RUSSIA. 



Of the ordinary receipts 130,493,826 rubles were 

 derived from direct taxes, viz., 47,026,863 rubles 

 from taxes on lands and forests, against 47,155,005 

 rubles in 1901, 66,103,000 rubles from trade li- 

 censes, against 62,701,500 rubles, and 17,363,963 

 rubles from a 5-per-cent. tax on income from capi- 

 tal, against 17,316,400 rubles; 387,127,600 rubles 

 were derived from indirect taxes, viz., 34,593,500 

 rubles from spirits, against 318,797,000 rubles in 

 1901, 42,934,000 rubles from tobacco, against 41,- 

 409,000 rubles, 69,398,000 rubles from sugar, 

 against 62,368,000 rubles, 34,470,100 rubles from 

 naphtha and matches, against 32,862,800 rubles, 

 and 205,732,000 rubles from customs, against 196,- 

 874,000 rubles; 91,999,061 rubles were derived from 

 stamps and dues, viz., 41,093,869 rubles from 

 stamp-duties, against 38,871,537 rubles in 1901, 

 22,900,000 rubles from transfer duties, against 23,- 

 900,000 rubles, and 26,145,187 rubles from pass- 

 ports, railroad taxes, etc., the same as in 1901 ; 

 521,724,000 rubles were derived from Government 

 monopolies and enterprises, viz., 1,645,000 rubles 

 from mines, against 4,440,000 rubles in 1900, 

 5,250,000 rubles from the mint, against 4,018,000 

 rubles, 33,021,000 rubles from the post-office, 

 .against 30,628,900 rubles, 21,000,000 rubles from 

 telegraphs and telephones, against 19,770,000 ru- 

 bles, and 462,808,000 rubles from the sale of spir- 

 its, against 169,143,000 rubles; 508,414,998 rubles 

 were derived from State domains, mines, and rail- 

 roads, viz., 19,395,064 rubles from rent for do- 

 mains, against 18,586,861 rubles in 1900, 63,013,400 

 rubles from Crown forests, against 54,813,300 ru- 

 bles, 396,072,000 from state railroads, against 

 360,707,400 rubles, 13,981,883 rubles from Crown 

 mines, against 13,195,494 rubles, 13,021,251 rubles 

 from Crown capital and banking operations, 

 against 13,822,307 rubles, and 2,931,400 rubles as 

 the Crown's share in private railroad profits, 

 against 4,210,000 rubles; 727,992 rubles were de- 

 rived from sales of domains, against 573,291 rubles 

 in 1901; 86,431,000 rubles were derived from re- 

 demption of peasants' lands, of which 36,547,870 

 rubles came from liberated serfs, against 37,532,242 

 rubles in 1900, and 49,883,130 rubles from Crown 

 peasants, against 51,374,258 rubles; 67,529,847 ru- 

 bles were derived from miscellaneous sources, viz., 

 9,959,369 rubles from railroad debts, against 10,- 

 785,804 rubles in 1900, 39,720,322 rubles from 

 Crown debts, against 39,396,151 rubles, 21,850,156 

 rubles as aid from municipalities, against 19,735,- 

 242 rubles, and 3.000,000 rubles as military con- 

 tribution, the same as in 1900; 6,296,158 rubles 

 were derived from other sources, against 5,963,327 

 rubles in 1900. Of the ordinary expenditures in 

 1902 the state debt absorbed 274.909,743 rubles 

 in 1901 and 286,459,713 rubles in 1902, the higher 

 institutions of state 3,155,401 rubles in 1901 and 

 3,080,667 rubles in 1902, the Holy Synod 23,783,- 

 809 rubles in 1901 and 27,954,151 rubles in 1902, 

 the Ministry of the Imperial House 12,715,243 ru- 

 bles in 1901 and 15,715,243 rubles in 1902, the 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs 5,289,074 rubles in 

