604: 



RUSSIA. 



other signatory powers asking them to state their 

 views as to the subjects raised by the American 

 circular. The Roumanian ministers brought to 

 public notice the fact that the law forbidding any 

 alien to exercise a trade or handicraft in Rouma- 

 nia unless reciprocity exists for Roumanians in his 

 country does not apply to Jews, who now belong 

 to the category of aliens under the protection of 

 the Roumanian Government. The provision of 

 the law that excludes Jews from all trade unions 

 and associations is, however, quite effective in 

 depriving them of employment. The Roumanian 

 Government, after the publication of the Ameri- 

 can note, ceased to issue passports to emigrants 

 intending to emigrate to the United States, and 

 even turned back those who already had their 

 passports and railroad and steamer tickets. After 

 an interval of several weeks the emigration to 

 America recommenced, and the emigrants were of 

 the artisan class. 



International Commission of the Danube. 

 The navigation of the Danube as far as the Iron 

 Gates, except in the northern outlet, is regulated 

 by agreement between Germany, England, Aus- 

 tria, France, Italy, and Russia by international 

 rules drawn up at the conference of Berlin in 1878 

 and the London conference of 1883. The Interna- 

 tional Commission, sitting at Galatz, which en- 

 forces the regulations and collects tolls to pay its 

 expenses and the cost of improvements and con- 

 servation, is composed of a delegate of each of the 

 riparian states, viz., Austria, Bulgaria, Roumania, 

 and Servia, and one appointed for six months by 

 each of the great powers in turn. The agreement 

 is terminable in 1904. During 1900 the number 

 of vessels cleared at the Sulina mouth was 1,101, 

 of 1,252,509 tons, of which 260, of 458,921 tons, all 

 steamers, were British; 197, of 256,128 tons, con- 

 sisting of 154 steamers and 43 sailing vessels, were 

 Greek; 81, of 131,503 tons, all steamers, were Aus- 

 trian; 85, of 129,426 tons, all steamers except 1 

 vessel, were Italian; 191, of 89,418 tons, 176 of 

 them steamers and 15 sailing craft, were Russian ; 

 178, of 51,822 tons, of which 30 were steamers and 

 148 sailing vessels, were Turkish; 33, of 43,156 

 tons, of which 29 were steamers and 4 sailing ves- 

 sels, were Roumanian; 24, of 31,712 tons, all 

 steamers, were French; 16, of 22,429 tons, all 

 steamers, were German ; and 35, of 37,994 tons, 20 

 of them steamers and 15 sailing vessels, belonged 

 to various other nationalities. The receipts of the 

 International Commission for 1900 were 2,149,299 

 francs, of which 1,687,220 francs were dues col- 

 lected, 41,625 francs various receipts, 181,201 

 francs a balance from the preceding year, and 

 239,253 francs the value of material and bills re- 

 ceivable. The expenses were 811,368 francs for ad- 

 ministration, 319,524 francs for technical service, 

 119,489 francs for various expenses, 280,747 francs 

 for special expenditure, and 221,321 francs for pur- 

 chase of material and accounts payable. The 

 debts of the commission were paid up in 1887, and 

 there were 2,216,676 francs on Jan. 1, 1901, of re- 

 serve and pension funds. 



RUSSIA, an empire in northern Europe and 

 Asia. The throne is hereditary in the dynasty of 

 Romanoff-Holstein-Gottorp. The legislative, ju- 

 dicial, and executive powers are vested in the Em- 

 peror, called the Czar, who is assisted by a Cabi- 

 net of ministers, each of whom has charge of an 

 executive department; by a Council of State, 

 which passes upon projects of legislation submit- 

 ted by the ministers; by a Ruling Senate, which 

 watches over the judicial administration; and by 

 a Holy Synod, which directs ecclesiastical af- 

 fairs. 



