tural machinery firms should watch the more prosperous, and induce them by degrees to take their goods. An English traveller in Siberia frequently hears complaints about his country's business men. It is said that although their goods are the very best on the market, the most efficient, and in the long run the cheapest, nevertheless English firms lose business through not endeavouring to suit their customers, and through their refusal to deal on anything but a cash basis. It is obviously useless to offer these terms to the Russian peasant, who has no capital; indeed an agent must also be prepared to finance the peasants on a small scale. Many German representatives combine their sales of machinery with the purchase of such articles as butter for export, and are opening credit and debit accounts with the peasants. The conditions of payment usually in vogue in Siberia are twenty per cent. cash on delivery; forty per cent. after twelve months; and the balance in two years. Merchants and manufacturers must therefore make good allowance for these conditions. Also the heavy import duties on machinery, although they are now somewhat lighter on certain classes of machinery, tend to make prices high for the consumer, and high prices are not attractive to the peasant without capital. Under such circumstances the manufacturer should aim at the cheapest article that it is possible to produce.
Legal Rights of Foreign Companies in Siberia
The legal position of foreign companies in Siberia is in all respects similar to that in European Russia, and has caused no few difficulties and incon-
