le. But
they have none. They have already applied for some hundred million
rubles gold loan from the Treasury, but the Government has promised them
only about eight million from the new loan.

The wool manufacturers are faring no better than the cotton interests.
The only way to get raw wool seems to be to ship it from Australia via
Vladivostok. But the lack of foreign exchange prevents them from using
this source.

The tea trade of Russia will be paralyzed soon for the same reason.

The big manufacturers see only three possibilities of remedying this
situation. The first would be to export gold, the other to export
Russian commodities on a large scale, and the third--to get a gold loan
from Great Britain.

The first proposition is impossible, since the Government will not
permit any exportation of gold at this moment. The second proposition
won't work owing to the demoralized transportation. Thus the only escape
from a serious national crisis seems to lie in a large foreign gold
loan.

This idea is favored by such prominent manufacturers as S.I.
Tschetverikov, G.M. Mark, and A.E. Vladimirov of Moscow, the first
speaking for the wool interests, and other two for the tea wholesalers.
Mr. N.A. Vtovov voices the same sentiments on behalf of the Russian
cotton mill owners.

New Sources of Revenue Needed

By A. Sokolov.

[From Russkia Vedomosti, No. 171, July 26 (Aug. 8), 1914.]

Russia entered upon the present war better equipped financially than
ever before in her history. But it is evident that her ordinary
resources will not suffice, and the Ministry of Finance will have to
find new sources of revenue to meet the gigantic expenditures. The
Ministry of Finance has begun the usual banking and credit
operations--the supervision of specie payments, the issuance of paper
money, and the discounting of the Treasury notes in the State Bank. In
addition to these the Ministry is ready to turn to new taxes.

It proposes to increase the tax on tobacco and to raise the price of
whisky. Both are desirable objects of taxation. The tobacco tax has been
relatively low in Russia. Only the poorer grades of tobacco have been
taxed 100 per cent. ad valorem, while the higher grades have been taxed
at a lower rate.

Any increase of indirect taxation can be justified only by the present
emergency. We should bear in mind that already three-fourths of the
Russian revenue raised by taxation comes through indirect taxes. Furt