Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/102

Rh 86 RUSSIA [TRADE, Inland trade. above all the want of markets. Russia lias not, and cannot have, such foreign markets as the countries which first attained an indus- trial development Her colonies are deserts, and in the home markets the manufacturer only finds 80 millions of poverty-stricken people, whose wants are nearly all supplied by their petty domestic industries. These, that is, the domestic industries which are carried on by the peasants in conjunction with their agricultural pursuits during the long days of idleness imposed by the climate and by the re- duced allotments of land, continue, not only to hold their ground M>le by side with the large manufactures, but to develop and to oomrxjte with these by the cheapness of their products. Extensive inquiries are now being made into these domestic industries (kustar- noyie proizvodsteo). 855,000 persons engaged in them along with .agriculture (kustari) have already been registered, and an unexpected variety of industries, and a still more unexpected technical develop- ment in several of them, have been disclosed by these researches. The yearly production of the 855,000 kustari who have been regis- tered reaches 218,444,000 roubles ; while the total number of peasants engaged in the industries, mostly in Great Russia and northern Caucasia, is estimated at a minimum of 7,500,000 persons, with a yearly production of at least 1,800,000,000 roubles, or more than double the aggregate production of the manufactures proper. Of course the machinery they use is very primitive, and the wages for a day of twelve to sixteen hours exceedingly low. But the industries are capable of being improved, and it has been brought out that "Paris silk hats and" Vienna" house furniture sold by substantial foreign firms at Moscow are really manufactured in the neighbourhood of the capital by peasants who still continue to till their fields. All these industries suffer very much from want of credit, and the producers become the prey of intermediaries. But their continued existence and their progress under most unfavour- able conditions show that they meet a real want, which is itself the c msequence of the peculiar conditions under which Russia, the hist to come into the international market, has to develop. In those very governments where two-thirds of the textile manu- factories of Russia are concentrated domestic weaving (for the market, not for domestic use) employs about 200,000 hands, whose yearly production is valued at 45,000,000 roubles. In Stavropol on Caucasus it has so rapidly develoj>ed that 42,400 looms are now at work, with a yearly production of 2,007,700 roubles. But no ade- quate idea could be given of the petty industries of Russia without entering into greater detail than the scope of the present article per- mits. Suffice it to say that there is no branch of the industries in textiles, leather, woodwork, or metal work, provided it needs no heavy machinery, which is not successfully carried on in the villages. Nearly all the requirements of nine-tenths of the popula- tion of Russia are met in this way. The aggregate production of industries within the empire, in- clusive oimining, was stated in 1882 as follows : European Russia, 1,1 26, 033, 000 roubles; Poland, 147,309,000; Finland, 15,130,000. The chief manufactures in European Russia (apart from Poland and Finland), and their yearly production in 1882 in millions of roubles, were as follows : cotton yarn and cottons, 208'6 ; other textile industries, 103 "5 ; metal wares and machinery, 107 "9 ; chemicals, 6'6 ; candles, soap, glue, leather, and other animal products, 61 '4 ; distillery products, 156 -0 ; other liquors, 39'0; sugar, 140'9 ; flour, 74 '0. The remainder are of minor importance. It must be observed, however, that these figures are much, below those given for 1879, when the aggregate production of Russian manufactures was com- puted at 1,102,949,000 roubles, without the mining and related industries, the distillery products, and the flour. The geogra plural distribution of manufactures in Russia is very unequal. The governments of Moscow and St Petersburg, with a yearly production of 173 and 134 million roubles respectively, repre- sent together two-fifths of the aggregate production of Russia. If we add Vladimir (91,766,000 roubles), Kieff (73,300,000), Perm (50,500,000), Livonia, Esthonia, Kharkoff, and Kherson (from 30 to 35 millions each), we have all the principal maaufacturing centres. la fact, Moscow, with jwrtious of the neighbouring governments, contains half the Russian manufactures exempted from excise duties, while the south-west governments of Kieff, Podolia, and Kherson contain two-thirds of those not so exempted. 