Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/88

The great growth had come in spite of deficient transportation, of ignorant and debilitated labor, and of the meager purchasing power of the mass of the people. Russia has made much headway in recent years in remedying the first defect. From 1892 to 1902 more than 17,000 miles of railroad were opened. Within the Russian Empire, not including Manchuria, 4,100 miles of railway were under construction in 1901. With his early training, M. Witte naturally made railroad development a vital part of his great and vigorous policy of national upbuilding—a policy which was largely instrumental in this industrial and commercial expansion. In ten years the passenger traffic on the Russian railroads has multiplied almost five-fold and the freight traffic more than eight-fold.

But there is a deeper and more radical difficulty. It is suggested in the observations of Prince Mestschersky, the bold and brilliant editor of the Grashdanin, of St Petersburg. Writing in 1901, he said: "It would be more logical for the development of mills and works to begin with the development of the people, so as to create a consumer, than to begin with the development of factories, mills, and railroads for a people wanting in the very first elements of prosperity." His conception is that the hope of Russia lies in an improved condition and advancement of the peasantry. The weakness of the Russian system is in the backwardness of agriculture. The agriculturists constitute 78 per cent of the population, and for the most part are surrounded by the most unfortunate conditions. Their implements are of the most primitive character. The crop yield per cultivated des siatin is lower than in any other country in Europe. Belgium, which ranks first, produces an average of 128.5 poods of grain per des siatin, a pood being equal to 36 pounds, while the Russian average is only 38.8 poods. Even this disparity does not indicate the full gravity of the case, for Russia produces less grain per head than is consumed per head in other countries, and at the same time she is the second grain-exporting country in the world.

This fact tells the story of her own deprivation, and it is emphasized by some particular inquiries. It is estimated that the people on the farms require from 20 to 25 poods of grain per head for their support and that of their live stock during the year, and these figures are much below the consumption in other lands. Yet it often happens that in a considerable number of provinces the harvest is far less than even this meager requirement. The result is that Russia is frequently afflicted with famines, that the consumption of bread has fallen off about 70 per cent, and that the number rejected from the military service through physical disqualification has increased 14 per cent within seven years. During the great famine of 1891, which extended over ten provinces, more than a million horses perished, leaving many of the peasants with no means of cultivating the land. The crop failure of 1898 did not cover so wide an area, but it was even worse where it prevailed. It left over 12,000,000 people in abject destitution and more than 8,000,000 suffering from actual famine. In 1900 and 1901 famine again desolated the land. All this entails chronic impoverishment. The arrears in the redemption of the land on the part of the former serfs are constantly increasing, and the economic conditions which affect them are growing worse.

The amelioration of this situation lies at the foundation of the present agitation for political reform and enlarged freedom. Undoubtedly, the popular restiveness has been quickened by the war and its demonstration of the defects of the existing system; but the recent