creased by $460,395.357, and its interest by $18,275,050, while annuities due decreased by $8,185,627. These figures show that, while the debt has increased by 17 per cent, the yearly payments of interest and annuities have increased by only 2.2 per cent during the same period. This saving has been secured by conversion of loans at rates between 42 and 6 per cent into new loans at 4 per cent. Such conversions cost the Treasury $37,452,892.

The liabilities of the state on January 1, 1900, were as follows in millions of rubles (r.=51.5 cents):

.4

.6

4.3

..10.1

6.7

1.2

1.8

...

1.2

Subsidies to scientific research and teaching; training of professors and teachers.. 1.5 Building expenses

.....

3.7

Miscellaneous

1.2

The extraordinary appropriation for railways and ports in 1901 is apportioned as follows: Siberian Railway 7.2, works connected therewith 3.0, other railways 31.9, loans to private railways 82.0, indemnities to retailers of spirits 7.5 millions of rubles.

The chief increase in expenditure is expected in the state railways 17.0 millions, for further extension of state monopoly of spirits 36.6, and for the navy 7.9 millions of rubles. The deficit will be met by the extraordinary revenue of 1.5, the surplus of ordinary revenue over ordinary expenditure 73.4, and by the amount disposable at the Imperial Treasury 56.8 millions of rubles.

The state debt January 1, 1900, was composed as follows-loans $1,843,083,548, at rates varying from 3 to 5 per cent, but two-thirds of the whole amount at 4 per cent; and bonds $1,363,040,986, nearly the whole at 4 per cent. During the ten years 1890-99, the state debt in

Paper currency covered by gold reserve. 236.9 Guarantee gold fund to cover paper.... 807.8 Paper covered by above guarantee fund. 128.2

ARMY.-Since 1874 military service has been obligatory upon all men over 21 years old. By modifications of this law made in 1876 and again in 1888, the following practice prevailed in 1899: Of the approximately 870,000 males that reached their 21st birthday that year about 219,000 were taken into the active army and fleet, while the remainder were assigned partly to the reserve, and partly to the second reserve. In European Russia the term of service is five years in the active army (reduced by furloughs to four), 13 years in the first reserve, and five years in the second. In Asiatic Russia the term is seven years for the active army, and six years for the reserve. In Caucasia it is three years in the active army, and 15 years in the reserve. Certain privileges are granted on account of education, and clergymen, doctors and teachers are entirely exempt. The lowest estimate of the peace footing of this army is 42,000 officers and over 1,000,000 men, while the war footing would amount to about 75,000 officers, 4,500,000 men.

NAVY.-Owing to the isolation of the seas that border Russia, four separate fleets or flotillas must be maintained. The most important of these is the Baltic fleet, which has been reduced for Siberian service of late. Its chief base is Kronstadt, which is heavily fortified, as are several other Baltic ports. The Gulf of Finland has hitherto been blocked by ice from November to April, but this bar can now be removed by ice-breaking vessels, and furthermore an ice-free port has been prepared at Libau in Courland. The Black Sea fleet

has no access to the Mediterranean except by force. In this sea Sevastopol, now strongly fortified, is headquarters of the fleet, but several other ports are strongly defended. There is a small but sufficient flotilla in the Caspian Sea. Nearly the whole fleet is now in the Pacific Ocean and China Sea, where the bases are Vladivostok and Port Arthur. Russian naval estimates have steadily increased from 49.8 million rubles in 1893 to 97.0 for 1901, while in 1898 a special grant of $45,000,000 was made for new vessels, to be spread over a term of seven years. The following table shows the strength of the Russian fleet on January 1, 1901:

As the following vessels can be transferred from one sea to another, they are not classified as above: Twenty-one destroyers, and 13 more building; 50 submarine boats projected; 45 firstclass torpedo boats, and 6 building; 41 secondclass, and 101 third-class torpedo boats. The total number of officers and men is more than, 40,000.

AGRICULTURE.-The yield of crops in European Russia (exclusive of Finland) for 1900, and for Siberia and the Steppes in 1899 was as shown in table below, in millions of poods: (63 poods=1 ton, or 1 pood=36 pounds.)

In the following table "various" includes buckwheat, millet, maize, spelt and peas. Special cultures in European Russia (Poland included) during 1899 were: Flax fiber 357,369 tons with linseed oil 17,304,357 bushels, and hemp fiber 217,380 tons with 19,675,262 bushels of hemp seed. The hay gathered during 1899 in European Russia was 32,790,862 tons; in Poland, 1,955,345; in Northern Caucasia, 3,676,433; in Siberia, 7,541,805; in the Steppes, 2,540,493; in all 48,504,938 tons from 92,402,813 acres. In the same year the vines in Transcaucasia yielded 17,043,000 gallons of wine, besides grapes for food. In 1897 the same region yielded 3,390 tons of tobacco, while the Kuban district yielded 12,830 tons. Turkestan yields

each year 2,670,000 cwt. of rice, and 330,000 ewt. of cocoon silk.

