126 The National Geographic Magazine 



If we take into further consideration 

 the fact that the Russian government — 

 by subsidies and bounties and through 

 its banks and railways — is engaging in 

 industrial and commercial pursuits as a 

 government, and calculate the cheap 

 fooa, cheap and reliable labor, and the 

 vast mineral resources that she will have 

 at her command on the Pacific, the 

 question of the Manchurian market be- 



apparent plans are realized, from be- 

 coming a dominating factor in the com- 

 mercial development of the Far East ? 

 One can not view the marvelous growth 

 of a city like Harbin or observe the 

 cities of Vladivostock, Dalny, and Port 

 Arthur and the great Siberian railway 

 without pondering seriously the mean- 

 ing of it all in the future of Russia on 

 the Pacific. 



Constructing a Dry Dock at Dalny 



Like the builders of the ancient pyramids, the Russians in Manchuria have no lack of iaborers. 

 They pay the Chinese laborers 30 cents a day in winter and 20 cents a day in summer. 



comes comparatively insignificant, and 

 we find ourselves face to face with the 

 greater problem of the markets of all 

 Asia. 



With millions of cheap and efficient 

 Chinese laborers, with vast coal fields 

 bordering on the Pacific, with moun- 

 tains of iron and copper, vast forests, 

 and enormous areas of agricultural land, 

 producing now the cheapest food in the 

 world, what is to prevent Russia, if her 



For the present, the prospect is that 

 we shall at least meet with such unfa- 

 vorable conditions in Manchuria as will 

 endanger our present lines of trade. 

 Whether or not this will be compensated 

 for by an increase in other lines is not 

 at this time clear. 



There ought to be, and most likely 

 will be, a large trade in agricultural 

 implements. Of foreign countries, Ger- 

 many is securing the most of this trade 



