Photograph by Walter L. Beasley 

 A BACK VIEW OF A RICH YAKUT GIRl/S 

 COSTUME, SHOWING WIDE BAND OF 

 FINE SILVER-WORK: SIBERIA 



when the Zemstvos — local self-govern- 

 ment — were introduced. 



In the first forty years the progress 

 made was slow. It is during the last ten 

 years that the success of the cooperative 

 societies has been specially marked, so 

 that today the movement, with a mem- 

 bership of 11,299,404, has reached a po- 

 sition which is claimed to be far ahead 



of that of all the countries of western 

 Europe. 



The number of people in Russia di- 

 rectly touched by the movement must be 

 between 40 to 50 millions, or about one- 

 third of the population. 



The grouping of the various cooper- 

 ative societies into unions was for a long 

 time opposed by the government — the 

 first union having been sanctioned in 

 1901. But it was not until 191 1 that 

 these unions received powers to carry out 

 their natural financial operations. In 

 that year the Moscow Peoples' Bank was 

 formed, with 1,327 credit societies as the 

 shareholders. This bank has since be- 

 come the most important organization 

 for financing agricultural machinery 

 purchases, for the sale of agricultural 

 produce, and of the cottage and Kus- 

 tarny manufactures. 



Other important unions are the Ekat- 

 erinburg unions (74 societies), in the 

 Urals, and the Siberian Union of Butter 

 "artels" (318 artels in 1912). The turn- 

 over of this union in I9i4_was 14,000,000 

 roubles. In other branches cooperative 

 societies have been formed for the pur- 

 chase and distribution of agricultural 

 machinery and implements. 



Attempts have also been made to or- 

 ganize the collection, transportation, and 

 sale of fruit, vegetables, and eggs on a 

 cooperative basis. In South Russia there 

 are several cooperative flour mills, and a 

 number of societies have been formed 

 for the construction of country grain- 

 elevators : the largest elevators are being 

 provided by the government. 



COOPERATION'S GREAT INFLUENCE 



The influence of the cooperative move- 

 ment and of its phenomenal development 

 is being felt in every part of Russia. 

 That it will ultimately modify profoundly 

 the conditions of life, the business habits 

 of the peasantry in a progressive modern 

 sense, is beyond question. Especially 

 will this be so when a liberal measure of 

 national education is introduced to em- 

 phasize and add to the moral effect which 

 cooperation is known to exert upon those 

 who practice its principles. 



The Russian peasant, both by tempera- 

 ment and by habit, responds naturally to 

 cooperative effort, and it is here that his 

 genius finds self-expression. The pres- 



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