48 SIBERIA 



that on which I visited Siberia, and have noticed 

 that they are all remarkable for a disinclination to 

 work any more than is absolutely necessary, and are, 

 as a class, almost utterly devoid of education. The 

 occasional exceptions prove the rule. 



One of the most intelligent Siberians it wa,s my 

 good fortune to meet lived some 400 miles from the 

 Siberian railway line, at Bysk, and had never seen 

 the railway. He spoke fairly good English, was an 

 excellent musician, and in his dress and general 

 demeanour might have passed for an average Briton. 

 There are, of course, others like him, and, not in- 

 frequently, remarkably intelligent men are met with 

 among the peasantry. It is not my desire to dispute 

 the value of education to the agriculturist ; my con- 

 tention is, that education is less essential to success 

 in that sphere of life than it is to the artisan or the 

 commercial man, to those, in fact, who dwell in 

 city and tow^. I have, however, met men of very 

 little education in the ordinary sense of the word, 

 who were excellent business men, and I have, again, 

 met men whose education left nothing to be desired, 

 yet who were devoid of the tact and commonsense 

 which are so essential to a successful business career. 

 Whatever the sphere of activity, a good " school " 

 education can never be more than a highly desirable 

 adjunct to the natural qualifications which are 

 essential to success. The Siberian peasant possesses 

 many of these qualifications in a very marked degree. 

 To sum up, moralisers on Siberia and its ways should 

 remember that education does not create intelligence, 

 but, at best, can only teach the individual how to use 

 it to the best advantage. 



A thoughtful study of the peasantry of the 

 Kourgan district will persuade the student that, in 

 agricultural matters at least, he has very little to 

 learn from other countries. A proof of this may be 



