According to the latest official reports from Moscow, the Russian Government has to spend 40 per cent. of its total paper issue consistently to make good the deficit entailed by the. Government operation of communications and industries. The loss is so heavy on some lines that they cannot be operated. Two thousand versts of railway -in southwestern Russia have been closed to traffic because of losses: The resumption of for-' eign trade has imposed an enormous toll upon such reserves of metal coinage and gold as Russia still possesses because imports so greatly exceed exports. There is no hope of improvement in this situation until Russia again has a surplus of agricultural products to export. Instead of having 72,000,000 Russian acres under efficient cultivation og in 1916, or 60,000,000 as in 1919, there are now 49,000,000 acres under poor cultivation. The} acreage cannot be uncreased nor the methods improved because of the shortage of livestock and of seed grain. The winter wheat planted last autumn is going to yield a very miserable return this spring, say the Soviet experts it print. The spring sowing of grain might save the situation if there Were sufficient seed, which there is not. Another famine. more widespread than the last, is therefore feared. - What the spring sowing has to offer will not be definitely known until May. The knowledge then gleaned may determine in large part Russia's attitude towards Manchuria, which is am abundant granary.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.