COURLAND, LIVONIA AND ESTHONIA

(i)

Accommodation

. — The Provinces possess four considerable ports, viz. Revel on the Gulf of Finland, Riga on the Gulf of Riga, and Windau and Libau on the Baltic coast; there are a few others of minor importance. All are affected to some degree by ice in the winter, but this obstruction has been greatly reduced by the use of ice-breakers. Libau, indeed, which is the most southerly port, may be regarded as open all the year round, but Revel, the most northerly, though freer from ice than other harbours of the class on the Gulf of Finland, is frozen up for from three to four months and must be kept open by ice-breakers. Riga, though frozen on the average for 127 days in the year, succeeds by the same means in keeping navigation uninterrupted, save for a few days now and then, when a high wind drives ice-blocks into the channel. At Windau, the river which forms the inner harbour is frozen till the end of March, but ice-breakers keep the outer harbour clear. At all these ports, then, a winter service can be maintained by steamers. 40 Among the lesser ports Dünamünde (Ust Dvinsk) and Pernau are also equipped with ice-breakers.

(ii)

Nature and Volume of Trade

. — The ports of the Provinces are outlets on the west for Russia as a whole; their exports, accordingly, are drawn from a very wide area. For example, much of the timber that was exported from Riga came from Volhynia and White Russia ; much of its flax and flax-seed from the western provinces ; its bacon, which was increasing annually in amount, from the interior ; and its main consignment of wool from central Russia and Siberia. Thus it is because of its great railway facilities to the east and the southeast that in total turnover for 1913 Riga exceeded Petrograd and Kronstadt; the Riga district of itself is neither thickly populated nor very rich in natural resources. The expansion of Libau followed on its direct connection by rail with the chief grain-producing regions of Russia, enabling it to divert an export trade that previously had gone to Königsberg in East Prussia. Windau, again, has no local product of any significance except timber, and is mainly occupied with a transit trade ; it is the principal outlet for the butter industry of Siberia. Its trade greatly increased after the Windau-Moscow Railway extended its railway and port accommodation. The order of importance of the chief ports, as fixed by their export returns, is Riga, Windau, Libau, Revel, Pernau. The last is greatly hampered by the narrow gauge of its railway and unfavourable railway rates, and was on the down grade even before the war.

The same general considerations apply to the import trade, which is mainly in transit to other centres. Riga, however, normally imported more for local industries than did the other ports, and had rather less 44 of transit trade to interior provinces. Of the chemical fertilizers imported into the country as a whole, 32 per cent, came through Riga and 23 per cent, through Libau. Again, of the total Russian import of vegetable dyes, Riga and Libau between them accounted for over 75 per cent. Nearly all the agricultural machinery from the United States entered Russia through Windau, and most of the merchandise reaching that port was in transit to eastern Russia and Siberia. In this respect Windau enjoyed an advantage over Libau, inasmuch as freight charges on the privately owned railway from Windau to Riga were easier than similar charges from Libau.

On the whole about a quarter of the foreign trade of all Russia passed through the four chief ports, Riga, Revel, Libau, and Windau. Riga, indeed, in 1912 accounted for no less than 14J per cent, of the total, a share which in 1913 had risen to 17 per cent.2

Statistics of shipping for the five chief ports are given below in the Appendix (Table I).

Shipping Lines

The British ship-owners or shipping agencies which in normal times maintain a regular service to ports of the Baltic Provinces are as follows :

The United Shipping Company, London, which sends weekly to Riga, Libau, and (in conjunction with the Wilson Line) to Revel.

The Wilson Line, Hull, which sends weekly to Riga and (in conjunction with the Russian North-Western Steamship Co.) to Libau.

Nielsen, Andersen & Co., who send regularly to Libau.

There are also numerous tramp steamers which run as often as cargo offers (usually weekly) from the 45 principal ports of the United Kingdom to Riga, Revel, and Windau.

Of Russian owners there are :

The Baltischer Lloyd at Libau, with one steamer of 4,000 tons.

Helmsing & Grimm at Riga, who own five steamers ranging from 1,400 to 2,400 tons, and are also managers for :

(1) The Riga Schnelldampfschiff-Gesellschaft (two steamers of 1,300 tons).

(2) The Russisch-Baltische Dampfschiff-Gesellschaft (seven steamers of 3,000-4,000 tons).

The Revel Shipping Company, with one steamer of 1,100 tons and some smaller ones.

The Riga Borsen Comité, with one steamer of 1,200 tons.

The Baltic Line (now part of the Russian East Asiatic Company, of Petrograd), with two steamers of 1,700 tons.

The Russian-American Line, with several ships of 7,000 or 8,000 tons taking emigrants from Libau to America.

The Russian North-Western Steamship Company, with two steamers of 1,700 tons.

The West Russian Steamship Company (at Petrograd), with eight steamers of between 3,000 and 4,000 tons.

These services appear to be adequate.

Cable and Wireless Communications

There is a cable from Libau to Bornholm Island (Danish) and Copenhagen ; this is the usual route of communication between the Baltic Provinces and western Europe. There is also a cable fiom Libau to the island of Oland (Swedish). There are purely Russian cables from Revel to Riga and to Helsingfors, and from Libau to Petrograd. 46

There are wireless stations on the Telefunken and Marconi systems, with a working radius of about 120 miles, at Libau, Revel, and Riga; also one, for official use only, at Hapsal.

INDUSTRY

Labour

Supply of Labour ; Emigration

The distribution of employment, as it was at the beginning of this century, can be seen in the following table :

Since the compilation of this table, however, the importance of agriculture has fallen, and that of industry has increased.

