Quite as important is the Ukraine’s exportation of live-stock. In the years 1902–1904, the Ukraine exported 80,000 head of cattle to Central Russia, and the part played by Galicia as purveyor of live-stock for slaughter is well-known. Equally important is the exportation of small cattle, poultry, eggs and butter. The exportation of wool from the Southern Ukraine plays an important part in the internal commerce of Russia. The Polissye, Carpathian and Caucasus regions furnish great quantities of lumber for exportation. The mineral products of the Ukraine are used for the greater part outside the country—Caucasian and Carpathian petroleum, the iron ore of Krivi Rih, the salt, the manganese, the coal of the Donetz Plateau. Of the entire yield of coal of the Donetz basin in 1905, barely one-third was used up in the factories of this region; the other two-thirds were to serve the advancement of Central Russian industry. All these products are the object of an active export trade.
In comparison with the exports, the imports of the Ukraine cannot be very large. The imports embrace, almost exclusively, products of foreign manufacturing. [[297]]In view of the general poverty and the very limited wants of the Ukrainian peasantry, these imports must be small, since home industry still covers the greatest part of the demand.
The part of the Ukraine in the external commerce of the Russian State is very important, while the Austrian Ukraine plays a very subordinate part in this respect. The ten central regions of the Ukraine furnish over 60% of the total grain export of Russia. In the customs districts of the Ukrainian part of the western border of Russia, 28.6 million rubles’ worth of goods was exported, 14.3 million rubles imported. The customs districts of the Pontian and Azof coast within the borders of the Ukraine passed 245 million rubles in exports, 64.8 million rubles in imports. Over the borders of Russian Ukraine passed 33% of the Russian exportation and only 11% of the importation. This shows us how much the Ukraine contributes to the balance of trade in favor of Russia.
Traffic in the Ukraine is very slightly developed. Altho the natural conditions for traffic are very favorable, the historical fortunes of the country took such a course that we cannot wonder at the present state of intercourse. The Ukraine was for a long time under the domination of Poland, which never cared for the condition of the roads; then the country fell under the rule of Russia, which to this day stands upon a very low level as far as traffic conditions are concerned. The Austrian Ukraine has the greatest number and the best roads, but they are found especially in Bukowina and Northern Hungary. For in Galicia, where most of the roads are under the management of the autonomous Polish authorities, the condition of the roads is sad enough.
The overwhelming majority of Ukrainian highways are unpaved. All that the Russian geographer, Krassnov, [[298]]has said in general about the highways of Russia, applies in its fullest extent to the unpaved, unmacadamized roads of the Ukraine. These roads are among the worst in the world. In the summer they are enveloped in clouds of dust; in the spring and fall, as well as in rainy weather, they are strips of bottomless mud, in which even the light farm-wagon sinks to its axles. Wherever it is at all possible, vehicles drive across the fields along the roadway. Worst of all are the ways in the vicinity of and within villages and small towns. Drains and bridges are either unknown, or else there are not enough of them. The kind of roads just described are known in the entire right half of the Ukraine by the traditional name of “Polish roads.” Still worse are the cane and corduroy roads of the Polissye; riding over these a long time becomes a positive torture to the traveler. In the Hutzul country most of the roads are ordinary bridle-paths (plai), accessible only to foot passengers and bridle-horses.
In Galicia, only villages and hamlets are connected by unpaved roads; in the Russian Ukraine even large cities. Not a single macadamized road leads to cities like Poltava, Kreminchuk, Katerinoslav, Rostiv, Kherson. That such negligence of the government should cause the Ukrainian peasantry incalculable damage, and actually hinder trade and commerce, is obvious at once.
Macadamized roads are very scarce in the Ukraine as a whole. The Austro-Hungarian part of the Ukraine, altho in this respect it is far behind the cultural countries of Europe, possesses a greater absolute number of macadamized roads than the Russian Ukraine, which is ten times as large in area. All cities and towns of the Austrian Ukraine are connected by macadamized roads. Eight such roads meet at Lemberg, seven in Czernowitz, six each in Peremishl, Ternopil, Kolomia, Buchach, Horodenka, etc. In the Russian Ukraine, on the other hand, the only macadamized [[299]]roads that deserve the name, are the road from Homel to Kiev, the road from Kiev to Berestia (by way of Zitomir, Novhorod-Volinsky, Rivne, with branches to Dubno and to Kremianetz, Lutzk, Kovil), the road from Tomashiv to Lublin, the road from Starokonstantiniv to Kamenetz, the road from Kursk to Kharkiv, and the mountain-road in the Yaila Mountains in Crimea. The remaining “great tracts” and “post-roads” (altho they sometimes figure as macadamized roads) are in such a miserable condition, that even in the large cities they look more like moraines than streets in a civilized city.
Quite analogous conditions prevail, also, in the railroad traffic of the Ukraine. In this respect, too, the Austrian Ukraine surpasses the Russian Ukraine by far, despite the backward condition of the former. Galicia, for instance, has 5 kilometers of railroad for 100 square kilometers of surface, the Russian Ukraine barely 1 kilometer. Besides the loose mesh of the railway-net of the Ukraine, there is the additional disadvantage that its lines tend toward foreign centers, and consider the local needs of Ukrainian traffic only in rare cases. Galicia, separated from the rest of Austria-Hungary by the natural boundary of the Carpathians, has had to develop an independent system of railways, with the main junction at Lemberg. In the Russian Ukraine all the main lines were built only for the convenience of the Moscow center and the Baltic ports. Hence, there is no direct railway line between Kiev and Odessa, for instance, or to Kharkiv, while there exist almost straight line connections between Romen and Libau, between Sevastopol and Kharkiv and Moscow. Besides that, strategic factors were the deciding ones in the building of the railroads (particularly in Western Ukraine), and the economic life of the country often has had to suffer for it.
A third disadvantageous aspect of the Russian Ukrainian railway system is its tariff regulations, the purpose of [[300]]which is to concentrate the greatest possible amount of traffic on the railroads of Central Russia and the Baltic provinces, and thus redound to their advantage. As a result of this tariff policy of the Russian Government, it happens that it is sometimes cheaper to transport goods from the Ukraine to the most distant Baltic ports, than to the adjacent ports of the Black Sea. Thus, the tariff rates for grain from Romen to Libau (1077 versts) are 21 kopeks per pud, from Romen to Mikolaiv (429 kilometers) 18 kopeks. It costs more money and trouble to transport coal from the Donetz region to the Black Sea ports than to the ports of the Baltic, which, of course, are far more distant. Naturally Pontian navigation suffers above all from this cause, but all Ukrainian trade in general suffers likewise.