INTKODICTJOX. XLIII 



volved. the harvest beiuii' small, not more than three working days need be ri-ckoned, 

 while in the case of satisfactory harvests these will be not more than one day, and 

 therefore assuming two days as the mean («The Rational Tariff, Mendeleev, 1892. 

 page 145) and allowing- the total cereal harvest of Russia to be equal to 2,500,000,000 

 pouds. wliicli is certainly higher than the fact, the result would be that for purely 

 agricultural activity Russia requires not more than 5.000 million working days. If 

 however, it be reckoned that out of 120 million Russian inhabitants only 50 millions 

 are occupied with work, and that the working time is limited to only 200 days in the 

 year, it will result that there are 10.000 million working days, that is, at least twice 

 as many as are required for agricultm^e, which again is in harmony wijh the fact 

 that in the winter time agricultural occupations almost entirely cease ; 2. The Russian 

 workman, being to a certain extent secured by an allotment of land and by the 

 comparative cheapness of bread and the other fundamental conditions of life, looks 

 upon all earnings outside of agriculture, and especially upon winter and manufactory 

 earnings as so much pure profit. If then, there is even the slightest competition in the 

 the otfering of services he takes such work for an inconsiderable remuneration, the 

 more so that otherwise he is confronted with the necessity of remaining idle, as in the 

 manufactories and mills there are now only 1,500.000 persons employed; 3. The so- 

 licitude of the government about the condition of the workmen in the manufactories 

 and Avorks furnishes the workmen with the assurance that they are there much better 

 secui'ed than if they remained at their agricultural employments, as the inspectors of 

 mines and factories take care that the masters in no way oppress the workmen and 

 that they should get the necessary accomodation and hospital service, which does not 

 obtain in the case of ordinary village life, or in that of hired agricultui-al laboiu\ 



Seeing that the indicated circumstances cannot by themselves be presented 

 in their entirety in the shape of proofs, which shall be at the same time evident, 

 comparative and numerical, it seems necessary to confirm the preceding fundamental 

 position of the relative cheapness of labor in Russia by referring to a concrete case 

 with the figures. The coal industry is taken as an illustration, because here the cost 

 of the product clearly depends chiefly upon the wages, while the number of workmen 

 is well known. 



According to official data, for example in 1890, 367,000,000 pouds of coal were 

 produced in Russia, the number of workmen employed being 40,571 and the selling- 

 price at the mines, from 2 to 8 kopecks a poud, or an average, never more than 

 6 kopecks. These figures show, assuming only 200 working days in the year (in 

 the summer a part of the workmen l<^aving the mines;, that there falls to the share of 

 each workman, inclusive of all preliminary and general expenses in respect to mines, 

 machines, sharings, management and owner's profit, 9,045 pouds, or 148 tons of coal 

 a year; that is, about 542 roubles, or about 270 dollars per annum, or 45 

 pouds, and 2.70 roubles a day. The workman actually receives from 1 to 1.45 roubles, 

 as I know from personal investigation of the Donets industry. In Great Britain, 

 for example, in 1884 (iluuro, British Association, 1885), 160,700,000 tons or 

 9,960,000,000 pouds are mined per year ; the number of workmen employed is 

 520,000 and the average price per ton at the mines is not less than 9 shillings or 

 about 7.25 kopecks per poud. Accordingly to each workman falls about 309 tons of 

 coal, or about 1,390 roubles a year. Assuming 300 working days to the year, which 



