Month 
1915 December 
1916 January 
February 
March 
April 
May 
June 
July 
August 
WORK IN THE ARMY 
Retail Stores of the Western Front. 
Value of goods 
(in rubles) 
44,000 
240,000 
345,000 
721,000 
861,000 
714,000 
918,000 
1,249,000 
1.446.000 
Receipts 
17,000 
15,000 
224.000 
847,000 
461,000 
789,000 
666,000 
646,000 
894.000 
J& #yq 
The business of the retail stores continued until the end of 1916 
and by December, 1916, the monthly turnover of the stores of the 
western front reached 8,000,000 rubles. The general disorganiza- 
tion of transport and supply, however, which was experienced by 
the end of 1916 affected unfavorably the zemstvo retail stores in the 
army and in January, 1917, the monthly turnover of the stores of 
the western front dwindled to 1,200,000 rubles. After the Revolu- 
tion of February-March, 1917, their position did not improve. 
The last reports available are those of J uly, 1917. They show 
that during the first half of that year merchandise to the value of 
9,887,601 rubles was supplied to the retail stores on the three fronts 
(western, southwestern, and northern).®* The number of stores was 
then considerably more than two hundred. 
The story of the retail stores on the northern and southwestern 
fronts is of no particular interest. On the northern front they num- 
bered 51 in November, 1916, as against 117 on the western front. 
On the southwestern front the number of zemstvo retail stores on 
November 1, 1916, was only 48. 
Depots and Transport of Goods. 
The consolidation of the zemstvo organizations at the front usu- 
ally began with the activities of the depots. In December, 1914, a 
vast depot was opened in Warsaw and this was soon followed by 
*! Attempts to organize retail stores on the Caucasian front were not suc- 
cessful, because of the vast distances over which the troops were distributed, 
and because of the enormous difficulty of securing delivery of goods over 
mountain tracks.