REPORT ON THE
RUSSIANS
w.l y
White A
INSTALLMENT TWO
We get a quick first look at Mos
cow. Wide, incredibly empty streets,
sidewalks full of hurrying, shabby
people, walking past dingy shops in
dilapidated buildings. Monotonous
rows of uninteresting apartments,
concrete beehives which sometimes
make an effort at beauty in orna
mentation. But it is half-hearted,
like the architecture of an insti
tution.
Now we come to Spaso House
which, before the 1917 Revolution,
was built by a beet-sugar baron,
and is one of a number of such
palaces in Moscow which once be
longed either to the merchant prince
or the Romanov nobility. The Bol
sheviks have turned them over to
foreign governments for embassies.
Inside, all are giant forests of mar
ble columns from the tops of which,
like grapevines, trail the marble
balustrades of staircases. They are
as drafty as movie sets, and as cozy
to live in as Grand Central Station.
In the back yard of each is a hen
house.
It was in one such august hall,
its spaciousness lightly salted down
May Day In Moscow
with curved gilt furniture, that Eric
Johnston held his first press con
ference.
The reporters plead for bi-weekly
press conferences. For the Soviet
Government has promised he can
see everything he desires, and, until
he has been in Moscow for a while,
he can't conceive how closely for
eign reporters are held down; how
seldom they are allowed to leave
Moscow; how little they see or hear.
But now Johnston is ofi to call on
Mikoyan, an intimate of Stalin and
a top Bolshevik, who is People's
Commissar for Foreign Trade, our
official host.
Johnston returns from the Krem
lin very much impressed by Mikoy
an. "Highly intelligent. He'd be
prominent in any country. In Amer
ica he'd, be a big businessman or
industrialist. I told him that. He
seemed pleased."
Tonight our Russian hosts, with
Kirilov in charge, take us to a con
cert in Tschaikovsky Hall, which in
New York would be Carnegie Hall.
I look at the hall which seems well
built but a little too ornate. -Then
at the crowd. It is intent on the
stage and in the half-light looks
shabby, except for the red epaulets
on the officers' uniforms. Most of
their heads are clipped, Prussian
style.
Each act on the stage is intro
duced by an attractive brunette in
a simply cut dress of gleaming
white satin. By contrast with that
shabby audience, she is a dream
princess, and so are the performers.
This drab socialist audience stares
at the stage as though it were some
unobtainable fairyland of which
they get just an hour's glimpse.
A -i? u 1...4 t.k.. u:_
n male ^idiusi lias juai wrcij 1119
bows and retired to the wings and
they are now clearing away his
grand piano for the next act. How?
Well, the slender brunette in the
white satin dress is pushing it, a feat
made possible because it is on cast
ors. Later, after watching many
slender women heave pianos, trunks
and crates around, we become al
most as calloused as Russians. But
now in the dark we look at each
other wordlessly and smile.
Now the lights come up and we
go out into the great foyer where
the Russian audience is indulging
in the pleasant European custom of
a between-acts promenade.
And I've never seen anything like
it. Ill-fitting clothes, poorly cut,
often flashy but always of tawdry
materials.
This is the Tschaikovsky Concert
Hall where seats usually go to top
officials or to crack Stakhanovite
workers who get high wartime
wages. But their clothes can't com
pare with those of a meeting of the
Workers Alliance in my home town
ef Emporia, Kansas, at the bottom
of our depression. Yet Carnegie
Hall seldom offers a better program
than the one that we heard on the
stage.
I note that the crowd Is almost
as poomltd as it is poorly dressed.
The Red Army officers are robust
enough. But too many of these Rue
?ian women have bad complexions,
which seem to indicate lack of vita
mins. These people, in their twen
ties and thirties, were children dur
ing the hard days after the revolu
tion; years of malnutrition show in
their bad bone structure. No won
der we three average-sized Amer
icans stand half a heajl higher than
the Red Army officers who parade
there.
Although Red Army officers must
still spend some time in the ranks,
schools like Annapolis and West
Point have been established where
they give promising; youngsters
training toward commissions. Also
the Suvarov cadet schools have re
cently been opened, admitting sons
of officers and orphans as young
as eight years old.
These officers In the foyer of the
concert hall are apparently on leave
and, except for the fact that they
are under-sized, are fine-looking
men. They are usually blue-eyed
blonds with high cheekbones, and
their unsmiling Slav faces and
clipped bulletheads constantly re
mind me of old-time Prussian of
ficers, as they solemnly patrol the
foyer with these shabby, undernour
ished women.
