| Show PROPOSED CONQUESTS A GOOD deal has been written about siberia but the conception which the general public entertain of it to is very vague and indefinite it is associated with horrors of all kinds in the mind of the average reader it Is ie a place of torture ot of barbarous tyranny and of cruel brutality according to authors who have traveled in it however it will soon own be within the limits ol 01 civil fixation proper and the philosopher politician and tourist can see for themselves its mysteries and its marvels A railroad to is in process of construction which will extend from one end to the other of the length of siberia th this when completed will be the longest continuous i railroad in the world its trunk mileage will not fall far short abort of miles it is being built by the russian government siberia proper is an immense coun try its area is english square miles and its population is not more than so that every inhabitant of that country has over one english square mile to turn around in its greatest length from northeast to southeast is miles and its greatest breadth gread th about miles the western terminus of this road is at on the eastern side of the V taral ral mountains and the eastern at vladivostok on the sta sea of japan the route takes in the principal towns of the country it will strike the upper Tun goose river dupass through a city of people it will also cross the aloof amoon river a navigable stream and then strike in a straight line southwest to vladivostok the estimated cost of this road to is but its value to russia is simply incalculable it passes through a country abounding in minerals and wooded with the beat kind of timber most of the region through which it will pass is adapted for agriculture it will Inter intersect four navigable rivers and in this way its benefit to commerce will be immense by this it places the whole northern frontier of the chinese empire at the mercy of russia if a conflict with that country should ever occur western european countries regard russia Russi aas as a military power straining every nerve to dequire acquire territory by conquest this project demonstrates the fact that russia is cultivating the arts of peace as well as of war and if the dispatches of today tell us that troops are being massed on the austrian frontier we also see that the troops coops of civilization are being massed for the conquest of asia Annen koft is the name of the engineer who has completed tip HUB surveys of this vast work and who has demonstrated its practicability por for his country he has accomplished a greater feat than the general who occupied or will occupy stamboul and he has achieved much greater fame in the way of civilization and progress than all Rus sias generals combined |