There is a large supply of labourers both for country and town. They are industrious and intelligent, and about three-quarters of them are able to read and write, village schools having been established for over a century. The activity of the best peasants has brought 47 nearly all the land designated for peasant land by the Emancipation Act of 1817 (see below, p. 54) into comparatively few hands, and far the greater part of the peasant class finds itself at variance with this select class of peasants, being wholly unable, for want of capital, to rise to the same economic level. Great numbers, therefore, migrate into the towns. Those who remain in the country are hired by the prosperous peasant-farmers or the ‘ barons ’ ; their wages tend to be lowered to 7d. or 8d. a day by the immigration of ignorant and penniless Lithuanians.

In the towns, the immigrant peasants, besides getting higher wages, come under the protection, in theory most complete, of the Russian factory laws. Both they and the country labourers feel themselves a proletariat and read social democratic papers and form political organizations—these being directed almost as much against the prosperous peasant-farmers or the non-German bourgeoisie of the towns as against the German barons and the German bourgeoisie. The proletariat is all the stronger because German and non-German bourgeoisie will not amalgamate ; the latter have now acquired much house property in the towns, which gives them a vote and enables them to master the town councils. The Lutheran clergy, being the nominees of the barons (who mostly appoint Germans), exercise little influence.

Emigration, sometimes forcibly restrained by the Government, is caused mainly by the development of capitalized agriculture, which forces the small farmer and poor peasant to leave the country ; the chief element in the numbers of emigrants is the landless workman. Emigration flows chiefly to the Russian governments of Pskov, Petrograd, Novgorod, and Vologda, to Siberia, and to the United States. In many cases the emigrants become more prosperous than the 48 original inhabitants of the territory in which they settle. They cling closely together, forming quite compact colonies, maintaining their native language and their interest in their country. There is also a considerable emigration of the more intelligent and skilled type of workers and other professional men to Petrograd and other industrial centres. The lower classes, particularly among the Letts, make excellent workmen; in many Russian commercial towns there is a constant, demand for skilled Lett and Esthonian artisans. The inhabitants of the Baltic Provinces make better immigrants than the Lithuanians, but they do not emigrate in nearly such large numbers.

Labour Conditions

Wages are nowhere high, amounting at the best to 200—300 roubles a year in the country, and perhaps to 1-50 roubles a day for unskilled labour in Riga, a large enough sum to secure a satisfactory supply of potatoes and herrings, which constitute a fairly constant food. Peasants still get seed from the barons, and pay with part of the harvest. There are no village or common lands, so that the landless peasants work for hire on the land or find employment in the towns.

Agriculture

Products of Commercial Value

The arable land, which is only about 10 per cent, of the whole in Esthonia and 18 per cent, in Livonia, is about 25 per cent, in Courland. It is now being converted to some extent into pasture-land, as the farmers are unable to compete with those parts of Russia where cereals are more cheaply grown, and have 49 also to meet a somewhat artificial competition from Germany. The products in the order of their importance are rye, which greatly preponderates and is nearly all winter-sown, oats, barley, and wheat, both winter and spring-sown. Wheat is mostly grown in Courland, owing to its higher temperature and to its possession of two fertile tracts — the chief being that round Mitau. The sandy soil of much of Courland is turned to account in kitchen-gardens, of which the produce finds good markets in the large towns of the provinces and in Petrograd. Flax is commercially the most valuable crop and is most extensively grown in Livonia, which spins a considerable part at home and exports the rest as fibre and as linseed. Potatoes are an important product of all the provinces, but they are chiefly used for the distillation of alcohol.

It has been calculated that the cereals of the Baltic Provinces are only enough to supply half their needs, since the industrial population is a very large one. Yet large quantities, especially of the Courland wheat, are exported, and the deficiency is made up in rye imported from Germany or South Russia.

Of other crops, there are several kinds of good forage grasses. Clover and timothy grass (Phleum palustre) are especially common in Esthonia. There is a great opportunity for expansion in this direction, particularly in marshy and peaty areas.

There are vineyards in Livonia, but these are of very small importance.

The following tables give official statistics showing (a) the acreage sown with the principal crops in the three provinces, and (b) the production in tons, for the period 1901-10 (average) and for the year 1914: 50

Live-stock. — For the year 1913 returns are as follows:

The proportion of fine-wool sheep to coarse-wool sheep is exceeded only in the Polish provinces, and only distantly approached in the Russian Steppe; elsewhere the coarse kind predominates enormously. The head of live-stock of every kind per hundred inhabitants is higher than in any other part of Russia. Dairy-farming is carried on energetically. 51

Methods of Cultivation

Much good agricultural work lias been done in the Baltic Provinces. The methods of cultivation are intensive and the best has generally been made of an only moderately fertile soil; in fact, the yield is as good as the best in Russia, and approaches that of Germany. The equipment is good, ample artificial manure is used, and a many-field rotation, which includes root and grass crops, is the rule.

Attempts to drain the numerous marshes have been only partially successful, but the sand-dunes of the Courland peninsula, which threatened to overwhelm the soil, have been successfully consolidated by planting.

Agricultural societies are numerous, those of a province being grouped in a union. As is generally the case throughout the rest of Russia, these societies serve many useful purposes : thus they organize agricultural savings banks, or deal on the co-operative system in dairy products, or purchase agricultural machinery for the use of their members, and promote the use of artificial fertilizers or new varieties of seeds ; they also pay for instructors and organize annual agricultural exhibitions, such as the annual summer show at Dorpat (Yuryev). These societies are the more needed, as the local councils {zemstvos), which elsewhere in Russia perform many of the functions above mentioned, are forbidden in frontier provinces.

