RUSSIA. 



607 



tie-ships, 2 armor-clad coast-defense vessels, 1 

 first-class cruiser, 1 second-class cruiser, 6 gun- 

 boats, 3 torpedo-cruisers, 25 first-class and 11 sec- 

 ond-class torpedo-boats, 3 school-ships, 2 armed 

 steamers, and 8 transports. There were building 

 1 battle-ship, 2 cruisers, 6 destroyers, and 4 trans- 

 ports. The auxiliary volunteer fleet consisted of 

 14 ocean steamers, and 3 more were building. 

 The new battle-ship is the Tavrichesky, of 12,480 

 tons, having 10-inch armor, engines of 10,600 

 horse-power, giving a speed of 17 knots, and an 

 armament of 4 12-inch guns in armored turrets 

 and 16 6-inch, 16 3-inch, and 30 small quick-firers. 

 The new protected cruisers Kagul and Otchakoff 

 are of the same class as the Bogatyr and Waryag. 



In the Siberian flotilla were 1 second-class 

 cruiser, 4 gunboats, 2 torpedo-cruisers, 11 de- 

 stroyers, 15 first-class and 8 second-class torpedo- 

 boats, 2 armed steamers, and 5 transports. There 

 were building 4 torpedo-gunboats and a steamer 

 for the Yenesei river service. 



The fleet in the Caspian consisted of 2 gun- 

 boats and 6 steamers. 



The total number of torpedo-boats in the Rus- 

 sian navy at the beginning of 1902 was 51 of the 

 first, 41 of the second, and 101 of the third class. 

 These can be taken from one sea to the other 

 through the internal waterways. 



The naval estimates for 1903 provide 104,417,- 

 791 rubles, against 98,318,984 rubles in 1902 and 

 67,050,000 rubles in 1898. For ship-building and 

 repairs 36,903,856 rubles were appropriated for 

 1902 and 40,449,682 rubles for 1903. 



Commerce and Production. Of the total 

 area of European Russia 36.7 per cent, belongs 

 to the Government or the Crown, and of this 31.7 

 per cent, is uncultivable ; 28.3 per cent., of which 

 14.4 per cent, is waste, is the property of pri- 

 vate landowners or of municipalities and other 

 corporations; and 35 per cent., of which 9.6 per 

 cent, is unfit for cultivation, is owned by peas- 

 ants. Of the area of Poland the Government and 

 imperial family own 6 per cent., peasants 40.9 

 per cent., and private owners and public cor- 

 porations 53.1 per cent. Of the total area of 

 European Russia 28.9 per cent, is arable, 14.7 

 per cent, orchard, meadow, and pasture, 37.3 per 

 cent, forest, and 19.1 per cent, uncultivated. Of 

 the area of Poland 53.2 per cent, is arable, 18.1 

 per cent, orchard, meadow, and pasture, 22.6 per 

 cent, forest, and 6.1 per cent, uncultivated. Up 

 to Jan. 1, 1899, there were in Russia proper 61,- 

 641,108 acres of land redeemed by 6,645,448 peas- 

 ants for 704,306,095 rubles, an average of 11 

 rubles 43 kopecks an acre or 106 rubles for an 

 average allotment of 9.3 acres, on which there 

 was an average indebtedness of 37 rubles, which 

 left to the landlord a little less than 70 rubles. 

 In the western provinces, where the conditions 

 were more favorable for the peasants, 2,517,617 

 peasants redeemed 25,537,539 acres, for 162,619,- 

 367 rubles, the value of the average allotment 

 of 10.1 acres being about 65 rubles, or 6 rubles 

 37 kopecks per acre, giving to the landlord after 

 clearing off an average debt of 27 rubles at the 

 state mortgage bank the average sum of 38 rubles 

 per allotment. The cereal production of Russia 

 proper in 1901 was estimated to be 445,976.000 

 poods of wheat, 1,024.900,000 poods of rye, 480,- 

 413,000 poods of oats, 248.940,000 poods of barley, 

 and 77,995,000 poods of millet; of Poland, 21,244,- 

 000 poods of wheat, 66,788,000 poods of rye, 

 45,531,000 poods of oats, and 21,100,000 poods of 

 barley; of northern Caucasia, 84,527,000 poods of 

 wheat, 9,117,000 poods of rye, 10,660,000 poods of 

 oats, 34,249.000 poods of barley, and 14,856.000 

 poods of millet. The mines and furnaces in 1899 



produced 38,776 kilograms of gold. 5,962 kilo- 

 grams of platinum, 4,037 kilograms of silver, 318 

 tons of lead, 7,419 tons of zinc, 2,070 tons of cop- 

 per, 573,000 tons of rolled iron, 1,314,000 tons of 

 steel ingots, 13,705,000 tons of coal, 8,827,000 tons 

 of naphtha, and 1,643,000 tons of salt. Of the 

 gold 28,276 kilograms was obtained in Siberia 

 and 10,465 kilograms in the Urals, where all the 

 platinum is found and two-thirds of the copper. 

