The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], February 02, 1913, MAGAZINE SECTION, Image 51

About The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950

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On Uncle Sam’s Boundary Line With Mexico
By FRANK G. CARPENTER
Watching the Smugglers. Hindooss Trying to Get Into United States
COLONEL BREWER
Commander of United States Cavalry
at Fort Clark, Laredo, Tex.
me that the authorities at Washington
had kept his party waiting for two weeks
at Nuevo Laredo, and that he could not
learn when they were likely to leave. I
photographed four of these Hindoos. They
were line loking fellows, all wearing
turbans and Indian dress, and it seemed
to me as though they might have been
lifted up bodily out of the streets of Delhi
*nd dropped down into this Mexican
t :>wn.
The Only Gateway to Mexico
During a part of the past year this
crossing of the Rio Grande at Laredo
has been the only gateway to Mexico.
Vera Cruz was closed by the revolution
of Diaz, and El Paso had a long period
ri Interrupted traffics on account of the
rebels of Chihuahua and other parts of
northern Mexico. The bridge at this point,
has been poorly guarded, and I am told
that the rebels with a few sticks of
dynamite might have blown it to pieces.
Uncle Sam has a fort here under the
command of Cdlonel Brewer. The force
consists of about 600 cavalry, who have
tecently come from the Philippines. They
sue husky, fine looking fellow's, and are
icady to move at a moment’s notice. In
case of trouble their first work would
be to seize and guard the railway bridge
Mexicans in the United States
I am surprised at the Mexicans I find
down here on the United States side of
the boundary. The trains coming In are
racked with peons or Indians, who are
coming Into Texas to work on the farms.
1 am told that sometHhig like 48,000 came
i» to the United Stat€*s last summer and
fall to aid in harvesting the cotton and
other crops. Thirty thousand came by
way of Laredo, and more than 18,000 by
way of Brownsville. These men were
scattered all over Texas, and they got
gcod wages during the harvesting season.
Many of them have returned home loaded
with money. The current wages for farm
work in Mexico are something like :4>
cents gold a day, but here in Texas the
price for picking cotton is from 50 cents
upward per 100 pounds. Many a man can
pick 200, 300 or 100 pounds in a day, and
these Mexicans, with their families, often
make from $3 to $6 a day, and some even
more. They spend almost nothing, and
as a result are able to go back home
with enough money to keep them for the
test of the year. The Texans are glad to
have them, and I am told that there they
are employed by the hundreds on certain
estates.
In addition to this there are many
Mexicans who have come over to act as
servants in the towns of southern Texas.
I heard of one who, with his family, was
so employed in Brownsville. His wages
were about $15 gold a month, and he had
served the family at these wages for two
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i ——
The Rio Grande at Laredo
fCopyright, 1918, b3' Frank G. Carpenter.)
Laredo, Texas.
THIS is the first of a scries of letters
which I shall write about our sis
ter country of Mexico. I have come
to the boundary by the way of Bt Louis
and San Antonio, and am now here at
L&redo, on the southern edge of Uncle
Bara’s land. I had this afternoon the pe
culiar experience cf standing astride the
two greatest of the North American re
publics. I was In the center of the old
wagon bridge which here crosses the Rio
Grande, and I had my left foot and hand
in the United States, while my right foot
was in Mexico. I know this was the fact,
for behind me was one of the boundary
posts which mark the outline between
the two countries. This was a steel py
ramid about a foot square at the bottom
and six feet in height. It was plated with
■liver, and each cide of It bore an inscrip
tion showing that it marked th*» boundary
line. The carving on the side facing our
country was in English and that on the
opposite side in Spanish, but both mean
the same. The English inscription reads:
‘‘Boundary of the United States. Treaty
of 1848. Re-established by treaties of 18S4
188b.”
Under these words is the following:
"Destruction or displacement of this
monument is a misdemeanor, punishable
by the United States or by Mexico."
The United States side of the pyramid
is marked with the American eagle and
on the Mexican side is the coat of arms
Of Mexico As I stood facing the w'est,
with my right leg in the United State#
and my left leg In Mexico, I observed the
left perceptibly trembled. Perhaps it was
for fear of the revolution, which has beori
■o long going on on the southern side of
the bridge.
