Siberia (Price)/Preface
PREFACE
THE journey through Western and Central Siberia and the adjacent parts of Mongolia, of which some account is given in the following pages, was undertaken in response to the invitation of my friends, Messrs Douglas Carruthers and J. H. Miller, who were engaged in the scientific exploration of those regions. They were mainly interested in the physical characteristics of the Siberian-Mongolian borderland, and the geographical results of their investigations were communicated to the Royal Geographical Society by Mr Carruthers in March 1912. My own interests, on the other hand, had long been mainly associated with social and economic questions, and my special studies had been not a little stimulated by a visit to Canada some years before. The prospect was therefore particularly pleasing, and the opportunity offered of joining such an expedition to a little-known and rapidly changing country was not to be missed.
I was not disappointed in my expectations. For the greater part of a year I was living in the midst of a new society passing through a fascinating phase of development. Siberia is now where Canada was a generation ago. Just as the English settler in Canada has become a Canadian, so the Russian settler in Siberia has become a Siberian. Siberia is beginning to discover her needs, is gradually forming a public opinion of her own, and is shaping her own policies, not infrequently definitely opposed to those of European Russia. The day may be one of "small beginnings," but it is not to be despised by either the political thinker or the economist. To the former is presented the spectacle of a people essentially primitive, but having all the material resources of civilization at its disposal. Will it follow one of the old paths? Or will it strike out a new one for itself? One feature is of peculiar interest. The inherited communal land system, which in European Russia is fast breaking down, is in Siberia still maintained in a modified form, and is utilized as a means of protection against the squatter and the undesirable immigrant. The causes of this modification, and the general tendencies of Siberian society, I have endeavoured briefly to set forth. I have endeavoured, too, to give an impression of the Siberian peasant as I know him; and after for some months talking with him, eating with him, sleeping with him, living with him, I got to know him fairly intimately. The better I knew him the more I loved him. Stupid and slow, perhaps, he may be, like all peasants throughout the world; but hardy, contented, tolerant and very friendly, he unites the Oriental sense of brotherhood with the greater directness and openness of the Occidental. In him, I believe, Siberia has as good material for the rank and file of her society as can be found. It is the leaders who are wanting.
To the economist Siberia appears as a land of limitless possibilities. No country in the world is so fertile as the black earth zone which runs in a belt across this vast area, with a population of not more than eight to the square mile. Here is a granary almost untouched that might supply all Europe, while on its north lie virgin forests of valuable timber. The mines have been more extensively exploited; but much yet remains to be done even here with modern machinery and under more scientific direction. Two obstacles only now stand in the way of Siberia's economic progress—a progress which, I believe, will outstrip that of Canada—the lack of transport, and the short-sighted tariff policy of the Russian Government. Of these, the first is already being remedied: of a change in the second there are as yet no signs.
I have dealt with the economic future of Siberia to the best of my ability in the second part of the book, and have endeavoured to keep well in view the needs of, and the precautions to be observed by, the British investor. Facilities of railway transport should have a very great effect on the prosperity of the country, and Siberian railway stock will prove, I think, to be a valuable investment. A much greater business, too, might be done in agricultural implements and machinery of all kinds than is done at present. There will not, however, be much room for industrial expansion till the social development of the country reaches a higher level; and whether the country will ever be thrown open to settlers other than of Russian nationality remains to be seen. Speculation in land is not possible, as the land is wisely kept almost entirely in the hands of the Government.
In my last chapter I have given a very brief account of the social, economic and political conditions of that part of Outer China which lies beyond the southern frontier of Siberia. In the summer of 1910 I crossed a large area of this country in company with Messrs Carruthers and Miller, following the Chinese side of the frontier for over a thousand miles south-westwards to Eastern Turkestan. The economic and political relationship of Mongolia to Siberia is, in my opinion, sufficiently important to warrant this inclusion, and the present political situation in Outer China has made this relationship all the more pronounced. I have tried to analyse certain aspects of the Mongolian question, which Russia opened to the world in January 1912, and to indicate how British policy in the Far East is affected by this question.
My readers will realize that any description of territories so vast must be necessarily imperfect. But although it cannot lay claim to comprehensive treatment, I hope that it may succeed in showing that it is only by living among the people, as far removed as possible from officialdom, and by learning from their own lips the simple story of their lives, that the foreigner can ever hope to appreciate the true character of the Russian people, and to understand the real forces that are at work in the social structure of the Russian Empire—forces which will some day mould its policy and action. Grand tours, and receptions of English politicians and financiers by Russian officials, indicate only the state of feeling between the official classes of both countries. In neither country, and certainly not in Russia, is popular feeling represented by the official caste. The heart of the people must be sought. In Siberia, with its immense territory and its greater freedom from officialdom, the heart of the people can be found. I hope I have also shown what enormous latent power lies dormant in Eastern Russia, a force which has been created by Russia's far-sighted rulers, and which must some day be reckoned with in the council of nations. Bureaucracy has many grave faults, but it has at least organized Russia's resources, and its future development must be left to wise and enlightened government tempered by growing public opinion.
I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Soboleff, of Tomsk University, to Tyan Shansky's "Rossya" (especially Vol. XVI. on the colonization of Western Siberia), to Mr L. P. Rastorguef, and to the various statistical publications and trade reports issued by the Russian Government, from which I have verified and supplemented the information obtained from my own observations. In the second part of the book I have, with the kind permission of the Editor, used material which has already been published during September and October 1911 in some articles of mine in The Economist. I have also received much valuable help in revising parts of my manuscript from the Rev. George Lewis and the Rev. Rudolf Davis. I take this opportunity of thanking them.
M. PHILIPS PRICE
Tibberton Court
Gloucester
August 1912