 In the Caucasus 609,000 tons of manganese ore 

 were mined in 1900. The Urals in 189'J produced 

 15,540 tons of chrome iron in 1899. In southern 

 Russia 357 tons of quicksilver were extracted. 

 In 1900 the production of pig-iron in the south 

 of Russia was 1,483,000 tons; of manufactured 

 iron, 40,000 tons; of rolled steel, 844,300 tons. 

 The Urals produced 810,000 tons of pig-iron, 

 275,000 tons of iron, and 182,000 tons of steel; 

 Poland produced 295,000 tons of pig-iron, 125,000 

 tons of iron, and 204,000 tons of steel; the Mos- 

 cow district produced 230,000 tons of pig-iron, 

 40,000 tons of iron, and 124,000 tons of steel; 

 the region of St. Petersburg produced 34,500 

 tons of pig-iron, 50,600 tons of iron, and 86.300 

 tons of steel. The total production of pig-iron 

 was 2,851,000 tons; of wrought iron. 556.400 

 tons; of rolled steel, 1,440,000 tons; of steel 

 ingots, 1,816,000 tons. The consumption of iron 

 and steel in 1900 was 3,319,000 tons. The imports- 

 of pig-iron were 51,790 tons; of iron and steel 

 manufactures, 260,000 tons. Finland in 1898 pro- 

 duced 27,000 tons of pig-iron, 15,000 tons of 

 wrought iron, and 14,000 tons of rolled steel. 

 The manufacture of agricultural machinery in 

 1897 amounted to nearly 10,000,000 rubles, having 

 quadrupled in thirty years. On July 20, 1901, 

 the import duty on iron, equal to 26J rubles per 

 ton, was repealed. The coal production in 190O 

 was 11,300,000 tons in southern Russia. 3.000,- 

 000 tons in the Ural region, and 2,000,000 tons 

 in central Russia. Production is stimulated 

 by protective duties of 90 kopecks a ton on 

 imports on the western frontier and in the Baltic 

 and 3 rubles 60 kopecks at the Black Sea ports. 

 In 1900 the imports of coal and coke were 4,417,- 

 000 tons. The oil-wells of the Baku region in 

 1900 yielded 600,763,812 poods, or 9,840,510 tons, 

 of crude petroleum. The production of illumi- 

 nating oil was 2,101,000 tons; of lubricating oil, 

 218,000 tons; of various naphtha products, 23,000 

 tons; of residuum, 4,706,000 tons. The Terek 

 wells gave 495,000 tons of crude oil. The con- 

 sumption of Russia requires 6,450,000 tons of 

 crude oil. In 1901 the yield of the Baku wells 

 was 671,000.000 poods, equal to 12,000.000 tons of 

 naphtha, having increased from 84,000.000 poods 

 in 1884, when Baku, which now has nearly 250.000 

 inhabitants, contained fewer than 70,000. The 

 oil produced for export in 1901 was 2.500.000 

 tons, while over 5,000,000 tons of residuals were 

 used as fuel on the eastern and southern l\u-- 

 sian railroads and the steamers plying on the 

 Black Sea, the Volga river, and the Caspian Sea. 

 The expectation that the oil-supply would prove 

 limited and become soon exhausted is no longer 

 entertained. Some wells have given out. yet the 

 number of producing wells has grown from 458 

 in 1891 to 1,924 in 1901 and 315 old wells have 

 been deepened. The drainage of a lake covering 

 a rich new field has been undertaken. In boring* 

 the oil frequently bursts forth in fountains that 

 jet 200 feet in the air. The price of crude oil, 

 which rose to 16.7 kopecks per pood in 1899, de- 

 clined to 5.45 kopecks in 1901. 



The number of persons employed in mineral in- 

 dustries in 1899 was 646,000, of whom 262.000 

 were in the Urals, 130,000 in southern and south- 