Our Boundary With Mexico
I turned around and looked* to the
West, my eye following the course of
the Rio Grande as far as sight could
reach. It is a ragged, muddy, dreary
■tream, with banks which are ragged
and low, and bordered by vegetation as
coarse and thirsty as that of *the Jor
dan. The stream Is not navigable, and
Its chief business seems to be to mark
the boundaries between the two coun
tries and to give a dreary and dan
gerous task to some thousands of the
United States soldiers.
The Rio Grande is winding. From
here to the Gulf of Mexico, its course
on the map looks like the teeth of a
saw, and running northwest to El Paso
It curves in and out and makes great
bends covering almost double the lineal
distance between those two points. At
El Paso the river leaves Mexico ^nd
runs north into the United States, and
our boundary from there to the Pacific
fs otherwise marked. The whole length
of the boundary, wdth its many curves,
roughly speaking, Ir quite as long as
from New York to Salt Lake City, and
this whole line, running through the
most desert regions of the United
Btateo, is now patrolled by our troops.
Guarding the Kio Grande
On my way here I stopped at San An
tonio and had a talk with the officers
In oharge of the post there. They tell
me that the river Is especially difficult
to guard. It flows through a desert,
and when its waters are low it can he
easily forded. All along It the Mexican
rebels have been trying to smuggle in
arms and ammunition. Boxes and crates,
labeled agricultural machinery, tilled
with guns are dumped off at same way
station along the railway, and the Mex
ican raiders steal over and try to bring
them across. The railways in most
cases are quite a distance north of the
boundary and the troops have to watch
the trails and water holes to catch the
brigands.
In addition to this there are many
ranches not far from the river, to which
the Mexicans wil come to steal horses,
cattle and food, and a continual outlook
has to be kept for hundreds and thous
ands of miles. Tills is done with a
small force. One man will patrol a line
30 or 40 miles long, and there are
detachments of troop at eevry 80 or 100
milep.
The men live in little tents out in the
desert, and one of the great troubles is
to get supplies to them. Many of the
camps are from B0 to 100 miles from
the railroad, and it takes a wagon or
pack train from 10 days to three weeks
to make the round trip. There is prac
tically no food in the country, and the
men have to live on dried meats, canned
stuff and hardtack. They boil and Alter
the water of the country, and all are
inoculated for typhoid fever before
starting. The country is so arid that
the only trails can be from water hole
to water hole, and much of the work
Is watching these water holes.
Keeping Out the Smugglers
Another job which Uncle Sam has all
along tills boundary is the prevention of
smuggling, and also the keeping out the
Chinese, Hindoos and others who are
trying to sneak across into the United
States contrary to our exclusion laws.
Within the last two or three years many
Chinese have been smuggled across, at
the rate of $500 per man, this being
the price paid by each Celestial for his
successful landing. It is different now.
The government has a band of mounted
scouts, who are under the department
of commerce and labor, and whose only
business is to run down and capture
such characters. One of these men, Tom
Ounle.v, has taken G4 Chinamen within
less than a year, and in addition has
captured a large number of smugglers.
The Chinese are still attempting to
cross over, and they are now offering
as much as a thousand dollars apiece
for a successful landing.
Right here at I.#aredo I met a large
party of Hindoos who were trying to get
into our country. They were on the
southern side of the bridge, in the plaza
which forms the center of the Mexican
town of Nuevo I .a redo. They were tall,
dark faced, strong, husky East Indians,
and the chief was a turbaned Hindoo
from Punjab.
I asked him where they were going
and he told me he had brought the gang
of 43 with him from the Panama canal.
They had traveled Arst to Guatemala, and
had come by the Pan-American railway
from there into Mexico. They had gone
ciear across that country to I>aredo, and
aie now hoping to go through Texas to
California to And work oh the farms and
railroads there. The chief complained to
years or more. Bast summer he asked
1 js employer if he might have a vacation
to pick cotton, and, this being granted,
ht left. He took his family with him,
end when he came back at the end of
three months he showed savings of £W0.
He then took up his old Job at >16 a
month and will work at that until the
next ' cotton picking season. He spent
Ms money to buy a lot at Brownsville,
and his next year’s savings will build
lum a house.
A Walk Into Mexico
It cost me Just one nickel to get into
the Mexican republic. This was the toll
over the wagon bridge which crosses the
Rio Orande into Nuevo I,aredo. I was
stopped on the Mexican side by three
officials and asked if I had any guns or
other ammunition,’ and in returning one
of our customs officers asked me if I had
any dutiable goods in my clothes.