While the actual methods of cultivation are satisfactory, the possibilities of the country, so far as Courland and Livonia are concerned, are not considered to have been by any means fully exploited. All German literature dealing with these provinces treats them as suitable for considerable further settlement, and discusses the desirability of planting German small 52 farmers on the soil. Their conclusions are drawn from the two following outstanding facts: (1) The land under plough in Courland and Livonia is at present only 20 per cent, of the whole surface, while in the neighbouring Prussian provinces, where the general fertility of the soil and other conditions are about equal, 50 per cent, of the surface is arable land. (2) The two provinces in question are only half as thickly settled as the neighbouring Prussian provinces.

Even before the war the Russian Government made efforts, with the assistance of the Peasants’ Land Bank, to settle Russian peasants in the Baltic countries. After the Lettish Revolution in 1905, some 15,000 German settlers are stated to have been ‘ quietly ’ introduced into the country. The former Lettish farms were broken up into smaller ones of an average size of 35 to 50 acres. German authorities state that a holding of 25 to 30 acres is the average unit of economic utility in Courland, while in the neighbourhood of the country towns a holding of 7½ to 12½ acres is sufficiently large to maintain the owner.

Forestry

The present condition of the forests in the Provinces is uncertain, but information goes to show that they have been seriously reduced in extent. In 1913 it was reported that the forests along the Dvina were gradually becoming exhausted and that Riga was depending more and more for her export of sleepers upon timber brought by rail from other districts. Extensive cutting in the course of the war, alike for fuel and military purposes, seems to have made further serious inroads upon the forest area. These considerations must qualify the following account, which is based upon conditions prevailing some years before the outbreak of war. 63

Forests form about one-third of the total area, and are especially extensive in Courland. In 1909 Esthonia had 3,400 desyatines3 of State forests and 308,500 of private forests; Livonia had 196,000 desyatines of State forests and 667,000 of private forests ; Courland had 390,000 desyatines of State forests and 430,000 of private forests.

In Esthonia the forests are chiefly coniferous ; in Livonia and Courland they are coniferous and deciduous mixed. Firs and The soft wood which the forests provide in abundance is the raw material of the wood-pulp industry, which is of such great importance in the Baltic Provinces ; the timber also is largely used for fuel, though not in the factories, which use coal. Practically none of the forest is in peasant hands. It is divided between the State and the large proprietors, and on the whole is intelligently regulated and used. The State not only controls its own forests, but it also has a special department, which inspects other forests, to see that 54 they are properly preserved by replanting, and not recklessly exploited. The State periodically assigns portions of the State forests to be leased by auction for felling at a minimum reserve price, which is generally exceeded; some portions, however, are apparently allowed to be felled without payment.

State forests of Esthonia, which are of small extent, are carried on at a considerable loss, but in Livonia and Courland there is a net profit of 3-6 roubles per desyatine. The value of the wooded area is considerably increased by the number of rivers which act as highways for the timber to the various ports. In the early spring the rivers are one mass of rafts and floating logs. Though a great deal has been done to regulate and improve the timber trade, there still remains much to be done in scientific forestry, both for developing future supplies of certain trees, and for making the best and most immediate use of the large existing stocks ; the drainage of marshy areas would have a beneficent effect upon many forest districts.

Land Tenure

Precise information is not attainable. Local authorities familiar with the matter use legal terms which they do not define, while authors outside the Provinces, even if officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, are so totally unfamiliar with a system quite different from their own, that they use misleading terms.

Emancipation in the Baltic Provinces preceded that in Russia proper by nearly half a century, but the terms are not easy to discover. Certainly the peasants of these provinces did not receive pieces of the land (nadyel) with the obligation, customary in other parts of Russia, to pay a certain sum yearly till the landlords’ rights should be bought out; but a certain part of the land (seemingly about one-third) was marked out 55 for the peasant class in general, and on this they were allowed to settle as lessees with the possibility of becoming owners ultimately on favourable terms. The peasants, or rather the most fortunate and energetic section of them, have now become owners of practically all the peasant-land, and have even bought some 2 per cent, to 5 per cent, of the landlords’ or barons’ own land. The barons, however, are no mere idle rent-chargers, simply selling all they can and leasing the rest, as is so often the case in Russia, but energetic and thrifty cultivators and exporters. Their land is highly capitalized, and is cultivated upon the most modern scientific lines. In Courland some 650 of them own and cultivate estates of the average size of 4,000 acres, though a few estates, containing much barren land, vastly exceed this size. Nine noble families in Courland own one-fifth of the available land. It is probable that the area of peasant-land in the Baltic Provinces amounts to between 40 and 43 per cent, of all the land, and that the number of peasant cultivators does not exceed 100,000. The peasant-land suffers from having less scientific organization, though a great deal of help has been given by co-operative societies. The prosperous peasant-farmer class, forming about two-ninths of the whole peasantry, have 60-90 acres on the average and employ perhaps 5 or 6 hired labourers each ; another ninth have very small portions which they cultivate themselves, working harder and earning scarcely more than the hired labourers ; the rest of the peasantry are hired labourers, who often move into the towns, especially as numbers of indigent Lithuanians migrate into the Baltic Provinces and make agricultural wages lower. Such at least is the account given of the Letts, who form the whole peasant population of Courland and half that of Livonia. 56

Fisheries

There is a great deal of sea-fishing, particularly for pilchards, both in the Gulfs of Finland and Riga and in the Baltic. Fishing affords a partial livelihood to a large number of persons in the districts about the western side of Lake Peipus, and is also carried on in Lakes Verro and Angern. Many varieties of fish swarm in the Dvina and to a less extent in the other larger rivers. Salmon of a coarse kind are caught in the estuaries; Narva is famous for its lampreys (minoga) as well. Other kinds of fish are smelt, large sheat-fish (som), a kind of carp (haras), Baltic herring, cod, tench, flounders, eels, and a small fish like the sardine, for a famous conserve of which Revel is noted. Of late sea-fishing has been practised in motor-boats as well as in sailing vessels. Fish-rearing in ponds has been started and is slowly growing ; technical instruction in the subject is given. Sealing forms a livelihood for the Swedish fishermen on the island of Runo.

