164 MANUFACTURES OF KUSSIA. 



maud for such materials by the mauufacturers who make wire goods. However, in 

 the demand should arise, then the Eussian steel works would be doubtless able to 

 furnish it to the wire manufactories, for the general production of steel in Eussia. 

 especially of the Marten steel, the best suited for wire drawing, has considerably 

 increased of late years. The comparatively high price of iron and steel in Eussia 

 has a great influence upon the market value of wire and wire nails. When foreign 

 wares are compared with the Eussian, the difference in the prices diminishes with 

 the increase in the numbers of the wire, the price of labour being much cheaper in 

 Eussia than abroad, and the material being of little consideration when very fine 

 wire is ordered. 



Brass wire, including wire made of the different alloys of brass, is chiefly made 

 in the regions of Moscow and Nizhni-Novgorod, the Latten and Brass EoUing Mills 

 of Kolchoughin and Co. being the chief representatives of this industry. In the gov- 

 ernment of Vladimir, where the amount of the yearly production of latten and brass 

 wire is over 30,000 pouds, the wire used for electrical conductors forms a small 

 part thereof. Brass wire, especially of the finest sorts, which are used for the manu- 

 facture of wire webbing, is produced in great quantities in the celebrated village 

 Besvodnoie, government of Nizhni-Novgorod, by the local peasants. The general value 

 of the production of brass wire, chiefly of the finest sorts, amounts in this region to 

 many hundred thousand roubles; some observers reckon it at 800,000 roubles, but 

 this figure seems to be rather high. 



The wires of special structure, for example, that from phosphureted bronze, 

 are not made in Eussia, and therefore must be imported. Some of the manufactories 

 use this ware for wire webbing, and especially for that used at paper mills. The 

 production of the finest sorts of wire is also inconsiderable. These sorts are brought 

 rom foreign firms or di'awn at the manufactories and establishments using them for 

 weaving. The chemically pure brass wire used for electric conductors, and formerly 

 exclusively brought from France, and in small quantities from Germany, is now 

 made in Eussia. Besides the Ural manufactories, in 1887 there was organized a 

 considerable electrolytic factory in the Caucasus, namely, the Kalakentsk, owned by 

 Seemens Brothers, haying a dynamo machine yielding 225 horse powers. 



The prices for brass wire are generally high in Eussia owing to the cost of 

 the metal itself. The production of insulating wire and electric conductors as well 

 as of submarine cables increases gradually, due to the spreading of telegraph and 

 telephone lines and to electric lighting, together with other branches of the electrical 

 industry. The factories and works producing insulating wire are chiefly concentrated 

 in St. Petersburg. The winding of the wii"e with wool and especially with silk is 

 very frequently done at the galloon factories. The production of different kinds of 

 insulating wire at the establishments of St. Petersburg may be fixed at something 

 over 200,000 roubles per annum. 



The manufactories of wire nails, being the chief consumers of Eussian wire, 

 are scattered over all the country, as has been already mentioned. The largest firms 

 are, the St. Petersburg Iron Boiling Mill and Wire JIanufactory Co., tbe Moscow 

 Metallic Manufactory Co., (formerly owned by Goujon), Becker and Co. in Libau, the 

 latter having a branch in Koirany, government of Viln'o, the Metallic Manufactory 

 of Hantke and Co. in Warsaw, and the Eiga Wire Manufactory. These works pro- 



