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must be taxed high enough to give protection to British farmers and preference to the Dominions. And this at a time when, as a faithful member of the Alliance, she is invited to abandon her trade with Germany, her largest and most profitable customer, who took one-third of her total exports. How unlikely it is that Russia will assent to such proposals appears from the recent discussion of the National Agricultural Congress at Petrograd, when the Chief of the Ministry of Trade dwelt on the utter impracticability of setting up barriers on trade with Germany.
The dependence of Russia upon Germany for a market for her surplus foods and raw materials is a "law of nature." It is based upon the permanent facts of conterminous frontiers and diversity of natural resources and economic development. Western Russia cannot dispense with German markets either for import or for export trade. Here is what M. Boublikoff, a financial expert and a member of the Duma, said at the Congress