GLIMPSES OF SIBERIA, THE RUSSIAN '"WILD EAST' 



521 



boats, and on the highways and caravan 

 routes camels and oxen are passed by 

 modern automobiles, mostly of American 

 make. 



One gets wonderfully attached to Si- 

 berian life. There is something charming 

 and fascinating about it. I was evacu- 

 ated to Manila with more than a thou- 

 sand American troops, and during my 

 three months' stay in the Philippines I 

 repeatedly heard the men express a long- 

 ing to be back in "dear old 'Vladi'." The 

 natives, in spite of the scourges of typhus 

 and cholera, in spite of the hunger and 

 cold which they have experienced so fre- 

 quently during the last six years, are de- 

 voted to their home land; yet apparently 

 they are indifferent to the rich opportu- 

 nities of their country. 



Siberia is a land of rich agricultural 

 potentialities, in spite of the shortness of 

 the summer season, and even American 

 tables have been served with Siberian 

 cheese and butter. But the most alluring 

 opportunities of the country are pre- 

 sented in its mineral wealth — gold and 

 silver and precious stones. 



A REMINDER OF OUR WEST OF EARLIER 

 DAYS 



There is so much in Siberia that re- 

 minds an American of our "Wild West" 

 of earlier days, whether it be lawlessness, 

 freedom, opportunity, a place to live life 

 over again, great distances, vastness and 

 gloriousness of scenery, or barrenness 

 such as is seen on the Gobi Desert, where 

 the camels graze. 



And there are many features that may 

 be described in typical American superla- 

 tives ! Vladivostok has the finest harbor 

 in the world ; the railroad connecting 

 Vladivostok with Petrograd is the long- 

 est in the world — thus the Siberians rave, 

 and not altogether madly. But they can- 

 not rave about their roads. The Russian 

 word, "doroga," meaning "road," liter- 

 ally means, "bad road," and it would be 

 redundancy to speak of a bad "doroga." 

 It merely means a place where you may 

 get through. But what an amazingly 

 wealthy people they will be when they 

 get roads suitable for automobile trucks 

 and some lines connecting with their al- 

 ready wonderful transcontinental rail- 

 way ! 



The cities of the Russian "Wild East" 



are not particularly populous, but each 

 one boasts of sufficient beautiful churches, 

 government and private edifices to give it 

 a noble aspect. First comes Vladivostok, 

 a combination of Gotham and Chicago. 

 At the other end of the country is Omsk, 

 the capital. In between and top and 

 bottom are Tomsk, Ekaterinburg, Chelia- 

 binsk, Chita, Xabarosk, Irkutsk, Harbin, 

 and Nikolsk. One of the most objection- 

 able features about these beautiful cities 

 is their filth and the attendant odors. 

 I once mentioned this deprecatingly to a 

 Russian woman who had traveled much. 

 She sharply reminded me that the varie- 

 gated stenches of the Chicago stock yards, 

 the smoke of Pittsburgh, and the pun- 

 gent gasoline stench of New York's Fifth 

 Avenue still held first places in her su- 

 perlatives of city smells. 



VLADIVOSTOK, THE LARGEST AND MOST IN- 

 TERESTING CITY IN EASTERN SIBERIA 



Tomsk has an unusually beautiful ca- 

 thedral and a great university, that has 

 produced more than one famous name, 

 Metchnikoff, the great bacteriologist, be- 

 ing one of them. 



Vladivostok, the largest and most inter- 

 esting city of eastern Siberia, owes much 

 to Russia's loss of Port Arthur, for that 

 misfortune increased the Tsar's interest 

 in the more northerly seaport until he 

 had made it worthy of its name, "Ruler 

 of the East." The one disadvantage of 

 Vladivostok is that its harbor is frozen 

 during several months of the year. In 

 spite of this drawback, I believe it is con- 

 ceded that Vladivostok possesses the sec- 

 ond finest harbor in the world, and it is 

 claimed that from a military standpoint 

 the city was second only to the Darda- 

 nelles. 



Whatever lessons the Tsar learned 

 from the Russo-Japanese War, Vladi- 

 vostok proves that he had determined 

 not to be caught napping again. Bat- 

 teries of large defense guns and concrete 

 emplacements for many more guard the 

 mouth of the harbor. From the water 

 front to a point many miles inland are 

 numerous lines of defense. Many of 

 the hills are full of ammunition, and 

 aerial railways were constructed to carry 

 it to the guns. The harbor is equipped 

 with machine-shops, floating dry-docks, 

 stationary dry-docks, a naval base, hoist- 



