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Show oo OGDEN MAN SEES DANGER IN SIBERIA. In a paper mailed to Srxpt Thomas F Rowlands of the Salt Lake division divi-sion of the Southern Pacific, Fred C. Smith, formerly assistant to the superintendent super-intendent with headquarters in Ogden, but now with the American engineers, gives an inside view of conditions in Siberia, which convince ns Japan must not long delay in getting troops along the Siberian railroad Mr. Smith rs now at Harbin and the article from which we quote Is dated Harbin, February 17. Here are ex-' ex-' tracts : "The more one investigates the situation sit-uation in Siberia the more one realizes real-izes the danger of its vast resources falling into the hands of the Germans. Before the revolution the Germans 1 bad their agents working in Siberia, but owing to the conditions then prevailing pre-vailing their work was hampered and they bad to act in the most 6eeret manner With the ootbreak of the revolution and the subsequent rise of i Bolshevism greater opportunities were ! civen them tn rarrv nn f Ho.1 r r-am- paign, and they took full advantage of them. Outside of the large number of German and Austrian prisoners, who during Cheir long sojourn in this country have learned to speak Russian Rus-sian almost perfectly, and who all the time have been carrying out propaganda propa-ganda work, thousands of German agents have scattered themselves In the interior towns. They have been carrying on business, and being well provided with money they were in a better position to do so than the Russians. Rus-sians. They have made arrangements for contracts and concessions, but more serioos still have done all in their power to assist the Bolshevfki. "During my stay in Harbin many German merchants have been pointed out to me; they were either going to or returning from Vladivostok. When I Inquired how they managed to pass j the frontier it was explained to me that they had been furnished with i Russian papers and passports. These are being sold to them by the Bolshevik Bolshe-vik authorities for comparatively small sums. It is Impossible for those who have not come In close contact with this part of the country to understand under-stand what a grip they are getting on this country, and bow difficult II will , ' be to compete with them at the oor rtmttW of the war unless some action I is now taken by the afhee to combat this German campaign. I have made inquiries from all kinds of people and they tell me that the allies' policy in Russia and Siberia, particularly the !! II , ri.u- tircii a utuivv uuu. 1 n v have practically done nothing to combat com-bat Germany's effort As far as Siberia Si-beria is concerned one would have to ro about with a microscope to find a sign of any organized effort on the part of the entente to protect their lr teresta, secure their future position in this country or to oppose the Germans Ger-mans and Austriana. The Germans have had. and still have, a dear field, and are working with might and main to take full advance of it "The question is now, do the afTles , intend to allow the Germans to secure i full control of Siberia or do they intend in-tend to make a hid for one of the richest rich-est territories in the world? Twy wr given an opportunity mom time MB ago to support a movement which could have cleared Germans and German Ger-man influence out of Siberia The assistance as-sistance asked for was slight indeed, but either through disagreement or because be-cause the importance of the movement move-ment was not recognized, no assistance assist-ance has so far been given." An Englishman, who arrived at Harbin Har-bin from Krasnoyarsk, where he had been operating gold mines, gave this dark picture of German propaganda: Krasnoyarsk has also a large number num-ber of German and Austrian prisoners stationed there Thes are now unguarded un-guarded and ar mixing freely with the people and am directing and taking tak-ing part tn the workmen's plots and are practically dominating the whole situation. The prisoners have apparently appar-ently plenty of money, they mix with the populace and do practically what they like. Permits and passports to travel to any part of the country are being sold openly In the streets. The electric llcM station is managed by German emrineers, tb railway station. engine depot and engineering works are also manaped and wrrrked by Germans, Ger-mans, who have been prisoners, and who are now dressed in Russian military mili-tary uniforms. The Englishman states that to his knowledge 140 trains containing raw material were shipped to German before be-fore ho left while a million pood of butter was dispatched to the same destination des-tination from Novo-Neknlaevsk. He further says that the whole of the gold mining business Is now In the hands of the Germans and it is reasonable rea-sonable to presume that every' other work or industry will be secured by them The Germans are bringing large stocks of supplies into the district and are selling them very eheaph This indicates that they are willing to lose money on the goods for the purpose of securing the good will of and a commercial hold on the people. Boots, for instance, are being sold for 30 ruhles per pair At the present rate of exchange this Is about three Mexican dollars. The territory in which the Germans are now working is the richest in the world. Its resources are almost beyond be-yond imagination, and to allow them to fall into German hands is a thing the allies should do their utmost to prevent. oo |