Owing to an enormous impost on cotton-$5 per 110 pounds-the importation of that staple diminished in 1899 by over 72 million pounds, while the production of raw cotton in Russian Central Asia increased 34 per cent in the same year, over 877 million pounds being raised. Cotton has displaced grain in many of the fields; and Russia will probably soon supply her entire needs in this article, and consequently dispense with her imports from the United States, which in 1900 amounted to $18,413,310. The cultivation of cotton in the Caucasus has proved so successful that the Government de cided to try tea culture in the same province. Accordingly, nine trial plantations were laid out in 1900 from plants and seeds selected in the best tea provinces of China. Results are such that new plantations will be laid out in other districts of the Caucasus.

The live stock of Russia, both European and Asiatic, in 1898, expressed in millions, is as follows: Horses, 25.3; horned cattle, 37.4; camels, 1.2; sheep, 74.7; goats, 3.1; pigs, 11.9.

FORESTRY.-European Russia contains 480.8 millions of acres of forest lands. This vast extent forms the most important remaining area of the world's virgin forests. Enormous sections in the North remain untouched until improved communications by rail and water place them at disposal. The State owns 63 per cent of the whole. The forest regions of Siberia have not yet been entirely explored. A Russian government report in 1893 claimed 297 million acres as crown property in Western Siberia alone, with a much greater tract in Eastern Siberia, and considerable in the Amur-Littoral. Another estimate gives the forest area of Tomsk and Tobolsk at 250,000 square miles, and all Siberia at three or four times that amount. But a heavy discount from these figures must be made by the result of an exact exploration of 337.5 million acres, which showed that only 94.5 million acres were worth exploitation. Transportation from Northern Siberia is exceedingly difficult, that from the Amur-Littoral entirely practicable. The proceeds of the State forests for 1900 were 48.9 millions of rubles, less expenses of 8.6 millions.

MINING. The last complete returns are for 1898, as follows: Gold, producing 88 per cent fine gold, 38,702 kilogrammes; crude platinum, 6,240 kilogrammes; silver, producing 92 per cent fine silver, 5,943 kilogrammes; lead, 238 tons; zinc, 5,580 tons; copper, 6,495 tons; pig iron, 2.2 millions of tons (2.6 in 1899 with 560,000 tons of iron; 1.3 million tons of rolled steel, including rails); iron, 580,000 tons; steel, 1.1 million tons; coal, 12 millions of tons (27 million tons in 1899); naptha, 8.2 millions of tons; salt, 1.4 millions. The gold was obtained from Siberia and the Urals; the coal mostly from

309.4

47.3

7.9

721.5 68.1

271.8 3,363.4 1,564.9

4.5 203.4

28.2 2.0

South Russia (7.2) and Poland (4.0). In order to increase the use of Russian coal, a duty of $1.90 per ton has been imposed on foreign coal imported through the Black Sea, and of 47 cents through the Baltic Sea, or the western frontier. In accord with these regulations mine owners have determined to double the output of Russian coal this year-1901. In spite of the high import duty on iron and steel (about $13.40 per ton on cast iron), there was imported in 1899 134,629 tons of pig iron and 570,000 tons of iron and steel goods.

The auriferous area of Siberia extends over the slope of the mountain ridge, which, rising from the steppes of Turkestan and dying away as it skirts the Sea of Okhotsk, traverses obliquely the Asiatic continent from southwest to northeast. From the meridian of Tobolsk to the Pacific the range is about 4,300 miles long, with an average breadth of nearly 400 miles and an area over 1,600,000 square miles. This country has been only superficially prospected, because roads are lacking, and it is impossible to penetrate these primeval forests in summer, while to prospect in winter, when every outcrop and surface indication is buried beneath the snow, is neither inviting nor profitable. The work of government exploration in the eastern portion has not proceeded beyond the 62 degree of latitude, although the existence of a very rich auriferous vein is known in the mountains between the Lena and the Ayan. A government expedition found rich alluvial drifts on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk; and an expedition of Americans was dispatched to the Yumen by the Russo-Chinese Bank. This district is expected to prove as rich as was Cape Nome.

Except in the development of the iron and platinum industries, no investments have resulted from the many visits that mining engineers, principally Americans, have paid to the Ural Mountains during the past five years. The gold leads have been largely exhausted, and Russian laws are very exacting.

