Russia

rush'a, an extensive empire of eastern Europe and northern Asia. It reaches nearly half way around the globe and occupies approximately a seventh part of the total land surface. The chief divisions of the empire are European Russia (including Poland and Finland), Caucasia, Central Asia, and Siberia. The total area, including interior waters, is about 8,647,657 square miles. The Statesman's Year Book for 1909 estimated the total population at 152,000,000. Sixty-six per cent of the inhabitants are Russians; seven per cent Poles; five per cent Finns; nine per cent Turco-Tartars; and four per cent Jews.

The population is increasing at the rate of about 2,000,000 a year. As special articles have been prepared on the outlying parts of the empire, the statements made here apply, unless otherwise noted, to Russia in Europe.

BOUNDARIES. The confines of Russia in Europe are in part natural and in part artificial. The Black Sea, the Caspian, the Arctic Ocean, and the Baltic, together with rivers followed for a part of their course, form over half of the boundaries. The boundary between Russia and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the west, as well as that between Russia and Central Asia, is arbitrary and irregular. The historic border line between Russia and Siberia is the Ural Mountains.

SURFACE AND DRAINAGE. The eastern and southern border is occupied, from the Black Sea to the Urals, by mountain chains, spurs, foothills, and intervening plateaus, that divide Europe from the sunken area of the Aral and the Caspian. Otherwise the surface of Russia consists of vast unbroken plains. The greatest elevation within the plains region is the Valdai Hills, south of St. Petersburg, and they attain a height not to exceed 1,000 feet. A low watershed, hardly noticeable and not exceeding 500 feet in altitude, runs eastward from the Valdai Hills to the Ural Mountains. The western slope of the Urals is gradual. The great rivers rise in the Valdai Hills. The drainage basins are four, the Arctic, the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Caspian. North of the divide, the rivers take their way to the Baltic and its arms, or they wind slowly between low banks to the Arctic Ocean. The principal river of the Baltic basin is the short and phenomenal Neva. The Dwina is the greatest of the Arctic rivers. The Bug, the Dnieper, and the Don flow southward into the Black Sea. The Volga, the longest river in Europe, finds its way from the Valdai Hills by a wide sweep to the northeast, and by easy stages to the Caspian, which receives also the waters of the Ural.

MINERALS. The mineral wealth of the empire is found in the region of the Ural Mountains. Platinum, gold, silver, lead, copper, iron, rock salt, diamonds, and precious stones occur here. Coal is found in abundance in the vicinity of Moscow and north of the Sea of Azov. Excellent iron ore is found in Finland and several other provinces. There are valuable zinc and salt mines in Poland in the vicinity of Cracow. Astrakhan is noted for saltpeter. The Caucasus region, especially the country about Baku, is celebrated for the production of naphtha and petroleum.

CLIMATE. It is difficult to characterize the climate of so extensive a region. If we include the Crimea we may say the variations of Russian climate are similar to those experienced in passing from the Gulf of Mexico through the United States and Canada to the Arctic Ocean. Owing to the great extent of land surface, the climate is essentially continental, that is to say, the summer heat extends far northward and the cold winter far southward. The Sea of Azov freezes over usually about the first of November and remains frozen until April. There is scarce a locality in Russia where the thermometer does not range through a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The range at Archangel on the White Sea is from 84 deg. above to 33 deg. below. At Moscow the limits are 88 deg. above to 22 deg. below; at Odessa on the Black Sea, the range is from 89 deg. to 3 deg. below. The summer is warm everywhere. Autumn frosts begin to fall along the Arctic in August. They reach the Black Sea by the first of October. The Arctic streams freeze up early in November. The Volga and the Don are continuous pathways for sledges by the middle of December. Winds are higher and more prevalent than in the more broken and oceanic sections of western Europe. Terrific winter dust storms occur in the southeastern steppes, and blizzards are frequent in the north. The dryness of the atmosphere increases toward the eastward. On the shores of the Baltic, the rainy and snowy days average about 150 per year, the total precipitation being about twenty inches. Near the Caspian about seventy days of snow and rain are to be expected, with a precipitation of about fourteen inches.

