FOREIGN REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS. British vs. Russian Trade in Persia.—An article in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie Commerciale, Paris, Vol. XX, Nos. 4, 5, and 6, is summarized as follows: A marked decrease is noted in the commerce of British India with Khorassan. In 1896-97, the value of the English exports from Bombay to Mashad was only some $437,900; less than half that of the preceding year. Tea and indigo were formerly the chief articles of export. In 1895, Bombay sent to Mashad $184,927 worth of tea; in 1896, only $53,532, and of this figure $3,796 represents the value of the tea sent to Russian territory. The same is true of indigo; the imports have fallen from $109,010 to $16,546. This condition of affairs is explained as follows: (1) The customs regulations in force along the whole extent of the transCaspian frontier prohibit the admittance of European and British-Indian goods to the markets of Central Asia, with the exception of tea, indigo, muslin, spices, Indian shoes, precious stones, and coral; and these articles are subject to high duties. (2) Russia has succeeded in having these articles transported by way of Batum, thus aiding the Trans-Caspian Railway. (3) The Government of the Czar is trying to monopolize the commerce of eastern and southern Persia. Subsidies are granted to traders, good roads have been made in the trans-Caspian territory, consular agents are installed in several districts of Khorassan, and the emigration of Russian merchants to different points of the province is encouraged. (4) The Russians trade only for cash, thus risking nothing, while the Indian merchants, following their ancient customs, give credit. The Russians are not only extending their traffic in the Khorassan; they have penetrated almost to the frontiers of India, so that in the very places where the English merchants ought to be masters of the market, Russian goods are sold. In addition, the Russians are doing their best to induce the Indian merchants established at Bokhara to give up all relations with Bombay and to buy the Chinese green tea, imported by the land route. To facilitate the sale of cotton goods, the Russian Government gives to exporters heavy bounties, sufficient to pay the cost of transportation, so that the cottons of Moscow and Nizhni Novgorod are sold in Kashgarie at the same price at which they are delivered from the manufacturers. Under such conditions, it is evident the Anglo-Indian merchants can not compete; and the Government of India will, it is probable, take steps to aid them. The building of the Trans-Caspian Railway along the northeastern districts of Persia has been of the greatest advantage to Russia. Economic Conditions in Siberia.-The following extracts are from a communication to the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie Commerciale, Paris, Vol. XX, Nos. 4, 5, and 6: Until very recently, Siberia, so long unknown, has had an entirely artificial exist ence. The Russians themselves were almost as ignorant of its resources as the outside world, and regarded it merely as a country of transit; they knew that goods from the Far East, especially teas, passed through it, meeting on the way some few European products and, above all, long trains of convicts and exiles. The work on the great Trans-Siberian Railway has been the first germ of the economic development of the country. Hitherto, Siberia has been inhabited only along the caravan route; a few miles on either side not the slightest trace of settlements or of cultivation could be found. The caravan route extends from Mongolia to the Ural, with branch roads to the Amur, Lena, and Altai. This road, like almost all others in Russia, has been made by the travel for centuries of men and animals; it is only a few years ago that the Government thought of keeping it in repair. Since then, villages have sprung up along the route, partly due to individual and partly to Government initiative. The railway doubtless has affected this business of overland transport; but it is far from having injured it fatally, as the long files of wagons and sleighs, loaded with merchandise, passing parallel to the iron road, attest. There are two reasons for this the high tariff of the railway, together with its still primitive organization, and the necessity for the peasants to find employment for their horses, especially during the long winter months. The rivers afford the least expensive means of transportation, since boats have been forced by competition to lower their tariff. Unfortunately, the great Siberian rivers (except the Amur) flow from south to north. It has been proposed to unite them laterally by means of canals. The canal from the Ob to the Yenisei, not yet completed, follows the Kiète, a tributary of the Ob, for about 310 miles, then crosses a great lake, and by means of a cut nearly 5 miles in length joins a tributary of the Yenisei. This last river is reached about 155 miles north of Yenisséisk. When the innumerable rapids of the River Angara have been made navigable, the journey from Oust Kiakhta, on the Mongolian frontier, to Tioumen, at the foot of the Ural, a distance of 3,604 miles, will be made by way of the Sélenga, the largest tributary of Lake Baikal, the lake itself, the Angara River, which unites the lake with the Yenisei, the Ob Canal, the Ob River, and lastly the River Irtych. steam. The third means of transportation is the railway. It was not projected for the development of Siberia, but to seek on the Chinese coast a port free from ice, which nature has refused to the Baltic Sea. This railway is actually finished as far as Tomsk. The first express left St. Petersburg the 1st of April, 1898, composed of eight cars (sleeping, parlor, and dining cars), lighted by electricity and heated by Two trains a month are expected to make the distance, 1,939 miles, in six days. Singularly enough, this railway, which was not considered a commercial enterprise, has proved of great benefit to trade. Except