ions.

Foreign capitalists responded warmly to the call. Crowds of
concession-hunters, projectors, company promoters, et hoc genus omne,
collected in St. Petersburg, offering their services on the most
tempting terms; and all of them who could make out a plausible case were
well received at the Ministry of Finance. It was there explained to them
that in many branches of industry, such as the manufacture of textile
fabrics, there was little or no room for newcomers, but that in
others the prospects were most brilliant. Take, for example, the iron
industries of Southern Russia. The boundless mineral wealth of that
region was still almost intact, and the few works which had been there
established were paying very large dividends. The works founded by John
Hughes, for example, had repeatedly divided considerably over twenty per
cent., and there was little fear for the future, because the Government
had embarked on a great scheme of railway extension, requiring an
unlimited amount of rails and rolling-stock. What better opening could
be desired? Certainly the opening seemed most attractive, and into it
rushed the crowd of company promoters, followed by stock-jobbers and
brokers, playing lively pieces of what the Germans call Zukunftsmusik.
An unwary and confiding public, especially in Belgium and France,
listened to the enchanting strains of the financial syrens, and invested
largely. Quickly the number of completed ironworks in that region rose
from nine to seventeen, and in the short space of three years the output
of pig-iron was nearly doubled. In 1900 there were 44 blast furnaces in
working order, and ten more were in course of construction. And all this
time the Imperial revenue increased by leaps and bounds, so that the
introduction of the gold currency was effected without difficulty. M.
Witte was declared to be the greatest minister of his time--a Russian
Colbert or Turgot, or perhaps the two rolled into one.

Then came a change. Competition and over-production led naturally to a
fall in prices, and at the same time the demand decreased, because the
railway-building activity of the Government slackened. Alarmed at this
state of things, the banks which had helped to start and foster the huge
and costly enterprises contracted their credits. By the end of 1899 the
disenchantment was general and widespread. Some of the companies were
so weighted by the preliminary financial obligations, and had conducted
their affairs