Page:The Russian Review Volume 1.djvu/130

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The Russian Ministry of Finance has prepared an interesting report on the condition of the Russian industries during the War. The report covers the whole Russian Empire, with the exception of the territory occupied by the Germans. It sums up all the official information that has been gathered concerning the effects of the War upon Russia's industrial life and forms and interesting, though not an exhaustive, study of the subject.

According to the statistics gathered by the Ministry, there were during 1914, 1,960,860 persons employed in those industries which come under the provisions of the Factory Control Regulations. This figure shows a slight decrease when compared with the figure for 1913, which was 1,966,144. The decrease, of course, is due to the fact that the last five months of 1914 formed the first period of the War. The actual decrease is, perhaps, greater than is shown by the above figures, since the number of industrial enterprises which came under the Factory control Regulations increased from 13,863 in 1913, to 14,047 in 1914.

Yet, despite this decrease in the number of persons employed, Russian industries show a distinct growth during the War. The report points out several specific causes which were largely responsible for this development. The most important among these are the presence of large government orders and the decrease in the consumption of alcoholic drinks. The government is in the market for enormous quantities of articles which are needed for war operations, and this has caused a large increase in the activities of metal factories, machine and boiler shops, car, gun, and munition works. There is also a noticeable increase in the production of cloth, linen and weaving factories, leather and cotton-goods works.

The question of the discontinuance of the sale of alcoholic drinks is given special attention in the report. The results of this measure are already evident in two ways. In the first place, the productivity of labor throughout the country has increased very noticeably, and in the second, sickness and inability to work have shown a decided decrease. Proofs of this are found in the accumulation of unused funds in hospitals and clinics, a decrease in the number of fines for spoiled work in factories, an increase in the output, and an improvement of the quality of