New Britain herald., 1916-07-18
RUSSIA LAND 0F
 OUR OPPORTUNITY
Development Means Millions to Be
 Spent in This Country

In one of the most important bull l letins issued since the outbreak of the war the National Association of Manufacturers calls attention to pro- jected improvements aygregating hundreds of millions of dollars bv the Russian government, nearly every dol lar or which will go to the man. ufacturers of this country The most notable improvements pro- jected are the construction of 25,000 miles of railroad and svs- tenn of ship canals unequaIIed any, where in the world.
 According to the bulletin, which was prepared by w. Aisenman, chief or the Russian trade division of the association, Russia now demands inn- mense quantities of supplies, eubrac- ing machinery of all kinds and rail- road equipment in vast variety, near ly all of which is to be supplied by American manufacturers. Hundreds of Russian railroad men arc now in this country studying the American railroad systems of operation. Among those now here are included mechani- cal and constructing engineers, and they are studying locomotive and car Building plants, the equipment and operating of railroad repair shops and railway methods in general.
 The bulletin states that on January 1, 1913, there were 46,S39 miles of railroad open to traffic in Russia, not including 13,OGO miles of railroad not open for passenger or freight traffic, but used for the requirements of the tv~CiI seventy per cent of those railroads belongs to the central government, the remaining thirty per cent. to private companies the government reserving the right to purchase and incorpor- ate them in the national railways aft CT twenty-five years of private opera ton.
 Since September 1915" says the bulletin, "the Russian government has granted permission for the con- struction by private companies of 745 miles of railroads to cost 49,900 900, 1 the central government guaranteeing 1 the capital stock. Private companies 1 Or individuals were permitted to build | twelve branch lines, or feeders, with i a total length of nfnety-seven miles, at a cost of $3.u03,G ,GOO eBsides these ] lines approved cjects for the 'cn-
  100000 are delayed because of in ability to secure the private capital needed to prosecute their speedy building. Furthermore, a number of other private projects for railways, totalling $500 miles in length and to cost S34O,OOO,OOO will be investigat- ed by the proper cabinet ministers in the near future.'
 25,OOO Niles of Railroad.
 It is announced that the Russian now intends to build 25,- 900 more miles of railway lines, all to be completed within five years, if pos sible Those various systems will link together practically all the localities possessing the richest natural re- sources in minerals and metals. Some of them will, moreover, penetrate vast regions of primeval forests which. have hitherto been totally unproftable because of their inaccessibility.
 The conference of the ministers of and means of communica- ton, of commerce and industry, of finance and of war-together with eN- pert members of their respective held in Petrograd, has that the railways be built without delay and connected