368 who is able to work is given the opportunity to do so, and such unemployed individuals are put to work in a trade or a craft according to each one’s age, inclinations, and ability; to which end the Commercie-Collegium shall have complete power to demand annual reports and accounts of their public actions concerning trade and the artisans from burgomasters and town councils all over the realm and the provinces, as well as to direct and order the magistracies as to what is found to be necessary and beneficial for the promotion of navigation, commerce and the manufactories. as can work shall be given the chance and the liberty to do so; so that those who lack sustenance are shown a way to trade or the crafts, with consideration for the age, strength, nature, and suitability of each person; and thus the college is given full power to demand of the magistracy of each town throughout the realm an annual accounting for their public affairs and their affairs having to do with trade; and also to command the magistracies about everything that is necessary and beneficial for the promotion and continuation of shipping and trade. With the exception of that which concerned handicrafts and manufactories in the Swedish text, the Russian instruktsiia is a nearly verbatim copy of the Swedish instruktion of 1712 on this point. It is not known to what extent the instruktsiia drafted for the kommertskollegiia in 1719 was actually implemented, but it is known that a new edition—a revision of, and supplement to, the instruktsiia of 1719—was promulgated in January 1724.^^' The instruktsiia of 1724 was not couched in as general terms as was that of 1719, but contained instead more detailed and concrete regulations for the operations of the college. Thus, the new instruktsiia of 1724 provided better guidelines for the practical operations of the Russian kommerts-kollegiia. 2. The herg-kollegiia When it came to the administration of economic affairs, Peter the Great followed the Swedish administrative system in his original plans for the collegial reforms. Thus, the kommerts-kollegiia, like its Swedish prototype, was given responsibility for manufactories, while a college of mines was set up to supervise mining activities. As mentioned above, however, this division of responsibilities was not retained; responsibility for manufactories was transferred to the herg-kollegiia, which was then given the designation berg- i manufaktur-kollegiia. The available source materials do not reveal why this change was made, but it is likely that Peter viewed manufacturing policy as an area of responsibility pertaining more naturally •''® Miliukov, 450. The mstruktsiia from 1724 is published in PSZ, VII, no. 4,453, pp. 241—249.
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