The Russian Review/Volume 1/June 1916/News from Russia
News From Russia.
Four well known members of the Douma, A. S. Posnikov, A. I. Shingarev, I. N. Efremov and P. N. Milyukov, have signed the following memorandum, which they addressed to the President of the Douma:
"At the present time, when all the military resources of the country are strained to the utmost, it is necessary to lay an equal stress upon the financial resources of the country. For this purpose, it is necessary not only to realize loans and issue paper currency, the burden of which will fall upon future generations, but to shift a part of this burden upon those living to-day by the introduction of an extraordinary military tax, which would serve to bring into the treasury a considerable sum of money that would cover at least a part of the war expenses. In view ot the above, we, the undersigned, propose that such a tax be levied during the current year, and that it should be based on the following principles: 1. Every person whose annual income exceeds five hundred roubles is subject to the tax. 2. The amount of the tax 1s determined by means of a progressive scale, and it should be double in the case of income not obtained by personal labor, as compared with the amount on the income so obtained. This amount should begin with a two per cent tax on the lowest income. 3. All persons whose income is less than five hundred roubles a year, but who own property worth 3,000 roubles, or over, are subject to a tax of three roubles. 4. The tax should be collected in accordance with the rules existing for income tax in general."
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A conference of newspaper publishers was recently held in Odessa, at which the question of paper was anxiously discussed. The newspapers in smaller towns find it extremely difficult to obtain paper at the present time. The price has risen enormously. Paper that sold formerly at seven copecks a pound now sells at forty-two copecks, and even at this price it is often impossible to purchase more than two or three weeks' supply. It is expected that the price of paper will rise even above the present high level.
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An estimate of the probable expenditures of the All-Russian Municipal Union for the current year is as follows: monthly expenses of 2,300,000 roubles in European Russia, 1,800,000 roubles in the Caucasus, and 1,500,000 roubles on the western front. This means that the Union spends daily almost 200,000 roubles. A large part of this money comes from the government treasury.
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The jury that was hearing criminal cases at the recent sessions of the district court of Theodosia, drew up a resolution, which will be transmitted to the Minister of Justice. The resolution states that the members of the jury find an unmistakable connection between crime and alcoholism, and express a desire that the sale of alcoholic drinks be permanently forbidden in Russia.
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Rich deposits of tungsten ore have been recently discovered in the Ural mountains. This is the only place in European Russia where tungsten is found, but the deposits are so rich that it is estimated that they are sufficient to provide Russia with all the tungsten she needs.
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At the recent congress of women-lawyers held in Petrograd, a very interesting report was read by A. I. Bakhtereva, in which she presented the results of an investigation conducted among two hundred women-lawyers in all parts of Russia. It appears that seventy per cent of these lawyers are earning money, forty-eight per cent, of them are engaged in legal work, while forty-one per cent, are employed in other occupations; that the average income of those who are doing legal work is eighty-eight roubles monthly, while of those who are engaged in other occupations, seventy roubles monthly. Forty-seven per cent, of the lawyers are doing legal work without being paid for it. Twenty per cent, are engaged in scientific work, and fourteen per cent, have published works. The investigation shows that at least ninety-four per cent. of these lawyers enjoy the full confidence of their clients. The conclusion of the report is that the investigation emphasizes the need of equal suffrage, and that this should be one of the chief alms of women-lawyers.
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In the government of Poltava it has been decided to bring the school year to a close in time to make it possible for the pupils of all the schools to take part in the planting this spring.
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The recent census of the Russian cities gave very interesting results concerning the growth of some of the large cities of the country. The greatest speed of development was shown by Kiev, the population of which increased from 247,000 in 1897 to over 600,000 in 1915. The population of Petrograd, which is the largest city of the country, increased from 1,264,000 to 2,318,000; that of Moscow increased from 1,038,000 to 1,983,000. The growth of Odessa has been slower than that of any other city; its population has increased from 403,000 to only 504,000. The growth of Baku, on the contrary, has been very rapid; the largest city of the Caucasus has grown from 112,000 to 215,000.
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The German land-owners on the territory of Kuban have recently begun to be very anxious to sell their lands before the date appointed for their forced sale by the law passed a year ago. Many of these lands are bought up by Cossack communities in the hope of increasing their holdings in this way.
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The amount of deposits in the savings banks of the Odessa district during 1915 was eighteen million roubles, as compared with the average of eleven million, which was the figure for the past few years. Sixteen new branches were opened, and it is expected that several more branches will be established during the current year.
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In the village of Astapovo, in the government of Riasan, the police discovered a fully equipped alcohol distillery, which was operated in a private house. All the machinery and considerable amounts of alcohol were confiscated during the raid.
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During the last eighteen months the public organizations of the government of Nizhni-Novgorod have produced 348,000 pairs of boots which were sent to the front. The work was done mostly by peasants, at their homes.
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A society has been formed in Zhitomir for the purpose of combating the high cost of living, as well as the use of luxuries among the population.