Despite Russia's resources in farm products and in minerals, yet,
owing to the ignorance and degradation of her people, she is a poor
country, and her exports are always more than her imports. Her total
wealth per inhabitant is only $305, as against $780 per inhabitant
for Germany, $1260 for France, and $1510 for Great Britain and
Ireland. Her total foreign trade is only $5 per inhabitant, whereas
the foreign trade of her neighbour, Germany, is $35 per inhabitant.
Her total internal trade is only $50 per inhabitant, whereas even in
Greece the internal trade is $65 per inhabitant, while in Germany it
is $130 per inhabitant, and in the United States $215 per inhabitant.
The reason of all this is the lack of energy and industry in the
people. Their earnings per inhabitant average only 12 cents a day.
Another reason is the lack of modern labour-saving devices. Comparing
inhabitant with inhabitant, Russia has only one sixth of the steam
power which Germany has. One half of all the manufactures of the
country are produced domestically--that is, without motive power or
machinery. No industry in Russia is fully up to the needs of the
people when judged by the standards of other countries. For example,
notwithstanding the severity of the climate, only two pounds of raw
wool per inhabitant are consumed in Russia's woollen manufactures, as
against seven pounds consumed in Germany, and the total annual value
of all manufactures is only $20 per inhabitant, as against $56 in
Germany, and $88 in Britain. Notwithstanding these unfavourable
comparisons, the factory industries of Russia are making progress. In
seventy years the textile factories have increased fivefold and in
thirty years twofold. In sixty years the cotton-manufacturing industry
has increased sevenfold, and in fifteen years twofold. Until recently
Russia exported wool. Now she imports more wool than she exports.
Ninety years ago in Russia iron was dearer than bread, and the
peasants used wooden plough-shares and left their horses unshod. Now
the consumption of hardware, though still per inhabitant the smallest
in Europe, is yet in the aggregate the fourth in Europe, although even
so it is only two ninths what it is in Britain. Beet-root
sugar-making is also a new industry, and 500,000 tons are made
annually, the number of sugar works being 235. The beet-root crop of
the country amounts to nearly 6,000,000 tons annually. But the
consumption of sugar per inhabitant is only seven pounds annually, as
against eighteen pounds per inhabitant in Germany. A universal
industry throughout Russia is TANNING, and Russia leather, with its
fragrant birch-oil odour, is a highly prized commodity the world over.
But the amount manufactured is only 114,000 tons yearly, and the
quantity exported is inconsiderable.