

making the stock of gold, independent of '.?:>.< MX >.<>" 

 rabies thai hal pa~ed m! , : . .; :.. MM, jOOO 



;o 1.906,000,000 paper fill 'If-. 



was 85,000.000 rubles morv than Hu amount of 

 notes i*Mi< I.UJMT rulilet were current (.-: 



uliu* "f the >UT ru- 



hat they were BpfXNtd to represent, ami the 

 minister was not disposed to redeem them at their 

 nominal value. Hr thm-fore took the current rate 



-.,;de it the flied legal rate. 'I'M.- tit- 

 toward the resumption of specie pa> m. 

 noticed in an imperial uka>c <>n 'Ian. ! 



f imj>erials of ih.. same w 

 and fineness as the old ones, with 



nil. Its*, instead of in 



basis was provisionally ordered in November, 

 and since early in 1896 the -ML- hank h...; 



v charged with th- duty ..f cashing paper 



at the rate of 1 ruble :o kopedn for 1 



ruble in gold. Th.- obligations of Kussia which 



.late payment in metallie ruble- an- not aln.-i- 



ed by the new currency laws, being still payable in 



gold rubles at the old rate of 1" to the imp* rial. 



The total amount of paper noli hit ion <>n 



I. 1897, W.i .-.'.KH)rul.lcs. protect- 



500.000.000 rub i L A. ukase issued on Sept. 



in. l s '.'7. pr.Mides that the ft. of (taper 



by thesUte bank shall l.e >tri.-tly limite.l in 



I iy the demands for the eireulai inij medium, 

 uust be se< ial to half 



the amount issued up to 600,000,000 ruble* an<l 



:mg the whole issue in excess of that sum. 



hat date amounted to 750,000,- 



ibles. while the paper in actual circulation 



was 1.068,000.000 rubles. The 1- and :;-rui>le , 



notes were withdrawn from circulation so as to en- 



f the new silver ruble pieces, 



which the public did not willingly accent on ac- 



':eir inconvenient weight and hulk. As 



the new gold currency was not readily taken the 



banks were ordered in September to give 20 per 



Id in cashing all ch< 



Army. Military service la-t- in European 

 Russia five years in the active army, thirteen years 



- reserve, and five year- in the first ban of the 

 territorial army M-iij.t- of Turkestan and 



the Amur territories, as well as the marine troops, 

 nerve seven year- in th> -my. Itccruits 



who are excused from service in the aciive armv as 

 being below the physical standard are enrolled in 

 the second ban of the territorial army. The Cos- 

 sack cavalry after three years of preliminary in- 

 struc' ullages sen \n in 



-t tan. f. . and live years 



-reserve. The contingent of recruit- for the 

 permanent army in 1896 wac 274.K50 ,,.,,. ,,, j,,. 



iuimg 2.750 Caucasians. In 1895, out 

 young men who reached the age of tw.- n t\ 



' -I-;. i. ,. m , >.;.,; Wussul- 

 mans.aO v 498. Including 7.W4 Jews, 

 sent themselves, 154.287 were rejected l.v th. 



- - .;.", Drs( i an of the 

 Opoltcbenie, or militia, and 273.992. indndin- 

 118 Jews, were taken into the active ,,rmy. 



r of men called to the colon it. l* ( .7was 



288.900, besides 4/jOO natives of t! , H to 



serve in local regiment*. ,d,d 



itary circa mscr . lianv 



t armies, besides t! 



gion and that of th. ! ,,,. 



scriptions embracing m Kusnia JM. ; 



Caucasus are occupied bv ** n . 

 effective strength of the KUSKIATI army in tir 

 war is estimated at 61.100 officers and 3.400,000 

 men. The field army has 18,000 infantrv ..' 

 and 960,000 men, 3,500 cavalry officers and 110,000 



men, 2.600 artillery officer-, and !M).(KM) men. and 

 800 engineer officer- 00 men: total. VI.I'DII 



officers and I/,MHMMHI men. The reserve 

 have TJ.iKMi infantry officers and 7:i0.l>0<) niei: 



"<MI artillery ,.|li- 

 1 men. an.: 



9,000 men : totaL 1 . > men. 