FLORA. Aside from a small area in the Crimea, which has a climate and a flora comparable with that of the north Mediterranean coast, European Russia may be divided into three floral regions, the Arctic, the forest, and the steppe regions. The Arctic region is largely tundra. Wide swamps are occupied by mosses. The largest plants are dwarf willows and dwarf birches. Fewer than 300 flowering plants are known. The southern limit of the region varies from the sixty-eighth to the seventy-first parallel. South of the Arctic lies the forest region. The northern side of the forest belt is characterized by the birch, the poplar, the alder, and by coniferous trees, including the fir, the pine, and the tamarack. The southern side is dominated by the oak, the ash, the maple, the basswood, the elm, and other well known deciduous trees. There are in all about 1,600 flowering species in the forest region. South of the forests lie the steppes--prairies, we would call them. They are grassy, but, save trees and shrubs along the shores of streams, and thickets in nooks of the valleys, the steppes are treeless. Enough shrubs, grasses, and prairie plants are found in the steppe region to bring the total number of Russian species of flowering plants above 3,000.

FAUNA. The wild animals follow the plants in their range. In the north the reindeer, the lemming, the ptarmigan, and the grouse-fox are characteristic. The plover and the snipe, the gull, the duck, the wild goose and the diver, all of species without number, make the north their breeding grounds. In the forest region, the weasel, the fox, and the hare are common; the wolf and the bear are less so. The sable, the beaver, the otter, the lynx, the badger, the elk, the reindeer, the European bison, and the wild boar are to be found only in special localities. Birds are numerous. Over 300 species, including the partridge, the quail, the lark, and the rook, nest in the forest region. The steppes are characterized by grouse and ground squirrels and smaller birds corresponding closely to the birds of American prairies. Insect pests abound. The fish of the Black Sea are those of the Mediterranean; the Caspian and the Volga are famous for sturgeon.

SOIL. About one-fourth of European Russia consists of lakes, swamps, and sands unfit for cultivation. A third is occupied by forests. Deducting these areas and semiarid sections, fit only for light grazing, scare over a fifth of Russia is available for cultivation. As to agriculture, five belts running east and west are recognized. They are: the tundras, unfit for human habitation; the northern forests, home of the trapper and the hunter, fertile in localities; the forest region, partly cleared, diversified, and attractive; the black earth region, comprising 150,000,000 acres of deep black loam, extending from the Hungarian frontier to the Urals; and the steppes, varying from fertile clays and black sections to land fit chiefly for grazing. The varying quality of the soil is denoted by the varying density of the inhabitants. The Arctic region maintains one inhabitant per square mile. The steppe region north of the Caspian maintains thirteen people to the square mile. The black earth belt supports from 200 to 350 people to the square mile. The average for European Russia is sixty-three.

AGRICULTURE. The black earth belt and the lands bordering on it constitute one of the great agricultural regions of the world. Descriptions of Russia and the Russians are based chiefly on this section. It is adapted to the cultivation of vegetables, sugar beets, wheat, rye, oats, hemp, flax, and other heavy field crops. Indian corn, tobacco, and cotton are raised in the south. The world's supply of licorice is obtained chiefly from the valley of the Volga. The orchard fruits of North America are found in corresponding localities of Russia. Many of our most valuable hardy fruit trees have been obtained from Russia. There are vineyards on the shores of the Black Sea.

STOCK RAISING. The steppes of southeastern Russia are not unlike the plains of the western United States in point of adaptation to the raising of cattle and horses. Reindeer are raised north of the Arctic Circle. Goats are found about the Caspian and camels are used by the inhabitants of Caucasia for bearing burdens. The Baltic provinces are noted for improved breeds of sheep. The Kirghiz sheep is bred chiefly for an enormous fat tail, which is said to produce from twenty to forty pounds of mutton tallow.

