ROUMANIA. 



RUSSIA. 



683 



and exports, 2,600,000 lei ; imports of fuel, 10,100,- 

 000 lei, and exports 2,200,200 lei ; imports of miner- 

 als, pottery, and glass, 7,600,000 lei, and exports 

 1,000.000 lei ; imports of metals and metal manu- 

 factures 74,900,000 lei, and exports 1,900,000 lei; 

 imports of hides and leather, and leather goods, 16,- 

 000,000 lei, and exports 1,600,000 lei; imports of 

 timber and wood manufactures, 5,700,000 lei, and 

 exports 6,700,000 lei ; imports of textile manufac- 

 tures and materials 150,000,000 lei, and exports 

 2,600,000 lei ; imports of paper 6,000,000 lei ; imports 

 of drugs 28,800,000 lei; imports of fats and oils 

 7,800,000 lei ; imports of all other articles 10,800,- 

 000 lei, and exports 4,700,000 lei. 



The commerce was divided among different coun- 

 tries, as follows : 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered at 

 Roumanian ports during 1897 was 33,845, of 9,367- 

 850 tons. Cleared, 33,441, of 9,235,535 tons. The 

 merchant navy comprised 54 steamers, of 7,099 

 tons, and 263 sailing craft, of 66,177 tons; total, 

 317 vessels, of 73,276 tons 



Communications. The railroads, all of which 

 are state property, had in 1898 a total length 

 of 1,797 miles, in addition to which there were 201 

 miles building and 706 miles projected. The state 

 telegraphs in 1897 had a length of 4,286 miles, with 

 10,304 miles of wire. There were dispatched 1.621,- 

 050 internal, 537,436 external, 96,765 service, and 

 81,129 transit messages. The post office in 1897 

 transmitted 18.498.355 letters, 14,386,506 postal 

 cards, and 31,022,339 printed inclosures. The re- 

 ceipts were 6,136,280 lei, exclusive of 3,090.269 lei 

 from telegraphs ; expenses, 8,809,512 lei, including 

 those of the telegraph department. 



European Commission of the Danube. The 

 International Commission to improve and control 

 the navigation of the Danube, composed of repre- 

 sentatives of the Austro-Hungarian, British, French, 

 German, Italian, Roumanian. Russian, and Turkish 

 governments, has police jurisdiction and issues 

 regulations which have the force of law, levies im- 

 posts, and exercises other sovereign rights inde- 

 pendently of the Roumanian Government on the 

 waters of the Danube, below Braila. The receipts 

 for 1897 were 3,572,979 francs, including 1,946,679 

 francs from tolls, 59,130 francs from miscellaneous 

 sources, 1,254,900 francs of surplus from the prece- 

 ding year, and 311,270 francs from material, etc. 

 The expenditures were 843,620 francs for adminis- 

 tration, 605,682 francs for technical service, 228.179 

 francs for various charges, 702,054 francs of special 

 expenditures for 1897, and 387.660 francs for the 

 purchase of material, etc. ; total, 2,767,195 francs, 

 leaving a surplus of 805,784 francs. This added to 

 the reserve and pension funds makes the total assets 

 2,457,070 francs, with no debts. The number of 

 vessels, exclusive of packet boats, which passed out 

 at the Sulina month of the Danube in 1897 was 1,324, 

 of 1,397,917 tons, of which 1.093, of 1,357,731 tons, 

 were steamers, and 231, of 40.186 tons, sailing ves- 

 sels. Of the total number 540 steamers, of 804,585 

 tons, and 4 sailing vessels, of 892 tons, were English ; 



83 steamers, of 112.031 tons, and 17 sailing vessels, 

 of 4,482 tons, were Greek : 84 steamers, of 94.693 I 

 were Italian ; 100 steamers, of 92.964 tons, und 1 tail- 

 ing vessel, of 72 tons, were Austrian; 129 steamers, of 

 59.206 tons, and 11 sailing vessels, of 1,545 tons. . 

