Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 2.djvu/22

6 In the general discussion of the exile system which followed, Captain Makófski admitted that it was a great burden to the country and an evil thing in itself, but he said that there did not seem to be any prospect of its speedy abolition.

"The chief difficulty in the way," he said, "is the financial difficulty. The adoption of a central prison system in European Russia in place of the exile system has been suggested and discussed, but the change would necessitate the building of twenty large new prisons at a cost of about ten million rúbles, and the financial condition of the country is such as to render this impracticable."

While we were talking Mr. Frost came in, and after some further general conversation the chief of police took his leave, urging us to call upon him informally and soon. I could not at this interview fully make up my mind with regard to his character and motives. He seemed to be everything that was amiable; but there was a suggestion of surface artificiality about his beaming smile and a touch of exaggeration in his complimentary deference which suggested diplomacy rather than perfect sincerity. I felt, however, that I had no right on this ground to throw stones at anybody, since I myself was living in a very large and very fragile glass house.

On Wednesday we returned Captain Makófski's call, and Thursday afternoon he came to our hotel to escort us to the prisons. The general city prison and the forwarding prison of Irkútsk are situated side by side a little out of the busy part of the city, from which they are separated by a small shallow stream called the Ushakófka. The forwarding prison, which at Captain Makófski's suggestion we visited first, proved to be nothing more than a large but old and half-decayed étape, varying from the usual roadside type of such buildings only in size and in the arrangement of its kámeras. One could see at a glance that it was in very bad repair. The logs in some places had rotted almost entirely