706 



RUSSIA. 



734 gallons in eight months of 1883 to 3,341,- 

 163 gallons during the same period in 1884. 

 The competition of the Russian article in Tur- 

 key also began to be felt, the exports from the 

 United States declining from 4,446,485 to 4,- 

 402,180 gallons. In Austria crude Russian 

 petroleum is sold to the refiners, and the man- 

 ufactured article is sent in American cans with 

 American brands. An effort has since been 

 made to drive American oil from the German 

 market. It is expected that the Russian oil 

 can be laid down in Berlin twenty-five cents 

 per fifty kilos cheaper than the American arti- 

 cle. Large shipments were made in tank-cars 

 built for the purpose in Germany, by rail to 

 Gaudens on the Prussian frontier. 



The thrifty Armenians first turned to com- 

 mercial account the Baku oil-wells. The Rus- 

 sian Government granted the monopoly of the 

 state wells to an Armenian capitalist, under 

 whose management the production rose from 

 1,300,000 gallons in 1850 to 8,572,000 in 1870. 

 Mr. Nobel, a manufacturer of ordnance, turned 

 his attention to the oil industry at that time, 

 and succeeded in having the monopoly abol- 

 ished. Through his enterprise numerous shafts 

 were sunk in the five wells where the flow was 

 most abundant. A manufacturing town arose 

 two miles from Baku, with about two hundred 

 oil- refineries. The production of naphtha had 

 increased in 1882 to 200,000,000 gallons. The 

 Russian crude petroleum is much heavier than 

 the American, containing only 25 or 30 per 

 cent, of kerosene, while American rock-oil 

 yields from 70 to 75 per cent. The Baku re- 

 finers formerly injured thoir trade by selling 

 an inferior, smoky, and dangerous mixture of 

 kerosene, benzine, gasoline, and lubricating 

 oil. In Nobel's great refineries, and those of 

 the more honorable and progressive manufac- 

 turers, the various products are separated and 

 turned to account when of commercial value. 

 The mtaiki or heavy residuum, which is the 

 fuel of the steamers on the Caspian and the 

 Volga, was thrown away by the Armenian re- 

 finers. Its utility was experimentally estab- 

 lished in 1869. It takes up half the room of 

 coal, is much cleaner, and requires less labor 

 and supervision. The Russian illuminating oil, 

 when thoroughly refined, is claimed to be supe- 

 rior to the Pennsylvanian product in lighting 

 properties. Oil-wells have been worked in the 

 Tiflis and Elizabethpol governments, and in Te- 

 rek, Kuban, and Daghestan ; but everywhere, 

 except in the Baku district, the production has 

 gone backward. 



The Cattle-PIajnie. The cattle-plague, though 

 not the true Siberian pest, but a severe type 

 of splenic fever, raged with unusual severity in 

 1884 in various parts of European Russia and 

 in Siberia. The losses in European Russia alone 

 were estimated in the summer at 47,000,000 ru- 

 bles. Many cases occurred among human be- 

 ings. The only way in which it was contract- 

 ed, except in the rare instances when flies were 

 the medium of communication, was by hand- 



ling the skins of diseased carcasses. The peas- 

 ants, wishing to save the hides, would skin the 

 animals by night, as it was forbidden by law, 

 and in so doing frequently cut themselves, and 

 took the contagion into their blood. Many of 

 the hides came into the market, particularly in 

 Odessa, spreading the disease among the herds 

 of new localities, and occasionally infecting the 

 working-men with malignant pustule. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 at Russian ports in 1862 was 13,638, of which 

 7,969 were laden and 5,669 in ballast. The to- 

 tal number of steamers was 7,288. The num- 

 ber cleared was 13,354, of which 11,086 were 

 with cargoes; the number of steamers, 7,154. 

 Of the total entries in 1881, 2,489 were under 

 the Russian flag, 2,930 under the English, 2,257 

 under the German, 1.563 under the Swedish, 

 527 under the Turkish, 936 under the Greek, 

 392 under the Danish, 763 under the Austrian, 

 and 363 under the Dutch and other flags. Of 

 the total entries in 1882, 7,014 were in the ports 

 of the Baltic, 4,835 in the southern ports, 757 

 in the ports of the White Sea, and 1,032 in 

 those of the Caspian Sea. The entries of coast- 

 ers were 35,083 in number, 24,865 with cargoes 

 and 16,488 steamers. The merchant marine 

 in 1878 numbered 3,643 sailing-vessels, of 308,- 

 230 tons, and 259 steamers, of 74,324 tons. 



Railroads. The network completed in the be- 

 ginning of 1884 measured 24,475 kilometres, 

 exclusive of the railroads of Finland. The to- 

 tal length of railway in operation Jan. 1, 1882, 

 was 22,643 kilometres; the receipts in 1881 

 were 200,404,244 rubles, the working expenses 

 145,974,500 rubles. 



The Post-Cffice. The number of ordinary let- 

 ters forwarded in 1882 was 126,113,597, of 

 registered letters 9,272,753, of inclosures under 

 band 13,336,189, of money inclosures 9,900,- 

 843. of journals and periodicals 100,135,831, 

 the money forwarded 3,391.968,064 rubles. 



Telegraphs. The length of telegraph lines be- 

 longing to the state was 97,000 kilometres in 

 1883, the length of wires 179,739 kilometres, 

 the length of lines belonging to railroad com- 

 panies 3,337 kilometres, the length of wires 

 48,791 kilometres. "With the 3,634 kilometres 

 of the Anglo-Indian line, and the private, mili- 

 tary, and other lines, the total length of tele- 

 graph lines in the empire was 105,161 kilome- 

 tres ; of wires, 237,634. The number of private 

 domestic dispatches in 1883 was 8,861,085, of 

 foreign dispatches sent 574,311, received 576,- 

 100 ; receipts in 1883, 35,026,224 francs, ex- 

 penses for service 16,642,717 francs, for main- 

 tenance and materials 12,908,026 francs, for 

 the construction of new lines 3,113,912 francs. 



Finland. The Emperor of Russia is Grand 

 Duke of Finland. The Constitution adopted 

 at the Diet of Borga was confirmed by Alex- 

 ander I in 1809, and by subsequent emperors. 

 The government is representative. The Gov- 

 ernor-General is Gen. Count Ileiden. 



The area of the duchy is 373,603 square kilo- 

 metres. The population on Dec. 31, 1882, was 