PEASANT LIFE. Eighty per cent of the population of Russia is agricultural. The peasants live in villages in the midst of their farming lands, not in scattered farm houses. In European Russia, there is a village to every five square miles. In the more fertile sections, villages are on an average less than half a mile apart. The houses in agricultural Russia are solidly built usually of wood, and have little ventilation. The one living-room is heated by a huge pottery stove, on the top of which the greater part of the family spread their beds. The furniture is simple. Utensils are largely of wood, made of birch and bass by the peasants themselves. Large families are the rule. The lands surrounding the villages are apportioned to the various families according to working strength. Rents, that is to say taxes, are so heavy that the allotment of land is not a favor but a burden. The heads of families come forward to receive their land pleading inability to pay taxes on so many strips, begging to be let off with less field. In most regions the rent-tax is worked out by days' labor for the landlord, and must be made good, regardless of the season's crop, or whether the poor peasant has proper time to prepare his own lands for crops. Four-fifths of the arable land is held by the czar, the nobility, and the merchants. Since 1861 the peasants, 97,000,000 of them, own one-fifth of the land. The system is a trifle better than serfdom,--not much.

In such a system men seek wives for their sons with reference to their brute strength,--ability to assist in field labor. Crops are raised by primitive, laborious methods. So far as they have time left after doing compulsory military service, the younger and more active men go to the cities during the building season to help support the family by day's wages. The typical Russian peasant is described as a broad-shouldered, industrious, skillful fellow, with a genuine knack for masonry, carpentry, machinery, or any sort of mechanical trade. He has a broad, open face. He is fond of music. He is naturally courteous and loyal, but untidy, superstitious, and intemperate. Seventy-nine people out of one-hundred are unable to read or write. Though illiterate, it is believed that these peasants have good stuff in them, and that under favorable circumstances they would develop rapidly into level-headed, logical thinkers. Serfdom was abolished in 1861.

MANUFACTURES. Russia is not noted for its manufactures. Manufacturing is confined to comparatively few cities. There are seven cities having over 200,000 inhabitants. Named in order, they are St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, Odessa, Lodz, Riga, and Kiev. The peasants make more articles in their homes than is the case in any other country of Europe. St. Petersburg has well established manufactures of cotton cloth, silk, sailcloth, plate glass, crystal, and paper. Moscow is noted for its weaving industries. The linens of Poland are of excellent quality. Novgorod is noted for the manufacture of firearms and cutlery; Archangel for ropes; Smolensk for fine carpets; Perm for manufactures of iron and fine copper. The leather and morocco-making center is Astrakhan. Through the use of birch oil in tanning, and laborious methods of working the hides, Russian leather is the softest and finest in the world. Tobacco, candles, and soap are manufactured in a great number of towns.

TRANSPORTATION. The railroads of Russia are for the most part owned by the general government. About 34,000 miles have been constructed in European Russia. The country has few seaports. The most prominent are Archangel on the Arctic Ocean; St. Petersburg and Riga on the Baltic; and Odessa on the Black Sea. As indicated by the course of the principal rivers, European Russia consists of a vast plain sloping gently toward the Caspian and the Black Seas on the south, and toward the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean on the northwest and north. The rivers are large and numerous. They permit navigation for boats of suitable size almost throughout their entire length. They are supplemented by a network of canals, enabling heavy freights to be moved in every direction at small expense. The largest lakes of Europe are in Russia. Travel on the inland and border water is maintained by an immense number of steamers, sailboats, and rafts. In all, 77,721 miles of lake, river, and canal are navigable for freight-bearing craft.

COMMERCE. The seagoing commerce of the country is not extensive. Accounts are kept in rubles, a silver coin worth about fifty-one and one-half cents in gold, or, speaking roughly, two to the dollar. The ruble is divided into 100 kopecks. Foreign trade is carried on chiefly with the frontiers of Asia and with western Europe. The principal exports are wheat, flour, eggs, dairy products, sugar, fish, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, meats, alcohol, timber, petroleum, flax, oil cake, furs, leather, hemp, bristles, hair, feathers, wool, platinum, and game. The principal imports are tea, wine, fruits, nuts, coffee, rice, tobacco, raw cotton, coal, yarn, leather, silk, chemicals, and machinery. Tea is obtained overland from China; rice from Persia; cotton from Turkestan.

