EN ROUTE FOR SIBERIA 47 



being wood, have great difficulty in keeping the 

 engines going. The Siberian winter has added a 

 new difficulty to those peculiar to railway lines, in 

 that the cold causes the rails to swell and the joints 

 to bulge up. The engineers have only recently 

 reported the phenomenon, although they have known 

 of it for some time ; they were afraid to appear 

 presumptuous. In the meantime there can be little 

 doubt that it is dangerous to traffic. 



We were glad when we arrived at Kourgan, 1,532 

 miles beyond Moscow. This is the nearest town 

 of importance to European Russia. It is situated 

 on the River Tobol, and, although the population 

 is only 19,000, exercises an influence equal to that 

 of towns five times its own size in countries which 

 are not so purely agricultural. It is an important 

 forwarding centre for a very large district situated 

 north and south of the Siberian railway. Kourgan 

 boasts quite a number of substantial buildings, 

 stone churches and spacious educational establish- 

 ments . 



It is usually insisted that the Russian and Siberian 

 authorities are indifferent to the educational require- 

 ments of the people. In the nine towns which I 

 visited the total number of schools and other educa- 

 tional institutions was 181, the population amounting 

 to 221,464, and, as the majority of these are immi- 

 grants and adults, the children cannot exceed one 

 half of this number. I am not acquainted with any 

 other agricultural country where the educational 

 facilities are greater ; at the same time the necessity 

 for education is not so obvious in an agricultural 

 country like Russia as it is in great industrial and 

 commercial centres like the great cities of England 

 and America. The peasant is pretty much the same 

 everywhere. I have travelled in other countries 

 among farmers, on business of the same nature as 



