Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/412

* KUSSIA. 372 BUSSIA. The leading imports are raw and half manu- factured artiek'S, about onelialf of the total (cot- ton, metals, coal, wool, silk, leather, hides, skins, chemicals, etc.) ; manufactured goods (macliin- ery, metal goods, some textiles, etc.) ; articles of food (tea, lish, beverages, fruits, coli'ee, and to- bacco). The U'a<ling exports are cereals and Hour ( more than lial f of the total ), timber, naphtha and naphtha oils, tiax and lu'ni]), oil cake, oil grains, and other raw and half manufactured articles. The growth of the export trade of the United (States in liHIl and l;t02 was cliielly due to the re- moval of the Russian tariff tax on some kinds of agricultural maeliinery. American sales of cotton ami machinery are important. The Inited States purcluises from Russia manganese ore, licorice, and some other commodities, but its ini]iorts are comparatively small because the liiited States produces in veiy large quantities must of the things that Russia has to sell. It may be observed that Russia's trade with its neigliliors Austria-Hungary and Rumania is comparatively small because the products of the three countries are much the same. The trade of Finland is not incUuled in the trade statistics of European Russia, as it forms a customs district by itself. Transportation and Communication. The wagon roads are generally in a very bad con- dition, especially in spring and autunm. In winter, however, when the whole plain of Russia is covered with snow, sledging is uni- versal, and tile land transport of goods is facili- tated. The rivers and canals carry enormous commerce, and are the cheapest means of com- munication, in spite of the fact that they have natural disadvantages as highways. Thej' are closed by ice from three to seven months in the year, and the southern rivers, most notably the Don, are much reduced in depth by the dryness of the summer. There ai'e about 30,000 miles of navigation on rivers, lakes, and canals in Euro- pean Russia. Over 1700 steamers ply on the Volga and its tributaries. There is direct water comiection lv river and canal between the Cas- pian Sea and the Arctic Ocean (2 routes) ; between the Caspian Sea and the Baltic ( 3 routes ) : and be- tween the Black Sea and the Baltic (3 routes). In 1902 the empire had 36,496 miles of rail- road, of which 29,7SS miles were in European Russia, 1702 miles in Finland, and 4545 miles in Asiatic Russia. The Government owns and operates nearly two-thirds of the mileage and has connected the extremities of the empire by rail. (See SiDERiA.) The freight carried by the Rus- sian lines in 1900 was 140.543.000 tons : pas- sengers, 101,570,000. In 1900 the freight car- ried by the Asiatic lines (Transcaspian, Trans- Siberian, and Ussuri River railroads) was 4,547,795 tons; passengers were 2,741,094. The chief seaports are on the Baltic and Black seas. They are blocked by ice, except Odessa, Sebastopol, and Novorossisk on the Black Sea, and Hangij on the Baltic, from 2 to 5 months, biit ice-breakers are mitigating this inconven- ience. The Black Sea ports are the main outlets for agricultural produce. Most of the sea trade with North and Central Europe and the United States is through the Baltic ports. Odessa has the largest shipping trade, is the chief depot for the iiroduce of South Russia (wheat, tallow, wool, and linseed), and has regular con- nection with all Black Sea ports, the chief Mediterranean and Atlantic ports of Europe, and the Pacific ports of Vladivostok and Dalny (the new jjort of the Province of Ivwang-tung). Ta- ganrog, Rostov, Berdiansk, and Mariupol are grain [jorts on the Sea of Azov, aiul Astrakhan on the Volga delta is the central point of the Cas- pian Sea trade. Saint Petersburg is the leading port of the Baltic. Riga is the most important shipping point in Western Russia for Hax, hemp, antl timber. Archangel, on the White Sea, has an important export trade in timber, tar, pitch, grain, and furs. Abo, Hango, Helsingfors, Revel, Libau, and some other ports are also im- portant. The coasting trade is very large, and since January, 1900, only vessels sailing under the Russian Hag can engage in it. The mercantile marine of Russia in 1901 consisted of 3038 vessels, of 033.819 tons, of which 745 were steamers, of 34,360 tons. In 1901 the total number of merchant vessels that cleared from the ports of European Russia in the foreign trade was 8.790, of 7,536,000 tons, of which only 1349 were Russian, of 713,000 tons. The nundjer of vessels in the coasting trade clearing from the White, Baltic, Black, and Azov seas was 10,039, of 8,582,000 tons. Banking. The Bank of Russia is the State bank and also a commercial bank. It has 113 branches throughout the empire. It issues the paper currency of Russia as necessity occurs. If the amount of the paper currency does not ex- ceed 600,000,000 rubles, the bank guarantees it by half of that sum in gold. Every issue above 600.000,000 rubles nuist be guaranteed to the full amount in gold deposited in the bank. The total amount of the paper currencv on January 14, 1903, was 630,000,000 rubles, and the guarantee fund in gold to cover the currency was 927,500,- 000 rubles, or sufficient to cover a much larger issue of paper money. The number of State, municipal, and postal savings banks on .January 1, 1902, was 5.629; de- positors. 3,935,773; deposits, 722,982,000 ru- bles. The State banks for mortgage loans to the nobility had outstanding loans amounting to 902," 811.500 rubles on January 1. 1900. The land bank for the purchase of land by the peasants up to January 1, 1902, had lent money to 630.922 householders and 1,969,019 individuals, who had bought 11,296,800 acres, valued at 244,056.483 rubles, of which 191,588,006 rubles were lent by the bank and 52,468.427 were jiaid by the buy- ers. The 47 mortgage banks, on .January 1, 1901, had 1.550.(ioS,040 rubles in loans on landed es- tates and 446.115,772 on town properties. The assets and liabilities of 42 private banks bal- anced at 1,425,053.000 rubles; of 133 societies of mutual credit at 268,884,300 rubles; and of 241 mimicipal banks at 145.114,429 rubles. Government. The government of Russia is an absolute hereditary monarchy. There is neither a written constitution nor a representative legis- lative body. The whole legislative, executive, and judicial ])ower is vested in the Czar alone. He bears the title of Autocrat of All the Russias, and, as the title indicates, there are no legal limita- tions whatever upon his authority. There are, however, certain rules, for the most part relating to the law of succession, which the Czar regards as binding upon himself. He exercises the legis- lative and administrative power through the aid of certain great councils of State composed of functionaries appointed by himself and responsi- ble to him alone for their conduct. The first of