246 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
tables. But in spite of this extensive killing of cattle, a great shortage
 of leather and hides indispensable to the army made itself everywhere
 felt at the very beginning of the War. The collection of hides
was in no way regulated, and the tanning of leather was left imperiled,
 since previous to the War the bulk of the tanning extracts used
to be imported from Germany. At the front, the hides of slaughtered
animals were either thrown away or sold by the troops to casual
buyers. The result was a wild speculation in hides, and there were
even instances of Russian hides being sold to the enemy.
In the meantime the Union’s committee of the southwestern front
became aware that Galicia produced a considerable portion of the
boots used in Austria-Hungary. The manufacturing of boots was a
popular form of cottage industry. The Russian troops, on occupying
 the country, found about 190 tanneries where a certain quantity
of tanning extracts had been left behind by the Austrians. With
proper organization, it should have been possible to resume production
 in these factories and thus assure a monthly supply of 100,000
to 150,000 pair of boots for the army.
The Zemstvo Union offered its services to the Army Supply Department
 for the collection of hides on the southwestern front, and
undertook to guarantee the subsequent distribution of hides wherever
 needed by the army. The negotiations were concluded at the
end of January, 1915, and the Union was granted a monopoly of
the collection of hides at the front. During the month of February
the organization was completed and a hundred expert tanners were
hired by the Union and were distributed along the front. They attended
 to the reception of the freshly salted hides at the depots of
the Army Supply Department, sorted and loaded them, and sent
them on to the warehouses of the Zemstvo Union. During the first
months of 1915 about 50,000 hides were received every month; for
each hide the Union paid to the Army Supply Department from
2.50 rubles to 8.50 rubles.
With the accumulation of hides in the warehouses the problem of
their further disposal had to be considered. The supplies of tanning
extracts were inadequate. The only large tanning extract factory in
Russia, owned by a French company, was situated in Kiev; but on
the outbreak of the War the factory had been closed by the owners,
who had returned to France. The director of the factory refused to
entertain the suggestion that operations should be resumed, protest-