Note 61 — INTRODUCTORY
Reading edition
An official report of the Province of Amur, dated June 22, 1903, denies that the actual cost of construction per verst was, as had been alleged, 150,000 rubles, but 113,183 rubles. The Tsūshō Isan for August 8, 1903, p. 46. A ruble is equivalent to about 51.5 cents.
In this connection, it is interesting to note in M. Witte’s report to the Czar after the former’s tour in the Far East in 1902, that the Siberian Railway had cost 758,955,907 rubles, but, with the Circum-Baikal section, would cost not less than 1,000,000,000 rubles, excluding the salaries of officers, expenses for soldiers, the Pacific fleet, harbor work, and the like. The Dōbun-kwai Hōkoku, No. 42, p. 30.