The difference in the prosperity of the
two republics was apparent as soon as I
left the bridge. The first man I met was
a blind beggar who asked me lor alms,
and I met more poor people as I came up
into the town and went through the nar
row, unpaved streets, ljaredo. Tex., is
a city of the rich. Many of its peotle
have money to burn, and they are raising
fold dollars on the lands whech lie all
around them. The people of Nuevo l^aro
do seem to he just the reverse, although
they are surrounded by a country equally
good. The town is gone to seed, and its
houses of brick, covered wltli stucco and
painted all the colors of the ratnbow, are
battered and worn. The only sign of ac
tive Itfe was in the plaza, where a gaily
uniformed band was playing excellent mu
sic. I saw soldiers here and there, and
now and then passed one of the federal
infantry patrolling the streets.
I understand that there is need of the
federal and local police Just now almost
everywhere. The unsettled conditions as
regards the government have made the
thieves and other criminals more coura
geous than they have been in tbe past.
Brigandage is common In many districts,
and travel in the mountains is almost ev
erywhere unsafe. There are many thefts,
and crime, which could be kept In check
when the country was quiet, now goes on
unpunished.
As an instance of this, the other night
a rich Mexican, the owner of a large ha
cienda. was standing on the steps of a
Pullman car. He was something of a
dandy, and wore a beautiful sombrero,
embroidered wltn silver and loaded with
a heavy silver cord. Such a hat is worth
$25 or more. The train had stopped at a
wayside station, and the man was stand
ing look out toward the east, smoking a
cigarette. It was evening, and the elec
tric lights on the car made bright the sil
ver trimmings ut the sombrero. Thee
caught the eye of a peon, who was sneak
ing up on the westward side Df the train
and he, climbing the steps, stabbed the
man in the back, snatched the sombrero
and got a\&y before he could be appre
hended. The American who saw this tells
me the stabbed man died. .
I have been warned by several trave
lers to keep the curtains of my berth down
when riding at night over the Mexican
railroads, and when I asked why, the re
ply was that several rocks had been
thrown into the cars aimed at travelers
who sat by the windows. One such trav
eler was sleeping. The stone scattered
the pieces of glass all over him, and cut
a gash or so In his face. His eyes were
saved by the fact that he was sleeping
when the stone came.
I would say, however, that these
cases are extraordinary. Railroad tra
vel in Mexico is undoubtedly more
dangerous Just now than In the past,
and hold-ups in certain districts are
common. I understand, however, that
many of the roads have been running
their trains uninterruptedly during the
past year, and I hope to travel over
the greater part of the Mexican re
public without being robbed. I shall
start south to Monterey tomorrow, and
will write of conditions and other
things as T find them.
Fortunes in Onions
Before leaving Uncle Sam's country,
however, I want to give you some of
the big stories the Texans are pouring
into my ears. They say their state is
growing faster than the gourd of old
Jonah. Right here in Laredo they have
proved to my satisfaction that they
are making fortunes in onions. Five
years ago the land surrounding the
town was practically a desert, and it
could be bought for from $1.50 to $3
per acre. Now you have to cover it
with greenbacks to get it. There are
already more than 10,000 acres under
cultivation, and much of this Is in
garden patches, devoted to onions
which in quality surpass those of Ber
muda. The Laredo onion is as white as
snow and exceedingly tender. It is of
ten as big as the head of a. baby.
Last year 2S00 carloads were shipped
away from Laredo, and this represent
ed a value of between $2,000,000 and
$3,000,000. These onions go to our
northern markets.
A year or so ago one of the big
onion raisers decided to experiment
with red pepper. The result was much
the same as that expressed in the
Mxican Officials on the Boundary
Line
story of the rather profane grocer, wt;
became converted and was praying 3
a religious meeting for a poor widoi
He said, "Oh, Lord, give this po<
woman a barrel of flour! Oh, Lord, gh
her a barrel of potatoes! Oh, Ix>r
give her a barrel of pepper!" At whid
point he caught himself and said, *>T
d—n it, that's too much pepper."
Well, this Laredo farmer had
much pepper. The crop was so lari
he could not dispose of it all. ll
swamped the drug houses, the car
neries and the pickle makers, arj
still had bales upon bales of pepnj
left. The pepper was analyzed an</
proved to be the richest pepper of tl
w’orld.
