Mr. J. K. Mironov, who may be called a self-made man of the American type, has been elected the new chairman of the Russian Chamber of Commerce. At fifteen years of age, in Srietensk, he joined a commercial firm, and in a short time became manager of the large firm of Topaz Brothers. In this capacity he directed the various commercial operations of the enterprise and supervised over a number of gold fields. In 1914 Mr. Mironov launched a business of his own in the Amur district for commerce and gold-prospecting. In 1924 Mr. Mironov arrived in Harbin and became Director of the British Manchurian Corporation. Mr. Mironov owns houses in Harbin, Tsingtao and Shanghai, and commands great respect and authority in the Russian commercial and financial world. Mr. E. M. Buyanover has been elected Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce, while Mr. M. A. Moshkin and Mr. A. G. Chibunovsky have been elected Honorary Treasurer and Honorary Secretary respectively.
It would be erroneous to think that people of the Orthodox faith stand Completely united in all their beliefs; among them there are "starobriadzi, or believers of those canons which were widely spread before the reform of the Orthodox Church by Patriarch Nikon. There are 600 of these people in Harbin, and more than 50 in Shanghai. More are spread in other cities of China. In 1927 Bishop Joseph, their head, died in Harbin and up to the present time no new head has been appointed, though this post is occupied pro tem by the Very Rev. I. Kudrin. Many fervent believers in the old clerical dogmas live in the Far East; as early as 1755 the first "staroobriatzi" settled in the Transbaikal regions. They were also numerous in the Amur district and in the Maritime Provinces. They are deeply religious, lead a Spartan mode óf life and jealously guard their ancient traditions. Their men for instance, can gonly marry girls belonging to the sare sect. They worship according to their old books, and use only two fingers when making the sign of the cross instead of the orthodox three.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.