Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-08-28
WHY THEY WANT sAKHALIN.
Russia Needs the island for Its OIL
Japan for Its Fisheries.

| W HNaANN utNWGtu IkuHSlu ana japan II
| contains 5000 square miles Of territory. It
Is narrow island. stretching like a ribbon
along the coast Of Siberia (from which a
narrow sea separates iO for distance Of
GO miles. The island has a river go miles
long and mountains 5000 feet high.
The island Is not as far north as one
would suppose on looking at the map be-
ing in the latitude of France, says the
Boston Transcript, but the sky is almost
always clouded and the cold currents fow-
ing from the Okhotsk sea keep the eastern
coast pretty well ice-strewn all summer.
while on the western coast the ice from the
Amur clogs up the narrow space between
the island and the mainland and long re-
mains unmelted. Nobody is ever too warm
on Sakhalin. The climate resembles that
Of Siberia, and Alexandroffsky is colder in
winter than ArchanEel.
Another thing, equally discourag cling as far
as It goes, you can't farm to advantage on
Sakhalin. Only here and there is the soil
at all fertile, and even then you must con-
tent yourself with raising market truck and
expect to get malaria while wedding your
garden. Such at least has been the expert
ence of Russian pepal colonists who have
tried to wrest living from the soil More
over, the country looks every whit as in
hospltable as experiment has proved II to
be- They say that when Russian exlles get
their first glimpse OF that rocky coast and
those grim, handicapped mountains they
often burst into tears for very despair
When such Of them as are not life prison.
ers have served their term and become
free colonjsts," they are almost certain TO
leave Sakhalin and settle in Siberia They
call the country'of their imprisonment THE
Isle Of the Lost"
Cold, untillablo; but big-is that the whole
story? If It were then we should certainly
be at loss to know why the peace ENJOYS
at Portsmouth are haggling over the ques-
ton Of who Is TO own Sakhalin But that
isn't by any means the whole story. The
Isle Of the Lost is also the Isle of Poten-
tial Wealth. II It had no other claim TO-
Importance it's dense forests would be
enough to make II worth owning. Practi-
cally untouched. they stretch from one end
of sakhalin to the other The Japanese
will know what to do with them.
Besides. there is coal-not easily mined,
but abundant At Duey the toughest
criminals have worked chained to their
barrows, and each year they spent in the
mines has counted as a year and a half
toward Fastening their discharge Sakhaln
has long supplied ships with fuel. Per-
haps the Japanese will develop the coal
mines to the full extent of their possibili-
| ties but II is certain at all events that
they will develop the oil nelds. Accord
! ing to c. S. Patonoff, the oil regions of
| Sakhaln are richer than those of Amer
| lea. Subterranean lakes-some Of them
| with an area of 5000 square feet-lie so
close TO the surface that natural gushers
can be easily established. The oil regions
lend themselves readily to exploitation, for
| the east coast is only from twenty to
twenty-five miles away, and there nature
has provided harbors that boats drawing
twenty feet of water can safely enter.
For four months OF the year. to be sure,
those harbors are icelocked. but the ice
| can be broken by specially constructed
steamers known as 'ledokol." The war
promised to do wonders for the oil bust
ness. AS coal couldn't be got for love
or money from England or Japan, Admiral
| Rumginwhisky (as the Dogger Bank fisher
men still call him) was TO supply his
| armada with oil fuel from Sakhalin. I'm
| der government auspices the Russian SAX
| halin Oil company came suddenly into ex-
istence, glorious monopoly that proposed
| to employ cheap Russian, Chinese and
Corean labor, turn out from 100000 to 100000
| tons or oil o year and drive Mr.. Rookie
Teller out of business in the far east
| Meanwhile another sort Of game will fall
to the Japanese-in the north a fine me-
nagerie at large, composed of bear, foxes,
sable, antelope and reindeer; in the south
an occasional tiger; on the coast remu-
nerative profusion of SEAL sea lions and
dolphins not to mention a species OF
plebian whale little priced by blubber hunt
| ers.
But the chief source OF wealth in the
SakhalIn of today is the fisheries. The
rivers TEEN with salmon, the waters along
the coast with herring. In a single year
Sakhalin yielded 31.5OO,OOO worth Of fish,
and this in spite of the most discouraging
conditions. The Russians wouldn't give
the Japs a free hand, nor would they
themselves develop the full possibilities OF
the fisheries. AS long as the island re-
manned a sort of Siberian backyard. into
| which exiles were constantly to be thrown
1t was bad policy to encourage fleets OF
| fishing boats to come prowling along the
shore. The boats might thin out the pop
ulation. But when once the penal colonies
are withdrawn. and Japan takes control
the Sakhalin fisheries will have a chance
at normal progress. Some day, unless al
travellers are liars, they must rival those
OF Newfoundland.
Now the moment you begin 10 tall
about Ash the Japanese prick up theii
ears. NO fish, no rice; no rice, no Japs
Every year Sakhalin sends 81 900 900 worth