REPORT ON THE
RUSSIANS
installment one
The Soviet vice - consul spoke
creaky, schoolbook English. He was
an agreeable young man, helping me
fill out my visa application. His of
fice was pleasant and airy, but I
was uneasy. Maybe because the of
fice of the consul, upstairs, had dou
ble doors. The kind when you open
one door, you are left staring at
still another closed door, about six
W. L. White
inches in front of your nose. If the
knob of the first door is on your
right, the knob of the second is on
the left. So no one could possibly
listen through both keyholes at once.
I was uneasy because I had been
with the Finnish army in the win
ter war of 1939-1940, which was bad
news in connection with a Soviet
visa. Of course, they knew I had
been in Finland, but I wanted them
to know I knew they knew it.
The consul was an urbane, stocky
little diplomat. It soon became
clear that he was on a fishing trip
for information. There is nothing
sinister about this, for it is the
avowed business of all diplomats,
including our own, to report to their
home governments on the state of
the nation to which they are ac
credited.
There was no need to withhold
anything from this consul, as his
questions did not concern military
matters but were all in the sphere
of politics.
Just before I left the consul
switched the conversation from pol
itics to literature. I wished to go to
the Soviet Union as assistant to Mr.
Eric Johnston, but I was also con
nected with the Reader's Digest?
Yes, I said, I was one of its editors.
I bowed myself out the whisper
proof double doors and back to
where Mr. Vavilov was waiting with
the questionnaire. It began with a
large blank space for a brief auto
biography, into which I inserted the
fact that I had been with the Finn
ish army in 1939, a fact that Mr.
Vavilov, reading at my shoulder,
seemed again not to notice.
It continued with other questions,
obviously designed for White Rus
sians, about political affiliations. I
showed some dismay at all this, and
Mr. Vavilov, smiling reassuringly,
said there was no need, in my
case, for detailed answers.
But at the end was a most curious
question: I had hastily written
"no" in its blank, but then I hesi
tated. Had I, they wanted to know,
ever been associated with the
armed forces of any government in
opposition to the Soviet Union? I
explained?this time clearly?that in
1939 I4iad been associated as a re
porter with the armies of the Finn
ish Republic during its earlier war
with Russia. So perhaps my an
swer should be yes?
Smiling broadly now, Mr. Vavilov
shook his head.
"The proper answer there, Mr.
White, as you have already written,
is 'no.' Because in Finland in 1939,
we understand thht your opposition
to the Soviet Union was purely verb
? 1 ??
?!?
My visa came a week later.
All this had come about as the
result of ar impulsive letter I had
written a few weeks before. Read
ing that Joseph Stalin had issued a
special invitation to visit Russia to
Eric Johnston, president of the
United States Chamber of Com
merce, I had sat down at my type
writer to tell Johnston I would like
to go along.
Eric Johnston was to me a com
plete stranger, except that I had
read a good deal of what he had
written and liked most of it very
much. He "believed in" this coun
try; he had been an eloquent voice
preaching optimism and courage for
the postwar period; saying clearly
(hat never again must we allow
American business and industry to
stagnate into a depression, but must
continue to produce for peacetime
needs and luxuries at almost war
time velocity: there would be free
markets for everything if there were
free Jobs for all, and vice versa.
He had opened his career as pres
ident of the National Chamber by
calling at the White House?a prece
dent-breaking step, as American
husinesa bad not hitherto accorded
the New Deal official recognition.
He had even sat down across a con
ference table from John L. Lewis.
He has a theory, that before you
denounce an opponent, you should
first go over with him the points on
which you agree; you will both be
surprised, Johnston points out, at
how many of these there are and
often the fight can be fairly com
promised.
In somewhat thi? frame of mind
he was approaching the Soviet
Union; I wanted to go there for the
very obvious reason that Russia is
clearly the biggest and most unpre
dictable factor with which Amer
ica must deal in the next few dec
ades.
A week after my impulsive let
ter I met Eric Johnston across his
desk in Washington. Eric Johnston
is handsome. At forty-seven he has
all of his white even teeth, all of
his wavy brown hair, and a clear,
ruddy skin, and blue eyes. He has
a longish, sensitive face and a Hol
lywood profile. Together, these
make him unusually and conspicu
ously handsome. He might have
made a successful career as an ac
tor, were it not for his brain, which,
considered as an organ, is uncom
monly good. It starts with a phe
nomenal memory. He never forgets
anything he thinks he will ever
need. He is healthily competitive;
he wants something like almost any
thing you have, or if possible, one
just a little better. But he takes
disappointments well. When I first
met him he was being mentioned
for the presidency; he had a small
Erie Johnston
but definite chance. He watched it
carefully, never overestimated or
underestimated his boom. When it
faltered, he pronounced it dead and
instantly forgot it.
