Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-05-29
SAYS RUSSIA FACES
! GREAT ECONOMIC CHAOS
Factory Workers Demand Pay Elk
ceeding Profits, Says Finance
Minister.
pErRocRan May %. via London.

PETROGRAD, May 20. via London
The industrial crisis in Russia is so
acute that. according to a recent utter
ance of the minister of finance, NJ. Shih-
garoff, only a miracle can save sne
country from economic ruin. The de-
mands of the workmen were so ehor-
nous. he declared. that it seemed I'M
possible to keep the Industrial Wheeis
going for any great length OF time. /
The socialist ministers, at a recent
ministerial council. said that the only
possibility they saw OF setting 'he
difficulty was to bring the war TO a
close.
Neither the coalition cabinet nor the
newly appointed commission to regu-
late the difficulties between capital ana
labor has yet found q way to settle tne
industrial crisis. The commission is
composed of the ministers or f1nance'
trade and industry and labor, but since
there is a wide divergence OF views be-
tween the minister of finance and the
new socialistic minister OF labor. IL
seems probable that this COMMISSION
will be confronted with the same dlHi-
calties that attended previous efforts at
reconciliation.
War Factories Must Close.
An investigation of the factory con-
dtions in Petrograd led to the alarm
ing but inevitable conclusion, that >un-
less the government soon finds a means
of adjusting the present dlflcul!ies
most of the industrial enterprises
working for national defense VIII De
months. The outstanding features OF
the labor situation are as follows:
An investiea ton shows that Vlrtualiy
the same difficulties prevail in all the
big factories in retrograd, and appa-
rently authenticated reports from the
Moscow. Donets and Ural districts indi-
cate general disorganiZation. In many
of the factories the demands by the
workmen for increased wages are ac-
tually greater than the entire prohts
of the factories under the best condi-
tions of production. The workmen,
through their committees, are in vir-
tual command of the factories, ana all
business has to be submitted to them
for approval. Wages in a majority OF
the factories already have been in
creased from 100 to $50 per cent, but
there has yet been no offset by an ad-
vance in prices of the output.
Demand Huge Sum.
In one of the works in Petrograd, the
workmen recently demanded the imme-
date payment of 100000 rubles-
crease of Is kopecks an hour for each
workman since the beginning of the
war.
An eight-hour day has become effec-
tive in all factories. According to the
estimate of a leading manufacturer, the
output of these factories has suffered
an average decrease of 40 per cent
since the revolution. He explained that
all these concerns were confronted with
an imminent shortage of raw materials
and with bankruptcy.
Not only have the prices of products
not met the advance in wages. but
payment has been so slow that industry
is in urgent need of working capital.
Workmen Refuse Offers.
President Kutler of the Union Of
Trade and Industry, who attended a
recent conference of the council OF
ministers, said that in eighteen metal
establishments in the Donets district
with capitalization OF 10000, 600
rubles and annual profits of 100000,
the workmen had demanded an in
crease of 240,000,000 rubles. The own
ers had agreed to 64,000,000. but the
workmen refused to accept this.
In some of the works, according to
the statement of representative OF
all the profits to the workmen, but
demands.
factories amount to S00,000,000 rubles.
coal would have to rise to unheard- of
wages demanded reaches 10000. 900
rubles, while the annual business does
not exceed 200.000,000.