Excerpt from The Industries of Russia, Vol. 1: Manufactures and Trade, With a General Industrial Map by the Department of Trade and Manufactures Ministry of Finance for the World's Columbian Exposition at ChicagoEver since becoming established at this post of the Consular Service, I have had a constant stream of inquiry from all branches of trade in the United States with reference to its especial development in Russia, there being no publication in the Eng lish tongue covering these subjects, and but few of our people having a sufficient knowledge of the Russian language to glean from the native literature the information desired.In accepting, therefore, the invitation of the Imperial Min ister of Finance to supervise and edit the English translation of The Industries of Russia, in its several volumes, I have under taken the serious labour involved in such a work, not only with very great pleasure but also as an important duty, thus aiding to give the American people an insight into what is to them, commercially speaking, an unknown country.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.