COMMUNICATION. Inhabited Russia is covered by a complete system of posts, telegraphs, and telephones. In 1906 the number of letters and post cards handled fell slightly short of a billion. In the same year 338,000,000 periodicals and newspapers were sent through the mail; 156,000,000 telegrams, including railway business, were sent. The longest telephone line extends from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

RELIGION. Of the vast population of the empire about 87,000,000 belong to the Orthodox Greek Church. In general, other sects enjoy freedom of worship. There are about 11,000,000 Catholics, 4,000,000 Protestants, 14,000,000 Mohammedans, and about 5,000,000 Jews in the empire. A wandering tribe on the Arctic, the Samoyeds, are the only idolaters in Europe. The czar is the head of the Orthodox Church. This church holds fraternal relations with the four Orthodox patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem. Theoretically, the Czar appoints to every office, but, as a matter of fact, the government of the church is left to the Holy Synod, a board established in 1721. There are sixty-six bishoprics, 50,000 churches, 723 cathedrals, 862 monasteries and nunneries, and 47,000 priests. The government contributes $15,000,000 a year to the Orthodox Church and $700,000 a year to other churches.

EDUCATION. There are nine universities in European Russia. The more noted are those at Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Warsaw, and Odessa. The largest is that at Moscow. It is attended by between 8,000 and 9,000 students. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Finns attend the University of Helsingfors. The total university enrollment is over 30,000. There are over 1,000 secondary schools, including gymnasia for boys, schools for girls, and technical schools. They are attended only by the children of the well-to-do, who can afford to pay tuition. The most recent statistics obtainable report about 92,000 elementary schools, attended by a little under 6,000,000 pupils. In 1907 the general government expended about $40,000,000 for education, only $8,000,000 of which was designed for elementary schools.

DEFENSE. Military service is universal and compulsory. Every able-bodied man must enter the army at the age of twenty-one. He remains in active service for three years, after which he drills two weeks in the year for fourteen years as a member of the reserve. He is retired to the militia for five years. At the age of forty-three he is excused from further service. In time of peace the Russian army numbers 1,200,000 men. The war strength of the Russian army is placed at 4,600,000 men, involving an annual expenditure in time of peace of $250,000,000. The navy costs, in addition, $60,000,000. It would appear that the empire has nearly as many men in its army as it has children in school and that it spends many times as much money for war as it does for education.

EARLY HISTORY. The history of Russia has been one of expansion. The Russians are a Slavonic people. They came into notice about the head waters of their great river, the Volga, at the beginning of the ninth century. About 862, under a Scandinavian prince, they made Novgorod their capital. Two decades later their center was at Kiev. During the tenth century they came into conflict repeatedly with the Byzantine empire. Christianity was introduced under Vladimir about 972-1015. Kiev was for centuries the capital. During the thirteenth century the Russians were over-thrown by the Mongols and became tributary to the Khans. The first Russian principality to shake off the Mongol yoke was Moscow. It became the capital about 1480. The work of driving off or subjugating the Mongols proceeded from that city as a center. Novgorod was recovered in 1478. Astrakhan was acquired in 1544. During the sixteenth century the Cossacks and the western portion of Siberia came under Russian rule. The acquisition of Siberia continued during the seventeenth century. The title of czar was assumed by the princes of Moscow in 1547. In the first part of the eighteenth century Peter the Great extended his domains at the expense of the Swedes and Turks. The acquisition of Finland began in 1743 and was completed in 1809. The absorption of Russian Poland took place between 1772 and 1795. The Crimean region was annexed in 1783. The close of the century witnessed the annexation of more territory at the expense of Turkey. During the early part of the nineteenth century, Russia added the Caucasus region at the expense of Turkey and Persia. During the middle of the eighteenth century, a large extent of territory was acquired in Central Asia. There is every probability that India would have been annexed had not Great Britain forced the Russians out of that quarter. The cession of Russian America to the United States in 1867 was about the only instance up to that date in which Russia had been known to yield territory once within its grasp.

