RUSSIA. 



707 



The Government, in 1894, placed an impost 

 upon the rental of occupied nouses, to be paid 

 by the tenants, to be levied at first only in 220 

 large towns, with exemption of rents below 300 

 rubles in the largest and of 225, 150, 120, and 

 60 rubles in other classes of towns. The rate of 

 tax is progressive, rising from 1-J- per cent, of the 

 lowest taxable rents up to 10 per cent, on 6.000 

 rubles in the capitals and on 4,500, 3,000, 2,400, 

 and 1,200 rubles in the other classes of towns. 

 The tax is expected to yield 4,500,000 rubles. 



In February, 1894, the Government entered 

 into a contract with the Grand Society of Rus- 

 sian Railways for the acquisition of the 3 impor- 

 tant lines belonging to the society, which would 

 go into liquidation. To complete this operation 

 a new 4-per-cent. loan for 113,600,000 gold rubles 

 was authorized to be issued, the bonds to be ex- 

 changed for shares and obligations of the Grand 

 Society. The Government also determined to 

 continue the conversion of the 5 per cents, into 

 a unified 4-per-cent. loan, which was interrupted 

 by the famine and the cholera. The interest- 

 bearing state bank notes and the third Eastern 

 loan were called in, 750,000,000 rubles at first, 

 and, when the new loan was eagerly taken early 

 in May, then the whole amount of 1,014,000,000 

 rubles' With the savings from this conversion, 

 which was to be extended to all the 5-per-cent. 

 loans, the intention is to complete the great 

 Siberian Railway, to extend the Central Asian 

 line from Samarcand to Ferghana and toward 

 the foot of the Pamirs, and to build a railroad from 

 Vologda to the White Sea. In the beginning of 

 December the Emperor Nicholas signed a ukase 

 sanctioning a gold loan of 100,000,000 rubles at 

 3 per cent., to be devoted to the redemption of 

 5-per-cent. obligations of 11 railroad companies 

 whose property has been taken over by the state. 



The Army. The period of obligatory service 

 in the active army is five years in European 

 Russia, except in the coast districts, whence the 

 seamen and soldiers of the marine are drawn. 

 These serve seven years, as do the troops of 

 Turkestan and the Amur district, while the Cos- 

 sacks of the provinces of Kuban and Terek and 

 the troops of the Transcaspian territory are re- 

 quired to serve only three years with the colors. 

 Also, in Finland, those drawn for service remain 

 three years with the colors. The approximate 

 strength of the Russian army in Europe in time 

 of peace is 30,574 officers and 751,000 men, with 

 124.706 horses and 2,364 guns. There are 193 

 regiments of infantry, of 4 battalions each, and 

 68 battalions of riflemen, besides 132 reserve bat- 

 talions ; 585 squadrons and sotnias of cavalry ; 

 324 field and 44 horse batteries, besides 39 re- 

 serve batteries of artillery ; 31 battalions in the 

 technical services : and 83 battalions of fortress 

 troops. The war strength in Europe and the 

 Caucasus is, calculated to be 1,663,286 officers 

 and men, with 3.768 cannon. The peace strength 

 of the army in Asia is about 75,000 men. The 

 Finnish troops number 236 officers and 6,020 

 men in time of peace. 



The Navy. The Baltic fleet consisted, in 1894, 

 of 8 armored turret ships, viz.. the " Peter the 

 Great," "Alexander II," the "Nicholas I," the 

 " Navarino," the " Sissoi Veliky " (of 8.800 tons), 

 the ' Sebastopol " (of 10,960 tons), the " Petro- 

 pavlovski " (of 10,960 tons), and the " Poltava " 



(of 10,960 tons), the " Sissoi Veliky " having been 

 launched on June 1, 1894, and the " Poltava," 

