On April 16 M. Gukovsky, the Commissary for Finance, reported to the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets on Russia's financial and industrial condition. He said that the semi-yearly expenditure would amount to 4,000,000,000 rubles, while the income expected was only 3,300,000,000 rubles. The railroads had lost 70 percent of their freight capacity, and the cost of operation had increased ten times, (120,000 against 11,600 rubles per versta). The Central Government, he stated, derived no revenue from taxes, as the local Soviets used the sums they collected for their own purposes. To illustrate the industrial conditions the Commissary cited the example of the Sormov locomotive works, whose daily output is two locomotives, instead of eighteen as formerly. M. Gukovsky recommended strict economy in expenditures and urged the necessity of securing the services of financial and industrial experts for the purpose of organizing an efficient State machinery. Among the recent legislative measures of the Moscow Government must be mentioned the nationalization of foreign trade, which is a part of the general Bolshevist scheme of Socialist reforms. A special board has been created to regulate the prices of all exports and imports.

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