WAR WITH JAPAN. The Russian-Japanese War of 1904-5, by which Korea, and Manchuria, a recent acquisition at the expense of China, were lost, was the first positive check to territorial expansion that Russia ever experienced. This war revealed an unsuspected weakness of the Russian empire. The soldiers showed no lack of bravery, but the condition of the army was found to be unsatisfactory. Peculation, theft, want of system, poor food, lack of ammunition, mismanagement, jealousy, braggadocio, untruthfulness, actual want of military skill and of ordinary knowledge placed an immense assemblage of brave men before the world in the humiliating attitude of a disorganized invasion of eastern Asia. Immense sums of money spent on ships, guns, provisions, and equipment were rendered useless through the incapacity of corrupt, selfish officials. Instances of military honor and efficiency were not rare, but, taken as a whole, the huge Russian war machine broke down most signally. The war is said to have cost Russia the vast sum of $1,050,000,000.

To cap the misfortune of the aristocratic ruling class, the peasants rose in revolt alarmingly. The Nihilists sprang into renewed activity. Many officials were assassinated. A wit defined the government as an absolute monarchy tempered by assassination. There were in the year 1906, 5,945 political imprisonments; 1,252 political death sentences; 2,029 sentences to Siberia for five years, and 186 sentences for life. Seven hundred thirty-two editors were prosecuted by the government, and 563 newspapers were suspended.

THE DUMA. In distress the czar summoned the people to send representatives to a congress or Duma. The Duma met in May, 1906, and somewhat to the consternation of the czar and his advisers showed a determined spirit. The following demands were presented by the Duma.

1. General amnesty for political offences.

2. The abolition of the death penalty.

3. The suspension of martial law and exceptional arbitrary acts.

4. Full civil liberty.

5. The abolition of the council of state--circle of nobles surrounding the czar.

6. The revision of the fundamental law--practically the formation of a constitution.

7. A ministry responsible to the Duma.

8. The right of questioning the czar and his ministers.

9. The distribution of state lands among the peasants.

10. A guarantee of the rights of trade unions.

After wrestling with the Duma for a time the ministers and the misguided czar sent it home. It seemed for a time as though nothing had been accomplished. It was feared the Duma would not be permitted to meet again, but wiser counsels prevailed and the Duma is now a recognized branch of the government.

THE CZAR. For centuries, the theory of Russian government was Asiatic. The czar was absolute. He was, as he is still, the head of the church, the father of his people, the source, under divine gift, of all power. The people had such liberty and such political authority as the czar saw fit to grant. As a matter of fact, the government was that of a small, determined aristocracy of nobles of whom the czar was despotic master; the leader, or the tool, according to the degree of native force he might possess. Reformers who have held the czar responsible for doing or leaving undone have not realized fully the degree to which the czar has been in the power of the nobility, and especially in the power and under the influence of a close circle of nobles,--uncles, brothers, cousins, and nephews by blood and by marriage. Theoretically, master of church and state, able, indeed, to strike a peasant dead or send a poor wretch to Siberia with none to say him nay, the czar is practically as unable to deprive the aristocracy or church of privileges as is the leader of wolves to stay the pack when the quarry is in full view. It is true that the succession to the throne is fixed by custom and imperial ukase that partake of the nature of a constitution. According to these, the sons of the czar are his heirs in order of age; next to the sons, come his daughters; the czar's wife and children must be members of the Orthodox Greek Church; no member of the royal family may marry without the consent of the czar; children born of marriage without the czar's consent cannot inherit. For all that, the czar is keenly aware that he rules not by consent of the people, but by consent of the nobility and sufferance of the church authorities. Let him desert either for the cause of the people and his heir would ascend the throne. Add to this the means that may be taken to alarm a ruler and to misinform him, and we have conditions to account for the slow progress made by Russia in the direction of popular government.

