The New York herald., 1921-07-10
NEW MASTERS IN SIBERIA PLAYING JAPAN'S
sy CAPTAIN FRANCIS M'CULLAGH.

sy CAPTAIN FRANCIS MCULLACH.
Special Correspondence to THE NEW YORK
HERALD.
Copyright 1871, by THE Nsw YORK HERALD.
E-yAL, June IS.
T HE new masters of the Siberian
Pacific coast are undoubtedly the
Japanese, but the Mikado's military
leaders who organized the Vladivostok
revolution are keeping well in the back
ground, so that I can say nothing about
them. l can say a good DEAL however.
about the Russians who are acting as tools
of the Japanese, for spent over year in
Eastern Siberia as a military officer in the
employ of the British Government. Conse
quently my knowledge of Generals Seme
noff, Boldyrev Co. is greater, I think
than that of any newspaper correspondent
who was in Siberia at the same time.
Boldyrev is an honest man and sincere
republican, who in 1918 was in the Uta
Government and afterward in the Omsk
Government, but some of Kolchaks sup
porters, thinking him too liberal, elected
him by quite unjustifiable coup d'etdt
which was quite as criminal as the Bolshe-
vik coup d'etdt a year earlier in Moscow
He is apparently having nothing to do,
however, with the new Vladivostok Gov
ernment, for he must see very clearly that
it is dominated by the Japanese.
To describe Semenoff properly l must
make long depression, else the readers of
THE New YORK HERALD would think that
was telling fairy stories. for the career of
this young mamie is only 26-is as mar
velous, though not as pleasant, as a fairy
tale.
The latest news about him to hand while
! write is a telegram from the Far East
saying that he has made his appearance OFF
Vladivostok in a Japanese ship, with
large staff and very large quantity of am
munition. The consuls are opposing his
landing, and as he is not In the good books
either of the English or the Americans it
is possible that his employers, the japanese,
will send him back to Port Arthur. But it
is fairly certain that he will turn up later
and play dominant part in the buffer
state which the Japs have founded on the
shores of the Pacific, so that l make no
apology for saying good deal about him.
Young Semenof'S Career Is
Full of Ugly Adventure
Semenoff is figure that can hardly be
paralleled in European history of any later
date than the wars of the Spanish Success
sion He is a "throwback" produced by
the complete decentralization of Russia and
by the abrupt retrogression of all Europe
as a result of the great war. That retro
hoc 70 WI
would have been considered quite impos-
sible ten years ago. 1t has brought back
the powerful German people to the stage
in which they were warning with the
Poles, and the Austrian people to the stage
in which they were contending not with
the French and the English but with the
scattered Slavonic tribes on their frontier.
Highwaymen are now the curse of several
remote parts of Germany. as they were
three hundred years ago, and some of the
country houses have had moats built
around them again and watchmen sta
toned on the walls in order to give warn
ing of the approach of raiders. Isolated
villages in the Prusso-Polish debatable land
have had to fortify themselves like Eng
lish villages on the Scottish border In the
year 1900.
ENel dS WIllt lniS lhcie COihco hOWo
to me of the appearance of a robber band
IN one of the large forests which new re-
public in this part of Europe is trying to
sell to foreign capitalists. 1t is not in
Esthonia. and | am not going to say where
II is for these young states are extremely
averse to the circulation of reports which
might keep out foreign capital but it
would be a nasty jar for well groomed
gentleman from Wall Street, coming to
eastern Europe to inspect some property,
to be(strung up to one of his own trees
by regular Robin Hood band of outlaws.
Warfare in South Russia
Sinks to Level of 900 Years Ago
in the same way the warfare in Siberia,
South Russia, Poland, the Ukraine and the
Caucasus sank during the last three years
to the level of the warfare waged 800 years
ago The Ukrainian villages are all forti-
fled and fighting against each other the
fighting being often for cattle and pigs in
stead of for high purposes of imperial
policy, and being sometimes conducted
(this. / admit is an anachronism) with
artillery and machine guns and armored
motor cars abandoned by the wreck Of the
Cars great army and worked by peasants
who served as artillerists, machine gunners
and motor drivers in that innumerable
host The military leaders are very often
rrix Qtam work iq a