11. "In the few instances under my observation, a firmer grasp of geographical problems is the result."

12. "Makes better teachers in geography."

13. "The mind has been opened to view large things and to view small things in a large way."

14. "In a few high schools where the teachers have had special preparation for their work, I find that the pupils have acquired a well organized body of facts."

15. "The results stand second to none as a first year high school subject. Give it a full year with an enthusiastic teacher and you put the boys and girls in touch with more valuable notions about the common things of life in broad outlines than is possible in any other subject. Pupils like it. They have their eyes opened to a helpful interpretation of the common things about them. They enjoy their walks, excursions, and travels better. They see and appreciate relationship among wind belts, rainfall, vegetation, and population and industry."

16. "Doubtless there are results, but these are not tangible except in an occasional student. I sometimes think the poor work of students (some of them) having previous preparation may be in part due to an attempt to slide through on what they have retained of the past work, coupled with a spirit of rebellion at having to do this work over again (though they can make little progress unless they do)."

17. "Occasionally a man enters my classes, whose interest has been aroused by his course in physiography, but it usually takes the form of a belief that he has learned all that is to be obtained."

18. "Usually the only tangible thing in evidence is a superficiality and conceit of knowledge. The exceptions are individual."

19. "I am not prepared to speak positively, but it is my opinion that because of the usually poor preparation of high school teachers for teaching physiography, it does more harm than good."

R

COMMERCIAL RUSSIA

(From Special Consular Report No. 61)

TRANSPORTATION

USSIA'S vast territorial extent and the bulky character of the products

entering into its commerce, both foreign and domestic, have made the question of transportation vital. The marshy character of a large part of European Russia, with the lack of available road materials and the sparsely settled condition of much of the country, have made the construction of good roads difficult, and there are something less than 500,000 miles of roadways in entire Empire. Of the existing roads, more than 300,000 miles are in an Russia proper, and more than 45,000 miles in Russian Poland. the winter sledges are used throughout the greater part of the coun

try, and transportation is then easier than over the roads during the open

season.

INLAND WATERWAYS

Its water transportation facilities have played an important part in the economic development of the country, and although the expenditure on river and canal improvements in Russia between 1860 and 1910 amounted to only about $40,000,000, as compared with more than $3,000,000,000 expended on railways, the growth of the water-borne traffic has been nearly as great as that of the railway traffic. About one-third of the Empire's total freight is transported by water, and this proportion has shown little variation during the last 30 years. The chief articles of freight shipped by the water routes are timber (which makes up 52 per cent of the water-borne freight), grain, naphtha and its products, salt, and coal.

The European part of the Empire is well provided with rivers of considerable size, affording shipping routes from the interior of the country to the Caspian, Black, Baltic, White, and North Seas, while in Siberia several great rivers rise near the southern boundary and empty into the Arctic Ocean, and the Amur system spreads itself across the southeastern part and flows into the Sea of Okhotsk at Nikolaiefsk.

The total length of the rivers, lakes, and canals of the Russian Empire is 239,161 miles, of which about 178,580 miles are navigable; 66 per cent of the total navigable length is suitable only for rafts and about 32 per cent for steamers. In northern Russia navigation is open from May to October; in central Russia, from April to November; in southern Russia, from March to November. In Siberia, the rivers are navigable in their southern courses from May to October, in their middle courses from May to September, and in all northern parts from June to August.

THE VOLGA RIVER SYSTEM

The basin of the Volga River contains the greatest network of waterways in the Empire, the 19,060 miles of navigable streams in that system being nearly 40 per cent of the country's total. The lack of an outlet from the Caspian Sea, into which the Volga empties, however, necessitates the transferral of a large part of the freight sent down this river to the railway at Tsaritsin, and then to vessels on the River Don, which empties into the Sea of Azof, an arm of the Black Sea. The two rivers are less than 50 miles apart at Tsaritsin and projects to connect them by a canal date back to at least the sixteenth century. The work has never been actually undertaken, however.