 Russian ; 61 steamers, of 52,1 18 tons, and 19 sailing 

 vessels, of 4.659 tons, were Roumanian ; 20 steam- 

 ers, of 14,274 tons, and 178 sailing vessels, of 28.398 

 tons, were Turkish; 27 steamers, of 32,060 tons, 

 were French; 29 steamers, of 31.512 tons, were 

 German; and 11 steamers, of 14,288 tons, and 1 

 sailing vessel, of 138 tons, were of other nationali- 

 ties. The export trade in wheat amounted to 549.- 

 633 tons; in rye, 195,811 tons; in maize, 784,049 

 tons ; in barley, 813,061 tons. When the regulation 

 of the Danube was begun in 1856 the Sulina branch 

 was a crooked stream, not over 9 feet deep in the 

 shoal places, having a length of 48 miles. The 

 worst of the windings have been abolished and the 

 depth has been more than doubled. When the plan 

 decided on by the commission in May, 1898, is car- 

 ried out the last of the curves will disappear. This 

 plan is to execute a cutting 5 miles long, 400 feet 

 broad, and 20 feet deep, which, together with the 

 former cuttings, will convert the Sulina branch 

 into an almost straight water way 35 miles in length, 

 extending from the port of Sulina to the Tultcha 

 branch of the main river. 



RUSSIA,, an empire in northern Europe and 

 Asia. The throne is hereditary in the dynasty of 

 Romanoff-Holstein-Gottorp. The Government is an 

 absolute monarchy in which legislative, executive, 

 and judicial powers are united in the Czar, or Km- 

 peror, who is assisted by a Cabinet of ministers, 

 each of whom has charge of an executive de[art- 

 ment ; by a Council of State, which examines and 

 passes upon projects of law submitted by the min- 

 isters ; by a Ruling Senate, which watches over the 

 general administration and superintends the judici- 

 ary ; and by a Holy Synod, which directs ecclesias- 

 tical affairs". The Czar is the head of the national 

 Russian Church, which is identical in doctrine and 

 ritual with the Orthodox Greek, maintaining the 

 relations of a sister Church with the patriarchates of 

 Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexan- 

 dria. The reigning Emperor of All the Russias is 

 Nicholas II, born May 18, 1868, who succeeded his 

 father, Alexander III. Nov. 1, 1894. The heir pre- 

 sumptive is the Grand-Duke George, brother of the 

 Czar, born April 27, 1871. The Committee of Minis- 

 ters at the beginning of 1898 was as follows : Presi- 

 dent, J. N. Durnovo; Minister of Public Instruction. 

 Count J. D. Delianoff ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Count Michael Muravieff ; Procurator General of the 

 Holy Synod, K. P. Pobedonostseff ; Minister of War. 

 Gen. P. S. Vannovsky; Controller General, T. J. 

 Filippoff ; Minister of the Interior, J. L. Goremkyn : 

 Minister of the Imperial House, Appanages.and Stud. 

 Gen. Count J. J. Vorontzoff-Dashkoff ; Minister of 

 Marine, Vice- Admiral P. P. Tyrtoff ; Minister of 

 Agriculture and Domains, A. S. Yermoloff ; Minister 

 of Justice, N. V. Muravieff ; Minister of Finan. S. 

 J. Witte. Ministerof Railroads and Communications, 

 Prince Hilkoff; without portfolios, D. M. Solsky 

 and N. J. Stoyanovsky. The Grand-Dukes George, 

 Vladimir, Alexis, and Michael have seats in the 

 Cabinet. After the retirement of Gen. Vannov.-kj . 

 Gen. Kurupatkin was, on July 14, 1898, appointed 

 Minister of War. 



Area and Population. The table on the next 

 page gives the results of the census of Jan. 28, 

 1897, for all the governments and independent dis- 

 tricts into which the empire is divided. 



The division of population according to sex was : 

 In European Russia. 46.433,636 males and 47,753.114 

 females; in Poland. 4.753.879 males and 4,688.711 

 females; in Finland, 1,250,426 males and 1,277,875 