Most of the fish is consumed locally, either fresh or salted. But canned salmon and the preserved sardines from Revel are exported. The official returns for 1915 gave a total value for these fisheries of 840,000 roubles.

Minerals

The minerals of these provinces are neither extensive nor valuable ; they are nearly all in Courland. Lignite and bog-iron exist, but are no longer worked ; the industries of the country are bound to import large foreign supplies of both iron ore and coal. Limestone is found particularly in Osel, and along the banks of the Dvina, between Stockmannshof and Griitershof, and sandstone appears in ‘ Livonian Switzerland ’ and elsewhere. Chalk, gypsum, and clay occur in the Bauske district of Courland; clay exists also in 57 considerable quantities in the Wesenberg and Weissenstein districts of Esthonia. Of the clay, bricks are made for the use of large towns in the district; the gypsum and chalk are pounded into a fertilizer. North of Revel, at Wasalem, there are marble quarries.

There are immense masses of excellent peat in the low-lying marshy districts, and this is largely used both for fuel and manure.

Amber is found on the coast of Courland, particularly between Polangen and Pillau, either loose upon the shore, where it has been thrown up by the violence of the north and west winds, or in small hillocks of sand near the sea, where it lies in regular strata.

Manufactures

The predominant industries of the Provinces are those concerned with the preparation and working up of food products, including the manufacture of alcohol, beer, spirits, vegetable oils, &c. In consequence of the local supply of barley, there is in normal times a considerable output of beer, amounting to one-fifth of the whole Russian production. In 1912 there were 81 breweries in the province of Livonia alone, while there were 98 factories engaged in the production of alcohol. Riga and Libau accounted for the great majority of these concerns. Flour-milling is another important industry at Libau, which is the principal centre of the grain trade, and milling is carried on also in the neighbourhood of Revel. For these mills wheat and rye used to be imported from Germany, until the Russian Government placed an import duty on these grains. Libau, again, has a considerable bacon-curing business. The preparation of vegetable oils from linseed, &c., is concentrated in Riga, Libau, and Mitau. Tobacco is manufactured mainly at Riga, and in relatively small quantities at Libau and Windau. 58

The textile industries, which come next in importance, are concerned chiefly with cotton and flax products, and the principal centres are Riga and Mitau. These industries include cotton-spinning and the dressing and spinning of flax and hemp. There are cloth factories at Riga, which has gained a reputation therefrom, also at Pernau and Mitau and at Kertel on the island of Dagö.

Third in value of output are the metal industries, confined mainly to Riga, Libau, and Revel, all of which have extensive general engineering shops. The Riga and Revel districts are noted for their great electrical works and power-stations, and they possess also large wagon works. The Libau Steel and Iron Works were, before 1913, enlarging their undertakings and were said to have shipbuilding yards at both Revel and Riga. There are iron-works in the Talsen region on the west side of the Gulf of Riga.

Next in importance are the various chemical and allied industries, including the manufacture of wood-pulp and paper, in which Riga and Revel are again prominent. The most important of the chemical manufactures are those of colours and varnishes at Riga and Libau, and of matches at Riga and Revel. Cellulose is a product of Riga and Revel, and especially of Pernau, where is the largest wood-pulp mill in Russia, that of the Waldhof Sulphite Co., a branch of the great Waldhof paper-mill at Mannheim. Against this concern the other pulp mills found themselves unable to make a stand, so that it has gradually monopolized the trade, while the other mills took to the manufacture of paper from the pulp. The import duty on paper is prohibitive and the local cost of production very high. In Riga and the neighbourhood are five paper-mills, and three more in the province. These have almost a monopoly for this region. 59

Noteworthy among other businesses is the manufacture of leather, in a country where the climatic conditions make footgear a prime consideration. The leather industry itself is distributed between Riga, Mitau, Libau, Revel, and Arensburg on the island of Ösel, but the boot and shoe industry is concentrated in Riga. At Riga also are the works of the Provodnik Company, which had even begun to ship rubber shoes and automobile tyres to the United States. The rubber industry, indeed, before the war was expanding in a very marked degree ; one reason for this is that rubber shoes are very much used in this country even by the poorest class.

Cement is made in Riga, where it was a busy industry in 1913, and at Kunda and Asserien (Azeri) in Esthonia. There are several large veneering firms in Riga, and this trade was developing rapidly at Libau. Hasenpot and Mitau have brick-works. Some glass is made at Fellin in Livonia and at Talun. At Mitau there is a large preserving and canning factory. Dorpat has a furniture factory which is noted for its turn-out and has a special sales agency in Riga.

Livonia, as containing the great industrial city of Riga with 560,000 inhabitants as well as Pernau, is thus the most important industrial region; and it possesses 70 per cent. (100,000) of the total number of factory hands in the province. Courland is next in importance, with 8,300 factory hands, Libau, its chief industrial town, having 91,000 inhabitants. In number of workers the metal industries come first with 28,000, and after these, textiles with 22,000, rubber and chemicals with 10,000, and paper and pulp with 7,000. The figures for industrial production in 1908 (the latest procurable) are given below: 60

Livonia heads the list in every item except textiles. The preponderance which Esthonia shows in this branch is largely owing to the inclusion in the returns for that province of the important industries of Narva. This town is actually in the Petrograd Government of Great Russia, but the mills are manned and carried on mainly by Esthonians, the border line between the two provinces being only just west of the town. Its industry has been exclusively built up on its situation on the Narova river, which gives both power and ample water-supply for other purposes.

