Month

1915 December
1916 January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August

WORK IN THE ARMY
Retail Stores of the Western Front.
Value of goods
(in rubles)

44,000
240,000
345,000
721,000
861,000
714,000
918,000
1,249,000
1.446.000

Receipts

17,000
15,000
224.000
847,000
461,000
789,000
666,000
646,000
894.000

J& #yq

The business of the retail stores continued until the end of 1916
and by December, 1916, the monthly turnover of the stores of the
western front reached 8,000,000 rubles. The general disorganization
 of transport and supply, however, which was experienced by
the end of 1916 affected unfavorably the zemstvo retail stores in the
army and in January, 1917, the monthly turnover of the stores of
the western front dwindled to 1,200,000 rubles. After the Revolution
 of February-March, 1917, their position did not improve.
The last reports available are those of J uly, 1917. They show
that during the first half of that year merchandise to the value of
9,887,601 rubles was supplied to the retail stores on the three fronts
(western, southwestern, and northern).®* The number of stores was
then considerably more than two hundred.
The story of the retail stores on the northern and southwestern
fronts is of no particular interest. On the northern front they numbered
 51 in November, 1916, as against 117 on the western front.
On the southwestern front the number of zemstvo retail stores on
November 1, 1916, was only 48.

Depots and Transport of Goods.
The consolidation of the zemstvo organizations at the front usually
 began with the activities of the depots. In December, 1914, a
vast depot was opened in Warsaw and this was soon followed by

*! Attempts to organize retail stores on the Caucasian front were not successful,
 because of the vast distances over which the troops were distributed,
and because of the enormous difficulty of securing delivery of goods over
mountain tracks.