 " Sebastopol," and " Petropavlovski " being also 

 new ships, mounting altogether 239 cannon and 

 having 28 torpedo ejectors; the casemated 

 armor-clad " Gangut," launched in 1890, of 8,252 

 tons, with 23 guns and 5 torpedo tubes : 2 moni- 

 tors, built in 1893 ; 4 old armored frigates, pro- 

 vided with turrets and mounting 48 guns; 3 

 ironclad batteries ; 12 old monitors ; 8 armored 

 cruisers, carrying 269 guns; 2 deck-protected 

 cruisers: 1 casemated ship, of 4,506 tons; 11 

 clippers, carrying 153 guns; 3 new torpedo 

 cruisers; 3 new armor-clad gunboats for coast 

 defense ; 10 unarmored gunboats : 3 school ships ; 

 7 yachts ; 35 first-class and 86 second-class tor- 

 pedo boats; and 14 transports. In the Black 

 Sea there are 6 armored turret ships, built be- 

 tween 1886 and 1894, viz., the " Catherine II," 

 "Tchesma," "Sinope," "Twelve Apostles," 

 " Georgy Pobiedonocetz," and " Tre Svetetelia," 

 carrying 166 guns and having 41 torpedo tubes ; 

 2 popovkas ; the cruiser " Pamjat Mercurija " ; 

 6 gunboats; 3 new torpedo cruisers; 16 first- 

 class and 7 second-class torpedo boats ; and 7 

 other vessels, besides 8 steamers of the volunteer 

 fleet. The Siberian fleet consists of 4 gunboats 

 and 4 torpedo boats, and the Caspian fleet of 2 

 gunboats and 4 paddle steamers. For the Bal- 

 tic, new ships that have been ordered are 1 bat- 

 tle ship of the type of the " Sissoi " ; 1 large 

 cruiser, 12,500 tons or larger, of the " Rurik " 

 type; 2 small torpedo cruisers; and 8 torpedo 

 boats. For the Black Sea have been ordered 1 

 ship of the " Sissoi " type, 1 of the type of the 

 " Tre Svetatelia " (of 12,480 tons), and 1 imperial 

 yacht (of 5,557 tons). 



Commerce. The total value of the imports 

 of merchandise for 1893 was 463,500,000 rubles, 

 of which 395,100,000 rubles came from Europe, 

 15,800,000 rubles from Finland, and 52,600,000 

 rubles from Asiatic countries. The total value 

 of the exports was 613,700,000 rubles, of which 

 520,400,000 rubles went to European countries, 

 18,500,000 rubles to Finland, and 74,800,000 

 rubles to Asia. The values of the chief imports 

 by the European frontiers were : Raw textiles 

 and yarns, 112,524,000 rubles; metal goods and 

 machinery, 45,542.000 rubles ; raw metals, 38,- 

 905,000 rubles ; tea and coffee, 24,169,000 rubles ; 

 coal, 14,267,000 rubles; coloring matters, 12,- 

 775.000 rubles ; hides and skins, leather, and 

 furs, 11,090,000 rubles; spirits and wines, 9,792,- 

 000 rubles ; sugar, 7,229,000 rubles ; textile manu- 

 factures, clothing, trimmings, etc., 6,730,000 ru- 

 bles. Of the exports to European countries, the 

 most important were: Cereals, 261,516.000 ru- 

 bles; textile materials and yarn, 81,960,000 

 rubles; timber, 39,937,000 rubles; linseed, 33,- 

 373,000 rubles ; animals, 12,748,000 rubles ; skins 

 and peltry, 11,130,000 rubles; hair and bristles, 

 7,702,000 rubles ; sugar, 4,857,000 rubles ; textile 

 manufactures, 4,240,000 rubles: metal goods, 

 3,846,000 rubles ; naphtha and petroleum, 3,234,- 

 000 rubles. The import of tea from Asia was 

 19,196,000 rubles in value : the next most impor- 

 tant imports were textile materials and fabrics. 

 The exports to Asia were cereals of the value of 

 24,755,000 rubles, tissues for 7,949,000 rubles, 

 and miscellaneous merchandise. The imports 

 of precious metals were 26,330,000 rubles from 



