[185] “Russian famines and the measures of the Government against them,” by Prof. Romanovitch-Slavatinsky, _University Records_, Jan., 1892, pp. 40, 61 (monthly publication of St. Vladimir University, Kieff.) [186] The war of 1877 caused a depreciation of the paper ruble from 80 per cent. to 60 per cent. It never got above that figure until 1890, when the enormous harvest unexpectedly raised its exchange value to 80 per cent., the rate that had prevailed before the war. [187] The first chapters of this essay were written when the famine of 1891-92 had reached its climax. Now, while these concluding lines are being printed, the Russian papers have brought official reports of a failure in 11 _gubernias_, of which 5 are of the number of those affected by the last famine (Voronezh, Kursk, Orel, Samara, Tula). The _Zemstvos_ have applied to the government for appropriations for the next seed. [188] A delay in the payments was lately granted to the debtors of the Nobility’s Bank in the famine stricken region, for the purpose of saving numerous estates from being sacrificed at forced sale. [189] In the tables that follow we have availed ourselves of some of the figures produced in a very interesting article, in which the consequences of the famine are discussed on the ground of the data recently published by the Statistical Bureau of the _gubernia_ of Samara. (_Cf._ “The consequences of the failure of the crops in the _gubernia_ of Samara,” by Vasili Vodovozoff in the _Russkaya Zhizñ_ [daily], nos. 248 and 249, September 25 and 26, 1892). The loss of working cattle toward January, 1892, figured as follows: _Lost. _Remains. _Bailiwicks._ Per cent._ Per cent._ Ivanteyeffskaya 74 26 Lipovetzkaya 67 33 Novotoolskaya 67 33 Koozabayeffskaya 61 39 Shintinoffskaya 45 55 Etc. The heavy losses suffered by the peasantry have enormously accentuated the existing inequalities of distribution of live stock. This is evidenced in the village Dergoonofka, d. of Nicholayeff, which figured in 1887 among the wealthiest villages, 3.5 working horses being the average to a household (nearly twice as much as in the districts above examined). These are the comparative data for 1887 and 1891: