RUSSIA. 



761 



000 people in a total population of 11,000,000 were 

 suffering acute distress in May. In July the 

 Ministry of the Interior drew up regulations in- 

 tended to guarantee a supply of food in the 

 event of another crop failure, taking this duty 

 out of the hands of the semstvos and intrusting 

 it entirely to the Government officials guided by 

 a special famine commission. 



Navigation. The total number of vessels in 

 the foreign trade entered at the ports of Russia 

 and of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus dur- 

 ing 1897 was 9,666, of 7,758,343 tons, of which 

 1,464, of 760,410 tons, were Russian and 8,202, 

 of 6,997,933 tons, foreign; the total number 

 cleared was 9,521, of 7,735,433 tons, of which 

 1,359, of 748,958 tons, were Russian and 8,162, 

 of 6,986,475 tons, foreign. The number entered 

 at the Baltic ports was 5,753, of 3,500,453 tons, 

 of which 796, of 290,798 tons, were Russian and 

 4,957, of 3,209,655 tons, foreign: cleared, 5,682, 

 of 3,489,763 tons, of which 756, of 287,560 tons, 

 were Russian and 4,926, of 3,202,203 tons, foreign ; 

 entered in the White Sea, 716, of 314,544 tons, of 

 which 338, of 45,004 tons, were Russian and 378, 

 of 269,540 tons, foreign; cleared, 677, of 312,176 

 tons, of which 300, of 43,083 tons, were Russian 

 and 377, of 269,093 tons, foreign; entered at ports 

 of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof, 3,197, of 

 3,943,346 tons, of which 330, of 424,608 tons, were 

 Russian and 2,867, of 3,518,738 tons, foreign; 

 cleared, 3,162, of 3,933,494 tons, of which 303, of 

 418,315 tons, were Russian and 2,859, of 3,515,179 

 tons, foreign. The total number of vessels en- 

 tered at Caspian ports in 1896 was 18,055, of 

 8,593,983 tons, of which 17,284, of 8,360,269 tons, 

 were coasters and 771, of 233,714 tons, in the 

 foreign trade. The number of coasting vessels 

 entered at the Baltic, White Sea, and Black Sea 

 ports in 1896 was 38,943, of 13,794,870 tons. The 

 number of vessels that visited the Pacific ports of 

 Vladivostok and Nikolaievsk was 347, of 313,531 

 tons. 



The Russian mercantile navy on Jan.. 1, 1898, 

 numbered 391 steamers, of 116,593 tons, and 1,755 

 sailing vessels, of 155,430 tons. Of the total num- 

 ber, 95 steamers, of 19,053 tons, and 586 sailing 

 vessels, of 78,745 tons, belonged in the Baltic; 

 33 steamers, of 5,028 tons, and 396 sailing vessels, 

 of 22,149 tons, in the White Sea; and 263 steam- 

 ers, of 142,512 tons, and 773 sailing vessels, of 

 54,535 tons, in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof. 

 The new port of Alexandrovsk, on the Murmanian 

 coast of Lapland, which is kept free of ice all 

 the year round by the Gulf Stream, was opened 

 on July 6, 1899. 