In the spring of 1912 a company applied for a concession to connect the two rivers, its project calling for the construction of a canal at a cost of $43,000,000 and the dredging of the Don to make it navigable for ships of the Volga type, at a cost of about $10,000,000. The completion of such a canal would permit the bulk of the grain from the Volga basin to go out by way of the Black Sea, with an all-water route instead of being shipped by way of the Baltic, as at present. Timber could be transported from the Kama.

district, sugar from the southwest, and naphtha from the Caspian and Volga regions. Cotton from Transcaucasia and great supplies of grain and other products from Siberia could be shipped by way of the canal.

OTHER GREAT RIVERS

The Don River system has 2,508 miles of navigable waterway, while the Dnieper, Dniester, and Southern Bug Rivers, which enter the Black Sea at Kherson, Odessa, and Nicolaief, respectively, have with their branches navigable lengths of 6,300 miles, 534 miles, and 90 miles, respectively. The Vistula River system flows through Poland and then through northern Germany to the Baltic, with a navigable length of 2,016 miles.

In Siberia the Ob River system stretches from south of the Chinese boundary to the Gulf of Ob, on the Arctic Ocean, with a total navigable length of 16,869 miles. To the east of the Ob the Yenisei River system also crosses the country from south to north, being navigable for 11,808 miles, including Lake Baikal. The Lena River also gives a large part of Siberia water connection with the Arctic Ocean, being navigable for 6,864 miles, while smaller rivers pouring into the same ocean have a combined length of navigable channels of 5,443 miles.

The Amur River, which serves for a large part of its course as the boundary between Siberia and Manchuria, is the only large system flowing through Siberia to the east. It is navigable for 8,541 miles and taps the section crossed by the eastern part of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

RUSSIA'S CANAL SYSTEM

The canal system of Russia was largely constructed during the first half of the nineteenth century, and has been developed in eight connecting links. By these canals and canalized rivers the Caspian, Baltic, and White Seas and the Baltic and Black Seas are connected. The Volga is joined to the Neva by three canals, giving through water connection from St. Petersburg to the Caspian Sea, and with the northern Dvina by the Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg Canal, which unites the White and Caspian Seas. The Dnieper is connected by canals with the western Dvina, the Niemen, and the Vistula (via the Bug) Rivers, emptying into the Baltic, which connect that sea by water with the Black Sea. Finally, the Vistula is linked with the Niemen River by the Augusta Canal, 61 miles in length. The Ob-Yenisei waterway in Siberia. runs from Irbit, on the Nitsa River, close to the frontier of European Russia, to Kiakhta, on the Selungua River, on the Chinese frontier, a distance of nearly 3,650 miles. The total length of artificial waterways is 1,225 miles. Of these artificial waterways 505 miles represent canals and 556 miles natural watercourses made navigable by sluices, etc.

It may be safely assumed that the river fleet numbers more than 4,000' steamers and not less than 23,500 barges, etc.

In regard to Asiatic Russia, the river fleet on the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and consisted in 1906 of 414 steamers and 825 other boats, with a total

capacity of 419,354 tons. Navigation is greater on the Ob (136 steamers and other vessels) and Amur (116 steamers and 247 other craft).

RAILWAY SYSTEMS

The growth of Russia's railway system dates practically from the decade 1867-1877, at the close of which the mileage in the Empire amounted to 13,023. On the first of January, 1912, the total opened to permanent traffic was 46,221 miles, of which 28,744 belonged to the Russian Government lines, 14,079 to private lines, in Russia, 2,140 to the Finnish Government lines, 179 to private lines in Finland, and 1,079 to the Chinese Eastern Railway. In actual mileage, Russia ranks next to the United States, but its mileage in proportion to its population and area is small. The needs of the more densely settled southern and western parts of European Russia have been so great that only a few trunk lines have been extended into the newer sections, to aid in their exploitation, and these lines have so few branches or "feeders" that a large part of the Empire is left without railway facilities. Most of the important lines are in the hands of the Government, which has a definite program for the extension of existing lines and the construction of new ones to satisfy the demands of the many regions now in great need of railways, and to prevent the useless construction of lines in regions where they are not required.

