therefore, taken this matter under its direct control, propagating exact information about Siberia, publishing special maps on a large scale, preparing and adapting sections of land for the settlement of immigrants by the help of local Government agents. Such places as still remain uninhabited, owing to their wild character, are carefully explored. There is yet but little land available for colonization, and which could be granted to newcomers without encroaching on the reserves of the old inhabitants, whether Russian or indigenous; and the greater part of these lands is already occupied.

Therefore, the Government has now permitted the occupation of tracts less suitable for culture, which have hitherto been waste land, as, for instance, the well-known Barabinsk steppe, which suffers from a lack of good water and is infested with insects that torment the inhabitants. Further, with a view to extending and enlarging the area for the reception of immigrants, forests are being cut down, drainage systems planned and wells sunk for the purpose of obtaining good water. In order to ensure the future prosperity of the immigrants, the Government is taking measures of every description to preserve the forests and natural riches in those parts intended for settlements. It furnishes material assistance and provides medical aid for immigrants who are usually of the poorer classes, and it has set aside a special fund for their benefit. In this way, regions which till quite lately were endless steppes, such as we find in Western. Siberia, or dark, impassable forests, as in Eastern Siberia, even now, when the railway is far from being completed, already show a great animation. In many places along the line, settlements with a population of 8,000 or 9,000 have already sprung up, such as the settlement of Novonikolaevsk, near the bridge across the Obi, the station of Taiga at the beginning of the Tomsk branch, and the stations of Niman and Krasnaya-rietchka on the Usuri line. The following table shows the annual number of immigrants:

The Siberian Railway has brought into the country not only

a new population, but new institutions and new culture. It was difficult for the new arrivals from Russia to adjust themselves to the legal forms which already existed. This fact prompted the Government to extend to Siberia the statutes of the Emperor Alexander II., relating to juries and the appointment of justices of the peace. The great importance of this reform can only be realized by Siberians, who, thanks to it, will really obtain speedy and equitable and clement justice, but who were previously tried in courts of an administrative character. In a short time this reform was followed by the long-wished-for abolition of transportation of criminals.

Simultaneously with the increase of population in the districts through which the Siberian Railway passes, and in proportion as it was opened to traffic, all kinds of industries, which already existed there, began to develop. It now seemed possible to export goods to the Russian and foreign markets, which could not be sent there under the former conditions of transport. The greatest improvement hitherto has been apparent in agriculture, which, as already stated, constitutes almost the sole occupation of the civilized inhabitants. Thanks to the railway, Siberian corn has found its way to foreign markets. Indeed, since the opening of the West Siberian line, the railway authorities have sometimes been unable to send off all the consignments of corn in proper time. These were often stored in large quantities along the line. In 1898, there were 6,500 wagon loads of corn stored in this way; 240 wagons were added daily, and the railway could only send off 120 wagons. The export to Russia of tallow, skins, wool and frozen meat has increased enormously of late years. This is one result of the development of cattle breeding in those districts traversed by the railway. Another is the increased activity in the butter-making industry, especially in the Province of Tobolsk. This industry has found a large market abroad, some 2,600,000 kilograms of Siberian butter having been exported in 1896.

Of course, these facts show only the small beginning of the great revolution which will be effected by the railway in all branches of Siberian economical life, in agriculture and cattle breeding, manufactures and trade. In the mining industry, we might say that at present attention is only given to the working of gold. Such a state of affairs is abnormal, for besides gold

there are immense stores of other mineral wealth. The construction of a railway near rich seams of coal, iron, copper and other minerals will give an impulse to the working of them; for, on one hand, the railway itself will require some of the productions of mining industry; on the other, it will make it possible to largely extend the market for them, and thus will bring about a better organization of existing mining enterprises.

The construction of the Great Siberian Railway has even now begun to produce a marked effect on Siberian trade, which formerly was carried on entirely by monopolists. In each district or town there was a local capitalist, who laid in a stock of goods at the fairs of Nijni-Novgorod, or elsewhere, and then fixed his own prices according to the means of his customers, and competition was non-existent. An enterprising man, who had neither capital nor credit, could not compete with these monopolists, because of the absence of good means of communication. This abnormal state of affairs is already improving. The railway which has connected Siberia with centres of production has rendered travelling cheaper and quicker, and made capital circulate more freely. People of small means are now enabled to make long journeys for the purchase of stock, and they can enter into direct communication with the producers and wholesale merchants in large centres. The trade of Siberia has become more democratic, and increasing competition has effected a change in its character.

