3 2 



The National Geographic Magazine 



newspapers for granting an exclusive 

 concession to one individual. The criti- 

 cism has, in fact, been so bitter that the 

 government has been obliged to publish 

 a three-column official defense of its 

 action. It states that a concession was 

 the only means of protecting the rich 

 district from being invaded by American 

 prospectors. The country is so far dis- 

 tant and so large that it is impossible to 

 send troops there, but a strong Russian 

 syndicate, for its own interests, would 

 defend the property and keep out Ameri- 

 can and foreign gold-hunters. 



There is probably little truth in the 

 report that Senator Clark or any Ameri- 

 can capitalist has been granted conces- 

 sions for mining in any part of Siberia. 



By law all gold mined in Siberia and 

 Russia must be sold to the government, 

 which buys it at the ruling rates. It is 

 a criminal offense to sell to any one else. 



RAILWAYS OF THE WORLD 



A LARGER addition was made to 

 the railway mileage of the United 

 States in 1901 than in any preceding 

 year since 1890. The steam railways 

 of the United States now aggregate 

 about 200,000 miles, and those of the 

 entire world nearly 500,000 miles. Fig- 

 ures published b3^ the Treasury Bureau 

 of Statistics give the number of miles of 

 railway in operation in the United States 

 at the end of 1900 as 194,321, and add- 

 ing to this the 5,057 miles built in 1901 

 brings the grand total for the United 

 States to 199,378 miles. This does not 

 include railways operated by electricity, 

 of which the mileage, exclusive of 

 street and suburban roads, is now con- 

 siderable and rapidfy increasing. 



The total miles now open for traffic 

 in the entire world are estimated at 

 484,348, of which 220,657 miles are 

 in North America, 168,605 m Europe, 

 35,580 miles in Asia, 28,364 in South 

 America, 15,860 in Africa, and 15,282 



miles in Australasia. The United States 

 stands first, with 199,378 miles. Rus- 

 sia- has 34,852 ; the German Empire, 

 3!>934; France, 26,613; India, 25,035; 

 Austria-Hungary, 22,919; Great Britain 

 and Ireland, 21,700; Canada, 17,657; 

 British Australasia, 15,266; Argentina, 

 10,419; Italy, 9,810; Mexico, 9,603; 

 Brazil, 8,718, and Spain, 8,300 miles. 

 Of the half a million miles of railway 

 in the world, the Bureau of Statistics 

 estimates that about one-third are owned 

 by the governments of the country in 

 which they are located. About nine- 

 tenths of the railways of German}- are 

 owned by the national or state govern- 

 ments ; about two-thirds of those of 

 Russia are owned by the government, 

 and nearly one-half of those of Austria- 

 Hungary are also owned by the gov- 

 ernment. A large proportion of the 

 railways of France will become the 

 property of the government about the 

 middle of the present century. In Italy 

 nearly all of the railroads are owned by 

 the government, but are operated 'by 

 private companies which lease the lines 

 from the government. In Australasia 

 nearly all of the railways are owned by 

 the governments of the various colonies, 

 and in India a large proportion of the 

 25,035 miles in operation is owned or 

 guaranteed by the Indian Government. 



EMIGRATION FROM SIBERIA 



MUCH is being written about the 

 many thousands constantly pour- 

 ing into Siberia, but little is heard in 

 America of the great numbers who are 

 compelled to return to Russia, having 

 been unable to establish themselves in 

 Siberia. The Russian papers during 

 the past year have been severely criticis- 

 ing the arrangements of the government 

 for persons seeking to colonize Siberia. 

 It has been frequently stated in these 

 papers that from 35 to 50 per cent of 

 Russians entering Siberia have returned 



