WORK IN THE ARMY
237
tracted a great deal of favorable comment and approval in the
army. The appearance of motor lorries carrying the complete
equipment necessary for the repair of field guns produced a particu-
larly good impression upon the military authorities. This repair
shop was under the management of the engineers of the Zemstvo
Union and, according to an official report, “brilliantly passed its
theoretical and practical tests and rendered immense services to
the artillery. It was ready for work within twelve minutes after its
arrival and, in case of need, it could be dismantled and packed up
again within six minutes.””*
The high prices, poor quality, and local scarcity of certain com-
modities for which there was a large demand, forced the Zemstvo
Union to establish numberless producing enterprises of their own.
Of the Union’s tanneries, which gradually extended to the whole
country, we shall speak in the next chapter. We may mention here
the large and successful soap factory in Kiev, the chemical works
in Kiev, and the shops for the making of wagons, hot water boilers,
field kitchens, disinfection machinery, furniture, and other equip-
ment for hospitals. Many abandoned sawmills were set to work
again. A vast production of woodwork, which was widely used in
the army, was started, embracing everything from portable build-
ings and river barges to office desks. On the western front the Union
rented important brickyards and opened factories for the produc-
tion of albuminous glue and a factory for the manufacture of oXy-
gen. On the southwestern front the collection of old bones was or-
ganized for the production of bone meal, whilst in Galicia attempts
were made to resume the operation of the salt mines and oil wells. It
is impossible within the brief space of this chapter to enumerate all
the undertakings organized by the Union, especially as so many of
them were begun only a short time before the outbreak of the Revo-
lution and we have no data regarding their ultimate fate. The list of
the institutions at the front maintained by the Zemstvo Union on
November 1, 1916, contains 33 factories and 208 workshops of all
descriptions.
Apart from these many-sided activities, the Zemstvo Union was
doing everything within its power to supply labor to the population
of the war zone. As the ruined farmers were not always capable of
*® Kratki Obzor Deyatelnosti (Outline), p. 71.
* Ibid., pp. 72-78; also Izvestia (Bulletin), No. 29, pp. 156-157.
