I asked him if in his opinion Russia could organ-
ize herself without help from abroad. He said,
"I rather think she will have to. We want steam
dredgers, steam excavators, and locomotives most
of all, but we have small hope of getting them in
the immediate future, because the effects of the
war have been so serious in the disorganization
of industry in the western countries that it is
doubtful whether they will be in a position to
supply even their own needs."

While we were talking Berg, the secretary, came
in. I asked him how his Soviet matches were
progressing, and he said that the labels were being
printed and that the first lot would soon be ready.
They will be distributed on the card system, and
he had calculated that they could sell them at
twelve kopecks a packet. I paid a rouble for a
box of ordinary matches at Bieloostrov, and a
rouble and a half here.

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