The Ordway new era., 1918-05-10

permanent abode.
Seen from the sea the town rises in
terraces. The houses glitter in the
sun and give an invitation to land.
Once on shore one is quickly i'm
pressed with being in money-mak-
ing place and not place of residence.
Cargoes hastily discharged are stacked
high in every available place. The
streets are crowded with horses, carts
and men of all nationalities. There
is one fine street, on which are the
residences of the governor, the COM
mander of the port and many other
magnates. There are several fine
monuments. one of which is in honor
of the last cars visit. There are
numerous churches, Roman Catholic,
Greek Catholic and Lutherans;
museum is noted for its collection of
weapons and costumes of the far East;
and the Orient institute was opened
in 1899 for the study of Asiatic lam
guages. The crispness of the air, the
newness of everything and the gen.
eral hustle and stir are suggestive of
Alaska rather than the Orient, were it
not for the ponies with their Russian
harness and the prevalent Russian
boards.
Piled High With Supplies.
All things consumed In the town and
all the adjacent territory must be i'm
ported, as locally there are only
bricks, matches, lumber and a bad
beer to be had. No risk of seizure be-
ing foreseen, great speculative possi-
hatt To t,-oI love Nd fhn
port offering the best means of send
ing provisions and munitions to Rus
sia.. combined to produce an extraor-
dinary state of affairs In that far
away city. There is a perfect glut of
coal kerosene, cotton, flour and NUM-
tions of all kinds waiting for further
transportation and with no protection.
European express trains could trav-
erse the long distance between Petro-
grad and Vladivostok In less than
week; but 1t Is not possible to run
trains over the Siberian railway at
such high speeds. as the road is con-
structed lightly, so the journey re-
quires nine days. and previous to the
war was done twice weekly by express
trains. The fare was more than S275.
II 10 q Free Port.
The importance Of VladivostOk lies
In the fact that 1t is the natural ware
house of this vast region, both from
commercial and a military point Of
view. Russia, China, Korea and Japan
are all interested In its trade and
connected with 1t by railroad or ship
communications. 1t has been a free
port and Russia has been remarkably
liberal IN encouraging other nations
in helping her to build up an ever
growing traffic. and develop the re-
sources of rich inland frontier.
Germany is fully alive to the value
of this trade, whose value is ever
growing; and when the war gamble is
over she would like to possess 1t. The
presence of large Korean agricultural
communities very near. great Chinese
immigration tide surging in the dis
trict, the unceasing activity of the
Japanese fishing boats that trade
along the coast, the fact that Euro
pean culture is not yet definitely es-
tablIshed-all these things appeal to
the German mind, with visions of pos
sibilities for the future.
v1adivOstok is immensely strong as
n naval fortress, being surrounded by
| 70 forts on the seaward side, but at
| the rear there Is a great open country
that now lies at the mercy of boil
sheviki sympathizers and German
spies. Russia's chief dread has been
of nearby japan; so her fortification
of yladivostok has all pointed toward
that power that lies only 45O miles
across the Japan sea.