I was pleased when he told me
that, because he wanted to feel free
to write and say what he thought
on our return, he was insisting to
the Russians that we pay our ex
penses wherever possible. He was
taking along money for that pur
pose, and suggested that I do like
wise.
The other member of our party
was Joyce O'Hara, Johnston's regu
lar assistant in the Chamber of
Commerce. He is a blue-eyed Irish
man of fifty with regular features
which, anywhere outside the radius
of Johnston's dazzling profile, would
be considered uncommonly hand
some. Not too many years ago he
exchanged a successful newspaper
job for a career in the public rela
tions division of the Chamber of
Commerce in Washington.
Joyce and I were thrown together
constantly from the beginning of
the trip. The protocol of our entire
voyage was that if the hotel or
guesthouse boasted an Imperial
Bridal Suite complete with sitting
room, sitz bath, and breakfast nook,
it would always be assigned to
Johnston in solitary grandeur, in his
capacity as President of the Cham
ber of Commerce, while Joyce and
I would share twin beds in the sec
ond-best room. For a few days we
watched each other shave and lis
tened to each other snore with con
siderable reserve and some suspi
cion.
Slowly and after days of appraisal
we got down to a solid basis of
friendly jibes at each other's weak
spots, and he gave as good as he
got. We ended up warm friends.
? We departed from Washington
and our plane stopped for a meal
in the Azores where we were met
by staff officers of the American
base and picked up sketchy infor
mation about these Portuguese
islands.
Johnston fell victim to an infect
ed sinus at Casablanca. We waited
in considerable luxury in a spacious
villa, once the property of Jean
Maas who formerly owned a string
of collaborationist newspapers.
The Allied command were using
it as an overnight hotel for high
officers and distinguished guests, as
we seem to be classified.
At Cairo an American nose and
throat man peered into Johnston's
ear and instantly forbade us to fly
over the 16,000 foot pass between
Iran and the Soviet Union, which
meant a few days' delay. Anyway
w. l y
White A
we would get a good look at ancient
Cairo, which none of us had ever
seen.
The next morning Eric, Joyce and
I continue our trip, and that after
noon at Teheran we see our first
Russians. Their planes with the big
red stars on the field as we circle,
and as we get out of our plane, the
Russian Ambassador to Iran and a
half dozen of his staff are there
to welcome Johnston. They are
very solemn and do not smile as
they shake hands.
These solemn Russian diplomats
are all in their thirties or early for
ties, and they wear curious, badly
cut Soviet suits?somber in hue and
of shoddy materials. You could take
an American mail-order suit, boil
it, press it' lightly, and get the
same effect.
Next morning Averell Harriman,
American Ambassador to the Soviet
Union, who has just arrived in Te
heran, is taking us to Moscow in
the official ambassadorial Libera
tor.
Most fascinating of all is a fact
which I knew but not until now could
believe: that in Russia there are
few connected paved highways. I
see wagon trails from the villages
out to the fields, and sometimes
faint ones from town to town, but
not one strip of clean, flowing con
crete or black-top.
aiso i in trying, tnrougn mis plexi
glass window, to see the socialist
revolution as it has affected the vil
lages, but I can't. For all this might
have been here in the middle ages.
If new thatched-roof huts have been
built since czarist days, from S.OOO
feet I can't tell them from the an
cient ones. Looking down on every
village, the biggest building is still
the white church, built in czarist
days. In twenty-five years the So
viets have constructed nothing half
as big, although here and there is
what might be a school or an ad
ministrative hall.
The co-pilot comes back to say
we will swing low over Stalingrad.
Diving, we follow the bends of the
city itself as it follows the river?
or rather, as once did the city. For
Stalingrad is gone, and there re
main only roofless walls like the
snags of decayed molars staring up
at us. Factories, with twisted ma
chinery rusting under the tangle of
roof girders.
Finally, just out of Moscow, we
see an electric power line running
from horizon to horizon. It is the
first thing I have seen in the past
hour that I am sure was built since
1917. But soon we see the first hard
surfaced road, and that black
smudge on the horizon is Moscow
itself. Then its railway yards and
the smoke from its factories. Tiers
of workers' apartments surround
each factory and are in turn sur
rounded by a crazy quilt of potato
patches. A spacious outdoor thea
ter is on the river banks. The roofs
of the big buildings are mottled with
brown and green camouflage paint.
