INDUSTRY
While I was in Moscow the Government received a report from the Supreme Council of National Economy to the effect that war industry was progressing at full speed and producing sufficient supplies and ammunitions for the army. In addition the departments of building materials, fur, leather, fuel, metal, chemicals, and trade, had been organized. There were fifty-one factories in the building material branch alone, capable of producing 121,500,000 bricks, 2,000,000 poods of cement, 870,000 poods of lime, and 510,000 poods of tiles. The tanneries were running on the basis of 240,800 poods annually. The department of forests had obtained a contract for twenty percent of the fuel demand, in the Moscow Government alone. There were sixty-eight saw mills and 128 planing mills running on full time. All paper factories were working. The chemical department controls the paper, china, and chemical production. The trade department supervised 175,000 workers and had its own art industry museum.
The Government is planning the construction of enormous power systems, one of which will be the largest in the world. They will also utilize the water falls for great hydraulic power stations, all of which would require great amounts of machinery from America.