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.

RUSSIA'S RAILWAYS AND NAVIGABLE RIVERS

The most characteristic physical feature of European Russia is its
_flatness_. In consequence its rivers are almost all navigable, and,
as the most important of them are interconnected by canals, the
facilities for transportation which they afford are very considerable.
Altogether the length of inland navigation thus afforded amounts to
nearly 47,000 miles. This abundance of navigation facilities has
retarded the growth of railways, but there are already 25,756 miles of
finished railway in European Russia alone. The total length of railway
in all Russia built and in building is 34,849 miles. The most
important railway enterp