The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-01
OMSK OVERTAXED
 ID CARE FOR HUGE
 INFLUX OF PEOPLE
With Normal Population of Hundred Thousand There Are Now Over Half
 Million in City
BY Associated Press

Omsk, Siberia, February 25.-American. readers of the great Russian novelist, Dostoievsky, who, exiled for political crime spent four years at hard labor in the fortress prison of Omsk, would hardly recognize in the Omsk of today the terri ble conditions which he depicted in his book. "Recollections of the House Of the Dead; It was in 1S49 that Dostoievsky be- gan his term of exile and passed through the experiences which he so powerfully pictured later. The "house of the dead no longer exists at Omsk. It has passed to give room for the building of a more modern and more hopeful city.
 1. It is difficult to realize how the pres ent half million population of Omsk lives The normal population is 100000 but the constant influx of refugees from the cen ters of bolshevism has swelled the num- Der of inhabitants. To find house or apartment is not to be thought of in the present-day Omsk, chosen as the capltal Of the provisional all-Russian govern ment. The most humble room is not to be obtained without the intervention or friends or the help of, the authorities who do not hesitate to requisitiop rooms Tn case of urgent need. The city is without electricity except in a few sections and the streets at night are in obscurity., For that reason few persons go out after O. clock because of the possible danger of robbery or worse. Public safety has, however, greatly improved in the past two months.
 Omsk in it's main thoroughfare has many finely appointed office buildings and some modern apartment houses. The resi- dential section consists of low-built houses of wood or mortar. There are several fine views due to the presence of many dcmed churches and the long expanses of space afforded by the rivers Irtish and IS of city At 40 below zero few women are seen in the streets, but the advent Of a day when the mercury rises nearer zero brings out a large number of ladies who look very attractive in their great coats Of varied colored furs and their overshoes always prettily bordered with mink or hare The Siberian hare's fur is utilized in the fashioning of warm and attractive hats with long streamers covering the ears and tying under the chin. Hare are so plentiful that these hats are within the financial reach of almost everybody.
 It is the orthodox cathedral, dedicated by the late Emperor Nicholas in 1891, which looms up, vast and imposing. as the dominating structure of the capital. On one side is the former residence of the civil governor of Omsk, now used by the foreign office, and on the opposite side of the square is the imposing minister or justice, as yet uncompleted. The cathe-
  Ascension of the Saviour, is vast edi- fee capable of holding 1900 persons Dur- ing the Saturday night and Sunday morn ing services the brilliant and glittering auditorium is crowded with people, all standing in accordance with Russian cus- tom. The cathedral has great dome surrounded by several turrets and has oil one side a high tower of finely sculp- tured stone surmounted by spire.
 In 1714 Peter the First sent commits sion to the Omsk region to erect small fortress on the bank of the river Om, from which the city later took its name In 1765 began the construction of new and more solid fortress. It was in the form of polygon with fine bations. Be- side it was erected later the wooden prls- on, surrounded by high palisade, which served to imprison Russian political ex- iles and in which Dostoievsky spent his four years for having been in the Foul gatchof riots This was the dead house which he later described to the world in protest of the horrors of Siberian ban ishment.