Notwithstanding the small population, the uniformity of occupation, the poverty of the inhabitants and the absence of important industrial centres along the line, the traffic on the portions of the railway already opened has exceeded all expectations. Instead of the former three pairs of trains each day, as originally intended, the managers have been obliged to send off five pairs daily. These convey consignments of raw materials, particularly grain, and are sent to the markets of Russia and Western Europe. Purely local loads sent from one part of Siberia to another are small in quantity, for, owing to the uniformity of occupation in Western and Central Siberia, large exchange of goods is unnecessary, and the country people can supply their own modest wants. The influence of the railway on the export of Siberian goods to the adjacent countries of Asia is so far also very insignificant. But, of course, this state of affairs is only temporary, and may be

explained by the fact that the railway is not yet finished, and that Siberia is only beginning to emerge from very primitive conditions. With the termination of the railway and the influx of population and capital to the country, not only will the trade of the interior be developed, but Siberia will also supply the countries of Eastern Asia with manufactured goods.

One of the inevitable results, in conjunction with the influx of immigrants and capital, will be a greater division of labor, so necessary to the economical development of these dominions. In dependence on the natural and economical conditions, the population of each locality will devote their attention to one or many defined industries, and the railway will assure the sale of their goods either abroad or in other parts of Siberia.

As far as we can judge at present, Siberia will in future be divided into the following industrial regions:

(1.) The agricultural region, extending along the railway line from the Ural to Lake Baikal. The products of this region, which are principally grain, will be sent abroad through Russia in Europe and also to Eastern Siberia and Turkestan. The project of a branch line to Turkestan has already been discussed by the Administration, and its construction is merely a question of time. This branch line would indirectly be very advantageous to the whole Empire, for Siberian corn could be sent over it to Turkestan, and the inhabitants of that country would then devote their entire energies to the cultivation of the cotton plant. (2.) Two cattle breeding regions, in Transbaikalia, and in the steppes of Western Siberia, south of the agricultural region. (3.) The forest region, occupying the immense forests north of the agricultural region.

(4.) The fishing centres, along the shores of the Pacific and near the mouths of large rivers.

(5.) The mining and manufacturing region, which coincides with the basin of the Amur, and to which we may add the territory situated northeast of it and the Island of Sagalien. Owing to its mountainous character and the comparative absence of land suitable for agricultural purposes, the cultivation of cereals is not likely to be carried on here on a large scale, more especially as countries round about-Central and Western Siberia, Manchuria, Korea, Japan, China, India and America—are already well supplied with grain. We may presume that gold mining

will for a long time remain one of the chief occupations of the inhabitants of this region. On the other hand, the abundance of coal and iron in this region-both such powerful aids to economical development-sufficiently guarantees the rise of the manufacturing industry at no very distant date. In the Amur territory, there will doubtless be a rapid growth of factories to supply the large demand for cotton goods in the neighboring countries of Manchuria and Korea. These factories will draw their supply of raw material from Russian Turkestan, China, Korea, India and North America. The importation of woollen stuffs to China and Japan, where no sheep breeding is carried on, is increasing yearly. It would be greatly to the advantage of the Amur manufactories to participate in this industry, as they could procure large quantities of cheap wool from Transbaikalia and Mongolia. Finally, the climate and soil of the Amur territory are both favorable for the cultivation of the sugar beet, tobacco, flax and hemp, the manufactured product of which may also find a market in the countries round about.

In the economical awakening of Siberia, and particularly of its -richest part-the basin of the Amur-an important rôle will doubtless be played by the United States, which is the nearest civilized neighbor, with whom Russia can have no serious misunderstandings. The trade of North America with Vladivostok has hitherto not been very extensive, and has been confined to the importation of small quantities of flour, other foodstuffs, machinery, agricultural implements, leather, etc., from San Francisco. Owing to the absence of economical life in Siberia, nothing else, of course, was to be expected. But the small volume of trade up to the present time is no indication of what future years will bring about. In fact, an improvement has already been made, and American factories have supplied various materials, locomotives and rails particularly, for the Manchurian railway.

The Manchurian railway at present consists only of a single line, but the management has had the track made broad enough to admit of a double line, and its construction will follow in due course. For the construction of this second line 192,000,000 kilograms of rails will be required. Then, besides the amount of rails necessary for the smaller yearly repairs on the Manchurian and Siberian lines, and the proposed branches of the latter, 960,000,000 kilograms of rails will be required in ten years' time