Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-06
OUR RUSSIAN MARKET
The Empire of the Gar as a
Field for Trade.
IN ST. PETERSBURG
GERMANY NOW HAS THE CREAM
OF THE BUSINESS.
American Goods Pay an Extra Duty
A Look at the
Bazaars.
IN ST. PETERSBURG
Copyright, 1903, by Frank G. Carpenter,


Special Correspondence OF The Evening Star
ST. PETERSBURG.
have come from Berlin to ST. Petersburg
as an advance scout of the American IN
yasion l went across North Germany to
Stettin on the oder and there got Ge--
man steamer which took me over the Baltic
10 Kronstadt and landed me in st. Peters
burg The trip cost SO and lasted three
days Our ship was so heavily laden with
German goods for Russia that we could not
move about upon deck, and the cabins were
SO filed with commercial drummers that
we had to sleep three in a room.
Everything about the steamer was Ger
man The beds were too short and the
bedding was shorter. 1t is cold on the Bal
tic at this time of year, and the fat feather
tick which was my only covering reached
but to my chest. When l covered my
neck | had an attack of cold feet, and II l
saved my feet l was in danger OF prod-
chitis. The food was German. We had
coffee and bread and butter at o'clock IN
the morning pork chops or veal outlets or
Hamburger steak along about 10, dinner
at and supper at Z. There was plenty OF
light and dark beer with each meal, ana
cheese of all kinds, from SchwelZer 10 Lin
burger.
1 talked with the German drummers as
to their trade with Russia. They claim
that they nave the foreign lidUe OI lllS
whole empire with the exception or agrlcul
tural machinery in their inside vest pocket.
and as far as | can judge at this early
writing they are not far from correct.
find Germans everywhere. They have their
stores in every city and their agents on
every road. They do so much OF the buSl-
ness that German is generally understo ID
by the larger merchants. There are more
than thirteen thousand of them In st.
Petersburg alone, to about two thousand
French, two thousand English and less
than fifty Americans.
The Big Russian Market.
We are sending few million dollars
worth of goods here every year. but our
exporters have not begun to tap the trade.
The most of the American goods are ham
died by Germans or sold through German
agents and we do not seem to realize the
magnitude of the empire nor the enormous
possibilities of it's trade. 1t is already one
of the greatest markets of the world, and
in the future it will be hundred times
greater.
Have you ever thought of the size OF
Russia? You know it is big but do you
know how big IL Is? From the top OF Rus
STA in Europe to the bottom is about as far
as from New York to Salt Lake City, and
across 1t from west to east is almost far
as from New York to Denver. 1t com
prises about two-thirds of the Europea n
continent, and II is about two-thrds as
&c dS NHt oldtcS "itilOul {Nltshd
or our outlying colonies. large part OF
the country has some of the best soil OIL
the globe. but II is not half cultivated
The better farmers are introducing our
agricultural machinery and year by yeal
the crops increase.
But Russia in Europe is less than one
fourth of the Russian empire. 1t has more
than 6.000,OO0 square miles OF land In ASIA
the most Of II in great blocks. including
vast tracts which will raise wheat. cotton,
dairy products and everything under the
sun. The land contains minerals of all
undeveloped property in the world today
Altogether the Russian empire contains
more than one-sXth OF all the land on the
earth's surface. or about two and one-hall
times much as is owned by Tie United
States.
Our Russian Customers.
This vast extent of country is thiiIy pop
ulated. 1t Will probably support 100 men
where it now supports one. but, neverthe-
less. it has a vast population. The car
rules almost 100000 people. or just
about one-twelfth of the population of the
globe. That means if you could put all the
people on this big, round earth into one
place one in every dozen would be Rus
sian.
These people are not like the savages OF
Central Africa, who have but few wants.
More than one hundred million of them
Arc white people who spend money like
water if they have IT. The peasantry o:
Russia are very poor, but when they get