London, 5 December 1885 

Dear Liebknecht, 

Herewith excerpts from the Economist and Bullionist.* 

The amounts shown in my letter of the Ist inst. are those of 
the Russian loans quoted on the London stock exchange. The 1884 
(Bismarck) loan !%? is not dealt in over here at all and is excluded from 
the list of securities negotiable on the stock exchange. Likewise the 
smaller hand-to-mouth loans which have been raised off and on since 
1878; most of these were taken up internally and are quoted on the 
Berlin stock exchange. I have found the following in the latter’s list of 
prices: 

Orient Loan 5%, I, II and III 
Loan 1880 4%, 
Bonds 1883 6% 

as well as other stuff about which I’m not clear. You'll have to 
get more information on the subject from someone on the Berlin 
stock exchange. Several also appear in the enclosed excerpts, but 
only with the net amount the government claims to have received. 

The Russian paper rouble, which ought to be worth 39d. at par, 
is now standing at 23d., i.e. 16d. or 41% below the full value in 
gold. 

If the Russian government is still managing to place its paper at 
home, this is simply because the colossal showdown in trade makes it 
more advantageous for Russian manufacturers to invest their surplus 
cash in paper yielding 6-7°% rather than in such currently ruinous ac- 
tivities as extensions to factories or speculative trading. The interest 
coupons are circulating as currency, especially for the payment of 
wages. Thus coupons, which are not payable until 1891-92, are now 
passing from hand to hand, and these the Russian worker must ac- 

* See this volume, p. 360. 

cept at face value in payment of his wages, though they can only be 
disposed of for half this amount (much the same thing happened in 
Germany not long ago). I have this direct from Russta. 

Your 
F.E.