But now our hosts tear us away
from this revolving crowd to a room
near our box where a little between
the-acts supper is being served in
our honor by the director of the
theater.
This truly oriental hospitality has
nothing to do with Lenin or the theo
ry of Surplus Values. These people
may be socialists, but they are also
Russians. As such, they inherit an
even stronger tradition from the
Mongolian Emperor Genghis Khan
than they do from Karl Marx.
ixxjiong around tne nail, l wonder
where they keep the old people. All
these (aces are young; in their
twenties and thirties. So were
those on the streets this afternoon.
What became of Russians who
should now be in their fifties, six
ties, or seventies T Now, back in
America, I still wonder.
In Russia, if you decide to move,
you must go through about as many
formalities as you would need to get
married. In Moscow you don't just
arrive in a taxi (for there are none)
at the hotel of your choice. For
eigners stay at one of three hotels,
but they are the best Moscow af
fords except for the Moskva which
has been built since the Revolution
and is reserved for high-ranking
communists, important government
officials (which is the same thing),
well-known artists, and top Red
Army officers. Its public rooms are
in an uninteresting, classic style,
which is best represented in New
York by the Grand Central Station.
In tourist is a government-owned
travel agency and you can start
thinking Cooks or the American Ex
press, because in peacetime it ar
ranges tours with hotel reservations
and meals. But in Russia it has
complete charge of the movements
and creature-comforts of practical
ly all foreigners, and you cannot
stir without it.
For here it is impossible to drop
into a restaurant for a casual meal,
go to a hotel for a night, or climb on
a train for a trip. A Russian be
longs to his job. He and his family
usually sleep in an apartment bouse
which his factory owns. He prob
ably eats, in his factory dining room,
food raised on his factory's farm.
His children attend a day-nursery
which it maintains. They play
games and go to movies in its cul
ture palace and they go on vaca
tions when it can spare them on
trains which it designates to resorts
and workers' homes which it con
trols.
Foreigners can (unction in this
rigidly ordered world only if some
state organization provides for their
living space, transportation, food,
and ration coupons, which is where
In tourist comes in.
The Soviet Government realizes
that it cannot force foreigners from
the Western countries down to the
sub-WPA standard of living, which
is the lot of most Soviet citizens.
Consequently, it accords foreigners
privileges which in the Western
world are only common decencies,
but which are fantastic luxuries in
the Soviet Union.
1 was accorded a large and com
fortable room at the Metropole
and presented with a book of ration
tickets, each good for a meal in one
of the Metropole's two dining rooms
reserved for foreigners. It had still
a third dining room for the selected
Russians who were lucky enough to
have permission to stay there. I
never saw it, nor did they ever see
ours.
My hotel room with an adjoining
bath was comfortable but somewhat
depressing. The washbasin drain
was stopped so that it took ten min
utes for my shaving water to run
out, leaving in the bowl a scum of
soap and whisker stubble, but I soon
found this Is standard in Russia.
After moving my bags to the
Metropole, I stop by the embassy to
change a hundred American dollars
into 1.200 roubles. Once settled, I go
for a walk in the town, with that
comfortable feeling you have when
a large roll of money is rustling in
your pocket and you may buy what
you like in a strange city. Slowly
during my walk, I discover that
there is nothing I can buy. Here no
one ever kilia an hour. There are
no cafes, bars, or hours of leisure
time. The limited supplies of news
papers were sold out hours ago.
There remains the subway, which
I can enter for the equivalent of
four American cents. It has been
proclaimed the world's best. It is
a good one, exactly like the best in
New York or London, with the dif
ference that it is cleaner and its
waiting platforms and corridors are
lavishly done in costly polished
marbles. Yet the system is small
with few stations serving only a
small per cent of the people.
In the Western world any transit
corporation would spend the cost
of this polished marble on more
miles of track and more stations,
swelling their capitalist profits by
taking in more nickels from a pub
lic eager to ride nearer to work.
A day or so later we are shown
our first Soviet factory. It is in
Moscow's industrial suburbs and it
makes the famous Stormovih plane
for the Red Air Force. Approach
ing it we see enormous sign boards
at the entrance on which are given
the most recent production figures,
the names of workers who have
overfulfilled their quota?only here
the word is "norm"?and big pic
tures of Lenin and Stalin, apparent
ly painted by the same artist who
does the portraits of the tattooed
man, the snake charmer, and the
two-headed baby for the side-show.
