RUSSIA. 



weight; of corn, 14,886,321 hundredweight. The 

 exports of eggs, 1,831,000,000 in number, were 

 valued at 31,620,000 rubles. The value of cereals 

 and riour exported was 370,463,000 rubles; of dairy 

 produce, including eggs, 38,325,000 rubles; of 

 spirits, 1,774,000 rubles; of sugar, 7,176,000 rubles; 

 of timber and wood wares, 57,715,000 rubles; of 

 linseed, grass seed, and other seeds, 26,905,000 

 rubles; of flax, 57,786,000 rubles; of hemp, 10,- 

 865,000 rubles; of tallow, 507,000 rubles; of 

 bristles, hair, and feathers, 7,716,000 rubles; of 

 wool, 6,894,000 rubles; of furs, 4,020,000 rubles; 

 of woolen goods, 2,216,000 rubles; of cotton goods, 

 2.967,000 rubles; of naphtha and naphtha products, 

 25,630,000 rubles. The export of illuminating oil 

 increased from 15,998,000 hundredweight in 1894 

 to 17,349,020 hundredweight in 1898; of lubricat- 

 ing oil, from 2,092,000 to 3,382,900 hundredweight. 

 The number of horses exported in 1897 was 58,300 ; 

 the export of oil cake was 12,769,000 rubles in 

 value. 



The imports and exports by the frontier of Asia 

 are not included in the above figures excepting 

 those from the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. 

 The imports amounted to 49,043,000 rubles and 

 the exports to 21,042,000 rubles. The main part 

 of this trade is by the frontier of Manchuria. The 

 imports of food substances, principally tea, were 

 30,888,000 rubles in value, and exports 7,888,000 

 rubles; imports of raw and partly manufactured 

 articles were 10,897,000 rubles, and exports 

 2,513,000 rubles; imports of manufactured goods 

 were 5,453,000 rubles, and exports 10,149,000 ru- 

 bles; imports of animals were 1,805,000 rubles, and 

 exports 492,000 rubles. 



The chief imports of Russia are raw cotton, raw 

 metals, machinery, raw wool, metal goods, tea, 

 leather, coal, wines, silk, textile goods, chemicals, 

 colors, gum and resin, fish, fruits and nuts, coffee, 

 cotton goods, watches and clocks, and tobacco. 

 The value of imports from Germany in 1898 was 

 202,117,000 rubles; from Great Britain, 113,966.000 

 rubles; from the United States, 49,430,000 rubles; 

 from France, 27,087,000 rubles; from Austria-Hun- 

 gary, 24,123,000 rubles; from Belgium, 23,621,000 

 rubles; from China, 22,636,000 rubles; from Egypt, 

 22,636,000 rubles; from Italy, 10,149,000 rubles; 

 from the Netherlands, 9,775,000 rubles. The value 

 of the exports to Germany was 179,254,000 rubles; 

 to Great Britain, 140,447,000 rubles; to the Neth- 

 erlands, 79,072,000 rubles; to France, 63,424,000 

 rubles: to Italy, 54,447,000 rubles; to Austria- 

 Hungary, 41,652,000 rubles; to Belgium, 28,788,000 

 rubles; to Turkey, 13,956,000 rubles; to Roumania, 

 12,675,000 rubles'; to Denmark, 9,839,000 rubles. 



Many parts of the Russian Empire are exceed- 

 ingly rich in minerals. The coal and iron indus- 

 tries have made great progress. Duties have been 

 placed on imported coal to increase the consump- 

 tion of the domestic product. The gold produc- 

 tion of the Urals has declined to a fraction of what 

 it once was. Platinum is still produced there, and 

 in increasing quantities. The gold mines of Siberia 

 are becoming more productive. In order to in- 

 crease their production much more by the intro- 

 duction of modern methods and machinery and 

 thus obtain a larger supply of the precious metal 

 to support the gold standard, the Russian Gov- 

 ernment in 1900 granted to an English syndicate 

 a concession of 8,200 square miles of auriferous 

 land on the imperial property in the NTertchinsk 

 region. In the Donetz region of European Russia, 

 Which is particularly rich in coal, Belgians have 

 developed the coal mines and other industries, es- 

 pecially glass making. Large numbers of Belgian 

 workmen took up their residence in the Donetz, 

 nd the prosperity of the Belgians awakened the 



resentment of both the peasantry and the nobility 

 who had sold their lands to Belgian capitalists 

 without being aware of the wealth existing under 

 the soil. In 1900 disturbances occurred from this 

 cause. 