As we let our wheels down and
begin to feel for the runway, I see,
rushing past, great rows of Ameri
can-built C-47s stacked on the field
in orderly rows with the big star of
the Red Air Force painted on each.
A considerable crowd is waiting
at the airdrome. First, the wel
coming committee; a row of solemn
Slavs in the same boiled mail-order
suits we saw at Teheran. But the
minute Eric Johnston emerges-, a
battery of lenses?movie cameras
and Soviet copies of Leicas and
W. Averell Harrtman
Graflexes?close in on his profile.
This over, we smilingly shake hands
with the unsmiling Russians and
work our way through to the Amer
ican reporters. Practically all ol
Moscow's tiny foreign newspaper
colony is there. They tell us ths
Russians have given us an unusual
ly big official turnout?"better than
Donald Nelson's."
A big Russian in his middle thir
ties wanders toward me. "Is every
thing all right?" he wants to know.
"I am Kirilov, in charge of protocol
for the People's Commissariat of
Foreign Trade." We did not then
know that, tnf'*
mlssariat, our o?I<*lal host, hW-w"
to be our constant companion.
(TO BE COM I'lJIU ED)
IMPROVEDimmm
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
Sunday i
chool Lesson
By HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. D. D.
Of iSe Moody BibU loititut* of Cblcoa*.
Roloaood by Wostorn Newspaper UalMk
Lesson for March 17
Lesson subjects and Scripture texts se
lected and copyrighted by International
Council of Religious Education: used by
permission.
THE EVERYDAY LIFE
OF A PEOPLE
LESSON TEXT: Ruth l:Mt.
MEMORY SELECTION: Intreat ma not
to leave thot, or to return from followtnf
after thee; for whither thou foeet. I will
, go; and where thou lodgeat, I will lodge;
thy people ahall be my people, and thy
I Cod my Cod.?Ruth l:lf.
A good life in the midst of a cor
rupt and confused age?such is the
life of Ruth in the awful chaos of
the time of the Judges. One is re
! minded of the poet's words:
"How far that little candle
throws its beams!
So shines a good deed in a
naughty world."
It is refreshing to have a glimpse
into the home life of God-fearing
people who live right in spite of the
low standards around them.
Ruth knew life's sorrows and its
bitter disappointments. She was a
widow, destitute of all she held most
dear. Yet she, because of the
sweet purity of her life and her de
votion to God and those she loved,
became an example for others.
As we read our lesson we first
hear how lpgic speaks, then love re
plies, and finally a life says the
final word.
I. Logic (w. 8-13).
Tragic misfortune had visited
Naomi, who with her husband and
two sons had gone from Bethlehem
to Moab in a time of famine. Not
only had her husband died but also
her two sons, who had married
Gentile women, leaving three wid
ows in one family to mourn togeth
er. Naomi craved the fellowship of
her own people in her hour of trial,
and she arose to return to her own
i land.
Her departure brought out in the
two daughters-in-law the expression
of kindness and loyalty which should
exist in every family, but which is
all too often lacking. Her own testi
mony concerning these girls of Moab
is that they dealt kindly with her and
with the dead. That word speaks
volumes. There is so little genuine
kindness in the world.
Both Orpah and Ruth went with
her on the way, protesting their
loyal purpose to go with her all the
way.
Naomi met their kind offer with
the only sensible answer. There was
no point in leaving their homes
and loved ones and going with her
to another country.
Logic is so conclusive and so final.
Yes, and sometimes it reaches the
wrong conclusion. Love has some
thing to say about the matter.
Let us listen to its voice.
n. Love (v. 14).
Orpah loved her mother-in-law. |
That is evident. She wept at the
thought of parting, and was affec
tionate in her final farewell. We
must not be too quick to censure
her. She did what Naomi told her
to do. She responded to her love
for home and kinfolk. She gave
up reluctantly, but she did give up
and turn back.
How glad we are that Ruth
showed a deeper love. "Orpah
kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth
clave unto her." There is a differ
ence. Such love cannot be denied.
It is the most precious possession
that a man can have, apart from
his fellowship with God. The love
of a devoted father or mother, of a
noble helpmate, or of a little boy
or girl, these are the things that
really make life worth while.