 1901 and 5,867,350 rubles in 1902, the Ministry of 

 War 324.024,871 rubles in 1901 and 322,638,537 

 rubles in 1902, the Ministry of the Navy 93,597,666 

 rubles in 1901 and 98.318^984 rubles in 1902, the 

 Ministry of Finance 305,833,826 rubles in 1901 and 

 335,198,430 rubles in 1902, the Ministry of Agri- 

 culture and State Domains 40,728,781 rubles in 

 1901 and 43,242,831 rubles in 1902, the Ministry of 

 the Interior 87,650,199 rubles in 1901 and 98,187,- 

 205 rubles in 1902, the Ministry of Public Instruc- 

 tion 383,143,459 rubles in 1901 and 435,547,758 

 rubles in 1902, the Ministry of Justice 46,227,505 

 rubles in 1901 and 47,392,498 rubles in 1902, 

 the state Control 7,116,715 rubles in 1901 and 



7,638,860 rubles in 1902, the state studs 1,599,- 

 746 rubles in 1901 and 2,046,942 rubles in 1902, 

 various ordinary expenditures 13,800,000 fubles in 

 1901 and 15,000,000 rubles in 1902. Of the ex- 

 traordinary expenditures of 1902 the sum of 165,- 

 658,495 rubles was required for building new rail- 

 roads and 5,000,000 rubles were reserved for va- 

 rious expenses. 



The money in the treasury on Jan. 1, 1901, 

 amounted to 106,500,000 rubles. The liabilities 

 due to the state at that date amounted to 2,388,- 

 664,431 rubles, of which 252,886,063 were military 

 contributions, 255,648,137 rubles railroad debts, 

 1,486,017,970 rubles debts incurred for the redemp- 

 tion of peasants' lands, 106,493,507 rubles debts 

 of local treasuries, 122,894,029 rubles the debt of 

 the nobles' land bank, and 164,724,722 rubles va- 

 rious other debts. There were pension funds and 

 funds for alleviation of famine, scientific prizes, 

 and other purposes amounting to 375,410,489 ru- 

 bles. The payments of interest on the state debt 

 amounted to 248,890,384 rubles in 1901 and 258,- 

 816,418 rubles in 1902, redemption of capital to 

 25,905,922 rubles in 1901 and 27,515,774 rubles in 

 1902, expenses to 113,437 rubles in 1901 and 127,- 

 521 rubles in 1902; total debt charge, 274,909,743 

 rubles in 1901 and 286,459,713 rubles in 1902. 

 The aggregate receipts of the Zemstvos of Euro- 

 pean Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Steppes, 

 and Turkestan amounted in 1900 to 76,764,000 

 rubles, and expenditures to 106,922,000 rubles. 



Although the economic situation of the peas- 

 ants and landowners in Russia is the reverse of 

 prosperous and the state-aided and protected in- 

 dustries that have been built up at the expense 

 of agriculture are undergoing a crisis, the finances 

 of the Imperial Government, by the showing of M. 

 Witte, have steadily improved, in spite of the large 

 borrowings abroad and apparent increase of the 

 debt. While the debt has grown from 5,389,200,- 

 000 rubles to 6,497,300,000 rubles, the national 

 capital in railroads and in money owed to the 

 treasury has increased from 2,362,200,000 rubles 

 to 4,614,800,000 rubles, reducing the net debt by 

 36 per cent., without taking into account the value 

 of fortresses and ships of war, of public factories 

 and docks, or the increased value of domains and 

 forests. Besides a reserve fund of 114,600,000 ru- 

 bles at the close of 1901, the Government had 127,- 

 200,000 rubles of the 4-per-cent. loan raised in 

 the spring, making a fund of over 240,000,000 ru- 

 bles, from which 144,000,000 rubles could be taken 

 to balance the budget of 1902. The ordinary 

 budget has increased 86 per cent, in ten years, 

 but the main increase is due to the growth of rail- 

 road expenses, which are counterbalanced by an 

 equivalent increase in income. The expenditure 

 on education, including the sums allotted for the 

 purpose in the military and naval budgets and 

 those of the Holy Synod and other ministries, 

 amounted in 1902 to 74,800,000 rubles, which was 

 twice as much as in 1892. A new Russian loan 

 of 181.959,000 rubles at 4 per cent, was taken in 

 Germany, Holland, and Russia in April, 1902, to 

 enable the Government to pay off the Chinese in- 

 demnity claims to be recouped by China, and to 

 make advances to railroad companies. 



The Government in 1895 fixed a ratio at which 

 gold would be received for payments to the treas- 

 ury and the railroads. The ratio of 10 rubles in 

 gold for 15 paper rubles was finally settled upon, 

 and in 1897 a law was passed requiring the state 

 bank to maintain a gold reserve of half the paper 

 currency issued up to 600,000.000 rubles and of 

 the full amount for all in excess of that sum. 

 The Government and the State Bank had accu- 

 mulated a gold stock equivalent to 1,315,000,000 



