RUSSIA. 



791 



ions of engineers, numbering 816 officers and 

 19,462 men. The number of staff-officers was 

 1,895. The reserve troops numbered 99,345, 

 wfth 4,325 officers; the depot troops, 401 offi- 

 cers and 18,014 men ; local and fortress troops, 

 1,937 officers and 97,778 men, with 240 guns; 

 the Cossack troops, 285 sotnias of cavalry, 50 

 sotnias of infantry, and 21 batteries of artil- 

 lery, with 100 guns, numbering 2,169 officers 

 and 44,920 men. The total effective of the 

 army on the peace footing was 890,264 men 

 of all ranks. The war effective is reckoned at 

 1,769,248 men in the regular army, 185,000 

 Cossacks, and 6,331 irregulars, making alto- 

 gether 1,960,579 men, with 366,354 horses, 

 and 3,876 pieces of artillery. The territorial 

 army and other troops make the total war 

 strength of the army nearly 3,000,000. 



The Navy. The Baltic fleet in 1886 com- 

 prised 30 armored vessels, 1 unarmored frigate, 

 6 corvettes, 4 cruisers, 15 gunboats, 95 torpedo- 

 boats, and 13 armed and 59 other steamers. 

 The Black Sea fleet consisted of 7 armor-clads, 

 27 armed steamers, 59 other steamers, and 16 

 torpedo-boats. In the Caspian Sea there were 

 12 armed steamers, and 8 in Siberia. The 

 most powerful vessels in the navy are the 

 "Catharine II," "Tchesma," and "Sinope," 

 launched in 1886, each of which has 16 inches 

 of armor and a displacement of 10,180 tons, 

 and carries 6 12-inch and 12 6-inch guns. Their 

 speed is 16 knots. The "Tchesma" and the 

 'Catharine II," the first vessels of the new 

 Black Sea fleet, were launched in the presence 

 of the Emperor in May, 1886. New ships are 

 being added to the navy with great rapidity. 

 They are built as far as possible in Russia. A 

 plan for the construction of 90 new ships 

 within twenty years was adopted in 1882. The 

 projected new vessels include 10 ironclads of 

 10,000 tons and 4 of 7,000 tons for the Baltic, 

 and 6 of the larger dimensions for the Black 

 Sea. Russia now leads all countries in the 

 number of her torpedo-boats, which is said to 

 be 175. A new torpedo-cruiser, the "llyin," 

 constructed of steel, steaming 20 knots an 

 hour, was tested in November. 



Finances. The public debt on Jan. 1, 1886, 

 comprised specie loans of 344,198,535 rubles, 

 71,222,000 florins, 125,896,590 pounds sterling, 

 and 555,765,000 francs, and loans redeemable 

 in paper currency amounting to 3,199,810,207 

 rubles. 



Agriculture and Industry. Of 1,018,736,800 

 acres on the land registers in 1882, 23,143,600 

 acres belonged to towns, monasteries, and other 

 institutions, 252,103,000 to- land-owners and 

 companies, 317,534,500 to peasant communes, 

 406,064,900 to the Crown, and 19,890,800 were 

 attached to the imperial domains. The peas- 

 ants holding land in common numbered 22,- 

 396,069 adult males. The noble proprietors 

 numbered 114,480, and their aggregate estates 

 embraced 197,146,500 acres. In European 

 Russia the forests cover 39 per cent, of the 

 total area, and in Finland 57 per cent. The 



cereal production of European Russia, exclu- 

 sive of Finland and Poland, in 1884, was 32,- 

 348,000 quarters of wheat, 80,554,000 of rye, 

 16,850,000 of barley, 60,720,000 of oats, and 

 19,300,000 of other crops. The potato prod- 

 uct was 35,830,000 quarters. The annual pro- 

 duction of hemp is about 1,800,000 cwts., 

 with 1,800,000 quarters of seed ; that of flax 

 6,400,000 cwts., and 2,900,000 quarters of lin- 

 seed. There were 139,115 acres devoted to 

 tobacco in 1883, producing 1,192,000 cwts. 



The product of gold in 1882 was 79,452 Ibs. 

 of silver, 17,604 Ibs. ; of platinum, 8,964 Ibs. 

 of pig-iron, 448,207 tons ; of steel, 240,000 tons 

 of coal, 3,653,800 tons ; of naphtha, in 1884, 20,- 

 000,000 cwts. ; of refined oil, 4,600,000 cwts. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 during 1884 at, the ports of the Baltic was 

 6,532; in the White Sea, 638; in the Black 

 Sea and the Sea of Azov, 4,624; in the Cas- 

 pian Sea, 1,431 ; total, 13,225, of which 8,181 

 were steamers. The total number cleared was 

 13,168, of which 8,161 were steamers. The 

 total number entered with cargoes was 7,433, 

 of which 4,577 -were steamers; the number 

 cleared with cargoes was 11,605, of which 

 7,212 were steamers. The number entered un- 

 der the Russian flag was 2,748 ; under the 

 English, 2,813; under the German, 2,115; un- 

 der the Swedish and Norwegian flags, 1,577; 

 under the Turkish, 657 ; under the Greek, 886. 

 The number of coasting voyages was 35,883. 

 The mercantile marine in 1883 consisted of 

 2,139 sailing-vessels, of 467,740 tons, and 204 

 steamers, of 157.696 tons. 



Railroads. The railroad network in 1886 

 comprised 16,025 miles of railroads, not in- 

 cluding those of Finland or the Trans-Caspian 

 line, which on Jan. 1, 1886, had a length of 

 515 miles. The receipts in 1885 were 230,171,- 

 000 rubles. The payment of guaranteed in- 

 terest and other subsidies to the railroads con- 

 stitutes a heavy burden on the national reve- 

 nue. The first railroads were built by the 

 state, but afterward the business was trans- 

 ferred to private companies, to which the 

 Government advanced capital. Of the snrn of 

 2,210,000,000 rubles expended on railroads up 

 to 1883, 54 per cent, was furnished by the 

 state, the money being raised by loans. On the 

 remaining 46 per cent, a minimum rate of 

 profit was guaranteed. Various supplement- 

 ary advances have been made to the compa- 

 nies, which have not yet begun to pay off any 

 portion of the debt. 



The Post-Office. The number of private let- 

 ters carried in the mails during 1884 was 133,- 

 963,987; the number of postal cards, 11,614,- 

 039; the number of registered letters, 11,062,- 

 492 ; the number of money-letters, 9,994,543, 

 of the total value of 12, 199,976, 984 francs; the 

 number of newspapers, 100,435,584; the num- 

 ber of circulars, 16,926,561. The receipts in 

 1884 were 64,470,416 francs; the expenses, 

 69,938,864 francs. 



The Agrarian Question. The exports of grain 