In any estimate of the industrial value of Esthonia the inclusion of Narva makes a difference in gross value of not less than 35-40 per cent.

A factory inspector’s report for 1910 gives figures for the number of factories and the workers employed therein, which are reproduced below : 61

The figures for the cotton industry in Courland and Livonia are not included above—an important omission, since cotton-spinning and weaving to the yearly value of at least 6-7 million roubles is carried on in Riga. It has, however, been possible to ascertain the proportion of raw cotton imported into Riga, which has for some years varied between 4 per cent, and 5 per cent, of Russia’s total import from all quarters. Of this a proportion is American cotton destined for Moscow. It is noteworthy that the Russian factory inspector’s report appears to assign Narva to Esthonia.

Power

The use of electricity is growing in Riga factories. In 1913, for the first time, the amount employed for industrial purposes was greater than that used for lighting. Steam-power is employed in distilleries and flour-mills, and also in spinning.

Water-power has so far been much neglected in the 62 Baltic Provinces. The Dvina offers considerable opportunity in this direction ; the flow of water below Dvinsk is calculated to average 550-600 cubic metres per second, and an estimate places the power procurable at half a million horse-power. The principal use of water-power is on the Narova close to the town of Narva, where the textile mills are driven by the power from the falls.

COMMERCE

Domestic

Towns, Fairs, &c.

The domestic trade of the Baltic Provinces is mainly concerned with the distribution of locally raised agricultural products and timber, and their exchange for manufactured and colonial goods. The commodities dealt in are mainly grain (especially barley), flax, linseed, potatoes and potato alcohol on the one hand, and sugar, coffee, groceries, agricultural machinery, tools, and chemical fertilizers on the other.

The number of commercial centres is small, since Riga and Revel in their respective provinces absorb the bulk of the commerce and leave little over for other places. A great deal of the merchandise arriving at and departing from Riga changes hands in the city itself, which ranks high as a mercantile centre. Moreover the town acts as a distributing base for a very large area, and wholesale firms and agencies holding stocks of imported goods are very numerous. A certain amount of the exported timber and flax is locally produced and marketed in Riga. For dry goods Riga is an important centre, and large stocks of cotton and woollen goods and clothing are distributed thence.

Windau is to some extent a mercantile town, but the goods concerned show that its trade is of a transit 63 order, and is not much concerned with local necessities or production.

Revel is the local centre for Esthonia. Its transit trade is its great asset commercially, and although it undoubtedly absorbs such wholesale trade as there is in the province, and a few warehousing firms deal there in dry goods, the country in its rear is so poor as to give small scope for purely local commercial activity.

The remaining seaport towns are in no sense commercial centres.

The inland town of Mitau in Courland, with 30,000 inhabitants, has a grain trade, but its importance has diminished greatly of late years. Its trade is mostly with Riga. Dorpat (Yuryev) in Livonia, which is about twice the size of Mitau, is the second town in the province, but it has small commercial activity.

There are a few fairs in the Baltic Provinces. They are of purely local importance and their turnover is not great. Revel has a wool fair from June 27 to July 3, a cattle fair at the end of September, and a general fair during the last ten days of June. Hapsal has fairs in January and October, and Arensburg (on Osel Island) in July and October.

Organizations to promote Trade and Commerce

The principal commercial organizations are naturally centred in Riga, as the oldest and most wealthy trading town in the Baltic Provinces.

Pride of place is taken by the Riga Exchange Committee, which is an ancient and wealthy corporation with varied interests. The committee consists of eleven elected members, some of whom in the past have been German subjects. It acts in general as a Chamber of Commerce, and all negotiations with bodies representative of trade elsewhere are carried on through it. It has various sub-committees for the 64 purpose of dealing with the interests of separate trades. It acts to some extent as a port authority, and owns the ice-breakers which keep the port open in the winter as well as other utility vessels. The committee, as its title suggests, carries on the Exchange. In this institution, which has a large membership, the timber, grain, flax, coal, and ship-broking businesses are the most active sections. The committee is the owner of the handsome Exchange building, which contains many business offices and public rooms as well as its own premises ; a large staff is employed by it.

Other institutions are the three Guilds, which are of Hanseatic foundation. Practically every trader must belong to one or other of these, which rank in numerical order, although they have nothing to do with the particular trades in which the members are engaged. The Guilds issue and control the licences to trade, which every merchant in Russia must possess and exhibit prominently on his premises. Certain commercial taxes are collected through the medium of the Guilds in the shape of annual fees for membership, which are about £50 for the First and £25 for the Second Guild. To be able to appear on ’Change it is necessary to be a member of the First or Second Guild; the Third Guild is associated more with retail trading. The Second Guild carries on a savings-bank and makes advances to traders. Membership of a Guild is in some sort a guarantee for the status of the individual trader.

A branch of the Petrograd-Baltic Commercial Artel is carried on in Riga and another in Revel. The object of this institution is the supply of employees for positions of trust in banks and other businesses. The employees in question are members of the artel, and the institution guarantees from its extensive funds the property of those who employ its members, in so far 65 as they are individually responsible. The artel, which is a deeply-rooted trade institution in Russia, exercises an influence for which there does not appear to be any parallel elsewhere.

The Baltic Agricultural Association exists to forward the interests of the Lettish farmers. It markets a great deal of dairy produce and is interested in the purchase and distribution of seed, artificial manures, agricultural machinery and tools, &c., of which it had well-stocked depots in Riga and other centres.

There exists a Manufacturers’ Union, which generally fosters the interests of industry. One of its functions is the collection and issue of trade statistics for Riga and the neighbouring provinces.

There are, however, no examples of associations of particular trades. This lack of co-operation is attributed by those who know the conditions to the large proportion of Jewish traders, who are disinclined to coalesce formally.

