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302 RUMANIA (see 23.825). Before 1913 Rumania had an area of about 50,702 sq. m.; and by the treaty of Bucharest (Aug. 7 1913) it received from Bulgaria an addition of 2,969 sq. m. in the Dobrudja, which formed the departments of Durostor and Caliacra. By the treaties following the World War, this area was more than doubled, the additions consisting of the Banat (11,009 sq. m.), Bessarabia (17,146 sq. m.), Bukovina (4,030 sq. m.), Crisana (8,038 sq. m.), Maramuresh (6,258 sq. m.) and Transylvania (22,312 sq. m.), making the total area of the kingdom 122,282 sq. miles. Thus during the period 1910-21 Rumania, from being slightly smaller than England, became somewhat larger than the whole British Isles. In shape Rumania is nearly circular, with a perimeter of about 1,850 miles. The Carpathi- ans and Transylvanian Alps, which formerly separated Rumania from Austria-Hungary, run in a sickle-shaped curve from near Mt.- Pietros to the Iron Gates, and almost down the centre of the country, which takes in the Transylvanian plateau and extends westwards into the Hungarian plain. Bessarabia forms a continuation of the plain of old Rumania. The territory cor- responds roughly to the ancient Dacia, and the new Rumania constitutes a satisfactory ethnological unit, while its physical boundaries are, except in some parts, more denned by natural features than would appear from small-scale maps.

Population. The Rumanian people form the great majority of the population, which was estimated in 1920 at 175 millions, males being about 100,000 in excess. Apart from the alien elements of mediaeval or earlier origin many foreign stocks are represented in the territories which form new Rumania, and throughout the igth century Jews driven from Poland pene- trated far Into the country, particularly into Moldavian towns. But no one of these heterogeneous elements numbers one-tenth of the population, and the very high rate of natural increase among the Rumanians, the common use of the Rumanian lan- guage and the wide toleration which prevails in matters of religion, all tend to unification.

The National Orthodox Church had in 1918 a membership of over 9i millions, and the Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches each nearly i^ million. Jews numbered about 830,000, Mahommedans 44,000 and Armenians 17,000.

The chief towns are Bucharest, the capital (estimated pop. in

1919 400,000) j Jassy (80,000), Galatz (60,000), Braila (60,000), Kolqzsvar (60,000), Ploesci ( 50,000) , Craiova (46 ,000) . Kishinev, the capital of Bessarabia, has a pop. estimated at 125,000.

. Government and Administration. The Senate consisted in

1920 of r t7Q members, of whom 82 represented the old kingdom, 45 Transylvania, 24 Bessarabia and 19 Bukovina. The Chamber of Deputies had 347 members; old kingdom 168, Transylvania 112, Bessarabia 51 and Bukovina 16. The Constituent As- sembly elected in May 1920 was charged with the adjustment of the constitutions of the old kingdom, Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina. In the elections of June 1920 the returns of parties were: People's party 215, Federal Democrats 34, Bessarabian Peasants 25, Transylvanian Nationalists 21, Social- ists 19, Independent Democrats 6, others 12.

For administrative purposes Rumania is divided into 735 dis- tricts and 129 urban and 5,735 rural communes.

Education. Education continued to make progress although a large proportion of the population was still illiterate and compulsory school attendance was difficult to enforce. There were in 1920 19,374 schools with 1,612,763 pupils. Universities were founded at Cluj (Kolozsvar) in 1919 and at Cernauti (Czernowitz) in 1920.

Finance. The national debt of Rumania at the outbreak of the World War amounted to 2,086,008,329 lei. This increased during the war by 2,910,012,500 lei and subsequent increases brought the total to 11,148,408,330 lei as on April I 1920, of which 3,986,008,330 was fundfetf and 7,162,400,000 lei unfunded debt. To this was to be added about 10,000 million lei as Rumania's share in the national debts of the states added to her territory by the various treaties of peace, and at least 5,000 million lei required for the withdrawal of Austrian kronen and Russian rubles. The deficits of the war years were largelvtcovered by a " National " loan (1916), a " Unirea " loan (igigXand Banque Nationale loans, and a loan against Treasury Bonds. The- revenue and expenditure for the financial year 1919-20 were respectively 1,140 million lei and 4,127 million lei. About one- third of thfe revenue is obtained from indirect taxes and one-third from State monopolies and public services.