LEGISLATION. Dating from 1905-7 the Russian government is in theory a constitutional hereditary monarchy. As a matter of fact, the church and nobility govern through the person of a monarch known as a czar, "whose will alone is law," and who continues to bear the title of autocrat of all the Russias. There is a semblance of a legislative body composed of two houses: an upper, known as the Council of the Empire; and a lower, known as the Duma. The Council consists of an equal number of elected members and of members appointed by the emperor. The elected members include representatives of the chambers of commerce of the large cities, representatives of various learned academies and universities, and six members appointed by the holy synod. The other elective members are elected by local legislative assemblies known as zemstvos. The council is convoked annually by the czar. Elected members serve for nine years, one-third being chosen each three years. The Duma consists of members chosen for five years. The members are chosen, not by direct vote, but by provincial and city conventions. The delegates to these conventions are chosen by local assemblies to which persons of certain property qualifications are admitted, as well as one voter for each fifty peasants and one voter for each one thousand workmen or wage earners. Students, soldiers, and policemen may not vote. From an American point of view, one one-thousandth of a vote is a small boon to a workingman, but a beginning has been made. A measure may originate in either house. To become effective, a law must be passed by both houses and receive the assent of the czar. A measure rejected by the czar may not be brought up again during the same session. Bills rejected by one house may be brought forward again by consent of the czar. Members of both houses are privileged from arrest. The third Duma began its sitting in 1907. Members of the Duma are paid $5 a day, and once a year traveling expenses to and from St. Petersburg. The members of the Council are paid $13 a day with a similar allowance for travel.

ADMINISTRATION. The czar is assisted in the administration of the government by four boards of his own appointment. The first of these boards is the council of state, established in 1801. Its duty is to examine proposed laws, and to advise the czar. It is not a legislative, but an advisory body. The second body is called a senate. It is the duty of the senate to publish such laws as may be made. No laws go into effect until published by the senate. It is also a supreme court of justice for the empire. The third board is the holy synod. It has the superintendence of the religious affairs of the empire. It is composed of the highest three officers in the church, the so-called metropolitans of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev, together with the Archbishop of Georgia and certain bishops. The executive officer of the synod is known as the general procurator. The fourth board is a committee of sixteen ministers, including the ministers of foreign affairs, war, navy, interior, finance, justice, public instruction, agriculture, public works, and railways, the procurator of the holy synod, etc.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT. For governmental purposes the empire is divided into provinces and districts, each under its governor, who is held directly responsible to the czar's ministry. So long as a governor is supported by the czar, his will is absolute. There is little opportunity to make complaint. The governor is humane and enlightened, or cruel and despotic, according to his nature. On the other hand, local affairs, such as the punishment of petty offenses, the settlement of quarrels and petty lawsuits, as well as the distribution of agricultural land, are matters that are determined by officers chosen by local peasant assemblies known as mirs. The peasants of each commune or village meet in an assembly something like our town meeting and choose their own petty officers. This legislation of the mir and its officers is subject to revision by a system of courts extending upward. There are 107,676 of these communes or mirs in European Russia. They meet as often as business requires. The communes are formed also into groups corresponding roughly to our counties. The peasants and nobility unite in electing a representative body called a zemstvo, for the consideration of local affairs. Of late years the czar has crippled the zemstvo by permitting the nobility a larger hand in its management. The peasants are taught to believe implicitly that all higher matters belong to the church and to the czar. In his dire distress the peasant laments hopelessly that "God is so high and the czar is so distant."

RACE. Russia is named usually as the leading Slav nation of the world. As a matter of fact, about sixty per cent of the population is Slavic. Moreover, the Slavs have absorbed Lithuanians, Latins, Germans, Armenians, Finns, Lapps, Turks, and Tartars, not to mention other elements, until an estimate of the percentage of Slavic blood in Russia would be a guess. Ethnologists consider the skull the safest guide to a classification of races. They claim that the Russian skull of today is the Russian skull of thirteen centuries ago. There are two ways of accounting for the persistence of the Russian type: one the fact that Slavs migrate by villages, by communities, not as individuals, and by keeping together intermingle and intermarry with other people slowly; the other that the Slavs, being a distinct and pure bred type, have the power, as in the case of thoroughbreds, of assimilating foreign elements, of taking in diverse elements without showing it.

STATISTICS.

Total . . . . . 8,647,657

Population--

Total . . . . . 152,009,300

Ethnic elements--

Mineral Products--

Manufactures--

Agricultural Productions, Average Yield in Bushels--

Domestic Animals--

See Volga; Caspian; Black Sea; Azov; Baikal; St. Petersburg; Moscow; Kiev; Sebastopol; Odessa; Nijni-Nov-Gorod; Poland; Finland; Siberia; Crimea; Peter The Great; Catharine; Czar; Greek Church; Cossacks; Nihilism, etc.

Russian Literature. See Literature; Russian