RUSSIA’S LATENT WEALTH.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 303, 3 September 1908, Page 2

RUSSIA’S LATENT WEALTH.

At present agriculture is Russia’s principal industry. Russia has a very fruitful soil, a large agricultural population, and she has excellent natural means of transport in her rivers and lakes ; but poverty and ignorance among the masses, lack of enterprise and of capital on the part of her business men, and short-sightedness and neglect on the part of the Administration, have hitherto impeded the development of her agriculture. The soil is merely scratched by light wooden ploughs, the most primitive form of agriculture prevails, manuring is practically unknown to nine-tenths of her peasants, and there are hardly any roads for transporting agricultural produce to the rivers and railways. Though Russia has much coal and iron, her industries are quite undeveloped. Her industrial backwardness may be gauged from the fact that with a territory and a population twice as large as those of the .United States, Russia produces only onetenth of the quantity of iron produced in the United States, and that she raises only one-twentieth of the quantity of coal raised in the American Republic. In other words, America raises per head of population twenty times more iron and forty times more coal than Russia. Agriculturally and industrially Russia is a medieval country. Many Russians in high official position assert that - the latent wealth of Russia is greater than that of the United States, and if they are right the first task of the Russian Government should be to develop Russia’s potential wealth. Wishing to reserve the whole of the national wealth to her own people, Russia has so far on the whole discouraged and stifled foreign enterprise, though M. de Witte tried to introduce foreign capital. Russia has as yet neither enough capital nor enough experience to open up the country rapidly. Therefore she will be wise if she calls foreign experience and foreign capital to her assistance. If Russia throws the country wide open to foreign enterprise and to foreign capital, and if she treats liberally and even generously those who, wishing to help themselves, will most vigorously promote Russia’s prosperity, the poverty and dissatisfaction of the masses and the penury of the Russian exchequer will soon come to an end. Russia suffers from financial anaemia, and, as she may prove an Eldorado to British con.

tractors, engineers, aud investors, her financial anaemia may easily be overcome by their aid.