All this faces a square, and there
is also a little raised platform in
which there is also a red wooden
tribune for speakers. We later dis
cover that these are standard in all
Soviet factories.
ceiore inspecting tnis one, we are
taken to the office o1 the director,
who in America might correspond
to the president of the company.
He is a young man of thirty-seven,
Vasili Nikolayevitch Smyrnov by
name, and tells us he has worked
in aviation twenty-four years?eight
years as director.
The director tells Eric Johnston
that 65 per cent of his employees
are now women, that before the
war it was about 30 per cent. Hours?
The regular eight-hour day, plus
three daily hours of overtime, for
which they are paid time and a
half, as in most American factories.
But they work six days a week, a
working week of sixty-six hours.
Boys and girls under eighteen work
only eight hours a day, Ave days a
week.
? Wages are paid to the plant's
10,000 workers twice a month and
on a piecework basis. For a pre
determined quota or "norm" of
work, the worker receives 750 rou
bles per month. Then, if he over
fulfills this norm (and they usually
do) his pay goes up on a sliding
scale. So the true average would be
1,000 roubles a month, and an oc
casional 1,500 or 2,000.
Since the rouble has a purchasing
power, irf terms of rationed Soviet
gtxxis, of about 8 cents in America,
the Soviet war worker gets, in terms
of American purchasing power,
between $20 and $40 for his sixty
six-hour week.
However, other elements brighten
the picture. The worker may buy
his meals in the factory's restau
rant; if he chooses to eat all three
"Well-dressed1' M
there, that will be only 8 rouble* a
day. The factory also maintain*
nurseries and kindergarten*. Wom
an get the same pay as men.
But now Eric turns to the direc
tor. What does he get? He re
ceives a basic salary of 3,000 roubles
a month (in rationed purchasing
power, about $240) except that, if
the plant wins a production banner
(this one like most Soviet war plants
have), he then gets ISO per cent
more up to a maximum of 10,000
roubles a month (about $800).
But Eric is now back to the work
ers; what about their grievances?
Weil, they take them up with the
trade union committee for their de
partment of the plant
(TO BX UUWl tnUXU)
IMPROVED
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
Sunday i
chool Lesson
By HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. O. D.
Of The Moody Bible InJtltuU of Chicago.
Bolt?id by Woolero Nowapo?r Umioo.
Lesson for March 24
Lomob tubjocu and Scripture MsU m?
lccted and copyrighted by International
Council of Religious Education; uaad by
permlsaion.
A PEOPLE QA1NS
NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS
LESSON TEXT?I Samuel 1:14. 1S-1S.
MEMORY SELECTION?Obey my votoe.
and 1 will be your God. and ya ahall be
my people: and walk ya In all Uia waya
that I have commanded you. that tt may
bo wall unto you.?Jeremiah 1 :tl
The most powerful movement for
national prosperity is a revival of
spiritual Christian living.
Israel had come to the place
where the people recognized that
they were on the brink of national
disaster.
One of the acripturea on revival
la II Chronicles 7:14: "If my peo
ple, which ere called by my name,
shall humble themselves, and pray,
and seek my face, and turn from
their wicked ways; then will I hear
from heaven, and will forgive their
tin, and will heal their land."
This is the way of revival and
prosperity for America, too.
Revival will coma when God's
people will
L Seek God's Face (w. 1, 2).
The ark had been out of Its proper
place for a long time. The ungodly
Philistines had It, but they were
glad to return it.
The calamities which befell them
speak of distress in the heart of an
unbeliever when the presence of
God is evident.
For a time the erk wee In the
house of Ablnadab, but even there
it was not in its rightful place. Sam
uel moved among the people, point
ing them back to God.
This was his first act of public
ministry, but behind that public
act is the history of a godly life.
Such a man can consistently urge
others to turn to God.
The response of the people was
wholehearted. They were thorough
ly sick of their sin and separation
from God. The earnest of their sin
cerity was their obedience to the
admonition of Samuel that they
II. Turn From Their Wleked Ways
(w. 3, 4).
Israel had learned from their
heathen neighbors to worship their
false gods. These they must put
away if God was to bless them.
The same prerequisite to spiritual
revival exists today. But some may
say. We do not worship heathen
gods. One is astonished at the sim
ilarity between the ritual of some
cults and orders and the ancient
religions of heathendom.
The fact is that we have set up
many new gods?money, fashion, so
cial position. The command needs
to go out again through God's mes
sengers. "Put away the foreign
gods."
Now the time had come for God's
servant to call the people to
III. Humble Themselves and Pray
(w. M).
