Page:Morgan Philips Price - Siberia (1912).djvu/294

veniences in the past. While this legal position requires reform, if foreign capital is to be further attracted, it is nevertheless quite possible to carry on business in Siberia under existing conditions with reasonable security. Briefly stated, the position is as follows. Foreign commercial enterprises, having for their object the buying and selling of goods in Russia, can operate without permission from the Government, on condition that they sell only foreign goods. Foreign industrial undertakings, on the other hand, having for their object the working of such enterprises as mines and factories, must obtain special permission through the Minister of Commerce and Industry. A foreign industrial company, before it can operate, must apply for permission, stating the amount of its capital, and submitting its Articles of Association, and must appoint a responsible agent with power of attorney to act on its behalf in Russia. Permission may be taken away at any time, and the responsible agent must have full powers of attorney. Foreign capital invested in industrial undertaking in Russia is therefore much at the mercy of the local and central officials, and also of the responsible agent who represents it. As a rule the latter is required by Russian law to be a Russian subject and not of Jewish religion. He has large powers and may act independently of his principals abroad, because the Russian Government recognizes him alone as representing the company. There are thus, as it were, two authorities controlling foreign companies in Russia—the principals in the foreign country, representing the interests which supply the capital and receive the profits, and the responsible agent in Russia, who in the eyes of the Russian Government