Russian Merchant.
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The three guilds into which the merchant class is divided are formed according to the amount of capital employed and declared by those wishing to get an inscription, on which an interest of about six per cent, is to be paid yearly into the treasury. The sum necessary for an inscription into the first guild is about twenty thousand dollars ; for the third, or lowest, about six thousand.
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Sears, Robert. An Illustrated Description of the Russian Empire. New York: Robert Sears, 1855