Revel possesses a Chamber of Commerce, but Libau does not appear to have one.

Foreign Interests and Economic Penetration

Foreign commercial interests are represented only in the seaports. A number of British firms and individuals resident in Riga and Revel are concerned with the coal import trade. The import of agricultural machinery into Riga is also a valuable trade, for which makers in Great Britain, America, Sweden, and Germany compete. The more noted firms, especially those which deal in heavy and complicated machinery, frequently have their special agencies served by their own nationals. The more important export branches are similarly served, principally by British and Germans who are interested in the timber, flax, butter, and egg trades. The import of luxury goods, general and electrical 66 machinery, dye-wares, artificial manures, &c., is commercially in the hands of Germans. While many of these belong by birth to the Baltic Provinces, a large number nevertheless are subjects of the German Empire.

The only foreigners interested in the internal trade of the Baltic Provinces are also Germans. The bulk of these are no doubt Baltic Germans, born and brought up in the country ; but a small proportion in this case also are certainly German subjects.

The high duties placed on foreign manufactures by Russia led to the establishment in the country of branch factories by large foreign concerns which were unwilling to forgo their Russian trade. A share of this penetration from abroad reached the Baltic Provinces, centring in Livonia. One large cotton factory in Riga is the property of a Scottish firm which has mills in several parts of Russia. British interests are also concerned in a cotton mill in Mitau.

Penetration of this kind is, however, peculiarly the province of German concerns. Notable examples are the Allgemeine Elektricitats Gesellschaft, of Berlin, in electrical machinery, Messrs. Siemens-Schuckert, of Berlin, in general and electrical engineering, and Leopold Cassella, of Frankfort, in aniline dyes and colours. These firms all have manufacturing branches in Riga.

Other foreign firms in Riga are a German steam-engine works with head-quarters at Dahlbruch, employing, in Riga 926,000 roubles, or half its capital; a wire works with head-quarters in Hamm, employing 1,700,000 roubles (about a quarter of its capital) in Riga ; an Austrian copper-cap and cartridge works with head-quarters in Prague, employing 250,000 roubles (one-third of its capital) in Riga ; an English company manufacturing gramophones and accessories, employing 600,000 roubles (one-tenth of its capital) in Riga. 67

In Libau a German aniline colour works from Berlin employs 2 million roubles, equal to about one-third of its capital, and the gasworks are the property of a Kiel concern which employs 277,000 roubles, equal to almost half its capital.

A large wood-pulp mill at Pernau is a branch of a Mannheim concern (see p. 58).

At Revel the tramways are Belgian-owned, with a capital of 450,000 roubles.

Another method of economic penetration is the settlement of Livonia and Courland by German small farmers, which had taken place to some extent before the war, and is advocated now on a larger scale (see pp. 51-52). The idea is to increase the flax and hemp production in the Baltic lands for the supply of German industry, relieving Germany proper from the necessity of cultivating much of this crop.

Foreign

Exports

At Riga, which has a larger business than any of the other ports, the total value of the exports in 1913 amounted to £23,000,000 ; of this figure more than two-thirds were accounted for under the heads flax and hemp, skins and hides, wood (in various forms), and eggs. In almost all the items Riga was very far ahead of the other ports ; indeed for hides and skins it was the most important centre in Russia, having shipped about 39 per cent, of the total Russian export. It held much the some position in respect of fibres, 68 sending out nearly one-half of the total Russian export of flax and tow, and about one-third of that of hemp. Of cereals also (oats and wheat), of seeds (linseed, aniseed, and clover) and of oilcake, Riga handled larger quantities than any of the other ports of the Provinces. Libau, however, competes closely with Riga as the other principal grain-exporting harbour of the Provinces ; but the grain trade is no longer of first importance, all the Baltic ports together having exported in 1911 only about one-sixth of the total Russian supply. Riga is by a long way first in the amount of eggs exported, £3,700,000 in value in 1913 as against £80,000 for Libau and £66,000 for Windau. On the other hand, Windau, owing to its extensive cold-storage accommodation, is far ahead of Riga, Libau, and Revel in the export of butter, accounting for over £5,000,000 worth in a total for the Provinces of about £5,500,000. In the export of meat, mostly bacon, as of game and poultry, Windau is inferior to Riga and Libau, while in these commodities Revel has fallen almost to insignificance through its lack of cold storage. On the other hand, Revel has an important export under the head of veneer and joinery, and also exports asbestos in bulk and a comparatively small amount of copper. There are various minor exports, such as tar and turpentine from Riga and Libau, and mineral oils from Riga and Revel. The foreign trade of Hapsal is insignificant; its chief exports are grain and spirits. A fuller list of goods and values for the year 1913 will be found in the Appendix (Table II).

For the five ports, Hapsal being excluded, the total exports for 1913 amounted to about £39,000,000, the shares in round numbers being Riga £23,000,000, Windau £7,800,000, Libau £5,100,000, Revel £2,400,000, and Pernau £480,000. Variations from year to year 69 may be expected when the export trade depends so largely on crops and products of various kinds, which are subject to seasonal influences. Thus drought diminishes the output of flax, &c., and an unfavourable winter, that is one with less than the usual amount of frost, handicaps the transport of timber. A general depression in the agricultural and industrial trades affected the returns for 1913. This was markedly so in the case of Windau, where a very small part of the trade is of local origin, and that, too, being timber, suffered from a bad winter. The grain trade of Libau similarly diminished in part from the bad harvest of 1912.

