362 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



are not to exceed sixty per cent of tlie current price for the grain 

 at the nearest market place, and run for six months, or even for one 

 year. A short-time loan, for six weeks or less, may reach eighty per 

 cent of the current price. In every case the rate of interest is at 

 least six per cent, but varies according to the condition of the grain 

 and the nature of the security. Should the borrower default, the 

 grain is sold at public auction by the railroad, which acts as the 

 agent of the Imperial Bank, wlience all the loanable capital is 

 derived. 



In actual practice the system does not meet with the success 

 anticipated by its framers. K'ot only is the capital available for 

 advances inadequate, but the ability to loan is given only on grain 

 actually delivered to the railroads or stored in central warehouses on 

 favored routes. For the grain retained in the peasant's hands no 

 provision will apply. The natural result is to stimulate the moving 

 of the grain away from the place of production and, as experience has 

 often proved, away from the market where it may be most needed. 

 To secure the widest application of the loans, the Government entered 

 into arrangements with private banks, supplying them with the 

 capital to advance on grain, and offering them a profit on the venture. 



The Government also undertook to facilitate the marketing of 

 grain. The current prices of the leading cereals were published at 

 all railway stations with a view to instruct the peasant of the con- 

 dition of the market. The railway tariffs were subjected to a severe 

 examination, that there might be no gross discriminations in rates 

 against certain localities, or through differences of distances. The 

 actual freight charged could not at once be reduced to a complete 

 and consistent system; but the power of the Government to control 

 the rates made itself felt wherever an emergency pressed. When 

 Germany excluded the wheat and rye of Russia from her territory, 

 the Russian GoA^ernment reduced by nearly one third the cost of 

 transporting grain to the Austrian and Roumanian frontiers. This 

 gave a saving of twenty-five dollars a car, or about six cents a bushel, 

 on wheat carried farther than six hundred and sixty-three miles (one 

 thousand versts), and enabled the exporter to sell his grain in markets 

 where he had not found a ready sale because of the cost of transport. 



The development of railroads in Russia has been slow, and con- 

 trolled rather by military than by commercial factors. In 1871 

 there were 7,750 miles opened to traffic, of which no less than 

 4,523 miles had been opened between 1868 and 1871. In 1874 the 

 mileage had risen to 10,368, and between that year and 1890 the 

 length of lines in European Russia alone increased to 18,059 miles. 

 Toward the end of 1896 the returns for all Russia gave 25,898 

 miles open to regular public traffic, of which two thirds were owned 



