States trade returns as $101,278,000, or about $50,000,000 below
the corresponding Swedish export figures, while reported gold im-
ports from Switzerland into the United States for the three-year
period under discussion are quite insignificant. On the other hand,
gold imports from France into the United States for the three years
exceed by far not merely the corresponding exports but even the
total gold exports from that country. It is evident, therefore,
that American figures of gold imports from France include
shipments to the United States from Sweden and mainly Switzer-
land by way of French ports. Alggregate gold imports into
the United States from Sweden and France during the three years
under discussion are shown as slightly over $35,000,000, or in excess
of 1,300,000,000 kronor, the approximate amount of gold exported
from Sweden during this period. This total is equivalent to aboul
680,000,000 rubles, which may therefore be regarded as a conserva-
tive estimate of the gold exported from Russia by the soviet authori-
ties during the three years following the Civil War. These exports
include also $11,400,000 of Russian gold, which in accordance with
an agreement with the American Relief Administration were turned
over by the Soviet authorities to the American Relief Adminis-
tration for the purchase of food. This gold apparently must have
reached the United States by way of some other European country.
as the American import statistics fail to show any direct gold
imports from Russia during the past few years. The Soviet Com-
missariat of Finance has a small gold reserve of its own apart
from the gold reserve of the newly established state bank. No
statement of its size has ever been made. On the other hand, the
early statements of the new state bank show but insignificant
amounts of gold, and the present more important gold holdings of
the issue department of the bank on May 1, 1925—viz, 180 million
rubles—largely represent new output, imports, and gold brought out
of hoards since the reestablishment of a relatively stable currency.
See statistics of gold exports and imports of Sweden, France, Switzerland and the
United States, pp. 53-56.
The slight discrepancy between the figures above and those in the Appendix 18
due to the fact that Mr Jacobson, at the time of writing, had at his disposal only
the preliminary statisties of exports and imports.
atl