RUSSIA. 



707 



proving their condition were doomed to disap- 

 pointment. The merchants and manufacturers 

 were called upon to contribute heavily to the 

 hopeless attempt to lift up the agricultural 

 class to a satisfactory economical condition. 

 To take the place of the remitted arrears of 

 taxes and the abolished poll-tax, an impost of 

 3 per cent, on the net income of all commer- 

 cial concerns was proposed, whereas hitherto 

 the only special tax resting upon them was the 

 annual fee for their guild papers, or trading 

 license. This proposition, coming at the time 

 of a commercial crisis, caused partly by the 

 depreciation of the paper ruble, prompted the 

 mercantile class to demand that a separate 

 Ministry of Commerce and Manufactures be 

 created, to look after their interests, instead 

 of trusting them to the Minister of Finance, 

 whose chief concern is to fill the coffers of 

 the state. They had a candidate ready in 

 Gen. Ignatieff, who, when Minister of the In- 

 terior, set on foot the movement for the en- 

 couragement of the national industries. Un- 

 der his protection members of the Panslavist 

 party started an association for the advance- 

 ment of national labor and industry, with 

 local councils all over the country, sending 

 delegates to a general council, which assem- 

 bled in the capital. After his retirement from 

 office, Count Ignatieff was elected president of 

 this industrial association. A fever of com- 

 mercial enterprise has prevailed for a year or 

 two past. The merchants and manufacturers 

 of Moscow have insisted on the recognition 

 of the destiny of Russia as a manufacturing 

 country. A great industrial exhibition was 

 held at Moscow in 1882, followed by a series 

 of exhibitions in many other places. While 

 American and Indian competition is likely to 

 deprive Russia of her importance as the gran- 

 ary of Europe, the young industries of Mos- 

 cow and Central Russia are capable of in- 

 definite expansion, because with the Volga and 

 Caspian route they possess the key to the 

 trade of all Central Asia. The first stimulus 

 to industrial production on a large scale was 

 given when English manufactures began to be 

 imported into Persia through India. Moscow, 

 where the capital and the intelligence existed, 

 became the manufacturing center. The Rus- 

 sians have traded with the Asiatics for cen- 

 turies, and consequently best understand how 

 to suit their requirements, besides possessing 

 the readiest means of access and political con- 

 trol and preponderance. For these reasons a 

 renewal of Russian activity in Asia suggests 

 the development of the manufacturing inter- 

 ests. The new German tariff, and more re- 

 cently the prohibition of the export of Rus- 

 sian raw spirits through Germany to Spain, 

 which Prince Bismarck inserted in the new 

 Hispano- German commercial treaty, impelled 

 the industrialists to call for fresh protective 

 and retaliatory measures. But the Russian 

 tariff is already so highly protective that the 

 Government could find hardly any article on 



which the duty could be increased, to suit the 

 various clamoring interests, without hind. Tin;,' 

 other industries by enhancing the cost of ma- 

 terials or implements. A duty on coal was no 

 sooner imposed, than it was found to ;K t in 

 this way, and was again removed. While atten- 

 tion was directed to the East as the proper 

 field for Russian trade, the notion of ou-iiu^ 

 the Austrians from the Bulgarian mark, 

 entertained, although Austrian trade- t 

 more than twelve times greater than that of 

 Russia. A lower tariff for Russian products 

 entering Bulgaria, and other privileges were 

 obtained. A line of steamers was started by 

 Prince Gagarine to ply between the Black 

 Sea and Bulgarian ports on the Danube. Po- 

 litical motives and military concomitants are 

 frequently connected with Russian coninu-r- 

 cial schemes. This steamship company, which 

 is subsidized by the Government, has permis- 

 sion to take its officers and physicians from 

 the imperial navy. A volunteer fleet of 

 cruisers has lately been established, which in 

 time of peace are to carry on trade between 

 the Black Sea and the ports of the Orient. 



The way in which the Russian Government 

 can best further the commerce between Cen- 

 tral Russia and Asia is by improving the 

 means of communication. The withdrawal in 

 1883 of the right of free transit across the Cau- 

 casus, will have the effect of excluding some 

 foreign goods from Persia, but it was scarcely 

 needed, since Russian products command the 

 market. The extent and importance of the 

 Russian trade are little known. The transac- 

 tions at the annual fair of Nijni-Novgorod 

 have declined since the development of Rus- 

 sian manufacturing industry. While the aver- 

 age number of annual visitors since 1869 was 

 250,000, the number in 1882 was only 180,- 

 000. The fair of 1883 was particularly un- 

 satisfactory. Gen. Tchernaieff, the Governor- 

 General of Turkistan, has established a new- 

 trade route to Turkistan, Bokhara, and Khiva. 

 Two principal caravan routes have heretofore 

 been used to communicate with Russian Cen- 

 tral Asia and the khanates. The eastern 

 route, 2,700 miles long, starts at Eknterinen- 

 burg, traverses southwest Siberia to Omsk, fol- 

 lows in a southeast direction the right bank of 

 the Irtish to Semipalatinsk, and thence by a 

 long bend reaches Chemkent, lying directly 

 southwest. The western and more frequented 

 route, though more difficult and dangerous 

 from robbers, goes from Orenburg through 

 Orsk to Kazalinsk on the Syr Daria, and fol- 

 lows the right bank to Cherakent and Tash- 

 kend. The journey requires about 112 days. 

 The new route is only 300 miles long, and will 

 take not more than 33 days. It starts at the- 

 Mertvi, or Dead Bay, on the Caspian, opposite 

 Astrakhan, and crosses the Ust Yurt Steppe to 

 Kungrad, at the delta of the Oxus, whence the 

 journey is made by water to Charjui or Ilchig. 

 The route across the plateau has the advan- 

 tage over the Orenburg route of a firm soil, 