Spiritual life thrives on the gath
ering together of God's people. The
crisis in Israel was met by a great
convocation of the people. We
need to revive the great soul-stir
ring religious gatherings of a gen
eration ago.
We can get plenty of people to
gether for a football game, but
where are the people who should be
in our churches?
"I will pray," said Samuel. He
was a great intercessor (see I Sam.
15:11; Ps. 99:#; Jer. 15:1). Revival
never coroes without faithful inter
cession on the part of those whose
hearts are really burdened.
Ask yourself, How much have I
really prayed for revival in my
church, my community, and my na
tion? If I should begin to pray in
earnest, would not God hear me and
IV. God Will Bear and Forgive
(w. 13-1S>.
Because his people had sought
him in humility and repentance,
God forgave and cleansed and gave
them victory.
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not
shortened, that it cannot save; nei
ther his ear heavy, that it cannot
hear" (Isa. 59:1, 3). God saved Is
rael out of the hands of their ene
mies. The Philistines, seeing them
gathered together to pray, assumed
that they were preparing to tight,
and they attacked. In the previous
battle at that very spot (I Sam.
4:1-10), Israel had fought with
weapons of men and been disgrace
fully defeated. Now they fought
with the weapon of prayer and faith
in God, and great was the victory.
America is valiantly battling
against the social and economic
problems of these distressing post
war days, but one fears that all too
often the weapons are those of the
arm of flesh which will fail us. Let
us look up instead of to one another.
"God will save us" (v. 8).
There is an inspiring word of
hope here for every troubled soul.
You may, like Israel, have fallen
into sin. Your life may be defeated.
You may be utterly discouraged.
Return to.the Lord, put away sin,
gather with God's people, pray, and
God will give you victory, even at
the very point of former defeat
k llfJtom*
Repofdefi
In WASHINGTON
? By Walter Shead
I WHU CwnyW?I
WNU Washington Butaau,
Ml* Br* St.. M. W.
Powerful Lobby Fighting
Missouri Valley Project
RIGOROUS freshman Congress
* man Charles Raymon Savage of
the state of Washington's third dis
trict, former official of both CIO
and AFL unions, former grange
master and 4-H club leader, and
himself a construction engineer,
touched the match which may set
off a congressional investigation into
the lobbying activities of power and
other interests seeking to defeat the
regional authority measures for
public control of the Missouri,
Columbia and other river basins.
The young Washington congress
man minced no words when he
called upon the congress to insti
tute an investigation "of the ex
penditures and of the corrupt prac
tices" of the organizations lobbying
against passage of these measures
seeking to harness the rivers under
congressional grants of regional au
thorities.
Last fall this writer told you of
the formation of one of the most
powerful lobbies in Washington's
legislative history to defeat the Mur
ray Missouri Valley authority bill
and companion bills, which include
the Columbia River Valley authority
measure.
Now the lobby has been dragged
eats the doer of congress and so
cloaked for all to see as "the
largest lobby of its kind la all pow
er history . . . spending hundreds
of thousands of dollars a year in
fluencing legislation. ..."
congressman bavage declares the
lobby consists of a "small group of
men, led by a former Insull com
pany official, spearheading the or
ganization, financing the operation
of these three high-sounding organ
izations: the Reclamation associa
tion, the National Association of
Electric companies, and the natural
resources committee of the U. S.
chamber of commerce.
Oat to Rook Peopla
"They are tied together as tight
ly as peas in a pod in their plan
to rook the American people," Con
gressman Savage said.
He charged these organizations
are seeking to prevent the construc
tion of power dams by government
in the nation's rivers. Failing in
that, they are seeking to buy the
power at the bus bar "to repeat
their Muscle Shoals steal by pay
ing the government a fifth of a
cent a kilowatt and force the peo
ple to pay 10 cents ... SO times as
much as it cost them."
The gentleman from Washington
state charged that the lobbies have
entered into "a definite conspiracy
to break the Holding Company act";
that they are seeking to cripple the
Rural Electric administration, to
discredit TVA, to block the Colum
bia River Valley authority bill and
to thwart other public power pro
grams.
He declared that the lobby was
beaded by Purcell L. Smith and
Kinsey W. Robinson. Smith, he
said, is former treasurer at Illinois
Power ft Light, jointly owned by
the late Sam Insull and North
American company. Also he was a
former president of the Insull hold
ing company, the Mid-West corpora
tion, and then an officer of the
Commonwealth Edison company at
Chicago.
"He (Smith) Is aew receiving fgs,.