Life has put into the hands of
many of us the opportunity of show
ing just that kind of love in these
postwar days. A boy cornea home
crippled and disabled and a loyal
sweetheart shows her undiminished
love for him, even though he can
never again be what he had expect
ed to be. That is love. A mother
and a father take to their hearts a
promising young son who returns
from overseas with a shattered
nervous at/stem, and give their lives
anew to him. One could go on
and on with such illustrations, but
what we are saying is that it takes
more than a kiss and some tears to
express real love. "Ruth clave unto
her." Such love expresses itself in a
?I. Life (w. 15-17).
Literature knows no more beauti
ful declaration of faith and devotion
than these words, and nothing could
improve on it. Lord Tennyson said
of the beok of Ruth that "no art
can improve on it" And of these
verses another said, "We cannot
hope to contribute to literature a
sentence so exquisite and thrilling as
that into which Ruth poured the
full measure of a noble heart, but
we can imitate her devotion" (Wil
liam Jennings Bryan).
The conclusion of the story finds
Ruth married to Boaz, her kinsman
redeemer, and "living happily ever
after," as a true romance should
end. God gives happy endings.
Here we And the right attitude
toward marriage, something which
needs emphasis in our day. Above
all, as we remember that Ruth was
an ancestress of Jesus, we see anew
the importance of clean, noble, god
ly living. What will the generations
'iis. to say about our |
News/Ix
Behini?
therms
By PaulMalloTT^^
ReltiHd by Wcstorn Nowapaper Union.
NEW STATE POLICY
RETREAT TO RUSSIA
WASHINGTON. ? In complete of
ficial privacy, the state department
has spent some weeks getting up
a new statement of American for
eign policy. The only great question
of policy, of course, is how to treat
Russia. On this, the paper was not
illuminating in its original form.
The Byrnes policy established at
Moscow and London since mid
uecemDer, has been
substantially this:
Press no point
which would be of
fensive to Russian
claims. Retreat on
policy as much as
possible and accept
Russian conten
tions. The appar
ent but not pro
fessed bumose has
Byrnes been to entice Rus
sia out of her na
tionalistic isolation into dealing in
the world of affairs.
This has kept world news rather
calm but events behind the news,
Dartimilarlv from
Europe, are work
ing up boldly and
may break sensa
tionally. Do not
(or instance, let
yourself be cur
rently misled into
believing the dom-'
ination of the
French govern
ment by Commu
nists and Socialist! De Qaulle
is a permanent ar
rangement, or that the name of De
Gaulle will remain forever in re
tirement from French politics.
Give greater notice than has
been given to the victory of the
Belgian Catholic party over
both Communists and Social
ists. Belgium is half French,
with all the same elements of
French polities In miniature. In
deed throughout Europe, even
in Yugoslavia, the resistance to
| Communism Is taking the only
effective form yet evidenced in
the gathering together of Cath
olic elements.
I have heard American statesmen
say these christian groups are the
only ones in the world today who
know how to resist Communism,
ideologically or politically. These
groups have a Arm ideology them
selves.
REDS POT ENGLAND
ON DEFENSIVE
Britain was the first nation to
talk up to the Soviets, but the dip
lomatic resistance of Bevin at the
London UNO conference was tacti
cal rather than formidable. The
Russians had raised the question of
British influence in Greece, pri
marily to cover their own tracks in
Poland, the Balkans, Iran. Turkey
and other places where they are at
tempting to extend their influence.
They forced Britain to the defensive
by raising this question. After ac
complishing this purpose, and suc
ceeding in getting UNO to allow
Moscow to deal separately with a i
pro-Communism Iranian prime
minister installed at Teheran for the
purpose ? Russia withdrew her
Greek charges against Bevin.
The common current belief
that Bevin may have found a
way of treating with Moscow
therefore Is unjustified. Be
twice passed "the lie" to them
and they backed down, true
enough. But when you add up
the results, you will see Russia
won the action she wanted from
UNO, while Bevin won nothing
* except the red herring.
President Truman, meanwhile, is
recognizing that the army seems to
know how to get along with the So
viets, without losing their shirts, bet
er than our timid and confused dip
lomats. He chose General Marshall
to go to China to get Chiang into
a peace with the Communists; and
now he selected General Eisenhow
er's chief of staff to be ambassa
dor to Moscow, instead of a diplo
mat or a politician.