Imports

One feature in the decline of Windau was a decrease in the import of agricultural machinery, which fell from £1,898,600 in 1911 to £1,569,500 in 1913, having formed 71 respectively 65 per cent, and 80 per cent, of the total import .in these years. This decrease was seen also in a less degree in the case of Riga, and seems to have marked a tendency observable in Russia as a whole, the first-fruits of a Government premium offered in 1912 for agricultural machines constructed in home factories. On the other hand, the import of industrial machinery and parts has shown a continuous increase at Riga since 1910. In the total machinery imports, which constituted the most important item in the import trade of the provinces in 1913, Windau stood second to Riga, the respective values being £1,670,000 and £3,356,000, while at Libau the figure was £820,000, at Revel £597,600, and at Pernau £22,800.

At all the ports the greatest demands were for machinery, coal and coke, and raw and partially manufactured materials. Much of the coal was for railway purposes ; but the shrinking supply of cheap timber resulted in a demand for fuel for domestic heating purposes, which had to be met by the import of coal and of patent fuel in the form of briquettes. The import of the last-mentioned material promises expansion, provided the cost can be reduced and difficulties of harbour storage overcome. Of raw and partly manufactured materials Riga and Revel substantially monopolized the import in 1913. Cotton, for example, is the principal item in the list for Revel at a value of £3,884,000, and though Riga took but a third of this amount, the imports to Windau and Libau were in comparison inconsiderable. An even greater proportion of rubber and caoutchouc was taken by the two former ports, Riga importing to the value of £2,225,900, and Revel £1,384,000, while the remainder, which went to Windau, stood at only £8,853, a great drop from £91,480 in the year before. Wool and woollen goods, jute, and metal goods were similarly 72 shared between Riga and Revel. To these ports went also the great bulk of the metals ; Windau an^l Libau had a relatively small share of the iron, steel, and lead.

Chemical manures form an important class of imports. They are common to all the ports, and varied little in quantity between 1912 and 1913, except at Libau, where there was a decline. Revel accounted for 32 per cent, of the total import into Russia, and Libau for 23 per cent. Herrings are another common article of import, and one that is steady in amount. Cocoa, coffee, and tea all showed an increase on the whole. Copra, though it declined at Riga, showed increase in value for both Revel and Libau. Dye-woods and tanning materials are steadily increasing in importance, especially at Libau.

Additional details will be found in the Appendix (Table IV).

The greater part of the import of coal continues to come from the United Kingdom, but a special feature at Riga in 1913 was a largely increased import of Westphalian coal; Germany, too, supplied the briquettes to that port from Stettin. But at Pernau the whole of the coal and patent fuel that entered came from the United Kingdom.

In the supply of machinery and parts at Revel, in 73 1913, the United Kingdom for the first time fell below Germany, from which country, too, electrical supplies and accessories very largely came. Nevertheless, two-thirds of the machinery for Libau came from the United Kingdom. Sweden has made a considerable advance in the supply of agricultural machinery, specializing in harvesting and dairy machinery, and had taken the lead in the import of agricultural implements as early as 1911. Of the machinery imported into Riga the agricultural machinery was from the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Germany, the industrial machinery from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden, the order being that of relative importance. At Pernau the import of machinery was monopolized by Germany and Sweden.

Germany supplied in 1913 most of the total import of chemical manures, drugs, and chemicals, and a few heavy chemicals, e.g. nitrate of soda, kainit, and potash salts, came exclusively from that country. At Pernau, however, half the import of chemical manures (chiefly basic slag) came from the United Kingdom.

Of the increasing shipments of rubber and caoutchouc, the amount from British ports had doubled at Revel since 1912, and rose to 75 per cent, of the total. On the other hand, more cotton was forwarded to this port by Germany than by the United Kingdom. Denmark and the Netherlands come much below these other sources in the matter of imports. It is to be noted that the United Kingdom can claim an even more preponderating share of the total import trade of the Provinces than of the exports, and that here also Germany is her principal competitor; at Riga the share of the United Kingdom in 1913 was 44 per cent., that of Germany 35 per cent. Particulars of the import trade at the other chief ports in the year 1913 will be found in the Appendix (Table V). 74

In addition to its oversea imports Riga receives a considerable amount by land. In 1913 over £1,100,000 worth of goods entered by rail from the western frontier, and goods to the value of nearly £70,000 came from Finland.

FINANCE

Public Finance

The revenue receipts of the three Baltic Provinces rose between 1906 and 1910 as follows :

The total for the three Provinces amounts to about one-twentieth of the annual revenue of European Russia.

The Baltic Provinces have no zemstvos, and therefore no zemstvo taxation ; but there are local taxes raised for local purposes by the Government, or, in towns, by the municipalities. According to the latest accessible returns (1910), the Government raised in this way the following amounts :

The local taxes levied by the towns in 1910, with the local debts, were as follows :

Banking7

Russian banks are either State or private institutions. The opening of private banks, including those guaranteed by towns — a very characteristic institution of Russia — requires the permission of the Government; their aims and methods must be specified, that is, the purposes which they are instituted to serve, the length of the credits they grant, and the guarantees they exact. Finally, their working is controlled, though less rigidly than formerly, by general or private statutes.

Of State banks with branches in the Baltic Provinces there are :

(1) The Imperial Bank of Russia, which has branches at Riga, Revel, Windau, Libau, and Hapsal. It has the sole right of issuing notes ; it is the agent of the Treasury and also does general banking, including Government advances to the classes that live by the land.

(2) The Peasants’ Land Bank, which is intended to assist with small advances for buying land or agricultural machinery, &c. During the period 1908-14 it helped peasants to buy an average annual amount, in Esthonia of 29,600 acres, in Courland 20,890 acres, and in Livonia 13,900 acres.