Uncle Sam’s Winter Garden
An even greater revolution as to tl
values of land \ has taken place in tl
lower Rio Grande valley in the neigl
borhood of Brownsville. There ai
three counties between this point ar
three that were practically dead
years ago, but which &re now shij
ping solid trainloads of winter vegt
tables to St. Louis, Karraas City, Ch
cago, New York and Philadelphia. Th€
can raise vegetables for these marke
three weeks ahead of California, ar
they begin sending them off when tl
blizzard is still raging north of Mi
son and Dixon’s line. In consequenc
four thriving cities have grown v
within the last four years. These ai
San Benito. Harlingen, Mercedes ar
Mission. They have each 3000 or 40(
people and each is surrounded by
rich farming community.
I hear many stories about men wl
have come to this valley walking J
their uppers and are now riding abot
in automobiles. The exports of veg<
tables are running high Into the mi
lions of dollars a year, and over $125
000,000 of new money has been inves
ed in the valley within the past sevc
years.
Mr. Holland, one of the owners <
the San Antonio Express, tells me tin
all the counties of the lower R
Grande valley are rapidly growing, ar
he cites the instances of three why
cover a space about as large as th;
of Rhode Island. In 1910 the popult
tion of these counties had Touble
over that of 1900; and they hav
grown about 25 per cent within tl
past two years. The land values hav
also more than doubled and I am to]
that the country is still on the edg
of Its beginning.
I understand that homeseekers’ ej
curslons are now run throughout tl
year, and that great irrigation worl
are under way. In some places tl
water is pumped from the Rio Granc
by centrifugal pumps wtth p»p<
ranging from 16 to 48 Inches, and tl
water is carried by means of pumi
ing stations for miles over the coui
try .
There is another district betwee
here and San Antonio where the irr
gation is by artesian wells. They flr
the water at from 750 to 1800 feet ar
some of the wells flow’ sufficient
irrigate from 200 to 320 acres. Indee
the whole of Texas seems to be in ti
excellent business ccndtiion. The farm
ers are growing rich and the cities ai
rapidly increasing in ’’size. I
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The Ikon-Studded Girdle of Granny Earth
BY C. F. MARKELL
WTBH.TQ Is a popular and truthful
platitude which declares that too
far east is weat and the verity of
the assertion is demonstrated in the great
GJberftm railway. Personally I accord
precedence to the railway systems of Eu
rope over those of our own county both
as to -exclusiveness and comfort of equip
ment, but this Is on Individual prefei
ment, and is not the accepted opinion of
a majority of Americans. The consensus
of opinion is that for luxury, accommoda
tion and study of detail the railways of
the United States lead the.world. However,
ail admit that such is true in the ab
stract, and that when the Siberian rail
way is considered Its trains de luxe rival
those of the Occident and their superb
equipment is beyond compare*.
I do not wish to l>e considered sacrileg
ious, but 1 am convinced that in its ln
lluence for civilization a railway rivals
that of Christianity itself. Every bar
barian or semi-barbarian country into
which the railroad has penetrated yields
to the spell and displays a phase lof
transformation that is as remarkable
as it is indubitable. Liberia and the fur
east are no t.xcepts,ms to this rule, amt
since a cordon of iron has been stretched
from Moscow to Vladivostok the land of
the Russian exile, once replete with lei
icr and mentioned only with a shudder,
las been changed to a country oi immi
grants and settlers by the hundreds if
thousands are harkening to the allure
ments of its cal!.
At the initiation of a great railway
system in the -east the potentate of the
domain through which it is to pass docs
net, like those of America, drive u silver
spike; he wheels a barrow of earth, and
on May l'J, JSH1, the Csar of all the Rus
sia* performed this function at the in
itiation of a system that now extends
6«»!) miles and requires in days to traverse
3t extend* practically one-third of the
way around the world, and, following thn
.sixtieth degree of latitude, covers 111
degrees of longitude. The work was oon:
pletod in seven years, representing near
ly two mile: for each laboring day, ex
cluding Sabbutha atul fete days, and the
cost of its construction, approximated
f4<N)#(XKV4)0O.
The gauge is nearly four inches brooder
than that of the American trunk lines, a
majority of the locomotives burn oil, an 1
its methods practiced in the starting and
stopping* of trains, absolutely free from
jor or jerk, might be adopted by the
i
American lines to the great advantage
and comfort of passengers.
