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The reasons why Siberia has remained up to the present
in a state of semi-barbarism are many. One of them is
no doubt her lack of suitable communication with the
civilised world. That the new railroad alone will not be
able to fill this need is evident to all who have any
personal knowledge of the country. Long before the line was
seriously planned, Baron Nordenskjöld pointed out this fact
in his well-known “Voyage of the Vega.”
“Many,” he says, “may believe that the present want
of suitable communications for commerce will be filled by
building a railroad through Russia and southern Siberia.
But this is by no means the case. On the contrary,
maritime communication is a necessary condition to make
such a railroad pay; because it will be impossible to export
the products of agriculture and of forests by rail over the
distance of from 3000 to 5000 kilometres, which separates
the fertile regions of the Ob—Irtisch river-systems from the
nearest port in Europe.”
“It will not pay to transport cereal products by the
railroad over a distance of 3000 versts,” says Tschukmallin, [1]
“because this will cost about 50 kopeks a pood, i.e. 300
per cent of the price of rye and 170 per cent of the price
of wheat at the places where they are grown. The freight
is a very heavy burden even on other more valuable
products. For the exportation of cereals, which are the
principal products of Siberia, it is therefore absolutely
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