WHITE RUSSIA

the white russian socialist soviet republic was established by a decree of the all- russian central executive committee on feb. 5 19109, and its relations with the russian socialist federated soviet republic were regulated by a treaty signed on jan. 16 1921 until the adop- tion of the constitution of the union of socialist sovict republics in 1923, when the white russian republic became a constituent state in the union. its territory lies in the centre of the western frontier of the union opposite poland (see russta). the republic covers 52,398 sq. versts, and has a population of 1,730,846, of whom 274,970 are classified as urban. the aver- age density is just over 30 persons tothesquare verst. the capital whea‘'i—whitle slave ‘traffic | is minsk (population 103,834). the country is to a large extent composed of forest and marsh, and is not productive. the tim- ber trade is being developed, and although a certain amount of grain is grown it is insufficient for home needs. there are prac- tically no industries. the main moscow-warsaw line passes through the republic with an important station at minsk, from which branch lines go to vilna and bobruisk. a main road from brest-litovsk to moscow also passes through bobruisk. there are two institutions of quasi-university standing at minsk.