RUSSIA. 



595 



of which 32,764 miles were under the direction of 

 the Ministry of Ways and Communications, 20,111 

 miles being the property of the Government, 1,791 

 miles in Finland and mostly belonging to the 

 Government of the grand duchy, 9,591 miles the 

 property of companies, 2,310 miles isolated lines, 

 and 752 miles local railroads. The connected net- 

 work is formed by 28 lines, besides which there 

 are 7 unconnected lines. The receipts in 1899 

 from 26,689 miles were 494,639,000 rubles. In 

 1898 the gross receipts from 24,645 miles were 

 465,741,008 rubles; expenses of operation, 277,- 

 576,194 rubles; net receipts, 188,164,814 rubles; 

 number of passengers carried, 83,708,100; tons of 

 freight, 118,106,000. The cost of construction of 

 the lines belonging to the Government was 2,870,- 

 288,752 rubles. The gross receipts of railroads 

 managed by the Government was 322,356,627 ru- 

 bles in 1898; expenses, 188,160,062 rubles; net 

 receipts, 134,196,565 rubles; interest paid on cap- 

 ital borrowed for the purchase of railroads by 

 the Government, 109,298,623 rubles; net revenue, 

 24,897,942 rubles. The cost of construction of 

 lines belonging to companies was 1,755,473,310 

 rubles, the fixed charge for interest was 44,055,116 

 rubles, the gross receipts were 143,384,381 rubles, 

 and the working expenses were 89,416,13 rubles, 

 leaving a net profit of 9,813,033 rubles. The Gov- 

 ernment incurred a loss of 30,000,000 rubles in 

 1889, when three-fourths of the railroad network 

 was owned and managed by companies enjoying 

 subsidies and guarantees, and their expropriation 

 has converted this annual loss into a gain. The 

 great Siberian Railroad is completed to the Chi- 

 nese frontier, whence it will be carried to Vladi- 

 vostok through Manchuria, the route originally 

 selected through Russian territory having pre- 

 sented great engineering difficulties in the section 

 between Sryatensk on the Shilka and Pokrov- 

 skoye on the Amur and in the valley of the Amur. 

 The company formed to construct and manage 

 the Manchurian Railroad consists of representa- 

 tives of the Russian Government and Chinese 

 associates selected by the Government of China. 

 Starting from the frontier village of Nagadan, 

 the route passes through Kharbin to Grodekovo 

 and thence to Vladivostok. Engineering difficul- 

 ties are encountered in the passage across the 

 valley of the Sungari which are not insuperable. 

 Construction of the main line, however, was post- 

 poned, while the branch to Dalny and Port Ar- 

 thur, ports leased from China, was pushed until 

 the antiforeign outbreak in northern China com- 

 pelled a cessation of the work in 1900. The road 

 was completed from the south as far as Mukden, 

 295 miles, and on 235 miles in other sections the 

 rails were laid. Parts of the railroad were torn 

 up by the Chinese insurgents and Manchurian 

 robbers before Russia poured troops into Man- 

 churia. The damage done was repaired under 

 military supervision, and the building of the rail- 

 road was resumed. The northern section of the 

 line to Port Arthur was completed in the spring 

 of 1901 as far as the Sungari river. The eastern 

 railroad to Vladivostok was pushed forward un- 

 der the protection of 50,000 soldiers, and was 

 expected to be completed before 1904. American 

 material was used on all the eastern divisions of 

 the Siberian railroad system. The free port privi- 

 leges of Vladivostok were abolished from Jan. 1, 

 1901. In central Asia the Kushk Railroad has 

 been extended to Chatil Ducteran, the extreme 

 point of Russian territory in the direction of 

 Herat, and a branch is being made through 

 Penjdeh toward Maruchak. The line from Tash- 

 kend to Orenburg was begun in the autumn of 

 1901. 



The post-oflice in 1898 handled :tt>3,f>H4,732 in- 

 ternal and 45,358,024 foreign letters arid postal 

 cards, 15,629,911 internal and (>02 3 ll)r. foreign 

 money-letters, 60,951,870 internal and H) ,926,963 

 foreign book packets, 188,519,102 internal and 

 7,616,464 foreign periodicals, 4,28('.7u > 2 internal 

 and 285,309 foreign parcels, and 3,S23,:5(i:5 internal 

 postal orders. The receipts were 26,876,409 rubles 

 and expenses 32,069,350 rubles. 



The telegraph-lines on Jan. 1, 1899, had a length 

 of 93,052 miles, with 271,024 miles of wire. The 

 number of messages transmitted in 1898 was 

 19,217,238. The length of telephone-wire was 

 35,300 miles, and the number of conversations 

 in 1898 was 103,426,088. Late in 1898 the long- 

 distance wire between St. Petersburg and Moscow 

 was ready. 



Tariff War with the United States. The 

 United States tariff act of 1897 provided that if 

 any country gave, either directly or indirectly, 

 a bounty or grant on the export of any article 

 subject to duty, an additional duty equivalent 

 to such bounty shall be charged on its importa- 

 tion into the United States. Russian sugar was 

 accordingly specially taxed at rates equal to the 

 bounties, ranging from | to 4 ruble per poud of 

 36 pounds. When the Russian Government pro- 

 tested that it paid no bounties, the additional 

 duties were, on April 20, 1900, suspended until 

 inquiries could be made. After ten months they 

 w r ere reimposed at enhanced rates. The Russian 

 Government retorted by applying the maximum 

 tariff to American iron, steel, hardware, machin- 

 ery, and other articles, which had long enjoyed 

 the minimum Russian tariff. This involved an 

 increase of 30 to 50 per cent, in duties and affected 

 about one-fourth of the American exports to 

 Russia, the annual value of the exports thus 

 brought under the general tariff being about 

 $2,500,000. The Russian exports of sugar to the 

 United States have been insignificant, but pro- 

 duction and exportation of sugar have increased 

 rapidly in the last few years. For a short period 

 the Russian Government paid a direct bounty on 

 exported sugar. In 1895 the Government super- 

 seded a syndicate in the control of the industry. 

 A prohibitory duty was then imposed on all for- 

 eign sugar and an excise duty of 1.75 ruble was 

 levied on all crystallized sugar manufactured. 

 The Government determined for each year the 

 quantity of sugar which manufacturers shall 

 freely put upon the market, and the quantity 

 which must be kept as a reserve to be sold when 

 prices rise above a fixed limit. The surplus be- 

 yond these fixed quantities can either be exported, 

 in which case the excise duty will be refunded, 

 or it can be sold in the domestic market on pay- 

 ment of double excise duty. The maximum price 

 for home consumption is always much higher 

 than the cost of production, assuring profits suf- 

 ficient to cover losses on exports. The price for 

 home consumption in the Kiev market is often 

 three times the export price. Not knowing how 

 much he can sell at these remunerative prices in 

 addition to the fixed quantity of 60,000 pouds 

 which he is free to sell, each manufacturer is en- 

 couraged to increase his production, and thus the 

 exportation of a surplus not absorbed in Russia 

 is stimulated. Exports are further encouraged 

 by allowing one manufacturer to transfer to an- 

 other his rights to sell sugar up to a fixed limit 

 in the domestic market without paying double, 

 excise duty, so to secure such transfers some of 

 the manufacturers pay premiums to others to 

 induce them to export their quota. The United 

 States Treasury officials, in March, 1901, with- 

 drew the privilege extended to Russian war-ships 



