whole of Siberia to Kará. In this respect the Saghalín convicts have an advantage over the convicts who work on the mainland. The experiment tried during the last few years of keeping convicts on Saghalín has shown the perfect practicability of making that island a place for the organization of penal servitude, and insuring the future of colonization by means of agriculture and the development of the natural resources of the country. In order, however, that this may be duly accomplished, it is necessary to organize a permanent administration for the island, and with this work the chief prison administration is now occupied.
The greatest advantage of the organization of penal servitude on the island of Saghalín lies in the fact that the convicts, and afterward the forced colonists, are there isolated from the free population, and can establish themselves without interfering with innocent people, as they would on the mainland.
As conclusions from all that has been said above with regard to penal servitude, the exile system, and prisons, it appears:
1. That penal servitude and the exile system in Eastern Siberia are wholly unorganized, and that their organization will necessitate a great financial expenditure.
2. That the forwarding of exiles by étape is expensive, is accompanied with great suffering for the exiles, and is a heavy burden to the local population along the route over which the exile parties pass.
3. That the exile element is very injurious to the people of Siberia, is burdensome to it, costs it dear, and is a source of moral corruption.
4. That the prisons and étapes demand, and, on account of local conditions [such as climatic agencies, the difficulty of maintaining a watch over the buildings, and the injuries done to them by passing prisoners] will always demand, very considerable annual expenditures; and, independent of the latter, that it will become necessary in the near future to spend an enormous sum of money in renewing these buildings.
5. That the concentration and organization of penal servitude on the island of Saghalín are perfectly practicable.
Imperial interests require that the most serious attention be given at once to this subject. The advantages offered by the island of Saghalín should be utilized as a means of freeing Siberia from the convict element, and this should be done without grudging the money that may be necessary for its accomplishment. The results to the Empire will be enormous, morally in raising the spirit of the Siberian people, and economically in the development of the resources of the island of Saghalín. The transportation of all convicts to this island, and the equipment of them with the necessary means of maintaining and subsisting themselves, will establish our maritime relations with the far East, and this is extremely important for the development of the Amúr region.
