Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-11

that many, and, as have said. we now
have more than three times that number"
Butter Trains From Siberia
"Give me some idea of your freight, your
excellency." said l.
'Tt is far different from what we sup
posed it would be- replied Prince Hilkoff.
I'VE expected to carry grain, cattle. farm
ing machinery, merchandise and military
supplies, and so we do. But. in addition.
we have a big business in dairy products.
The grass of western Siberia is very rich.
There are vast pastures and the cattle
feeding upon them produce the finest OF
milk and butter. Siberia is already one Of
the chief dairy countries of the world. and
butter from there is shipped direct to Lon
don over the Siberian road and
through Russia. We carry 1t to the Baltic
and send it thence to England by fast
steamers. 1t takes about three weeks to
get it to the seaboard. 1t is carried In re-
frigerator cars, some cooled by ice and
some by chemicals
1--WE have already LOCO cars devoted to
this trade alone, and during the season we
run two fast butter trains every day. we
have refrigerators at the stations to store
the butter, We are already shipping al
most a billion and half pounds of butter
year and the business is in its infancy.
1t will steadily grow and in time improved
breeds of cattle will be introduced
Fruit for the Far East.
another feature of our traffic. con-
tinued Prince Hilkoff, is the shipment of
fruits to Siberia. There are people there
who had never seen apples. grapes ana
oranges until the coming of the railroad
These fruits were only sold in the larger
cities. They had to be brought by the post
or by steamers. and it was impossible to
carry perishable fruit Oranges then
brought as much as 10 cents or 81 apiece
They are now sold at reasonable prices All
along the railroad"
How about grain. your excellency can
you make a low enough freight rate TO
compete with ours in the markets of Eu-
roper?
81 think we shall be able to do So re-
piled the minister of railroads. I'VE are
already shipping grain northward to Arch
angel. and from there to different parts OF
Europe by sea. Our grain market of the
future will be largely in the far east. There
is an enormous demand for wheat and other
cereals In China, and that trade will prob
ably be developed"
American Trade With Siberia.
How about the prospects of America
trade in Siberia? Does it offer any field
for our commercial invasion?"
Yes" replied Prince Hilkoff, American
goods are already sold in many parts of
Siberia. This is especially so of farming
tools There is demand for reapers and
mowers and there should be an opening
for all sorts of goods supplied by the west
ern states. 1 look for a great increase IN
the commerce between eastern Siberia and
the Pacific slope. That part of your coun-
try is almost destitute of good coal we
have excellent coal in Siberia. which we
can ship you at profit. and in retu the
vessels can bring back American merchan-
disc and machinery. American furniture Is
also In demand. and there Is no reason why
all sorts of American goods should not be
sold"
Siberian Coal Mines.
How about the coal areas of the trans
Siberian railroad. your excellency?'
1--WE are finding new coal fields every
year." replied Prince Hilkoff. "One of the
great arguments against building the road
was the probable lack of fuel 1t was said
that we would have to cut down the for
ests to feed the engines. The prospects are
that we will have plenty of coal for all
time from the beds along the line OF the
road The coal we are now using comes
from deposits near the track. Some OF 1t
is excellent cokins coal. and near 1t are
large deposits of iron. that we expect
to have a manufacturing industry away
out there in Siberia.
A Look at the Trans-Siberian Road.
here asked some questions about the
improvements of the Trans-Siberian rail
road and his excellency took me across the
room and showed me number of maps in
illustration of his talk. l can only give the
gist of his conversation. The road when
completed with it's Manchurian branches
will be 5,542 miles long and the route from
ocean to. ocean. that is, from HaVre 10
Vladivostock, will be 1900 miles in length.
At present it takes a little over two weeks
to go from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur,
and the time will eventually be cut down
to ten days. General Miles made the trip
from Picking to st. Petersburg in eighteen
days, and he told me that travelling was
very comfortable all the way through.
Within n short time shall be able to go
from London to Paris to Shanghai in six
teen days instead of in the thirty-fiVe days
required by railroad and sea via the SUeZ
canal. The latter trip to Shanghai costs