Railroads. The length of new lines in pro- 

 cess of construction was 7,426 miles, of which the 

 Siberian Railroad administration was construct- 

 ing 2,636 miles, the Government 1,064 miles, the 

 Finland authorities 150 miles, and private com- 

 panies 3,727 miles. Further additions authorized 

 were 2,205 miles in total length, of which 235 

 miles were to be built by the Government, 63 

 miles by the Manchurian Railroad Corporation, 

 and 1,917 miles by companies. The Siberian line, 

 which is expected to be completed by 1905, was 

 open in 1898 as far as Irkutsk, 2,030 miles, and 

 from the opposite shore of Lake Baikal to Sry- 

 tensk, at the head of navigation on the Amur, 

 701 miles. The Pacific section of 475 miles from 

 Vladivostok to Khabarovsk, on the Amur, was 

 finished in 1897. Tchelyabinsk, the starting point 

 of the main line, is connected with the general 

 system of Russia by a branch line to Ekaterin- 

 burg, 150 miles. The section running round the 

 southern shore of Lake Baikal has since been 

 completed. Beyond there the route has been 



altered with the object of avoiding engineering 

 difficulties in the Amur valley. The new rovite 

 runs from Onon, in the Transbaikal, to Vladi- 

 vostok through Manchuria, and, as 945 miles of 

 the 1,273 are in Chinese territory, a private com- 

 pany was formed in December, 1896, and in- 

 trusted with the construction. The main line was 

 open in April, 1899, from the frontier of European 

 Russia to Irkutsk. The Government appropri- 

 ated 13,611,300 rubles for the purpose of enlar- 

 fing and completing the harbor of Vladivostok, 

 he increase of traffic on the eastern, and still 

 more on the western, division of the line sur- 

 passed all expectations. On the western part 350,- 

 000 passengers, 400,000 peasant emigrants, and 

 490,000 tons of freight were carried in 1898. 



After investigation the Czar decided to abol- 

 ish altogether the system of deportation to Si- 

 beria, substituting other kinds of punishment for 

 crime, especially compulsory labor for the benefit 

 of the community as a penal and preventive meas- 

 ure. The condition of the exiles now in Siberia 

 will be ameliorated. 



The Transbaikal section of the Siberian Rail- 

 road was completed to Stretensk on Dec. 28. 

 From that point, where the railroad will stop 

 until further plans are decided upon, goods and 

 passengers go by steamboats down the Shilko 

 and Amur rivers to the north end of the eastern 

 section, which follows the Ussuri river to Vladi- 

 vostok. Meanwhile work is continued on the 

 Eastern Chinese Railroad which Russia is build- 

 ing from Stretensk through Manchuria to Vladi- 

 vostok. This and the Manchurian Railroad to 

 Port Arthur and Nitichwang are expected to be 

 completed before 1902. The total distance from 

 St. Petersburg to Port Arthur is 5,620 miles. 

 Trains are carried across Lake Baikal by ferry- 

 boats. From the eastern shore the distance to 

 Stretensk, the present terminus, is 693 miles. The 

 line will have to be relaid with heavier rails and 

 ballasted to accommodate the unexpectedly large 

 traffic that has already been developed. 



A new railroad running northwest from Perm 

 by way of Vyatka to Kotlas, on the Dvina, 619 

 miles, will allow the grain and other produce 

 of western Siberia to be brought to Archangel 

 and shipped thence to any port in Europe. A 

 line from Vologda to Archangel was completed 

 in 1897. In Caucasia a line has been built from 

 Tiflis to Kars, 188 miles, and another runs from 

 the Vladikavkaz trunk line to Petrovsk, on the 

 Caspian Sea. In central Asia an extension of 

 the Transcaspian line runs from Samarcand to 

 Andijan, the capital of Ferganah, with a branch 

 to Tashkend, the capital of Russian Turkestan, 

 having a length of 342 miles. In European Rus- 

 sia new lines have been built or are building to 

 connect Kursk with Veronezh, Moscow with 

 Kazan, Tamboff with Kamyshin, and St. Peters- 

 burg with Sestroryetsk. The traffic on the Trans- 

 caspian Railroad increased from 292,500 tons in 



1896, paying 5,449,030 rubles, to 390,100 tons in 



1897, paying 7,061,000 rubles. An important 

 trunk line is projected in central Asia, to run 

 from Alexandrovsk, the terminus of the Ural line, 

 through Transcaspia along the left bank of the 

 Amu Daria as far as Tshardjui, on the Transcas- 

 pian Railroad. An alternative project is for a 

 line running from Orenburg through Turgai and 

 Turkestan to Tashkend. The object is to con- 

 nect the commercial centers of Russia with cen- 

 tral Asia by the shortest route. The cost is esti- 

 mated at 90,000,000 rubles, and the country trav- 

 ersed is capable of raising vast quantities of 

 wheat and other products. A military railroad 

 is contemplated which will run from Tashkend to 



