tion (1861-81) things
went on in their old grooves. The poor provinces remained poor, and the
fertile provinces showed no signs of distress. During the next twenty
years (1881-1901) the arrears of the whole of European Russia rose,
roughly speaking, from 27 to 144 millions of roubles, and the increase,
strange to say, took place in the fertile provinces. In 1890, for
example, out of 52 millions, nearly 41 millions, or 78 per cent., fell
to the share of the provinces of the Black-earth Zone. In seven of these
the average arrears per male, which had been in 1882 only 90 kopeks,
rose in 1893 to 600, and in 1899 to 2,200! And this accumulation had
taken place in spite of reductions of taxation to the extent of 37
million roubles in 1881-83, and successive famine grants from the
Treasury in 1891-99 to the amount of 203 millions.* On the other hand,
in the provinces with a poor soil the arrears had greatly decreased. In
Smolensk, for example, they had sunk from 202 per cent, to 13 per cent.
of the annual sum to be paid, and in nearly all the other provinces of
the west and north a similar change for the better had taken place.

These and many other figures which I might quote show that a great
and very curious economic revolution has been gradually effected. The
Black-earth Zone, which was formerly regarded as the inexhaustible
granary of the Empire, has become impoverished, whilst the provinces
which were formerly regarded as hopelessly poor are now in a
comparatively flourishing condition. This fact has been officially
recognised. In a classification of the provinces according to their
degree of prosperity, drawn up by a special commission of experts in
1903, those with a poor light soil appear at the top, and those with the
famous black earth are at the bottom of the list. In the deliberations
of the commission many reasons for this extraordinary state of things
are adduced. Most of them have merely a local significance. The big
fact, taken as a whole, seems to me to show that, in consequence of
certain changes of which I shall speak presently, the peasantry
of European Russia can no longer live by the traditional modes of
agriculture, even in the most fertile districts, and require for their
support some subsidiary occupations such as are practised in the less
fertile provinces.

* In 1901 an additional famine grant of 33 1/2 million
roubles had to be made by the Government.

Another sign of impoverishment is