While I was in Moscow the Government received a report from the Supreme Council of National Economy to the effect that war industry was progressing at full speed and producing sufficient supplies and ammunitions for the army. In addition the departments of building materials, fur, leather, fuel, metal, chemicals, and trade, had been organized. There were fifty-one factories in the building material branch alone, capable of producing 121,500,000 bricks, 2,000,000 poods of cement, 870,000 poods of lime, and 510,000 poods of tiles. The tanneries were running on the basis of 240,800 poods annually. The department of forests had obtained a contract for twenty percent of the fuel demand, in the Moscow Government alone. There were sixty-eight saw mills and 128 planing mills running on full time. All paper factories were working. The chemical department controls the paper, china, and chemical production. The trade department supervised 175,000 workers and had its own art industry museum. The Government is planning the construction of enormous power systems, one of which will be the largest in the world. They will also utilize the water falls for great hydraulic power stations, all of which would require great amounts of machinery from America. CANALS The Volga and Don canal will connect the Black and Caspian Seas and the Volga river with the Baltic Sea. Canal Dredges are needed to build these. RAW MATERIALS There are at present in warehouses in Russia 200,000 tons of flax, the present market price of which, in London, is over $1,000 per ton. There are also 100,000 tons of hemp. There is gold, timber, and ninety percent of the world’s supply of platinum. Many factories will be erected, great rolling mills, steel mills, etc. There is no doubt but that Russia will eventually be able to produce everything it needs. The country is thoroughly stocked with all kinds of mineral products and it is merely a matter of time before it will be entirely independent. It struck me that in the meantime the American business men are missing a wonderful opportunity in these ready markets for their machinery and equipment. Russia will be, in the course of a very few years, a very strong competitor, whereas now it offers a vast market. ------------------ CHAPTER XI PROPAGANDA On my way into Red Russia the train on which I was travelling passed, between Rejistza and Novo-Sokoliev, a train of ten or twelve cars, the sides of which were covered with huge, multi-colored placards. It was the “Lenin Train” used for carrying propaganda literature all over the republic. When I saw it, it was on a tour of the country behind the Western Front.