The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-11-29
H~ o~

! this he has only taken orders from the
Tsar. =.
Words are powerless, to, describe what
has taken place in Russian Asia under
the AleSieff regime. Perhaps the progress
can best be shown by the agency OF pho
tograpbs.
The other day a friend who has COM
pleted the tour of the world by the no
longer unusual way of the Transsiberian
showing me his pictures, said: And this
is Khabarovsk, the capital Of Greater
Russia
And so it was. but I never could have
recognized it. though / knew 1t passing
well in 1896. spending many melancholy
days there. the melancholy days We spend
in the cities of the future.
] recognized the spacious waterways
which mark the place as the ST. Louis OF
Siberia, the new America" as the Sibe-
rians love to call their home.
There it stands at the junction. of the
Amur and the. Ussui1 md close 10 the
| Sungari. which penctrates into the heart
OF Manchuria. ] recognized the lay OF
the land and the flow of the waters, but
as for the rest 1 could not believe my
eyes.
The magnificent wharves. the imposing
administrative buildings. the, great stores
and the animated streets-these could not
be found In that frontier station 800 miles
inland from the Pacific which 1 remem-
bered,
And then the civilized shipping along
the water front. where Il had only seen
Chinese junks. armed with gingalls and
otner meniaeval weapons. and manned
with piratical crews.
But the camera does not lie and this
miracle has been wrought. and more thai
any other one man Admiral Alexien has
done il.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
LAST SEVEN YEARS.
Seven wears ago. when I visited It, there
was little. if anything. to choose between
khabarovsk and korsakof or any other
o. the Cossack stani.zas that had been
nuiit by administrative order Mt regular 4
intervals upon the banks OF the wide and
shallow Amur.
Seven years age to go to khabarovsk,
named in honor of the Boone Of Eastern,
Siberia, was something of a feat.
To-day it is crowded with commercial
travellers and many roads lead to 1t.
Seven years ago we went By train as far
as Imam. and there we put together the
little steel steamer that had been sent
out from Belgium in sections. i
When the last rivet was driven We
placed on board an American sawniii
and two days later, on board the first
steamer of any power that had sailed
these waters. we entered Khabarorsls.
And how we were feted. especially the
sawmiil!
But in sever years the little clearing at
the meeting Of the great waters, has
grown into the imposing capital Of Greater
Russia.
1t Is not a fiat city like Dalny, or q |
strategic point like Port Arthur. built by
order Of the Gar. 1t has grown because |
1t is the natural distributing point for
all Siberia. the emporium Of a great trade
TINT is and of a still greater that IS to be.
1t would be indeed a pity II we by al
mistaken policy should cut ourselveA off
from all the profit and all the adven-
tages which are likely to accrue to us and
to all the commercial n industrial Pow
ers from the development Of these isolated
at the a Of Russia.
One might imagine from the pers1stency
with which AlexieH has remained Mt his
post on the still desolate and creature
comfortiess coast of Asia that Alexief
was a rough frontiersman. a kind of uni
savage. AS a matter of fact, quite
the contrary is the case, although since
1899 he has only been to st. Petersburg
once.
A SWELL
THE OCEAN,
AIexiefr is a swell Of the ocean" as
used to call Beauchamp Seymour.
He grew up in that society Of cosmopoii-
tan Russians. which revolves about AK,
Wiesbadcn and Homburg In summer: Nice,
and other winter cities when the
cold winds blow. Alexieff is not only a
swell Of the ocean,. but something else be-
sides.
He confessed when I saw him last in
Port Arthur. two years ago. that he had
he could nc longer be happy away
from the cast coast.
in Europe he said. practically every
thing is finished. and all you have to do
Is to keep your repair shop going; but
us everything is in the making. Our
is growing. II you cannot create.
1t least you can shape its destiny and
develop its resources"
1t has been my good fortune to meet
Alexieff afioat and ashore. to sail in his
company on the Rurik and the Vladimir
Monoach. and. more agreeable still, il pos
sible. I have come across him In his wan
lerings through the Amur country and in
pekin in the boudoir of the Empress Dow
,ger. Just as she left 1t in her flight before
he allied forces.
I have always found him exceedingly
and receptive of any opinions or
Impressions of men and. politics which I
have been carrying about with me
It the time. But the Admiral himself was
,nly laxative about Long Branch.
AT times his life lines have been cast in
cry pleasant places.