Exploitation of Russian iron ore deposits dates from 1885, when foreign capital, skill and energy undertook the work. Of the 17 foundries in Southern Russia only four are owned by Russians, and of the 20 working up iron none are so owned. The industry has increased fivefold during the last decade. In the. Ural district very little foreign capital is invested, though it is rich in metals and coal. Improvement has already begun, so that 928,000 tons of foundry iron are expected in 1901. Belgium almost monopolizes the foreign mining enterprises in Russia, having about $58,000,000 invested in 43 companies. Other enterprises raise this total to $95,000,000 in 148 companies. all have paid, so that the net gain of all has been only 2 per cent.

Not

PETROLEUM.-The increased production of petroleum for 1900 was due to both increased drilling and extension of the field worked. On the other hand, however, notwithstanding there were 448 new wells brought in during 1900, at the end of the year there were only 225 more producing than at the end of 1899, indicating that it required about half the wells drilled to maintain the number producing; and the average daily production per well in 1900 was only about 156 barrels, against 174 barrels in 1899, 198 barrels in 1898, 211 barrels in 1897, and 226 barrels in 1896, which can leave no doubt of the gradual draining of the territory. This is not surprising in view of the age of many of the wells, of the gradually increasing depth and water in the wells, the average depth of the wells completed in 1900 being nearly 100 feet greater than those of the former year. It is probable that fewer new wells will be completed this (1901) year than last, especially as prices are likely to decline. largest flowing well struck in 1900 continued flowing from June till August, and produced during that period about 2,000,000 barrels. During July it averaged 37,000 barrels per day. In past years many wells have started at over 100,000 barrels a day. All of which refutes

The

the recent claim that a certain Texan well was the richest ever struck. Not only oil, but the gas of flowing wells is steadily diminishing. The increase in royalties paid will also promote rise in prices. Where one European company has seen phenomenal success, others are doomed to disappointment. The principal object of the present trade is residuum for fuel, though the increased output of coal in Russia is likely to diminish this demand. In spite of much drilling all around the Baku fields nothing was discovered during 1900. Though producing the cheapest illuminant known, Russians consume less of it per capita than any other civilized people, namely, two gallons per

annum. This is owing to the high tax of 5.6 cents per gallon, so that, though refined oil costs only 1.22 cents at Baku and transportation only about as much more, dealers' profits and this tax run the consumers' price up to 10 cents a gallon, which is prohibitory for the peasantry. Were the tax abolished Russia would consume her whole refined product. Similarly, she can export wheat only because her peasantry live upon rye. The Grosni field supplies only the home market.

The Consular Report for May, 1901, gives many special tables of petroleum statistics, besides the following general one, which is expressed in millions of gallons:

57.0 MANUFACTURES.-The most important industries of Russia in April, 1898, were as follows:

In 1898 there were 167.293 acres of tobacco plantation, from which 85,220 tons of tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, etc., were manufactured. In the same year there were 1,017 breweries, which produced 115,860,000 gallons of beer; while in 1897 the spirits sold in 20 provinces were 44,665,500 gallons. The product of refined sugar from beetroot in 1897-8 was 754,758 tons.

COMMERCE. The returns of the foreign trade of European Russia for 1900 give the following figures for the past year as compared with figures of the two preceding years and those for 1895. The figures for all the years are for European Russia only. The development of Russia's foreign commerce during the five calendar years past is shown by the following figures:

BRANCHES

Shops

Employees Prod'cti'n

1895.

64,418

132.0

1898.

1899.

59.5

Paper and

1900.

704.4 82.6 117.7 2,839.1

Total exports over European frontier..

The exports from Russia by countries were as follows:

228,000 9,464,000

366,000 16.330,000

creased considerably during the year just passed, the increase in quantity over the preceding year being about 81 per cent, and in value even more, viz., 86.5 per cent. It is not unlikely, therefore, that a large portion of Russian sugar which found its way to the United States has been credited by the Russian customs authorities to the neighboring country.

The average export prices per pood for the years under consideration-1.67 rubles for 1899 and 1.72 rubles for 1900-are somewhat higher than those quoted on the Odessa exchange, to wit, 1.25 to 1.30 rubles in 1899 and 1.30 to 1.50 rubles in 1900; but even these official prices are considerably lower than prices of sugar for domestic consumption as fixed by the government. These latter prices oscillated in 1899 around 2.50 rubles net per pood, or, including the excise tax, 4.25 rubles, and during the first half of 1900, 2.75 rubies net, or 4.50 rubles, inclusive of excise.

The imports of merchandise during 1900 were lower than those for the preceding year by 21,932,000 rubles, and this notwithstanding the higher prices of coal and cotton. This de