The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1919-04-09
DETAILED ACCOUNT
SIBERIAN VASTNESS


Omsk, Siberia, Feb 11,-(Corres
pondence of The Associated Press. y
Before the war the trans-Siberian ex
press trains made the journey frcn
Vladivostok to Paris in the thriteeI
days, and from Vl2divostok to Omsk
the seat of the All-Russian govern
ment, in six days Recently special
American Red Cross trains. Young
Mems Christian Association trains
and troop trains required from 20 tt
25 days to cover the distance from
Vladivostok to the temporary seat oi
the Provisional government.
General REORGANIZATION, lack Of
locomotives and rundown passenger
and freight cars were the great cause
Of this time-consuming trip The slow
travelling cars had, however, in adj
vantage, among a long list of incon'
veniencers, discomforts and even some
danger, and that was that it afford.
ed Americans an opportunity to CLEAN
some conception of the vastness of
Siberia and learn something of the
ways OF the Russian people.
In Russia "Seitschass" Immediate
ly) does not always mean immediate
ly. Very often it signifies tomrr9w, or
the next day after that The lack OF
steady and regularly application Of
the Russian workmen in his labor and
what is called the silent resistance
to foreign ideas as to how things
should be done, is believed to be one
Of the chief difficulties to be encount-
cred in the reorganization of the rail.
roads as arranged for by an interna-
tional commission under the technical
direction of the American Stevens
commission.
The popular way of explaining
yastness of Siberia is to say that it
would contain all of Europe and the
the United States and then German
and Austria over again. Siberia is
equivalent to one-thirteenth of the cen
tinental surface of the terrestrial
globe. 1t is 2 IL times bigger than
European Russia and % times as big
the recent German Empire.
The province or government of
Yenesei, thought which the great Yen
esei river flows majestically, contains
nearly $4,000 square miles of land.
and the district Of Tobolsk, which is
bound on the west by the Ural noun
.ains and extends northerly to the
Gulf of Ohio and the Attic regions,
is an immense district estimated to be
about $4,000 square miles. Siberia, in
it's entirety. measures 24S,OOO geo
graphical square miles While it has
Been very generally travelled over
by Russian explorers and scientists
it might still be called, like Mongolia,
the land of the unknown"
Certainly. it is entirely undeve-
loped. It's mineral wealth is prodigious
and only awaits the coming, when
peace has come, of the. man with CAPT
tai, brains, and some aptitude in know
ing the character and ways of the
people Gold. silver, platinum and cop
per mines are plentiful In the south
towards the Caucasus petroleu Mol is
so abundant that fires may be light
cd with the oil as it oozes from the
rocky surface.
One hears on all sides the desire
expressed that American business
men come to Siberia and develp the
country. The industrial and civic pro
sperity of the United States is regard
ed longingly by the people of Russia
They compare the natural richness OF
Siberia to that of the United States
and are convinced that with Americn
enterprise Siberia may some day at
tain something of the same stage CT
development, bringing with it, per
haps, some measure of that nationa'
comfort and happiness of which the
Russian DeOple dream.