The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-13
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
By Associated Pres~

Omsk. Siberia, February 11.-Before the war the Transsiberian express trains made the journey from Vladi- vostok to Paris in F days. and from Vladicostok to Omsk, the seat of the all Russian government, in six days, Recently special American Red Cross trains. Young Mems Christian associa- ton trains and troop trains required from 20 toS p days to cover the dis tance from Vladivostok to the tempor- ary seat of the provisional government
 General disorganiza tion, lack of To- comotives and rundown passenger and freight cars were the great causes of this time consuming trip. The slow travelling cars had, however, one ad- vantage, among d long list of inconven- fences, dscomforts and even some dan ger. and that was that it afforded Americans an opportunity to glean some conception of the vastness of Si beria and learn something of the ways of the Russia people.
 In Russia Sci tschass" (imme ediate- ly) does not always mean imme ediate ly. Very often it signifies tomorrow, or the next day after that. The lack of steady and regular application of the Russian workmen in his labor and what is called the silent resistance" to for eign ideas as to how things hsould be done is believed to be one of the chief difficulties to be encountered in the reorganization of the railroads as arranged for by an international com mission under the technical direction of the American Stevens commission.
 The popular way of explaining the vastness of Siberia is to say that it would contain all of Europe and the United States and then Germany and Austria over again. Siberia is equiva- lent to e-thirteenth of the continen- tai surface of the terrestrial globe, is two and one-half times bigger than European Russia ana 25 times as big as the recent German empire.
 The province, or government of Yen esei, through which the great Yenesei river flows majestically, contains near ly 47,000 square miles of land, and the district of Tobolsk, which is bounded on the west by the Ural mountains and extends northerly to the Gulf of Obi and the Arctic regions. is an immense district estimated to be about 27,000 miles. Siberia, in its entirety, meas ures 24S,o00 geographical square miles. While it has been very generally trav- eled over by Russian explorers and sci entists its might still be called, like Mongolia, the land of the unknown"
 Certainly, it is entirely undevaloped Its mineral wealth is prodigious and only awaits the coming, when peace has come, of the man with capital, brains and some aptitude in knowing the character and ways of the people. In the south towards the Caucasus pe troleum oil is so abundant that fires may be lighted with the oil as it oozes from the rocky surface.
 One hears on all sides the desire ex- pressed that American business men come to Siberia and develop the coun- try. The industrial and civic prosper ity of the United States is regarded longingly by the people of Russia. They compare the natural richness of Si- beria to that of the United States and are convinced that with American en- terprise Siberia may some day attain something of the same stage of de- velopment. bringing with it, perhaps, some measure of that national comfort and happiness of which the Russian people dream.