1 The main wealth of Russia consisting in raw produce, the trade of the country turns chiefly on the purchase of this for export, and the sale of manufactured and imported goods in exchange. This 1 Sec OrlofTs Index of R union Manufacture*, 1881 ; TimiryazcfTs Development of Industry in Rutsia, and Industrial Allot of Russia ; Materials for Statistics of Steam- Enginr*, published by Central Statistical Committee, 1882; Historical and Statistical Sketch of Ru -sian Industry, vol. ii., 1883 ; Annaaire of the Ministry of Finance; Russische Retue, published monthly at St Petersburg by Hoettger. On the petty trade*, see Memoirs of the Committee for Investigation of Petty Trades, vols. I. to xii., 1379-84 ; Recueil of Statistical Information for Moscoic Gotern- ment, published by the Zemstvo, vols. vi. and vii.; IsnefTs Trade* of Moscote; several papers In reviews; and an appendix to the Russian translation of Keclns's Oeographie Cnieerselle; Resume of Materials on Russian Petty Trades, 1874 (all Russian) ; also Thun, Riuslands Oeicerbe. For the position of workmen In manu- factories see the extensive inquiries of the Moscow Zerastvo in its Recueil, and the reports of the recently nominated inspectors of manufactures, especially Vanjul, Sketches and Researches, 2 rols., 188 1. traffic is in the hands of a great number of middlemen, in the west Jews, and elsewhere Russians, to whom the peasants are for the most part in debt, as they purchase in advance on security of sub- sequent payments in corn, tar, wooden wares, &c. A good deal of the internal trade is carried on by travelling merchants (ofeni). The fairs are very numerous ; the minor ones numbered 6500 in 1878, and showed sales amounting to an aggregate of 305 million roubles. Those of Nijni-Novgorod, with a return of 400 million roubles, of Irbit and Kharkoff (above 100 million roubles each), of Romuy, Krestovskoye in Perm, and Menzelinsk in Ufa (55 to 12 million roubles), have considerable importance both for trade and for home manufactures. The total value of the internal trade, which is in the hands of 681,116 licensed dealers, is roughly estimated at more than seven milliards of roubles. The development of the external trade of Russia is seen from the following figures (millions of roubles): 1861-65. ,1866-70. 1871-75. 1876-80. 1881. 1882. Exports. Articles of food Kaw and half-manu- factured produce. Manufactured wares Cattle 66-1 102-S 127 116-9 130-1 15-6 200-1 164-6 10-1 326-2 197-4 11-0 261-9 219-5 13-2 11-8 350-6 232-2 15-8 19-1 Total 181-6 158-4 2627 214-4 374-9 319-2 534-6 342-3 506-4 336-8 6177 370-6 in metallic roubles 2 Imports. Articles of food Raw and half-manu- factured produce. Manufactured wares Total 60-4 66-4 36-1 68-5 116-9 96-4 109-3 208-4 132-2 122-0 259-7 139-2 1257 278-5 113-6 148-2 284-7 135-1 162-9 142-5 281-8 229-3 449-9 390-3 520-9 359 4 517-8 344-3 568-0 340-8 ,, in metallic roubles... The chief article of export is grain wheat, oats, and rye (24,870,000 quarters, 321,042,000 roubles in 1882), to which the increase of exports is mainly due. This increase, however, does not correspond to an increase of crops, only 10 per cent, of which were exported in 1870 and about 20 per cent, in 1882. Next to grain come flax, hemp, linseed, and hempseed (129,370,000 roubles in 1882) ; oil-yielding grains (441,000 quarters) ; wool, tallow, hides, bristles, and bone (31,120,000 roubles). If we add to these timber (35,044,000 roubles) and furs (4,147,000 roubles), 95 per cent, of all Russian exports are accounted for, the remainder consisting of linen, ropes, and some woollen stuffs and metallic wares (7,172,000 roubles to western Europe, 2,888,000 to Finland, and 5,763,000 to Asia). The chief imports from Europe were in 1882 as follows: Tea (48,091,000 roubles), liquors (16,124,000 roubles), salt, fish, rice, fruits, and 'colonial wares (38,446,000 roubles), various raw tex- tile wares (127,986,000 roubles cotton 72,417,000), raw metals (32,630,000 roubles), chemicals (57,894,000 roubles), and stuffs (22,428,000 roubles). The imports from Asia chiefly tea in the same year reached 32, 853, 000 roubles. The chief imports were from Germany (214,000,000 roubles) and Great Britain (124,700,000), the chief exports to Great Britain (210,000,000), Germany (178,000,000), and France (54,000,000). Even in her trade with Finland Russia imports more than she exports, the chief imports being paper, cotton, iron, and butter ; prohibitory tariffs were im- posed on Finnish wares in 1885. During 1882 the ports of the empire were visited by 13,638 foreign ships (5,337,000 tons), of which number 1436 were to Asiatic ports (391,200 tons). Of the above total only 2489 vessels (628,000 tons) were under the Russian flag (mostly Finnish), while the British alone showed a tonnage of 2,258,000 and the German 639,000. The coasting trade was represented by 85,083 vessels (6,040,000 tons) entering the ports, chiefly those 'of the Black Sea. The mercantile marine of Russia in 1882 numbered 6383 vessels (727,000 tons), including 604 steamers ; of the total number 1593 (254,000 tons) were Finnish. The chief ports are St Petersburg, Odessa, Riga, Taganrog, Libau, and Reval. Baku has recently acquired some importance in consequence of the naphtha trade. 8 The rivers of the empire, mostly connected by canals, play a very Commv important part in the inland traffic. The aggregate length of cation, navigable waters reaches 21,510 miles (453 miles of canals), and 12,600 miles more are available for floating rafts. In 1882 51,407 boats, with cargoes amounting to 153,250,000 cwts., valued at 186,480,000 roubles, left the ports on Russian rivers and canals. 1 See note 1, p. 73. of Finance, and the same for trade with Europe in 1883 and 1884.
 * See Obtor of the Foreign Trade of Russia In 1882, published by the Minister