Page:Michael Farbman - Russia & the Struggle for Peace (1918).djvu/40

 28 Germany was to prevent supplies from reaching Germany; whereas the import of German goods into Russia, so far as it could be kept up, was of distinct advantage to Russia. However, the sinister influence of certain large interests was at work in Russia, as elsewhere, and the blockade of Germany, which had the very important but limited object of striking at the military strength of Germany, was perverted into the destruction of German commerce. "Bomb German business" was soon the cry of Russia's patriotic newspapers, and the capitalists and the Government began zealously to combat the influx of German goods, notwithstanding the fact that their entry was entirely in the public interest. Merchants and speculators were allowed to demand any price they liked for the imported goods, but they had to prove that their wares were not of German origin. The only effect of insisting on such proofs was to raise prices still higher and to make the import of necessary articles still more difficult.

Soon a new evil was added to this "wise" policy of hindering foreign goods from reaching Russia: this was a secret traffic in goods waggons. When a merchant brought goods to any Russian frontier—to Archangel, the Finnish ports, Vladivostok, or the Russo-Roumanian frontier—he had to apply for a so-called "Nariad" or order for trucks. The issue of the "Nariad" depended not only on the Ministry of Communications but also on the Home Office, War Office, Admiralty, or Ministry of Commerce. The number of departments concerned depended on the circumstances of the case and on the nature of the goods. Very often the necessary orders could only be issued by the joint action of two or three Ministries. This practice made for great delays and was a great burden to the consumer, since the bribes for getting a "Nariad" inevitably increased the prices. When a merchant had succeeded in importing American, Japanese, or English goods, he was never certain of being able to obtain the necessary trucks required to take them to their destina-