Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-07-13

the thousand and one activities of the
Zemstvo Union, Russian citizen organ
ization composed of plain people and
gentry and how it is backing up the
country.
Bessie, among large number of cat
tie grazing along the Russian battle.
front, met her death one fine morning
by being too close to AN Austrian shell
when it exploded. There were so many
dead cattle that the General Staff felt
1t pity to let all the hides go to waste
So the attention of he Zemstvo Union
was called to the matter.
And the Union went into the hide.
skinning business.
Hides make leather and leather make,
boots, boots being one of the article,
with which the Zemstvo is helpine
equip the army. So the Zemstvo de
clded to open tann6ry of its own
But tanin was scarce and hard tC
get. Russia had depended upon Ger
many for practically all her chemical,
and the war had cut off tanin along
with most everything else of that ma
ture.
About this time the government
called the Zemstvo IS attention to n tanir
factory down near Kiev, idle since hos
tliltles began. Among the specialities
mobilized by the Union are the Rus
sian chemists so some of these were
sent sent down to open up the tanin works
They did. Instead of an output of TO-.
900 to 10000 poods "a pood is 80
pounds) per month as turned out by
this factory in peace times, the Zem.
stvo workers made it yield II 900 pools
or 80 per cent increase.
The tannery took care of the hides
collected by the Union and Bossies skin
soon became the best quality leather
10 Union boot and shoe factory it
now went, there to be transformed into
as solid a pair of boots as soldier even
trod in.
Thus it happenod-or might very well
have happened-that a young trooper
! splendid in his new boots, stood by q
certain old shell.hole near the Russian
front few months later If they
pinched him bit he blamed it on their
newness; he never guessed it was Bos.
sic adjusting herself to her new con.
ditions.
From dead COW on the battlefield to
new boots on the same field, the cycle
was complete. SO works the Zemstvo
Up to the end of last year the Zem
stvo Union had provided the army with
3o,O00,000 articles which il had made
or collected, plus ten million articles
for it's own use such as linen for hos
pitals, shirts for petients, etc. Among
the articles were 724,000 fur coats;
$4,000 felt boots; 10000 pairs OF
gloves; $4,000 pairs of socks-articles
made by poor workers on Union orders
or workers connected with the Cooper
ative Societies modified through these
organizations.
Several hundred thousand articles are
neeed, at once, at the front. The
regular industries making these articles
have their hands full and can not take
on any more business. The Zemstvo
steps in and, because it reaches out in.
to the FAR places of the Empire, because
it knows by name every workman and
every little shop in the land, delivers
the articles short off. II divides the
order hundreds of times, farms it out
in little patches, to small shops and
even private cottages, and the miracle
is performed.
In Moscow alone 10000 poor women
widows and wives of soldiers princi-
pally-are permanently on the Unions
payroll. Together with the Cooperative
Society $4,000 women of Moscow are
thus regularly employed.
But the members of the Zemstvo re-
ceive no pay. 1t is all for Russia.
Their time and their labor are volun.
tary contributions, prompted by patri-
otic motives.
Prince Lvov, Of Moscow, and mem.