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The feeble industrial development of Siberia is abundantly
evident in the fact that the houses even in the largest cities
are at the present day still built from planks sawn by
hand, and the primitive river-craft are innocent of a single
nail in their construction. In the whole of Siberia there
are only 3 iron-foundries, which annually produce less than
½ per cent of the entire produce of the empire. Iron ore
has as yet not been discovered anywhere along the
Trans-Siberian Railway, and the rich mine found in Yakutsk
cannot be worked because of its great distance from the
railroad. Thus the ironworks of the Ural should find a
good market in Siberia.
In 1895 the total number of industrial establishments in
Siberia amounted to 650, of which 280 were tanneries and
establishments for making overcoats of sheep-skins, 16
candle-factories, 8 woollen factories, and 11 dairies. Most of these
establishments are small and insignificant; by far the greatest
percentage of the produce of the country is exported as
raw material. Besides the 40,000 workmen occupied in the
goldfields during the summer, 15,000 to 20,000 are engaged
at the factories.
The general system of plunder is also applied to the
industries of the country. A labourer in the damp and
cold felt-factories, for instance, whose working day lasts
from 3—4 a.m. to 10—11 p.m., receives for all his work
during the eight winter months about 60 roubles, and as a
rule dies a premature death! Those working at the
so-called “peasant-industries” (making furniture, carts, sledges
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