There were in 1919 notes of the National Bank of Rumania amounting to about 4,431 million lei, notes of the General Bank of Rumania (issued by the Germans) 2,172 million lei, more than 8,000 million Austrian kronen and about 1,000 million Russian rubles. When the krone and ruble are replaced by Rumanian notes the equivalent paper circulation may be taken at 11,500 million lei. The National Bank had in gold 315 million lei in Moscow, 80 million in Berlin and 98 million in the Bank of England: adding to this drafts and other interest-bearing resources abroad, the guarantee of the notes was nearly 34 %, a high percentage compared with the notes of most banks of issue in other countries.

Agriculture. Four-fifths of the population of Rumania are en- gaged in agriculture. About 40 % of the land under cultivation con- sists of holdings under 25 ac. and 50 % of farms of 250 ac. or more. Far-reaching measures of agrarian reform were begun in 1917, and large areas had in 1921 been expropriated and transferred to the peasants. Of the 34 million acres which made up Rumania after the Peace of Bucharest in 1913 (2 millions of which consisted of rivers or lakes) about 12 J million acres were under cereals; 500,000 under pulse, vegetables and various industrial plants; 400,000 were vineyards and orchards; pastures covered nearly 3 million acres and nearly I J million acres were meadowland. Wheat and maize are the principal crops, the former being produced chiefly for export and the latter for home consumption. Maize is the characteristic crop of the small holder in the hill regions, while most of the wheat is produced in the larger farms in the plains. The methods of agriculture are in many parts still very backward; by the development of irrigation in the plains and the abandonment of the fallow system, production could be largely increased. Table I shows the area under cultivation and the production (in tons) of the principal crops in the years 1914, 1915, 1919 and 1920.

TABLE I.

Area and Production of the Principal Crops.

1914

1915

1919

1920

o

01 C rt

b 1

Tons (thousand).

o

SB ._ <5 b i

<

jq

Tons

(thousand).

5 a> e v a

b 1

< J3


 * j

Tons (thousand).

^a M e

u ^

Tons

[thousand).

Wheat Maize Oats Barley Rye

5,216 5,092 1,056 1,404 208

1,248 2,701 367 644

49

4,703 5,205 1,064

I.37I 188

2,408 2,743 373 758 75

2,949 4-838 594 584 218

1,320

2,597 207

257 8 7

2,096

4.051 971 1,054 184

630 1,773 425 460 52

The cultivation of industrial plants is little developed. The vine- yards produce in good years as much as 66 million gallons of wine. Plum trees take the place of the fig tree in Mediterranean countries. The tobacco and beetroot produced barely suffice for local needs.

The number of domestic animals was greatly reduced during the war: in 1920 it was estimated that in the new Rumania there were less than 5 million cattle and II million sheep. The breeding of horses was again becoming important, particularly in the Banat and the Nistru (Dniester) valley.

Forests. Rumania has nearly 19 million acres of forest, of which 6J millions are in old Rumania, 5^ millions in Transylvania, l| millions in Maramuresh and 1 1 millions in the Banat. A great deal of timber is required locally for building and there is a considerable export from Piatra and Galatz, but the development of the immense timber reserves had only made a beginning before the war.

Minerals. The useful minerals occur chiefly in the hill districts; petroleum is by far the most important. The production of petro- leum amounted in 1914 to over if million tons, placing Rumania fourth in the list of the world's oil-fields. Oil has been chiefly obtained in the region between the lalomitza and the Bistritza, the main wells being in the districts of Prahova, Dambovitsa, Buzeu and Bacau and especially in Prahova; but there are strong indications that the fields are much more extensive. A line of three pipes from the oil- fields to Constantza, carried over the Danube by the Cernavoda bridge, was completed shortly before the war. The wells and oil refineries were wrecked by a British mission in Oct. and Nov. 1916 to prevent their falling into enemy hands, but during the occupation they were largely restored and a new pipe-line was laid through Bucharest to Giurgevo on the Danube. The production was 517,500 tons in 1917, 1,214,000 tons in 1918, and 920,000 tons in 1919. Considerable importance is attached to discoveries of natural gas, of which it was estimated in 1920 that the annual available supply is 2,500 million cubic feet.

Salt, which is a Government monopoly, is mined at Targu Ocna, Ocnele Mari and Slanic.

About 4 million tons of lignite are produced annually, chiefly in the region between the Danbovitsa and the lalomitsa. Small quantities of coal (less than 400,000 tons in all annually) are mined near Oravitza in the Banat. The exploitation of iron (400,000 tons annually), copper, lead and manganese has been begun. The gold mines in the Aranyos valley are the most productive in Europe.

Manufactures. The development of manufactures in Rumania scarcely began before the 2oth century. The chief industries are