CHAPTER IX
THE ECONOMIC FUTURE OF SIBERIA
GENERAL PROSPECTS FOR FOREIGN CAPITAL IN
SIBERIAN COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND FINANCE
IT is most essential for the foreign trader and investor in Siberia to bear in mind that the success of his undertakings depends upon the degree with which he adapts himself to the social and political conditions prevalent in the country. Siberia and Canada, which in their physical aspects so closely resemble one another, exhibit, nevertheless, considerable differences in the peoples by whom they are inhabited. This divergence in the social atmosphere of the two continents is accompanied by a corresponding divergence in economic progress, and it is natural, therefore, to assume that the methods pursued by foreign capitalists and commercial pioneers in the Canada of Asia must differ from those pursued in the Canada of North America.
A short survey of the economic status of the Siberian peasants, who comprise all but a small fraction of the population of Siberia, cannot then be out of place in this chapter.[1] Speaking generally, their condition is very satisfactory, and in this respect they enjoy no inconsiderable advantages over their fellow-citizens in European Russia. As one would expect, the basis of all the Siberian peasant's wealth is his land, and
- ↑ See also Chapter V., p. 132.
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