KUZBAS   BULLETIN
Aug. 30, 1923
Enterprise Kuzbas is S. J. Rutgers, a well
" nown Dutch engineer, a graduate of Delft
"niversity, Holland. Rutgers has had many
ears experience in engineering work in Hol-
land, (where he built the port of Rotterdam),
and in the East Indies, China, Japan and
America.
Alfred Pearson, Jr., technical director of the
enterprise, is a mining engineer of long experi-
ence in America, and is thoroughly American
in his ideas and training. During the World
War he was Captain of Engineers in the U. S.
Army. There are several other members of the
colony who are ex-service men.
W. H. Kingery, the present farm manager,
came with a special recommendation from the
speaker of the legislature of his state, as an
expert agriculturist.
Dr. William H. Mahler, chief engineer of
the Chemical Plant, is a graduate of the Uni-
versity of Vienna and holds a degree from the
Zurich Polytechnic. He has had thirty years'
experience in coke by-products and dyes, fif-
teen of which were spent in the United States.
There are representatives here of the best
known educational institutions, including grad-
uates of Cornell University, Columbia, the Uni-
versities of California, Wisconsin, Michigan,
Ohio and Indiana, Lehigh University, Barnard
and Williams Colleges.
Colonists becoming members of Kuzbas
bound   themselves  to  work  at  their   highest
"city for a period of two years, in the enter-
s of Kuzbas. During this time they were
ovide themselves with clothes from
za, and were to pay $100 to cover part
food to be consumed by them, and $200
fer transportation and tools. At the end
period they were to receive a bonus of
ount not fixed, but to be determined by
Success of the enterprise during that time.
ey were at all times to be subject to the de-
isions of the Soviet authorities and signed a
pledge accepting this condition. In case the
management and the Soviet authorities came
into such conflicts that they could not agree,
then all of the colonists were to be given free
transportation for themselves and their be-
longings to the Russian border. All moneys
paid to the organization Kuzbas.were accepted
as loans, payable without interest, at such time
(not sooner than two years) as the production
•of the industry should warrant it. No promises
were held out which would lead any person
to invest money for the financial rewards to
be obtained. The basis for loans and contribu-
tions was that Kuzbas is an industrial exoeri-'
ment to aid in the rehabilitation of the dis-
rupted Russian industries. As such it is func-
tioning today.        ;
Since the colony, far from being in disagree-
ment with the Soviet authorities and breaking
up, has actually received a subsidy for the
development of the enterprise, of one million
dollars gold credit, and since the colonists are
actually paid wages in money above the satis-
factory standard of living promised them, it
would seem that those colonists who have left
are failing in the fulfillment of their contract,
whereas, in all major particulars, the Soviet
Government has made more liberal terms than
promised. It would seem, therefore, that those
colonists were not entitled to anything beyond
their releases under a strict reading of the
contract. However, the following terms are
accorded to all leaving prior to the expiration
of the two years' contract:
3rd Class Fare to the border, including sleep-
ing accommodations;
Cash Allowance of one-half milliard per person
(averaging according to the rate of ex-
change $10.00 American money) ;
Food Allowance for one month, equivalent to
ration allowed in Kemerovo;
In cases where people were in bad health, they
were allowed all expenses to the United
States, for themselves and their families;
The management adopted the policy of pur-
chasing tools from departing colonists to
increase their travelling funds.
The industrial basis for Kemerovo lies in
its mines and its chemical plant. Eight large
brick and concrete and numerous small build-
ings constitute the chemical plant, which is
the only one in Siberia. It is designed to pro-
duce from the one battery which is completed,
200 tons of coke per day. While this plant is
85% complete, and the one battery of 50 ovens
entirely finished, it does not pay to operate
until the by-products can be utilized. A spe-
cial mission has just returned from Germany,
where those materials were purchased which
are necessary for the completion of the plant.
On the opposite side of the river there are
three working mines. According to the report
of Professor Usoff of the University of Tomsk,
one-fourth of the entire known coal deposits
of the world are in Kuznets Basin. An aerial
bucketway transports the coal across the River
Tom to the railroad and chemical plant. All
the auxiliary equipment for a plant far from
its source of supplies is here in a degree that
.   KG KM