244 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
eign banks. The operations of the purchasing commissions sent to
London and New York made good progress. These commissions
supplied principally medical goods, including more than two hun-
dred different articles, absorbent cotton, coffee, and pepper. The
budget for 1917 provided for purchases amounting to more than
20,000,000 rubles, including 6,060,000 rubles to be spent on pur-
chases for the Union of Towns. In America, leather and boots were
bought, as well as large quantities of tools and accessories. For auto-
mobiles and spare parts alone, the orders placed in the United States
amounted to $1,500,000, in England to £100,000, and in Italy to
1,000,000 lire. All shipments were directed via Archangel but the
new railroad line leading to this port was unable to cope with the
traffic. It thus became necessary to establish a special bureau at
Archangel which obtained possession of cargoes consigned to the
Union and made special arrangements for their dispatch.
Brief mention has already been made of the reorganization that
was carried out in the purchasing machinery at the center. It was
no longer proposed that the reorganized supply department should
attend to all the individual purchases. The purchasing commission
at Moscow now acted merely as a general directing organ. It ex-
amined samples of goods and prices, and issued permits for indi-
vidual purchases exceeding 5,000 rubles in value. As for the investi-
gation of market conditions, the necessary negotiations on the spot,
and the submission of applications for permits to buy and consign
goods, these were all left to the various purchasing commissions
scattered throughout Russia. In these commissions the agents of the
committees of the front took a very active part. Goods were com-
pared with the samples both at the place of loading and at the point
of destination. Transactions not exceeding 5,000 rubles in value
were negotiated independently by the purchasing commissions, and
occasionally even by the agents of the committees of the front (in
emergency cases not provided for by the budgets).
The central supply department was largely occupied with con-
flicts with the railway officials. All the requests made by the Zemstvo
Union for an equal treatment of its consignments with those of the
Army Supply Department remained unsuccessful. According to the
'Lloyd’s Bank in England, the National City Bank in America, the
Enskielda Bank in Sweden, the Handels Bank in Denmark, and the Comp:
toir National d’Escompte in France.
