Concession

M. Dzerzhinsky, Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council, smiled at Georg Tchitcherin, Bolshevik Foreign Commissar. He then pulled his fountain pen from his pocket with a sharp, metallic click, unscrewed the top, shook it gently, scribbled something that passed for his signature. Tchitcherin countersigned. The Bolshevik Government had signed a rich manganese concession for 20 years to W. A. Harriman & Co. of Manhattan.

The contract becomes operative 45 days after the Government of Georgia (South Russia), liquidates its monopoly of manganese exports. This done, the Moscow Government will receive at Lloyd's Bank in London the sum of $1,000,000, which the Harriman interests have advanced against the first year's royalties.

Officials of the Moscow Government expect to make $62,000,000 in royalties during the term of the 20-year concession and expect that the Harriman Co., backed by other interests, will make $120,000,000.

To the press, Comrade Dzerzhinsky said:

"I am delighted that the negotiations which lasted longer than a year and which were fraught with many difficulties and uncertainties, finally have borne fruit.

"I am confident thai the contract will prove to be the forerunner of other projects of a similar kind. We welcome American capital and American business men to Russia, and will accord them every facility and consideration."