FAIRS

Fairs occupy a prominent position in the distributive mechanism of Russia, although they are gradually losing their importance with the extension of modern means of communication, which brings producer and consumer directly into touch with one another. Formerly the annual or seasonal fairs held at the most readily accessible places under the old form of transportation afforded the only markets where the people could dispose of their products, either by barter or sale, and obtain such articles as they needed and could not themselves produce. Commerce was in the hands of general traders, and most of the fairs served only a limited region. Some of the great fairs, however, drew traders from all parts of the country and became famous as the commercial centers of the country.

The Central Statistical Committee gives the number of fairs held in Russia at present as 16,000, with an annual turnover of more than $500,000,000. Most of these fairs (87 per cent) are agricultural, and only some 10 per cent have a turnover, retail and wholesale, of $5,000 to $50,000 per annum. The great fairs, with annual turnovers of $50,000 to $500,000, form only 1 per cent of the total number, and only two of these fairs have retained their national importance. These are the annual fairs at Nizhni Novgorod and Irbit.

THE GREAT FAIR AT NIZHNI NOVGOROD

Nizhni Novgorod owes its prominence to its position on the Volga River, which, with its tributaries, affords water communication with practically all

the great producing centers of European Russia and also served in former times as part of the principal trade route to Asia. Its trade is principally in the bulky products, such as furs, cotton goods, raw hides, tanned skins, leather goods, sheepskins, glass, and glassware. Most of the large cotton manufacturers of Lodz, Poland, maintain their own stores at Nizhni Novgorod. In the international market this fair is still important, sending out large quantities of furs, and rawhides (chiefly to the United States), wool, old rubber, cloth,

etc.

There is also considerable sale of manufactured goods at the Nizhni Novgorod fair. Plated goods, enameled ironware, bent-wood furniture, and boots and shoes are largely sold by Polish manufacturers, although the European Russian makers of boots and shoes are now offering strong competition in that line. Buyers come from Persia, Khiva, Afghanistan, and the Caucasus to purchase manufactures of various sorts.

The Nizhni Novgorod fair opens in July and closes about the middle of September each year. Its character is largely dependent on the harvest, and in 1912 the trading was considered as very good. There is no noticeable decline in the actual amount of business done, but the fair is gradually losing its importance, and its effect on trade is diminishing. With the growing tendency to deal by means of samples, instead of presenting the entire stock to the customer's attention, and with the increasing facility with which manufacturers are able to reach their markets direct, the need for the fair is disappearing.

THE FUR FAIR AT IRBIT

Irbit is near the rich northern and central Ural regions, in the heart of the fur district, and is still an important exchange center in trade between European and Asiatic Russia. About 58 per cent of its business is with European Russia and the Caucasus, 40 per cent with Siberia, and only about 2 per cent with foreign countries. Its annual turnover amounts now to some $15,000,000, while formerly it ran as high as $36,000,000. Its trade in iron, cotton, wool, tea, sugar, and similar products has practically disappeared, and the trade in manufactured goods is also on the wane, as Russian firms are opening permanent stores in Siberia. In the fur, skin, and hide trade, Irbit still occupies a leading position, and its trade in glass, glassware, ropes, cordage, and similar bulky products is still large. All the chief Russian fur companies are directly represented at the Irbit fair, as are many foreign concerns, and furs from this fair make up from 30 to 50 per cent of the fur sales on the great markets of Leipzig and London. Left-over stocks of furs from the Irbit fair are sent to Nizhni Novgorod. Considerable business is also done in metal, wood, woolen, and homemade leather goods. The Irbit fair lasts through the month of February.

MINOR FAIRS

The annual fair held at Kief in February and March was formerly important, not for the sale of goods (its annual turnover is only some $2,500,