and onions pieces OF hy-blown meat
loaves of bread, kettles, rifles, axes end