The question of the prospects for relations with the outside world has sharply arisen since Russia was drawn into the First World War. The need to replace Germany, as Russia's prewar partner in the trade, economic, technical and technological spheres, with other countries seemed completely inevitable. In this context, the article examines the North American United States and Russia published in 1915 by the prominent Russian scientist and public figure Nikolai Andreevich Borodin. It is shown that the experience and achievements of the United States in the work of Borodin are analyzed through the prism of their possible borrowing in Russia and as an example of what a country with similar natural wealth can achieve under certain conditions of political and social life.