Evening star., 1924-08-09
BY SEYMOUR B. CONCER.

management The iron mines Of the
Krivoi Rog district, among the most
important in Russia, are producing
only $4,000 tons of ore a month, in
stead of 10000, as planned, and have
deficit of 100000 rubles (S1,000,-
00o) sinstead of an estimated profit Of
$350,000. The output of pig iron for
the first half of the operative year
was between 10 and IL per cent of
pre-war; rolling mill products 10 per
cent and steel 12.4 per cent. The only
market for the iron and steel is fur
nished again by government institu-
tions, which took 92 per cent of the
output. Nobody else can afford it at
war owing to high labor and fuel
costs
While coal. iron and steel produce
ton are thus unloading the burden of
their existence upon the state rail-
ways and the state-operated metal
working establishments. the latter
are in equally bad shape. The vast
locomotive, machinery and arms
plants, In which the Communist
skilled workmen. flower of the pro-
centrated, have been kept in opera
ton only because of government
orders, some for armaments but prin-
c1pally for locomotives, rolling stock
more rolling stock for the small
amount of traffic they have to handle.
Nevertheless, DZerZhinsky's extraordi-
nary commission, laying out the in
dustrial program for the current year,
put the state railways down for 30,-
5000 rubles worth of rolling stock.
Rudzutak, minister of railways,
vainly protested that the railways
didn't need them, could not use them
and mad no money to pay for them,
In h 1tyN~ l.
ruled this. declaring the consequences
of shutting down the plants were too
grave to be faced. In the end Rudzu-
tax was instructed to dig up not 3d.
100000, but 35,000,000 rubles (s18,-
0o0,000) for rolling stock, rails and
bridge steel, quite a sum when the
railroads are already running at a
heavy operating loss. The program
for keeping these establishments open
as gardens for the flower Of the
straight government subsidy of 32.-
100000 rubles and bank credit of
100000. This Is the kind of boil
shevist industrial prosperity for
which the peasant and business man
taxpayer is paying the freight Wages
for the flower" are only AZ to As per
cent of pre-war. Otherwise the sub
sidy burden would be heavier.
OF course, Dzerzhinsky's extraor-
dinary commission. the Council of
Labor and Defense, the commission
for the scientific study of industry,
and a job lot of other boards, are
trying to find a substitute for rail-
road orders to keep the plants open.
regular Hog Island program of ship
building, but the ships would sink
under their tremendous cost and
there's no freight in sight for them.
So the shipbuilding program is
"manana-"
The Tractor Idea.
Another great idea was to build
thousands of tractors and tractorize
all Russia. Listen to some more
bolshevist talk and you might be-
lieve that the thousands of tractors
were already streaming from the
factories. The government several
months ago gravely adopted resolu-
tion permitting the ministry of agri-
culture to import a thousand tractors
only on condition that II bought a
similar number of Russian tractors.
and laying down the same fifty-fifty
rule for the co-operatives and all
other importers. What has happened
Is that the government has stolen the
patents on four foreign makes. in
GLIDING Henry Fords, but construc-
ton in four big machine plants is
still in an experimental stage. The
Harkoff Locomotive Works, for exam =
pie, after having repeatedly been re-
ferred to as in the quantity produc-
tion stage, turned out only recently
its first experimental tractor, heavy,
pirated imitation of a foreign tractor
known as the w. d.
Regarding the railways, the num-
Der of cars loaded daily has fallen
off materially compared with last
year. and that is scarcely an indica-
tion of reviving business prosperity.
For Ave months of the previous oper-
ating year the number of cars loaded
daily averaged 1897, according to
exact figures of the ministry Of rail-
roads. For the same months this
year the average was 11.468, a slump
of about Is per cent. The ministry
of railroads had counted in its finan-
cial plans on an increase to $4,000
cars a day. The ministry of finance,
which has ultimately to finance the
deficit, estimated $1,000. Both fam
tastically high, as it develops. Rail-
way receipts would have been ade-
quate to meet operating costs before
the war, but not now, owing to the
higher cost of labor and materials.
At that, the wage scale is far below
pre-war, but it takes so many more
men to do the work.
Copyright, 1924. by Public Ledger Company.) }