Up until the period when the great Rus
sian emigration was inaugurated nearly
Ov per cent of its patrons were Engllsn
speaking, but of late years its passengers
average nearly 2,000.000 annually. The
fare is j\ist a trifle over 1 cent per mile,
though, of course, higher rates are
cnarged upon the trains de luxe, widen
aie run thrice weekly and make but
one change in the entire route from
Moscow to Vladivostok.
The railroad pierces a tunnel two miles
in length, its greatest altitude is a trifle
over 3000 feet above sea level and so num
erous are the rivers which it crosses that
ibe bridges represent a combined dis
tance of more than 30 miles. m
A peculiar feature of the route Is the
utter absence of large cities, probably
due to the same reason which once actu
c.ifd a Osar who was shown a prospectus
of a proposed road between St. Peters
burg and Moscow. The engineers bad
planned to take in many large towns,
but when his lflajesty saw t lie chart ne
took a pencil, drew a straight line between
toe two cities, and straight the road was
built, regardless of the fact that im
portant localities were left out of the
mute. Tlie coaches are vestibuled, lighted
l»v electricity and the corridors run down
the skit. Lavatories are placed between
find connect with each two compartments
and in tho baggage car are two luxurious
baths for tlu* use of all tine passengers,
fcteam heat is used and a dining car 's
attached. The trains do luxe carry no
i rdiuary passenger coaches, but the sleep
ers comprise licet and second class car.',
the distinction between thQ two consisting
merely of better upholstery tor the for
mer and fnferior lavatories for the lat
ter. The compartments are lined with
1< ^ther and contain a small table for card
playing, eating or reading with a mov
able electric ligitt Each passenger may
take 4u pounds of baggage Into his com
partment free and the rates for excessive
v eight are high. These 40 pounds are
n presented by what the Russians cail a
1 ud. The dining curs are scrupulously
r.'-'un and the- n»od is cooked to the
it ten's taste. The cost of the menu is
!»;. no mean* corbitant. breakfast (con
testing1* "r • d, coffee,' tea or choc
olate) rved for 2o cents; lumu
for »K> s | er for To cents. The only
i * side a scarcity of towels and
lack i drinking water.
t 4 '
Vladivostok is distinctly a military
town and in this respect reminded me of
Potsdam. One here sees nothing but
soldiers, and if those who prate of Rus
sia’s despotism and tyranny could only
hear the stirring martial songs of pa
triotism the anthems of loyalty to the
“Lititle Flat her" and devotion to the
ra< ther country which make the streets of
the city resonant, they would marvel at
the environment or admit their error. The
city has a* population of some 60,000 souls,
posesses many business buildings of the
U.test modern type and is famous for its
'"onderful dry dock which is a marvel
O' engineering skill. Its picturesqueness
consists in its numberless green domed
ihurches, but it is still in a transitory
stage. At certain seasons its streets are
almost impassable and Siberian ponies
c.rug rude vehicles through swamps of
mud wellnigh axle deep.
In entering Manchuria I was again
made sensible of the adage that “too far
east is west," for while I have never
been a great distance beyond the Missis
sippi river I felt from what 1 have heard
oi my western country that l was
tiaversing the region which lies between
tl e Father of Waters and the Rockv
mountains. Its vast praries, its extended
F’eas of virginal forests. Its gigantic
mineral tracts of incalculable value and
its unadorned farmhouses were all decid
edly western, while Harbin bore close
semblances to a thriving frontier Amer
ican city.
Then I caught interesting glimpses of
weird Bouriat camps and noted that the
women were as expert at riding unruly
horses as were the men. In crossing i
si .ill corner of the Gobi desert, with Its
occasional shrubs and stunted trees, the
desert region of the Rocky mountain was
again recalled, and in fact the only feat
■i’ < not occidental was the long trains of
(umels loaded with burdens of tea. which
’ he patient animals were bringing in
tin-ir plodding way from out the winding
t ails which connect the remote tea farni3
of the interior with the ports of ship
ment.
Through the ingob & volley T saw In
numerable lumber camps, timber rafts,
or.eer cabins, forest clearings, fields of
lowly broken farms lands, small herds of
■ i.ttle and growing crops, all typical of
• iriy agricultural life in Nebraska, Mon
tana and tlie Dakotas.
All along the route are Tittle square
block houses for the accommodation of
the tailway and track attendants, and at
t
all crossings the flagman as soon as the
train has passed walked to the center
of the roadbed, where tie halted and stood
motionless as a statue, with Ills flag ex
tended until tile train passed out of
sight. He does this for the reason that
upon the rear platform of each train Is
a railroad official who keeps tab upon
all flagmen ready to report them for
o\ery dereliction of duty.
