Evening star., 1921-09-20
SMALL INDUSTRIES
PICK Up IN RUSSIA
BY LOUIS LEVINE.

BY LOUIS LEVINE.
By Gable to The Star and Chicago Daily News |
Copyright, 1921.
MOSCOW, Russia, September 19.-l
Peter Bogdanov, chairman Of the su-
preme council on national economy.
talked to the writer today Of eco
nomic conditions in Russia. I asked
him to explain what had been ac-
complished thus far in the new
economic policy and to what extent
the new measures had been effective
in the rehabilitation of Russian in
dustrial life.
economic policy which must be dis,
tinguished from each other" replied
M. Bogdanov "One is concerned with
small Industrial enterprises. Our
policy is to dispose of them by lease
to private persons or cooperative ati
is scanty. have heard from only
half a dozen of the northern gou-
bernias governmental departmentsl:
In the goubernia of Moscow until
September $50 applications were
made. of which 142 were by private
owners and the remainder by COOP
erative associations. Up to the same
date nine applications had been
granted and signed, but since then
there has been a rush of applications
in Moscow.
I'm the ,goubernias of Vitebsk,
Pskov and Vladimir a number Of
sawmills. tanneries and floor mills
and soap factories have been leased.
Moscow Is not typical because the
retain as many factories as possible
under its control. In other places. in
cluding Ukrainia. the number of
leases already signed is much larger.
In general, may say that small
| torily and small factories and work
shops are reopening. l expect that
! the development will be more rapid
as confidence in our economic policy
| increases.
Too Much Capital Needed.
II have less confidence in the future
of medium sized enterprises, such as
! those employing from 100 to 300
! workers. Most OF them have closed
down and will hardly reopen soon. 1t
would require considerable capital to
run such factories and it is hardly
possible to obtain the raw materials.
1t is more difficult to find people will
ing to lease than We expected. The
local councils will try to put the sys-
| TEN into operation with the help OF
local and state funds.
Large scale industries, such as the
! lmetallurgical, textile and sugar in
| dustries. have begun to carry out the
policy of state trusts. Two expert
| ments are under way. One is the
linen trust and the other is the wood
working industry in the north. Ihe
linen industry illustrates perhaps
more clearly what we propose to do
in other branches Of large scale in
dustry. The trust is a combination
of seventeen factories in two gou-
bernias or more than one-third OF the
entire industry, in which 1900 work
ers are employed. The factories rep
resent from 40 to As per cent of the
productive capacity of the industry.
The administration of this trust was
turned over to board of three direc-
tors appointed by the department OF
textiles, subject to confirmation by
the supreme council of national econ
omy. The board appoints directors
of the individual factories and the
whole enterprise is conducted on COM
mercial principles and methods OF ac-
counting.
"They are given an initial fund for
expenses, but the trust is expected to
use it's own initiative in obtaining
supplies We gave the linen trust
1000. 100000 rubles (normally $1,000
O00, ,000) and a certain quantity OF
linen yarn. For the time being we
supply the trust with flax. but We ex- |
pect that trust in the future to make |
it's own arrangements with the peas !
ants for growing and supplying the |
fax.
State and Trust Combine.
1.-THE workers are employed on a |
piece basis and every inducement is |
given them to increase the output. OF |
course. the workers are represented /
through factory committees and |
unions and they have the right to |
protest against the appointment of |
Objectionable directors But the di-
rector of each factory and the gen. |
eral board of directors will be re- !
sponsible for the industrial enter |
prises under their management. The |
management is concentrated entirely |
in the hands of the directors The |,
product is divided between the state |
and the trust. The state receives the
net profits in the form of products
and the trust has the remainder for
exchange on market through the CO.
operative associations and for sale
abroad through the commissariat of
foreign trade.
"Our plan is to form a similar trust
in the cotton and chemical industries.
There we will stop for the time being
and watch the results of the expert
ments. If they are successful we shall
carry the scheme through all branches