The ' ..oj.s miii infantry ofl 



i'MI artillcrx o|li T- aii.l - 



men, and MM! nd KMMKl men ; 



total. 4.(KK) officers ai be iv|.la.-e 



ment re-erve- . infant r\ ollic. i 



280,000 men, 800 cavalry otli<-.>r- and' Jn.diid ,,.. 

 600 iirtile 



..... men : loi. 



tt. The vlreli-th of the (>|.oltc|iellie 

 antry olli.-.-r- and r.sC.om m . 



'liccr- 



and 'js.ooo men. and UK) engineer officer* 1m. i 

 men; total. 10,-lW officers ami MIMMMI ,,,.!,. The 

 ianl- on the frontier miinl. 



ollic. men. Th. 



.irmed for the ino-t part \\ith the Mcrdan rill.- 



-J>. having A CSliber of l'-7 millimetres. 

 eral corpx -tatioiied on the Mnropcan frontier- ha\e 

 the three-line repeat ini; ritle of 100 .'mil- 



limetres caliber, with ."> cartridges in the i 

 zine. The caxalry have iVnlan -atbines ai, 



tml some of the Cossack- (any !. 

 The artillery armament con>i>t> of 1.7!M> field 

 mo-tly of t'he model of 1*77. and L"J t m> 

 Finlaiid has it- own army, nuinbering <n the |>cace 

 foot inu r ',';>') offi. ' .'i'J( men. 



The Navy. lln--ia maintain- four independent 

 fleets, of Which the lar^ot i> the Haltic fhet. coin- 

 prisin^ 10 first-class battle ships. 2 of wlii< i 

 not yet finished. If powerful cruisers, of which only 

 the : - Kurik." of iii.:;:; tons, ia comj-lctrd. 7 oth.-V 



laSS armored and ^'deck-protected en. 

 11 second-class crui-. i -. 1 mor- 



clad LTunboats, 1 deck-armored gunboat. 10 coast 



guards, '{ scliool-ship-. :;:i t..rped.i b,.at- "f the fii--i 



I the second da-... 6 anm-d yacht-., and 

 <1 ti-an-j.ort-. b.-idr- -1 deck-protected cruis- 

 er- of the first rank. 1 armored erui-rr of the typ ( - 

 of th. ,." and 1! torpedo-bont dest ! 



building. The improved armored cruisers, of which 

 mtemplation, will have a displa-- 

 menl of 14.(HK ton<. The new deck-prot. 

 PI " I'allada." " hiana." " Aurora." and" - 

 lana" will di>j. -.ins and carrv an arma- 



ment of 6 6-inch, rt 4'7-inch. and ::." -mailer 

 (juick-iirini: ^un<. The halt . 

 and "Osliabia." of 12.674 tons displacement, now 

 Imildini;. will exceed in weight of fire th.- M I' 

 pavl-.v-k." -Poltava." and " Sevastopol." ,,f !< 

 onipleted in lsj4 and ls!r>, which ha 

 - of armor and carry I 1'J-inch -nn- in lur- 

 i Besides powerful secondary and (puck-firing 

 armari 



The I51a- ed ..f 7 battle - : 



built between IKSfi and 1- -ffki nion 



-la-- cruiser, fi JTUli' rpedo crn 



',?<> fir-l -class and 10 second-class t. 

 s<-hM. .irrned steamers, and S transt 



- i:{ jiuxi!. the volunteer 



which are employed in the merchant service in 



time I fleet will SOOH be ail-in. 



attle -liip- of th.- type of the "Sviatetilia." of 

 12,4W vin- 1 12-inch jruns in barl- 



i-7-inch. and;VJ>malli-r quick-firing 



-i-ts of 1 second-' 

 . gunboats. 2 t<.rpcd. - 



id-class torpedo boats,2 armed -t earners, 



. There are 4 more torpedo txmts 



under construction. The flotilla in the Caspian 