The reigning Czar is Nicholas II, born May 18, 



1868, who succeeded his father, Alexander III, on 

 Nov. 1, 1894. The heir presumptive is the Grand- 

 Duke Michael, brother of the Czar, born Dec. 4 r 

 1878. The members of the Committee of Minis- 

 ters at the beginning of 1902 were as follow: Min- 

 ister of the Imperial House and Imperial Domains, 

 Gen. Baron W. B. Freedericksz ; Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs, Count W. N. Lamsdorf; Minister of 

 War, Gen. A. N. Kuropatkin; Minister of the 

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

 the Interior, Dimitri Sergeivich Sipiagin; Minis- 

 ter of Public Instruction, Gen. Peter S. Vannov- 

 sky; Minister of Finance, S. J. Witte; Minister 

 of Justice, N. V. Muravieff ; Minister of Agricul- 

 ture and State Domains, A. S. Yermoloff ; Minis- 

 ter of Ways and Communications, Prince M. J. 

 Khilkoff; Comptroller-General, Lieut.-Gen. Lob- 

 ko ; State Secretary for Finland, W. K. de Plehwe ; 

 Procurator-General of the Holy Synod, K. P. 

 Pobyedonostseff ; President of the Committee of 

 Ministers, J. N. Durnovo. The Grand-Dukes 

 Vlademir Alexandrovich, Alexis -Alexandrovich, 

 and Michael Nicolaievich, uncles of the Czar, are 

 members of the Committee of Ministers, as are 

 also D. M. Solsky, President of the Department of 

 State Economy; E. W. de Frisch, President of the 

 Department of Legislation; N. M. Tchikhatcheff, 

 President of the Department of Industry, Science, 

 and Commerce; M. Selifontoff, President of the 

 Department of Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs in 

 the Council of State; and Count Protassoff-Bakh- 

 metieff. 



Area and Population. The land area of the 

 Russian Empire is 8,447,234 square miles, and 

 there are 293,018 miles of internal waters. The 

 total population in 1897 was 129,004,414. In Eu- 

 ropean Russia there are 102.8 women to 100 men; 

 in Poland, 98.6; in Finland, 102.2; in the Cau- 

 casus, 89.5; in Siberia, 93.7; in the Steppes, 89.4; 

 in Transcaspia and Turkestan, 83; average for 

 the empire, 99.8. The Jews number 2,843,364 in 

 the western and southwestern provinces of Rus- 

 sia, or 11.3 per cent, of the population; in five gov- 

 ernments of Poland they number 431,800, or 11 

 per cent, of the population. In Odessa, Kerch, 

 and Sebastopol there are 73,389 Jews, 35.1 per 

 cent, of the population. In the whole empire there 

 are over 4,000,000 Jews. The number of births 

 in the Russian Empire, exclusive of Finland, dur- 

 ing 1898 was 5,769,218; of deaths, 3,845,968; ex- 

 cess of births, 1,923,350. St. Petersburg, the cap- 

 ital, had 1,439,375 inhabitants in 1900; Moscow, 

 1,035,664; Riga, 282.943. 



Finances. The ordinary revenue for 1900 was 

 1,704,128,506 rubles, and expenditure 1,555,427,<>^ 

 rubles, leaving a surplus of 148,700,884 rubles. 

 The extraordinary receipts were 32,568,983 rubles, 

 and the extraordinary disbursements 333,788,515 

 rubles. The estimate of revenue for 1901 was 

 1,730,096,006 rubles from ordinary and 1,500,000 

 rubles from extraordinary sources, and the expend- 

 itures were estimated at 1,656,652,556 rubles for 

 ordinary and 131,829.450 rubles for extraordinary 

 purposes, making a total of 1.788,482,006 rubles, 

 necessitating the raising of 56.886,000 to meet ex- 

 traordinary expenditure. Of the extraordinary 

 outlay 42.329.450 rubles were for building new 

 railroads, 82,000.000 rubles for the payment of 

 consolidated railroad bonds, and 7,500,000 rubles 

 for various purposes. For 1902 the ordinary rev- 

 enue was estimated at 1,800,784,482 rubles, and 

 the extraordinary revenue at 1,800,000 rubles, 

 while the ordinary expenditures were estimated 

 at 1,775,913,481 rubles and the extraordinary ex- 

 penditures at 170,658,495 rubles, making a total 

 expenditure of 1,946,571,916 rubles, exceeding by 

 143,987,494 the estimated revenue from all sources. 



