failure has been due to some natural cause, which will probably never be remedied. As explained later, foreign companies, including mining companies, are not legally recognized in Russia unless they are represented by a responsible agent.
The easier and the safer field for foreign capital lies more in commercial than industrial enterprises. The exploitation of the import and export trade to and from Siberia is now attracting much foreign capital, and the only limit to this development is that imposed by the lack of communications and the as yet sparsely inhabited country. Commercial enterprise in Siberia has a much freer hand than industrial enterprise. Since 1888 Russian law has allowed foreign companies which are engaged in buying Russian goods or selling foreign manufactures to do so without special permission from the Government. Danish, German and English syndicates and firms now export butter and eggs to Western Europe from the steppes of Western Siberia, and have depots with storage plants in such places as Kurgan, Büsk and Barnaul. Other firms are beginning to export meat by rail from Omsk and Petropavlovsk, where they have refrigerating plants. Dairy and meat produce are, however, the only agricultural products the export of which is likely at present to require the assistance of foreign capital. Wheat, timber and other produce will follow in due course, but their time is not just yet, on account of high rail freights.
As regards the import trade, the first condition of success for foreign capital is a proper knowledge of the conditions under which trade is carried on in Siberia. The bulk of the import trade is already in the hands of Russian firms which, sheltered under
