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THE ECONOMIC RESOURCES OF RUSSIA 127
by the extraordinary success of German trade in that
country. The view British merchants generally took of
Russia, from a commercial point of view, was that the
language difficulty, the obstacles in the way of transport
in that vast territory, the long credit system, the unpalatable
experiences with faulty debtors, and the slow methods of
justice, made it, on the whole, not worth while to waste
energy and money in a country where the inconveniences
and risks seemed so great as to be insufficiently compensated
by adequate gain. That is, to be sure, not the way in which
British business people will look upon Russian affairs as
soon as the country returns again to normal conditions.
The enormous profit the Germans have been able to
show in their trade with Russia have proved to
Englishmen that the supposed difficulties in trading with that
country can be overcome with proper organisation,
forethought, and energy, and that it pays well to apply such
methods.
As Russia has agreed to the prolongation of her commercial
treaty with Germany of 1904, and the Russo-British
commercial treaty of 1858 containing the " most-favoured
nation clause " has been revoked, it would seem that it is
essential for the British Government to conclude a new
commercial treaty with Russia, thereby securing for herself
all the advantages Russia is giving to Germany. This,
however, would not suffice to place British and German
goods on an equal footing. Owing to the fact that Germany
enjoys in Russia a treatment based on a commercial treaty,
carefully prepared to satisfy her own special export trade
requirements, she would hold greater advantages than her
commercial competitor, Great Britain, if the latter only
enjoyed the advantages given to Germany.
The " most-favoured nation clause " has, up to the
present, been considered the highest card to be played in
the game of economic policy, and as a never-failing
inducement for export trade. It was assumed that nothing better
should or could be expected for export trade than the
obtaining of the same rights and privileges which had been
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