I was upon the qui vive to see Lake Bai
kal, one of the world's lacustr&l wonders.
We skirted Its southern shore for 150 miles
and 1 was charmed with the soft tropical
aspect of its bea u and immediate vicini
ty contrasting with its white Ice flows
sparkling in the warm sunlight with blind
ing brilliancy, for the lake is frozen oyer
during live months of the year. It lirs
nearly 300" miles from the ocean, Is al
most 400 miles In length and 40 miles In
width, while its greatest depth measures
.of**) feet. Resting 1500 feet above the sea
it is the sixth largest lake on the globe,
and its most remarkable feature is that
it is the only body of fresh water In the
entire world in which seals can live and
thrive.
At the western extremity of this inland
sea is the city of Irkutsk with u pop na
tion of 75,000 souls. It is 37.00 miles dis
tant from St.. Petersburg, and the select
ed destination for political and criminal
exiles. Charmingly s.tuated upon the
Angora river, the discharging stream of
Lake*Baikal, it is a city of imposing
buildings, beautiful homes and handsome
churches. Its dtlzens are noted for their
lavish hospitality end the place abounds
with hospitals, schools, observatories and
museums. Its municipal equipments ih
clude electric lights. telephone service
and an efficient flre department. Its dark
side is the pro valence ^ of unpunished
crimes and a corrupt police force. Irkutsk
is a great centre lor immigrants, who are
called incoming pioneers, and all along
the Siberian railway from here to Omsk
suitable stations have been established
with barracks, kitchen and hospitals for
the feeding and musimPof the newcomer#.
Hot water and tea are provided them
gratis and special markets are conducted
for the furnishing of bread at moderate
price".
The arrivals approximate 4000 dally in
the height of tne season, the passengers
coming in fourth «.,<**&.cars fitted up with
three tiers of berths. The passengers
carry their entire belongings witn them
done up in huge bundles and yet amid such
miserable environments they positively
appeared to be nappy, their countenances
brightened with the radiance of expec
tancy and hope quickening the pulsing of
hdart and bosoms.
My train then entered the magnificent
gloom and sensible density of the Taiga
forests, an immense region covered with
the stately Russian birch and graceful
Siberian cedar. The country was wild
ness personified and was haunted by the
trapper and gold seeker. To the south of
me lay the gold mines and extensive
placed deposits which bid fair to soon ren
der the locality one of the leading gold
producing centres of the world, and to my
north stretched the region from which
come the famous Russian furs of the bear,
the martin, the fox, the ermine, the ott*r
and other denizens of the wild. In this
district lies Tomsk, the capital of Siberia,
but strange to say, tHT civil engineers
passed it by in laying out the great Trans
Siberian railway and one has to reach it
by a branch line 4t> miles in length. 1,
of course, did not taKe the time to make
the detour necessary to visit the city.
I was more than pleased when I ex
changed the gloom of the forest, for tee
glad smiling bright sunshine of the open
Siberian steppes. For a thousand miles
I traversed a country of undulating mead
ows, winding rivers, wild flowers of gor
geous bloom and gigantic growth, nutri
tious grass, immense herds of cattle and
innumerable dairy farms.
Coal fields are here abundant, and
though the running water is sweet and
potable, the artesian wells often produce
nothing but bitter or salt water and wells
frequently change from sw'eet to salt.
Wild straw’hernes grow in profusion and
they are ottered for sale at the stations
by the children and women. Never ha'e
I tasted a fruit approaching these berries
in flavor save the similar berry found in
Brazil.
While Tomsk Is the capital of Siberia,
Omsk Is the largest and commercially
the most important city of the country
It is in the centre of the Steppes, is sit
uated upon the Irtish, a branch of the
Obi river, and has a population consider
ably over 100.‘>00 souls.
To fully appreciate the importance of
Omsk one must lemember that as the
centre of river ti urspotration of western
Siberia it dominates the trade of 15,0O»
miles of waterways. The area of the Obi
watershed more than doubles that of Den
mark. France. Germany and Italy com
bined. its fleet comprises nearly 300 steam
ers and a canal connects it with the
Yenisei river an! its tributaries.
