248 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
Caucasus was placed at the disposal of the Central Committee of the
Union during the latter part of 1915. As early as the spring of
1915, the Committee of the Union in the Caucasus had held a num-
ber of conferences of local experts to ascertain what plants suitable
for the manufacture of tanning extracts were available in the Cau-
casus and how they were distributed. At the expense of the Union a
number of expeditions were sent out to Trans-Caucasia, and exten-
sive tests and laboratory experiments were conducted. They yielded
most gratifying results, for it was found that certain plants common
in Trans-Caucasia contained a high percentage tannic acid and this
not only in the stems or cores but also in the leaves.” A commission
of experts expressed itself in favor of organizing in the Caucasus a
factory of tanning extracts. The same idea had originally sug-
gested itself to the Zemstvo Union on an entirely different occasion.
After the retreat from Galicia there was a moment when it seemed
as if even Kiev might have to be abandoned to the enemy, and the
Zemstvo Union was naturally reluctant to lose the tanning extract
factory in that city, which was working at high pressure. It was de-
cided, therefore, to transfer the plant to a safer place. A special
committee was sent to the northern Caucasus and the Black Sea
coast, to find a suitable site for the factory. The city of Maikop in
the Kuban territory of the Cossacks was selected because of the vast
oak forests in the vicinity, covering an area of about 400,000 decia-
tines. Soon, however, the situation at Kiev was relieved, so that it
was possible to avoid the removal of the factory, an operation that
would have involved a complete closing down for a period of five to
six months. Nevertheless Maikop was not left out of further proj-
ects and the Zemstvo Union decided to establish in this city a new
factory with an annual production of 850,000 puds of extracts.
This plant was intended to serve in the future as a model for the
practical development of the Caucasus in the manufacture of tan-
ning extracts,—an industry that was hitherto unknown in Russia.
In spite of the extraordinary difficulties in the way of building such
a factory, and especially the difficulty of providing equipment, work
was begun in April, 1916, and early in 1917 the plant was complete
and ready to begin production. The Department of War aided the
Union in this enterprise by the loan of large sums.
2 Izvestia (Bulletin), No. 24, pp. 51-67.
