THE QUESTION OF WHEAT. 359 



and acceptable average would defy every known statistical metliod. 

 Yet the attempt has been made in connection with the competition 

 from the United States, and the result was published with the 

 official recognition of the Minister of Finance. There is little doubt 

 that this comparison deserves to rank with the curious French and 

 English estimates already quoted — estimates which sought to deter- 

 mine an arbitrary limit of cost below which wheat could not and 

 therefore would not be grown in the United States. It will be of 

 interest to make a record of the Russian estimate, if only for future 

 reference and comparison. " A pood, or thirty-six English pounds, of 

 wheat costs the Russian producer fifty-six kopecks, or twenty-eight 

 cents, whereas the same quantity of American wheat costs the pro- 

 ducer sixty-six kopecks, or thirty-three cents. The transportation of 

 this cereal from Russia to London costs about nine kopecks per pood, 

 or four cents and a half, whereas the American exporter pays 9.7 

 kopecks, or 4.85 cents, per pood to transport his grain to the English 

 markets." * 



In the black-earth region the cost of production, including rent, 

 was said to range from forty-five to sixty kopecks per pood, and even 

 at the higher cost would have yielded a profit to the cultivator if 

 sold at the market price. This made possible a fall of more than 

 one fifth in the commercial value of wheat between 1881 and 1887, 

 without affecting the production in any noticeable degree. In most 

 cases, however, the profit was apparent, and the debt-burdened land- 

 owner derived little benefit. 



In 1838 the serfs numbered forty-four out of every hundred in 

 the population of Russia in Europe, but at the time of emancipation 

 the proportion was less, and tended to diminish each year. The serfs 

 on private domain, forming about one half of the total number of 

 serfs in the empire, constituted the readiest asset of the proprietor 

 for obtaining loans from the credit establishments of the state. So 

 far was this practice carried, that at the moment of emancipation 

 two thirds of these serfs were found to be so mortgaged. The act 

 of emancipation transformed the serf into a landowner, and through 

 this ownership and the autonomy of his commune he was supposed 

 to be fully emancipated, at once economically and administratively. 

 As compensation was due to the nobles for the land thus given to 

 the freed serf, the state undertook to loan four fifths of the estab- 

 lished value of the land, whenever the serf should wish to request 

 that aid. The advances were made on a basis of a period of forty- 

 nine years at six per cent, the annual payment of six per cent cover- 

 ing the interest and finally extinguishing the debt. The process of 

 emancipation is thus still short of completion. 



* Based upon a report issued in 1889 by the Eussian Ministry of Finance. 



