Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-11-24
OIL WELLS OF !,
RUSSIA NEED
new MACHINES
Experts Declare Production
Will Cease Within Six
Montlss,

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 2s.-(By a
STAN Correspondent of The Associated
PreEs.)-Within six months the oil
fields, lying within a few miles of this
city and c counted among the rich
o. petroleum wells in the world, will
have ceased to produce, according to
expert opinion. unless new machinery
and better and more workmen are OBJ
tanned.
This condition is acutely realized by
the local Azerbaijan government
which Is controlled by Moscow. II the
oil is not forthcoming, this we'll mean
the stopping of the oil-burning steam
ers of the Caspian sea, several hun
dred in number, the 1000 or more
still in repair and the %oil-burning To-
comotives Of the entire railway sys-
tenn of greater Russia.
Efforts are being made to obtain
machinery, possibly from the United
States, by M. SerabrovDky, a trained
engineer n now general director OF
the oil fields, and also to induce work
men to work. ~
The pre-war production averaged
! annually about $4,000, 600, 900 pounds
Of crude petroleum-and this year it
will run about 5000, 900. 900 at best.
There has been but a few new wells
this year and the old ones function
slowly. The opening up of the pipe
line to Batum for foreign export is
out of the question, as there is not
enough oil and Russia consumes much
of the present supply herself.
The general cause given for this
condition is described by competent
oil engineers, long on the field, as the
"gangrene' of Soviet control. What
ever the Communists touch seems to
go to rot" declared n engineer. 1T
seems like a fatality and the worst of
it is that no amount of new machin-
cry here will remedy the situation.
New machinery would be broken up
by incompetent, underfed workmen
just as the old machinery has BEEN"
"A Gloomy View.
This is a rather gloomy view taken
by an anu-Bolshevik. The oil fields
began to slow down fou years ago.
The present Moscow rule has severely
suffered from the sins of its 'predeces-
sors here.
It is feared there will be much diff
nculty in buying new machinery this
eminent has a commercial mission at
Constantinople that may go to the
United States to get capital or credits
for the machinery.
h labor situation is much more
clear. Russia is denuded| of her best
lmperlallStS and COMMUNISTS
n likewise her trained workers., In
the oil fields where are needed $1,000
men. there are TOY possibly half that
number, and few of them trained, and
employers say even these are disin-s
icfned to work. n r
Before the war there were 125 prf-l
vate companies here, and each with d
managing director, and now the works
of all these directors falls on the
shoulders OF a few men. The work.
men get one and q half pounds Of
black bread e day and soup. with
neither butter nor meat, and a pay OF
5000 rubles (5 to 10 cents) per month
which is just the price of a pound OF
bread.
New Workmen.
New worknen are being brought in
from among the troops of General
Wrangel in Constantinople and also
from the famine zones, but with it all
there seems no way to keep the men
satisfied. O properly fed.
BLACK Town." as is called the oil
refining and delivery district, presents
a sad sight as compared to the old
days. The buildings Of the Nobel re-
f1nery, he most important Of the
companies represented, are going to
ruin. Makeshifts are the rule every
where.
When the Moscow Soviet took over
the Azerbaijan republic a year and a
half 6 by buying up it's officials and
sending in the 18th Red army, 1t ex-
pected to get oil for nothing.