WORK OF THE UNION 63 
bags for trench work. In addition to all these articles, boots had to 
be bought continuously, and this work, as we shall presently see, 
reached such vast dimensions that the Union had to undertake to 
collect the hides of slaughtered cattle and attend to the tanning, be- 
sides manufacturing the necessary tanning extracts. 
Medical Goods and Surgical Instruments. 
At the beginning of the War the supply of medical goods was 
carried on under great difficulties. At the outset, the well-stocked 
central pharmacy of the Moscow zemstvo served the needs of the 
Union. Soon, however, its stocks began to dwindle. The Union then 
made an attempt to collect everything of this description that could 
be found in the Russian market. At the same time (about the middle 
of August) the Union was able to establish connections with foreign 
markets. During the first four months of the War its total pur- 
chases of medical goods were valued at 1,245,780 rubles, of which 
goods to the value of only 291,689 rubles were bought in Russia. 
These initial foreign purchases arrived at Moscow mainly during 
September, October, and November, 1914. Prices both in Russia 
and abroad were, of course, much higher than before the War, and 
in the case of some articles as much as 23 to 106 per cent higher. 
The prices of Russian goods were found to be higher than of im- 
ported goods, for the Zemstvo Union was exempt from the payment 
of customs duties and had the privilege of free transport for its 
purchases from the Russian frontier to. the interior. The greatest 
increase in prices was noted in the case of the alkaloids and iodine 
preparations. Chemico-pharmaceutical preparations were accepted 
only in the original packing of the manufacturer and sub jected to 
chemical analysis in the laboratories of the Union. 
Still more difficult was the supply of surgical instruments and 
appliances. The exceedingly high prices charged for them abroad, 
the difficulty of finding the most suitable types, and the compli- 
cated purchasing organization itself, tended to reduce greatly the 
possibilities of foreign purchases. Only the most indispensable and 
ordinary articles were bought, in Japan, in the early days. Russian 
firms, however, did their best to come to the rescue, especially the 
artels of the cottage workers (for example, the Pavlovski artel of 
metal workers), who, working from patterns and samples furnished