Army men, by nature, should
be more Interested tn results
than In the political ideas of
Justice tor this and that, which
have so confused our diplomats
In recent years. (Latest ex
ample: Joe Davtes, who thinks
Russian spying on Canada Justi
fied, but no doubt would cry out
against any Canadian spying an
Russia, whereas any realist
knows all nations have always
? spied on all others and always
will.)
This new reliance on army real
ism is the most hopeful develop
ment in American foreign policy,
in contrast to these childish but I
pompous accumulations of vapor- i
ous generalities the state depart- I
ment plans to put out under the
claim that they are peat state pro
nouncements. I mean it la most im
portent, If a recent pronouncement i
by Mrs. Roosevelt does not out
measure it. Mrs. Roosevelt has
I been recognized as a spokesman for
i the class-thought which pressured
Byrnes into the appeasement poli
I jj Tcjipr "IT
NEEDLEWORK PAT
Cross-Stitch. Desic
STUNNING cross stitch designs
(or tea towels, (or a breakfast
or luncheon cloth, or on place
mats that are (un to make. Each
gay (ruit design is about 7 by 7
inches and is done in realistic col
ors and shadings in cotton Souses.
Doughnuts will crack and brown
before they are cooked inside if
the (at in which they are fried is
not hot enough or if the "sinkers"
contain too much flour.
???
To elean an egg beater quickly,
give it a few turns in cold water,
then in hot water, and Anally a
few turns in the air. Keep cogs
and wheels out of the water.
Fingernail polish thickens all too
soon but you can delay it by stor
ing in the refrigerator.
?e?
If the lid of your pressure cooker
sticks or if the cooker leaks
steam, rub the edges of the lid
and kettle with cooking oil before
sealing it.
???
Laces and embroidery should be
pressed on the wrong side. Place a
turkish towel under embroidery so
designs will stand out.
?o?
Cook a piece of salt pork with
green string beans .for good flavor
without the addition of butter.
TERNS
]ns for Towels
3olden pineapples, red strawber
ries, purple plums, crimson cher
ries and red and yellow apples
"nake a charming variety of color
impositions.
? ? ?
To obtain the seven transfers for the
Fruit Designs (Pattern No. 5127) color
chart for working, send 16 cents in coin,
your name, address and the pattern num*
M,
Due to an unusually large demand and
current conditions, slightly more time is
required in filling orders for a few of the
most popular pattern numbers.
Send your order to:
SEWING CIRCLE NEEDLEWORK
115# Sixth Ave. New York, N. Y.
Enclose 16 cents for Pattern.
No
Address
I.
|
TODAY'S BAKINGWAYS
k a horns bohor*t textbook ...? book of
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4 Company's la homlnij fcibtiom and tested
by oxportt. Um It to bring your tawrite
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Yoor nans and addross on a postcard
w? bring yon tMs now bating grfdo ptes O
copy of Ibo Cfabbsr Qrf fating Cook . .
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ADDRESS
HULMAN A COMPANY
D*pt W Terr* Hoot*, bwlioH
-THREE O'CLOCK ...
AND I HAVENT SLEPT A WINK*
WAKEFUL NIGHTS ?how the tim. dra?*!
Minutes seem like hours, w# worry over thing
done and left undone. After such a night, we get
up in the morning more tired than when we went
> to bed. Nervous Tension causes many a wakeful
night and wakeful nights are likely to cause Ner
I vous Tension. Next time you feel Nervous and
Keyed Up or begin to toes, tumble and worry after
you get to bed ?try
' DR. NILES NERVINE
(Liquid or Effervescent Tabled) ,
DR. MILES NERVINE help* to raw Nervous Tension ? to permit re
fresh ins sleep. When you are Keyed Up, Cranky, fidgety, Wakeful, take
Dr. Miles .Nervine. Try it for Nervous Headache sad Nervous Indigent!?
Get Dr. Miles Nervine at your drug store. Effervescent Tablets; Large
Package TSf, Small Package Me; Liquid, Large Bottle llit, Small Bottle
St, both equally affective as a sedative, both guaranteed to satiMy or
your money back. CAUTION?Take only aa directed.
I..RUB/N
Ben-Gay
QU/CK
? Ben-Gay acts fmt to relieve
trmamler ache and pain?be
cau? it contains two famom
pain-relieving ingredients
known to avery doctor. Yea,
Ben-Gay contains up to 2V4
titnmm more of the? tested in
gredients ? methyl salicylate
and menthol?than five other
widely offered rub-ins. No
wonder if a so fast, so soothing]
Get genuine Ben-Gay.
'< i . N ? ^kBBMI
?