On Aug. 5 the general tariff was raised on many 

 articles as a temporary measure for providing 

 means to defray the extraordinary expenses neces- 

 sitated by the Chinese troubles. On flour, wine, 

 beer, fruits, spices, tobacco, fish, and gums it was 

 increased 50 pr cent.; on coffee, boots and shoes, 

 and lumber, 30 per cent. ; on porcelain wares, fancy 

 cutlery, gold watches, vehicles, linens, clothing, 

 and ornamental metal wares, 20 per cent.; and 

 10 per cent, on a long list of articles. In order 

 to check the rise in the price of naphtha due to 

 trade combinations the Government determined 

 to enter into competition with the merchants, re- 

 quiring the lessees of the oil wells on the Crown 

 lands of the Baku district to pay 40 per cent, of 

 their rent in kind after 1901. 



Navigation. The number of vessels in the for- 

 eign trade entered at White Sea ports during 

 1898 was 712, of 395,262 tons; at Baltic ports, 

 5,809, of 3,554,879 tons; at ports of the Black Sea 

 and the Sea of Azof, 4,426, of 665,611 tons; the 

 number cleared at White Sea ports, 703, of 376,370 

 tons; at Baltic ports, 5,736, of 3,765,777 tons; at 

 ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof, 4,374, 

 of 6,615,890 tons; total number entered, 10,947, of 

 4,615,752 tons; total number cleared, 10,813, of 

 10,758,037 tons. The ports of the Caspian were 

 visited in 1896 by 18,055 vessels in the foreign 

 and coasting trade, of 233,714 and 8,360,269 tons 

 respectively; the Pacific ports of Vladivostok and 

 Nikolaievsk by 347 vessels, of 313,531 tons. The 

 number of coasting vessels that visited White Sea, 

 Baltic, and Black Sea ports was 38,943, of 13,- 

 794,870 tons; and Caspian ports, 17,284, of 8,360,- 

 269 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. On July 

 1, 1899, there were 29,855 miles of railroad in 

 operation in the Russian Empire, including 1,611 

 miles in Finland. The lines owned and operated 

 by the Government had a total length of 16.414 

 miles; lines belonging to public companies, 9.365 

 miles; isolated and unconnected railroads, 1,691 

 miles; short local lines, 774 miles. The Siberian 

 trunk line to Lake Baikal, 1,201 miles, was al- 

 ready in operation in 1898, and at the end of 1899 

 the continuation to Sryatensk, 693 miles, was 

 opened, establishing steam communication between 

 St. Petersburg and the Pacific coast, the trains 

 being for the present ferried across Lake Baikal. 

 Other important railroads recently completed are 

 the lines from Vologda to Archangelsk, 397 miles; 

 from Tiflis to Kars, 186 miles; from Perm to Kot- 

 las, 545 miles ; from Sieyalki by way of Augustovo 

 to Grodno, 620 miles; from Tikhoryetskaia to 

 Tsaritsyn, 335 miles; from Khavi to Tashkent!, 96 

 miles ; and from Samarkand to Andijan, 335 miles. 

 There are 28 lines in the empire connecting with 

 each other, 16 of which, containing 60 per cent, 

 of the mileage, are worked by the Government 

 and the rest by public companies under the con- 

 trol of the Minister of Ways and Communications. 

 The isolated lines are 7 in number. Whereas 76 

 per cent, of the network belonged in 1889 to com- 

 panies, of which there were then 42, and the state 

 had a deficit of 30.000,000 rubles in the railroad 

 account, in 1899 the remaining 9 companies oper- 

 ated only 40 per cent, of the railroads, and the 

 Government, by taking over the railroads, reached 

 a balance in the railroad budget in 1895 and 

 earned a net profit of 11.300.000 rubles in 1896, 

 12.500,000 rubles in 1897, and 12,100.000 rubles in 

 1898. The introduction of the zone tariff in 1894, 