(3) The State Savings Banks. These institutions are under the control of a committee appointed by the Imperial Bank, which audits their accounts. The figures in reference to them for 1913 arenas follows :

Of private commercial banks the following have branches in these provinces :

The Azov-Don Commercial Bank, in Riga, Revel, and Libau; the Banque Russo-Asiatique, in Riga and Libau ; the Russian Bank for Foreign Trade, in Riga ; the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank, in Riga; the Moscow Commercial Bank, in Libau ; the Banque de Commerce Russo-Francjaise, in Revel; the Union Bank, in Libau and Revel; the Russian Commercial and Industrial Bank, in Windau ; the Petrograd International Bank of Commerce, in Windau.

Of banks that confine their operations to the Baltic Provinces, the chief in Riga (where there is a Bankers’ Clearing House) are the Rigaer Borsen-Bank (capital 3,500,000 roubles, reserve 2,200,000 roubles, founded in 1863) ; the Rigaer Commerz Bank, with branches in Revel, Libau, Pernau; and the Municipal Bank (capital in 1913, 2,100,000 roubles, reserve 500,000 roubles). The last-named is guaranteed by the town rates, and is under supervision of a Government Department. Revel has the Revaler Bank Comptoir and Hoeppener’s Bank ; Libau, the Libauer Borsen-Bank and Salomonowitsch’s Bank; Windau has the Junkers’ Commercial Bank, with branches at Pernau and Dorpat; Dorpat has the Jurjewer Bank ; Mitau has Westerman’s Bank.

Mutual credit institutions have made great headway of late years in the Baltic Provinces. They are usually organized on the principles of Schulze-Delitzsch or Raiffeisen, and they supply local credit for agriculture, small industries, &c.

Private loan and savings banks also enjoy great popularity and are increasing their membership and capital at a rapid rate. 77

Influence of Foreign Capital

In banking and the financing of trade and industry foreign capital is mainly represented by certain well-known joint-stock banks, which are named in the list of private commercial banks above (p. 76). These banks, with various Russian titles, some implying activity in special territories, are well known to draw a considerable portion of their resources from German financial centres ; and their policy is partly directed towards financing such branches of industry and such concerns as will divert the profits into German channels.

The extent to which foreign capital is interested in Baltic industry has to some extent been indicated already (pp. 65, 67). The proportion of foreign capital to the whole is small, but its influence is much greater than would appear from the number of concerns involved. It is exercised mainly through the group of commercial banks already mentioned, but its volume and location are difficult to trace or to state in figures.

Principal Fields of Investment

The development of the flax and hemp industries would appear to offer one of the best forms of investment in the Baltic Provinces. A great deal of the raw material produced in or near the Provinces appears to be exported unworked, but with a cheap and fairly efficient labour supply much more might be manufactured locally. In regard to other industrial ventures much depends on the fiscal system under which the Provinces will be regulated in the future. Up to the present the success of industry has depended on the Russian market being a free one, and also upon the fact that the technical and labour forces engaged are decidedly superior to those generally competing with them inside the Russian tariff wall. Should Baltic industries be subject to a Russian tariff in the future, it is hard to 78 see how they can continue, as, with the high costs for imported fuel and raw material, they could not compete with those of neighbouring western states. On the other hand, if the Baltic countries should be included in the German customs union, their position would still be very unfavourable compared with that of other districts in the union. Therefore, before anything authoritative can be suggested as to investment in industry, the final political settlement of the country must be awaited; but the former great prosperity of the textile and engineering and allied trades justifies the hope that a free investment of capital would see a good return, provided only that access to suitable markets is secured. The view so often expressed, that the Provinces of Livonia and Courland would bear much closer agricultural settlement, makes it likely that land banks and institutions which loan money for general agricultural purposes may look forward to a profitable period.

GENERAL REMARKS

Even without the complications brought about by the European war, the Baltic Provinces were in an extremely disturbed state, and were the scene of destructive revolutionary struggles. The forces engaged were : the Russian authorities, who were endeavouring to russify the whole country, taking different means at different times during the last 25 years ; the Lettish and Esthonian populations, which formed the proletariat, and were struggling for land possession and better industrial conditions ; the Germans, who were the employers of labour in country and town, the suppliers of technical industrial skill, and the most cultured people in the Provinces. The antagonism between these forces and their respective aims has 79 prevented latterly a normal development of economic conditions. The recovery of Riga from the destruction caused by the Lettish Revolution of 1905 was nevertheless rapid, and the city became again prosperous. At the present day, industry of all kinds, and to a large extent agriculture, are in a state of suspension, and continuity has been quite broken. The future prosperity of the Provinces depends on entirely new factors. The seaports, of course, were all necessary to the development of the Provinces, and should become again active resorts of shipping. Libau alone may suffer somewhat, as its use was artificially stimulated by the Russian Government, and, under new conditions, some of its former traffic, especially to and from Poland, may be diverted west. Agriculture should, according to general report, be capable of much expansion ; the local production of bread-stuffs should, to a much greater extent than formerly, supply the needs of the population, and there should be a great increase in the crops of flax, hemp, and fodder. The forest wealth is reported greatly damaged during the war, and many years must elapse before its former value is restored. The resumption of industry is to be hoped for, but the total evacuation of plant and the dispersal of labour and technical forces which has taken place in Riga and other towns during the war does not allow of any very high expectations for the immediate future. Everything depends upon the equitable political settlement of the Provinces, and their inclusion in a fiscal unit which will allow of their reasonable development, and above all of their freedom of access to their natural hinterland in Central Russia.

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1	It must, of course, be understood that the conditions described in the text in the present tense are in general those obtaining before the war.
2	For further details, see below under Exports and Imports no 67 and 70.
3	One desyatine = 2 · 7 acres.
4	Factories include places employing at least 16 workers or using motor power.
5,6	No returns available.
7	It should he noted that most banks in the Provinces have been dissolved or disabled during the war.