The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-12
Japanese War an Expensive
 Experiment for CzaT
ANNUAL BUDGET IS ISSUED
Total Revenue and Expenditure Bal anee Is Placed at $1,255, ,4s6,3 Situation Characterised as
 "None Too Favorable"

St. Petersburg, January 1.-The budget statement for 1906 which was issued to- night shows that it will be necessary to raise $40, O,50000O by credit operations to balance the estimated receipts and ex- penditures of the Russo-Japanese war, the repatriation of the troops in the far east. and the reduction of the army to a peace footing. For the first time the total cost of the war, s1,O5OoooOOO, is re- vealed
 The credit operations, to balance the budget, include the recent authorization of 200.0O0,0OO to treasury bonds' $75'0oO 900 of which have already been used to re- new the Mendelsohn loan and the credit of $16O O0,OOO which former F'inancier Min ister Kokovsoff is now negotiating in Paris.
 Maintain Stability of RoubIe.
 The primary object of the latter, the proceeds of which will be retained in Paris, is understood by the Associated Press to be the maintenance of the stabil- ity of the rouble.
 The budget statement does not dodge the prevailing conditions in Russia It is pointed out specifically that the receipts from nearly all sources have been scaled down. and moreover, it is stated that : if the disorders in the interior do not cease, there may be some branches of revenue on which it will be impossible to count.
 The budget also deals frankly with the heavy drain on the gold reserve of the state bank balances abroad, which have fallen S152 100000 in the three months pre- ceding January 1. During the last ten days of the year the gold reserve was re- duced by sSOOO0,0OO which the issue of paper currency was increased by s2O'- 0OO.O0O
 Rescus of Business Interests.
 The increase of paper issued the state ment says, was made by the bank in an effort to come to the rescue of the busi- ness interests which were almost para lyzed and which had been refused loans by private banks owing to the panicky conditions and to the reduction of the foreign credits of houses with connections abroad The statement has this to say Of the monetary situation:
 Such a state of affairs could not fail to inspire dsquietude for our monetary sys- tenn was Inenaced simultaneously by the diminution of the stock of gold result ing from withdrawals which the bank was powerless to prevent, and by the exodus of capital abroad. and the increase of paper circulation, the latter being due to the necessities of the interior It is per- mitted, however to hope thanks to the restoration of calm that the cause which influenced the withdrawals of gold will cease and that that coin will soon be- gin to return to the bank. The ameliora- AL s.Ft oifI ion xuh ftah ic mi should soon restore something like nor mai conditions in the interior, will reviv- fly credit and thus diminish the demand for money for business affairs.
 The statement concludes with the fol- lowing addressed to the Emperor, which was evidently penned by Count Witte:
 Situation None Too Favorable.
 '"These facts and figures submitted to your majesty show that the present situ- aton of Russian finance is none too fa- vorable. This state of things is the re- suit of the war and of the troubles which followed These troubles are of a tempor- ary character, and 1t is fair to assume that they will be ameliorated in the near future. Periods of economic depression are ordinarily followed by periods of activity and prosperity"
 The budget for 1906 estimates the or dinary revenue at $1,0l3.3S7 and the ordi-
 
 extraordinary revenue is estimated at s1, 900 plus $24O.557 600 from impending credit operations, and the extraordinary expenditures at $246, ,44S,112. The total rev. enue and expenditures balance at $1, ,255- 4S6,SS7.
 Receipts and Expenditures.
 The following in round numbers are in- cluded in the receipts:
 Direct taxes, $74000,0O0; indirect taxes. S212, ,000000; duties $54,0O0,O00 state monopo- lies. s32O, ,500, ,O00 state domains s291 600, 000. The ordinary expenditures in round numbers include the following:
 State debt, $167 900 900; ministry of war, s1S7, ,OOO. .OOO ministry of the navy, $52,000, : Oo0; ministry of finance. SIT, ,OO0000; min- istry of the interior $65,000000; ministry of communications, s23S, ,500,000.
 The extraordinary expenditures in round numbers include:
 For the Russo-Japanese war, $202 300 = GOO; for the building of railroads. $2l. OO0,0O0; for the relief of sufferers from the bad harvests, s10,OO0,0O0; in loans for the restoration of the naptha works, s7.500, D00
 In the same statement 1t is announced that manifesto will be issued giving the nation the right to participate in the ex- animation of future budgets. This there fore, will be the last budget to be ex- amined solely by the council of the em- pire without the cooperation of an elec- tive assembly It is further stated that the surplus for 1905 will be greater than was first estimated.
 -e
 FIELD IS NO WORSE.