RUSSIA. 



685 



the mint, mines, posts, and telegraphs, 48,529.100 

 rubles; sale of spirits by the state, 85,461,000 rubles; 

 state domains and railroads, 370,127,108 rubles ; sale 

 of state domains, 593,339 rubles; redemption of land 

 by state's peasants, 43,181,586 rubles, and by liber- 

 ated serfs, 37,376,714 rubles ; repayment of railroad 

 and other loans, 57,318,227 rubles ; war contribu- 

 tions, 2,450,000 rubles, and miscellaneous sources, 

 5,163,453 rubles. Of the amount raised by direct 

 taxation 40,875,716 rubles came from land and per- 

 sonal taxes, 45,277,800 rubles from trade licenses, and 

 14,424,300 rubles from taxes on capital. The receipts 

 from indirect taxes are specifically 260,453,000 rubles 

 from the excise duty on spirits, 34,913,000 rubles 

 from tobacco excise, 51,046,000 rubles from sugar, 

 20,782,000 rubles from naphtha, 7,015,200 rubles 

 from matches, 169.260,000 rubles from customs 

 duties, and 70,210,674 rubles from stamps. 



An increase of nearly 22,300,000 rubles was looked 

 for in receipts from state sales of spirits, also an in- 

 crease of 31,500,000 rubles under the head of state 

 railroads, owing to taking over more railroads 

 from expropriated companies, while in direct taxes 

 a falling off was expected, the land tax having been 

 lowered on account of a short crop in 1897, which 

 was expected to be repeated in 1898. Compared 

 with 1897 the estimates of 1898 show an increase of 

 46,000,000 rubles in ordinary revenue and of 66,- 

 300,000 rubles in ordinary expenditure. The ordi- 

 nary revenue in a period of ten years has exceeded 

 the ordinary expenditure by 467,000,000 rubles. 



The total ordinary expenditure for 1898 was esti- 

 mated in the budget at 1.350,085,213 rubles, of which 

 218,675,036 rubles were for intei-est and redemption 

 of state debts, 51,716,196 rubles for interest on rail- 

 road obligations, 1,701,500 rubles for discharge of 

 unpaid arrears, 2,612,842 rubles for expenses of the 

 superior state bodies, 20,374,941 rubles for the Holy 

 Synod, 12,597,492 rubles for the Ministry of the 

 Imperial House, 4.802.176 rubles for the Ministry of 

 Foreign Affairs, 288,808,674 rubles for the Ministry 

 if War, 67,050.000 rubles for the Ministry of the 

 Navy, 211,118,038 rubles for the Ministry of Finance, 

 35.737,983 rubles for the Ministry of Agriculture 

 and Domains, 80,175,211 rubles for the Ministry of 

 the Interior, 26,440.843 rubles for the Ministry of 

 Public Instruction, 264,677,232 rubles for the Min- 

 istry of Railroads, 42,733,274 rubles for the Ministry 

 3f Justice, 7.178,935 rubles for the State Control, 

 1,614,850 rubles for the direction of the imperial 

 studs, and 12,000,000 rubles for unforeseen expenses. 