The activity and life which greeted me
at the great railway station of Omsk was
characteristic of that of our metropolitan
American terminals. Gorgeously capari
soned military officers, brilliantly be
dizened train and station officials, ar.d
well groomed citizens mingled and strug
gled through throngs of peasants, emi
grants and attendants of every nationali
ty and station in life. They swarmed,
they stalked they even slept. The men
carried the heavy hags and kitchen uten
sils and the women lugged the spinning
wheels and the babies. Both shared the
ubiquitous samovar which Is as much a
part of a Russian as a pipe is of a Dutch
man. High boots and sheep skin gar
ments were in evidence everywhere, and
Russian, Tartar, Cossuck and KoKstro
rnan mingling in cue heterogeneous mass.
It was brilliant, it was picturesque, it
w*as dirty.
1 still had 400 miles to cover before
reaching the Ural mountains, so I did
not tarry in Omsk, but moved on.
I soon entered the Baraba steepe and
I felt as though I were in a veritable Ar
cadia. For miles and miles I passed long
hedges of white lilacs and the air <vas
heavy with thoiv stephanotlc fragrance.
I caught glimpses of the desultory tents
of the Khirgis, herds of ponies dotted the
long stretches of purple heather and even
the camel was still present in great num
bers. in this section of country there
are »*.000,u00 sheep. 3.000,000 cattle, a$ many
horses and a quarter of a million camels.
The latter beast in. the Orient is like the
horse with us; neither railroads nor mod
ern vehicles can retire the one nor elec
tric cars and automobiles relegate the
other.
Baraba is a land of meat and butter.
The first, goes to St. Petersburg, the lat
ter to Germany and Groat Britain. DaJry
farming is conducted w-ith the most mod
ern methods and the machinery is of the
latest pattern. The butter is of the linest
quality and 65.000 tons of it are annually
shipped out of the country.
At last l reached the western extremity
of Siberia proper. I was at Chelyabinsk,
a city resting at The eastern foot of the
Ural mountains, and the place where the
great Trans-Siberian railway bifurcate-,
one line running to St. Petersburg and
the othefcto Moscow. In former times the
exiles to Siberia were here distributed,
and here 1 had iny first view of a prison
car. It resembled a jail uj>on wheels
with its metal casing, its barred windows
and thribly-boltei doors. Upon each side
at the rear end of the van was a little
iron seat for the occupancy^of the gutfed.
it was a gruesome vehicle and ynight ha*, c
been tugged “who enters here leaves ail
hope behind," but as I gazed at It I cou
but think that in bad weather it was b€
ter, for the time at least, to be on tl
inside looking out than one of those e:
posed guards perched upon those hazari
ous seats on the outside looking In. Bi
here one notes tho irony of fate for wh
was once & spot of horror and misery
now a resting placo for immigrants,
million home seekers have passed throuj
its gates and the city has provided f
their comfort by the erection of mai
barracks, hospitals, laundries, baths ar
summer camps. Tnd#ed. so capacious n
these institutions that in winter time 3C
immigrants can be housed and made cor
fortable therein while over 4000 may l
ministered to when the suipmer camps a
in operation.
From here began my ascent, as T st
moved westward, of the low crested Ur
mountains, my highest elevation belt
less than 2000 feet. These mountains mai
the boundary line between Asia and K
rope and upon their apex is planted
whit© marble pyramid which has be<
pathetically named the “Monument
Tears." It is tho gateway of the exi
and he who passed it was counted i
dead, but from being a pinacle of d
spair it has been transformed into
thole of hope and to the immigrant it
now a stepping stone upon the long Jou
ney of hope and a new life.
Hence I was in the malachite count
from the mines of which come the par
colored rocks out c,f which urns. vas<
tables and princely gifts are fashion
and the natives flocked around the tra
at every station offering for sale pret
souvenirs of the precious stuff. For mo
than a wreek 1 na l been tied to a mot hoi
apron string, and when I reached Most*
I parted regretfully from the ikon-studd
girdle of Granny Karth.
Ditto
From the Houston Post.
A doctor who had a custom of cu!
v&ting the lawn and walk in front
his home every spring engaged O’Bri
U* do the job. He went away for thr
days and when he returned fou
O'Brien waiting for bis money. The di
tor was not satisfied with his work a
f aid: *
“O'Brien the walk Is covered with gra
el and dirt and in my estimation its
bad job.”
O’Brien looked at him in surprise i
i> moment and replied;
“Shure, doc, theres many a bad j
of yours covered wfrth gravel and diri