Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/411

* RUSSIA. 371 RUSSIA. over $0,000,000 of raw silk .and yarn a year, pur- chusi'd in Italy, China, and Persia. Efforts are beinj: made to extend silk-eulture in Transcauca- sia and Turkestan in order to reduce the foreign ini]Kirts. The distillation of spirits ranks next to textiles in value of output, the eousviinptiou of spirits being nearly two gallons per capita a year. In 1800 there were 17(iO distilleries in European Russia, producing 171.201,204 gallons b}' distillation, and the brewing business is also large. Esthonia, south of the tiulf of Finland, is the largest centre of production. The Govern- ment, with a view to restricting intemperance among the peasantry, now controls the produc- tion and sale of spirituous beverages (not includ- ing wine and beer) throughout European Russia. The native metal industry is of great impor- tance, though it has sutl'ered greatly from de- fective communications and lack of fuel. The manufactories of machinery are located in the central and particularly the southern indus- trial region. Many factories supply agricul- tural machines and implements, the value of the output having risen from .$1,112,500 in 1807 to nearly $5,000,000 in 1807. This business is yet in its infancy and Russia is still dependent upon other nations for its best metal goods in all lines, machinery coming from the United States, England, and Germany. Still the metal industries employ a vast number of workmen (040,000 in the mining and working of metals in 1899). The railroads are supplied with home-made rails. Iron and steel goods of many kinds are produced. Moscow and Saint Petersburg manufacture gold and silver articles, watches, and musical and astronomical instru- ments. The output of refined sugar from 277 sugar works was 880,497 tons in 1901, most of the mills and refineries being in Poland (chiefly near Warsaw) and Little Russia (especially in the Government of Kiev). The tobacco factories (Saint Petersburg. Moscow, Kherson, Finland) manufactured 85.220 tons of tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes in 1898, cigarettes being an article of export. Russian leather manufactures, long famous, are carried on in all parts of the empire. The well-known Russia leather is made chiefly in the centre and north, Turkey leather in the east and south. Ships are built at all the sea- ports and on the Volga, Oka, and Kama. Chemi- cal factories are found all over the empire, but chiefly in the CJovernment of iloscow (saltpetre, potash, and albuminous substances). There are nearly 4000 flour mills. Saint Petersburg's manu- factures of malachite are famous, and the glass and porcelain made in the Imperial factory at the capital are of a very high class. The produc- tion of these articles and also of paper, furniture, and fancy goods falls below the domestic demand. Commerce. It is not easy in coimtries like Russia, where the means of communication are poor, for merchants to inspect all the varieties of goods they may wish to sell unless great col- lections of good.s are broiiglit together at fixed times and at central places. This is the reason why large fairs arc still held in Russia. The seven principal fairs are at .Moscow, Klinrkov, Poltava (where horses, sheep, and wool are <lenlt in on a large scale), Yclizavetgrad, Kursk, Irbit, and Nizhni-Xovgorod. Since 1817 the fair at Xizhni-Xovgorod, at the jiuution of the Volga !ind Oka, has been the largest in the empire, and it is without a rival in any country for the great quantity and variety of goods olVercd for sale. Hero Europe and Asia exchange their goods. Wares and raw materials from China and as far west as Paris are displayed and the annual sales amount to about '$85,000,- 000. Though railroads and the employment of conunercial travelers and other conveniences of modern trade are making rajiid In'adway. little change in the volume of business at the great fair is olwerved. The fair at Irbit, in the Govern- ment of Perm, is the great market for Siberian goods. The trade relations of Russia with the coun- tries west and cast of it are very dill'erent. Russia is to Turkestan and all Asiatic countries a manu- facturing State, sending to them the product of its mills and shops, and buying their cotton and other raw materials; but to the Western nations Russia is an agricultural State, sending them it.s grain, flax, and hemp, and buying their manu- factures. Thus Russia forms an important con- necting link between two ((uarters of the globe, though the great bulk of its trade is with Europe. The volume of foreign trade is small considering the vast resources of European Russia and its enormous population. Though it is more jiopu- lous than the I'nited States, its general merchan- dise trade with foreign countries is less than that of the small State of Belgium. A large part of the foreign trade is in the hands of English, CJerman, French, and other foreigners established at the seaports. The following is a statement of the average annual trade of the country in millions of dollars: Imports.. Exports.. 1881-85 1891-95 275.0 290.0 234.5 3U.0 306.1 309.7 1900 322.7 369.2 1901 269.5 375.1 The above table includes only the trade across the European boundary or through the ports connecting with the .tlantic; in other words, it includes very little of the Asiatic trade, nearly all of which crosses the .siatic land Ixnuidary. The average exports through the .siatic frontier for the ten years endin.sr in 1900 were $11,- 220.000, a year; the average imports across the Asiatic frontier in the same period were $2,3,- 975.100. These figures include only the trade in general merchandi.se. The trade of Russia, ex- clusive of Finland, with the principal countries in 1900 and 1901 was: ImportHfrom (1900) Imports from (1901) Exports to (1900) Exports to (1901) $111.8».405 65.4.511.320 ]6.2it.5,.TO5 13.S86.160 3.725,8.'i0 22,7.39.310 8.3.19.395 10.308,240 $103,112,270 53.1.17.785 13.828,780 12.097.775 3.764,135 17.864.320 11.021.000 11.364.205 $90,632,025 74,971. r40 29,.'i8fi.750 13.523.SKI0 9.401.415 1,760.785 589.675 21.132.610 $92,397,695 80.602.740 31 618,(K») 15.56;t.300 Turkpv ' 10.994.7.35 2.052.790 Ohiim 1.872.025 19.901,750