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, besides
 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 purchases
 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 imported
 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 complicated
 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