troops and criminals, it was feared that there would be few passengers; the truth is that the number of trains might be doubled or tripled, as thousands of tons of merchandise are waiting for transportation. The road to Krasnoiarsk, the easiest of construction, is the most useful from a commercial point of view. In consequence of the development of traffic, the Russian Government has established a custom-house at Iruktsk, through which the teas and silks from the Far East must pass. Cereals grow abundantly in Siberia, and this trade is in the hands of the English and is carried on chiefly by the great rivers and the Arctic Ocean. Russia protects herself against Siberian grain by heavy railroad freight rates. Frozen meat is sent to St. Petersburg; wools, tallow, butter, sheepskins, leather, and furs are also exported. Valuable furs are not found, however, in the radius of the railway. The mineral productions include salt, gold, iron ore, coal, and plumbago. Copper and other metals are mined on a very small scale. Iron and coal are found everywhere; gold is also so universal that it might be called a Siberian specialty. In the basin of the Lena, and in all of the northeastern part of Siberia, there are said to be beds so rich that they might rival those of Alaska. Salt is unequally distributed; it abounds in western Siberia. In the district of Akmolinsk, on an average seven or eight out of every ten borings yield salt water. The commercial relations of Europe with Siberia are capable of great expansion. It is a country where time has no value and whose people have no expensive tastes. The provinces of the Amur and of the seacoast are considered by Russia of great importance. They have been colonized officially, at great expense; and for a long time all foreigners, unless naturalized, were forbidden the acquisition of real estate. Recently, these regulations have been changed; the doors of this colony are open, and the influx of foreign capital is favored. All the trans-Baikal region and the basins of the Amur and Lena are free from duty. Sugar, tobacco, wine, and alcohol alone pay duty at Vladivostock or Nicolaevsk. To gain this market, we should send representatives to study conditions, and a direct line of steamers should be established. Up to the present time the Germans, Americans, and English alone have profited by this market. Railways in China.-The Revue du Commerce Extérieur, Paris, July 16, 1898, gives the following list of railways in China now in operation or in course of construction, as well as those for which concessions have been granted by the Chinese Government: (1) Line from Shanghai to Woosung, completed in 1873, but abandoned afterwards on account of the opposition of the people. (2) Line from Tientsin to Shen hai Kwang (at the eastern extremity of the Chinese wall). This is nearly 173 miles long and has been in operation since 1890; it will be extended to Vladivostock and connect with the Trans-Siberian Railway. (3) Line projected from Stretensk, in the trans-Baikal government, to Vladivostock, traversing Manchuria. (4) Line from Pekin to Tientsin, 791⁄2 miles long, opened to traffic in May, 1897. (5) Line projected from Pekin to Hankau, granted to a Franco-Belgian syndiThe town of Hankau has a population of about 3,000,000. cate. (6) Line projected from Pekin to Toi-Yuen, the capital of the province of Showsin. This line will have a total length of 279%1⁄2 miles, and will open up the southwestern part of the Empire. German Interests in Guatemala.-The Moniteur Officiel du Commerce, Paris, March 31, 1898, says: For years, the exports of Guatemala have far exceeded the imports. In 1896, they represented a sum of 23,085,000 piasters ($11,373,980), against 9,143,000 piasters ($4,503,756) in imports. The situation at first sight would appear to be advantageous to Guatemala, and yet the annual deficits show the contrary. This abnormal situation is due to the fact that most of the large coffee plantations belong to German stock companies, and the profits produced by the capital employed go to Germany under the form of dividends. German interests in Guatemala are valued at more than 150,000,000 marks ($35,700,000). The number of German inhabitants does not exceed 500. III. THE QUEST FOR EXPORT MARKETS..... IV.-NEW FIELDS FOR UNITED STATES MANUFACTURES.. V.-AMERICAN MANUFACTURES ABROAD..... VI.—UNITED STATES SHOES IN England............................... XI. TRICHINE: GERMAN INSPECTION OF HOG PRODUCTS........Barnes XII. THE COLONIES AND PROTECTORATES OF FRANCE............Gowdy 203 XIII.—SUBSIDIES OF THE FRENCH LINE OF STEAMERS.................... Thackara 209, 312 RUSSIAN PETROLEUM INDUSTRY.................................... XXIV. GERMAN EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES........ XXV.-EXPORTS OF GERMAN ANILINE COLORS......... XXVI. THE LUMBER TRADE OF BELGIUM.................................. XXXIII.-COPYRIGHT LAW OF MEXICO........... XXXIV.-DUTIES IN GUADELOUPE: SCARITY OF MEAT............................ XLI. CANNED MEATS IN MADAGASCAR.. XLII.—JAPANESE HARBOR REGULATIONS FOR OPEN PORTS.............................Buck XLIII-ELECTRIC RAILWAYS IN SHANGHAI.......... XLIV. MINING AND RAILWAY CONCESSIONS IN CHINA...................... XLV.—REGULATIONS FOR INLAND NAVIGATION IN CHINA........ S XLVI.-WATCH TRADE IN JAPAN....... XLVII. QUININE IN JAVA..................... XLVIII.-CIGARETTES IN KOREA.... XLIX. INDUSTRIES IN THE NEW HEBRIDES... L.-AMERICAN FURNITURE IN ENGLAND.. LI. AMERICAN SALESMEN IN EUROPE...... LII.-INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES IN SPAIN............................... CALCIUM CARBIDE AND ACETYLENE IN FRANCE..................... LXIII.-LAWS GOVERNING THE MANUFACTURE OF GLUCOSE............................... LXIV. LEATHER IN CAPE COLONY........ LXV.-SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC...................................... LXVI.--NOTES (Commerce of France in 1898-The Staffordshire Pot- teries-Electric Street Railways in Europe-The World's Wine |