Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 2.djvu/55

From this balance-sheet it appears that although an administrative exile in the province of Tobólsk limits himself to the barest essentials of life, spends nothing for service, for washing, for fuel, or for medicines, and uses only five cents' worth of kerosene and ten cents' worth of sugar in a month, he exceeds by $1.72 his monthly allowance. It is evident, therefore, that the question of personal maintenance is not to be solved in this way. The thoughts of the exile then turn naturally to employment. He cannot expect, of course, to find in a remote Siberian village as many opportunities for the exercise of trained intellectual ability as he might find in St. Petersburg or Moscow; but he does not insist upon profitable employment, or even upon employment that shall be pleasant and congenial; he is ready to undertake work of any kind that will enable him to keep soul and body together. He has had a university training; he knows three or four languages; he is, perhaps, a skilful physician and surgeon like Dr. Biéli in Verkhoyánsk, a photographer like Mr. Karélin in Ust Kamenogórsk, or a journalist like Mr. Belokónski in Minusínsk; he is an expert penman, a good accountant, a competent teacher, and a fair musician. It seems to him that he can hardly fail, even in Siberia, to earn fifty cents a day; and fifteen dollars a month would enable him to live in comparative decency and comfort. However, upon again consulting the "Rules Relating to Police Surveillance," he finds that he is strictly forbidden, under pain of imprisonment, to act in the capacity of teacher, doctor, chemist, photographer, lithographer, librarian, copyist, editor, compositor, contributor, reporter, lecturer, actor, lawyer, bookseller, or clerk. He cannot hold any position in the service of the state or of society; he cannot be an officer or a partner in any commercial company; he cannot be a member of any scientific body; he cannot have anything to do with drugs, medicines, photographic or lithographic materials, books, weapons, or newspapers; and, finally, he cannot "exercise any public