The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-21

appointment of MT. A. A. Heller as | Director of the Commercial Depart 1 ment of the Bureau of the Repre- | sentative of the Russian Socialist Fed l eral Soviet Republic. MT. Heller, who | is a chemist and inventor, and also well acquainted with American busi- 1 ness methods, has issued for publica- ton in The Bulletin the following statement. which gives very interest ing information as to the policies that will dominate the purchase and sale of materials in this country. The text of the statement follows in fulli
 Statement by Mir. A. A. Heller, Com
 tive in the United States of the
 Russian Government,
 MT. L. A. Martens, the representa- tive of the Russian Soviet Govern ment, has appointed me Director of the Commercial Department of the Russian Soviet Bureau. MT. Martens main mission Is to establish trade relations between the United States and Russia, and my department Is charged with the carrying out of this purpose.
 Although nothing has so far been definitely decided as to the policy of the Allies, including the United States, toward Soviet Russia, there are many indications that trade rela- tions will be established in the very near future. We want to be prepared for such an eventuality, so that soon as the existing blockade Is lift ed, goods may be shipped without d single days delay.
 We are ready to receive bids from manufacturers of various products and to place orders with them as soon as export licenses to Petrograd or Riga for our purchases can be | secured. We are in the market for all kinds of manufactured goods. In the first place, we need railway equip ment: this branch of purchasing Is in charge of a Special Department un- der the direction of Professor LOmo- nossof; vast supplies of railway ma terial for Russia are already stored in the United States ready to be shipped as soon as the present unnatural sit uatIon relaXes.
 In the second place, we require agricultural machinery and all kinds of factory, mining, and road-building machinery, tools, electrical supplies, automobiles and trucks, drugs and chemicals, shoes and clothing, foods suitable for export, excepting grain, and a thousand and one other things which are made in America and can be used by civilized communities.
 The Russian Soviet Government Is prepared to pay for its purchases in Q manner which will make the trade Independent of the appreciated value of the ruble. Firstly, 1t is ready to place two hundred C200) million dol lars in gold in banks abroad IS soon as trade relations are established Secondly, there are large stores of raw material in Russia, such as furs flax hemp, hides, platinum, iridium, precious stones, etc., ready for ship ment to the Amercan market. The value of these exports will go toward balancing the imports into Russia. As to the statement I saw in some papers that the Russian gold reserve has been depleted, 1t is true that. Ger many, Czecho-Slovakia and other en- emies of Soviet Russia got away with some of its gold. But this amount has been more than made up by new production, and by the nationaliza- tion of the royal and hierarchia! properties. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Russia IS fully abb to pay as she goes.
 The Russian purchases will not be limited, however, to two hundred (2OO) million dollars. Russian inn ports in 1913 amounted to one thous- and three hundred seventy-four mil lions of rubIes, or roughly speaking, seven hundred million dollars. The need of important products is at this time certainly much greater than was the case before the war. Not only are we confronted with the problem of rebuilding that which the war de- vastated, but Soviet Russia wants to build up a greater and more develop ed country than Russia ever was. The revolution elevated large masses of the people to a higher standard, and every man. woman and child in Rus sia today is a potential customer for many kinds of articles which they never have used beforee. The United States with a population of about two thirds that of Russia, and a high state of industrial development, imported in 1914 approximately one thousand rine hundred million dollars worth Of goods or about nineteen (19) dollars per capita. Even if Russia imports only to the amount of ten (1O) dol lars per capita, it will represent the enormous figure of one thousand five hundred million dollars. It should al so be understood that with the na- tionalization of the distribution of products in Russia, the Soviet gov ernment. through it's central purchas- ing institutions and it's representa- tives abroad. is the only purchaser for the Russian market. Whether one | believes or not in the principles Ci tiOnalizatiOn one may readily un- derstand that this condition presents ] First American TnVantnr