 The purchase of the Vistula and Fastovo lines is 

 [he cause of an increase of 37.800,000 rubles in the 

 ?xpenses of operating railroads. The extension of 

 ;he sale of spirits by the state is the cause of another 

 increase in the budget, and there are increases in 

 [the naval budget of 7,100,000 rubles, in the war 

 j budget of 4,400,000 rubles, in the expenses of the 

 Ministry of Agriculture of 2,200,000 rubles, and in 

 !the education budget of 200,000 rubles. The ex- 

 ;raordinary expenditures for 1898 were estimated 

 it 123,964,710 rubles, of which 34,447,020 rubles 

 were for the Siberian Railroad. 3,718,363 rubles 

 were for works connected with it, 13,565,182 for the 

 [construction of other railroads of general benefit, 

 10,000,000 rubles for local branches, 49,234,145 rubles 

 for rolling stock for the Siberian and other railroads, 

 ind 10,000,000 rubles for expropriation of private 

 railroads. There were 106,291,706 rubles disposable 

 in the imperial treasury, and the perpetual deposits 

 in the Bank of Russia "gave 3,300.000 rubles in ex- 

 :raordinary revenue, leaving a deficit in the ex- 

 'traordinary budget that was exactly balanced by the 

 estimated surplus of 14,373,004 rubles in the ordi- 

 nary budget. The free balance in the treasury, which 

 was 246,501.327 rubles on Jan. 1, 1897, was reduced 

 by 91,795,936 rubles in that year, and by the addi- 



tional drafts upon it in 1898 was brought down on 

 Dec. 31 to 48,413,085 rubles. The state debts on 

 Jan. 1, 1897, amounted to 2,128,826,100 rubles in 

 gold and 3,542,137,294 rubles in paper, equal alto- 

 gether to 6,735,376,443 rubles in paper or silver at 

 the fixed ratio of 1 ruble 50 kopecks of paper or 

 silver to 1 gold ruble. In this sum are included 

 621,281,634 rubles of uncovered paper currency. 

 The total debt had been increased in ten years 

 nearly 1,454,000,000 rubles, 27.5 per cent., by con- 

 version operations and new loans, but the increase 

 in the annual interest charge is less than 7,000,000 

 rubles. The cash in the treasury on Jan. 1, 1897, 

 was 246,501,328 rubles, and the debts owed to the 

 state amounted to 3,000,997,928 rubles in paper, in- 

 cluding 1,548,692,609 paper rubles to be paid back 

 for redemption of peasants' lands, 241,003,772 rubles 

 in gold and 457,664,545 rubles in paper due from 

 railroads, 133,627,835 rubles in paper due from local 

 treasuries, the Turkish indemnity debt of 176,785,- 

 809 gold rubles, etc. The improved financial credit 

 of Russia has enabled the Government to reduce the 

 interest on most of the state loans. In 1898 the 

 bonds of some of the principal land and mortgage 

 banks were converted from 4^ or 5 per cent, to 3 

 or 4 per cent, paper. 



The amount of gold accumulated in the treasury 

 and in the Bank of Russia in the middle of Sep- 

 tember. 1897, reckoned in paper, amounted to 

 1,131,700,000 rubles, while the total amount of 

 paper out was 1,068,778,167 rubles. The gold re- 

 serve proper was 862,500,000 rubles in currency 

 value, covering 80.7 per cent of the circulation. 

 The free coinage of silver was discontinued in 

 1893. Regulations issued in 1897 fixed the value 

 of the silver or paper ruble at fa of a gold imperial. 

 Another ukase promulgated in April, 1898, orders 

 that all accounts must be based on this gold ruble, 

 and that the obligatory tender of silver is not to 

 exceed 25 rubles, though the Government will ac- 

 cept silver to any amount except in payment .of 

 gold customs duties, and even in this case up to 

 the amount of 5 rubles. The silver coin in circula- 

 tion, including fractional currency, will be limited 

 to 3 rubles per capita. The Government intends 

 to withdraw gradually the paper notes of small 

 denominations in order to accustom the people to 

 the use of gold. At the end of 1897 the paper in 

 circulation had been reduced to 999,000,000* rubles, 

 less by 122,000.000 rubles than the previous year. 

 The total amount of the new gold currency in 

 possession of the Government, in the State B'ank, 

 and in circulation was 1,470,500,000 rubles. The 

 silver currency amounted to 162,000,000 rubles. 

 During the year the amount of silver in the treas- 

 ury was reduced by 10,000,000 rubles, but 49,000,- 

 000 rubles more went into circulation. Whereas 

 only 37.000,000 rubles of gold coin were in circu- 

 lation at the end of 1896, a year later the figure had 

 risen to 155,000,000 rubles, and the holdings of the 

 treasury had at the same time been increased by 

 109,000.000 rubles. Important discoveries of gold 

 were made during 1898 in the Minusinsk district 

 and other parts of Siberia. 



The Navy. The naval fortress of Cronstadt, 

 flanked by the fortified ports of Wiborg, Swea- 

 borg, and Diinamunde, is the base of the Baltic 

 fleet, consisting of 3 first-class battle ships, 1 of the 

 second, and 5 of the third class; 9 coast-defense 

 vessels, and 4 third-class cruisers, with 23 gunboats 

 and minor vessels and 44 first-class torpedo craft. 

 The " Petropavlovsk," " Poltava," and " Sevasto- 

 pol," launched in 1894, have 16-inch armor, a dis- 

 placement of 10.960 tons, 4 12-inch guns mounted 

 in turrets, with 6 6-inch and 18 small quick-firers, 

 aiid engines of 10,600 horse power, giving a speed 

 of 17| knots. There are building the " Oslyabra '' 