?M a year for Ms lobbying eCorts,"
Mr. Savage said. Mr. Robinson, the
congressman charged, Is leader at
the resource committee at the C. 8.
chamber ef eommerce and presi
dent ef Washington Water Power
company and "has been lobbying ,
against Colombia river legislation
since 1M7."
rif cnargea uiai uie lODDy ir.rougn
referendum 81 of the U. S. C. of C., *
attempted to get support for legis
lation placing Columbia river pow
er Into their hands at the bus bar
in the recent Rivers and Harbors
bill, but failed.
Gift to Slick Promotera
"If that provision had gone Into
the bill, we would have deeded over
all of our great streams, lock, stock
and barrel, to a group of alick east
en and midwestern promoters," I
Savage said.
He charged that power com
panies were supporting the Wash
ington office of the Reclamation as
sociation, "a lobby much larger
than the lobby which was created
to defeat the Walsh resolution cov
ering an Investigation into power
trust financing and propaganda in
int."
He cited evidence Intending to
show that the efforts of the lobby
had postponed indefinitely further
hearings on the Missouri valley
authority bill and the same attempt
was being made before the house
rivers and harbors committee on
the Columbia river authority bill.
Referring to the activities of Pur
cell Smith, Savage said: "This for
mer Insull associate recently stated
that M power companies are sup
porting bis office hero in Washing
ton. We will find their handiwork
in eviry bureau and department,
and hi much at our legislation."
HERBERT HOOVER HE8ITATED
WASHINGTON. ?Secretary of
Agriculture Clinton Anderson bad a
hard time at first persuading Her
bert Hoover to come to Washing
ton for the food conference. Ander
son caught the ex-President at Key
West, Fla., where he was fishing.
"I've promised my family for sev
en years to take them fishing,"
Hoover told the secretary of agri
culture, "and now at last here I
newt "
am.
Anderson, however, emphasized
the urgency of the food crisis.
"We need your experience and ad
vice, Mr. President," be said. "You
can go back to your fishing imme
diately afterward. But this is a
time when your country needs
you."
Hoover finally consented to come.
BRICKBATS WIN ELECTIONS
Two of the bitterest opponents
on the house floor and in the inter
state commerce committee are Rep
resentatives Clarence Brown, con
servative Republican at Blanches
ter, Ohio, and Vito Marcantonio,
American La bo rite of New York
City. Off the floor, however, the two
respect each other's ability and get
along well.
Sitting in the bouse lobby the
other day they smilingly concluded
an agreement which will probably
never be carried out
They were talking about campaign
expenses, when Brown proposed:
"Vito, I've got a suggestion. Why
don't we both cut our campaign ex
penses to the bone? Here's how to
do it:
"Yos (? tnU my district ut
make three speeches agates*
me. Call me a reaettaairy
Hooverite, aa IwMMht aa
ties suite royalist ? aad aay
thiac else yea caa Utiak d.
That'll elect me.
"Then I'D go late year district
aad make three speeches. 1*1
call yea a Bed, a Dace, a mew
dealer aad aa' aatt EiaMaHe.
"With the proper literature about
you in my district and the proper
literature about me in your district,
both of us are a cinch for re-elec
tion when we do that."
Marcantooio agreed that the idea
had merit, and they shook hands <m
it.
NAZIS REMAIN IN GERMAN I
A secret report on failure to de
Narify Germany has been made to
the war department, but is consid
ered so shoe king that it probably
trill be destroyed. It is now in the
office of Brig. Gen. Frank A.
Meade.
The report shews complete
failure to cleaa sat high-raak
tag Nazis. It aloe shews a sur
prising number af so-called Ger
maa "laborers" who have secre
taries aad stenographers as
This is one of the latest dodges to
get around the employment of Nazis
by the American army. According
to army rules, no former Nazi can
be employed in any job more im
portant than that at a "laborer."
Result is that many Nazis are used
in Important Jobs, but listed on the
books as "laborers." That ia why
they are assigned secretaries and
stenographers.
These "common laborers" are
then put in charge of important
manufacturing plants. The report
now in the hands of the war depart
ment was made by the public safety
and inspection division at military
government It may never see the
light of day.
HOW WTATT DID IT
If there were more men like Hous
ing Expediter Wilson Wyatt around.
President Truman would have eas
ier sailing. The other day in Chi
cago, Wyatt was guest speaker at
a banquet of the National Associ
ation of home builders, SJOO strong,
all hostile, all prepared to boo at
the man who proposed revolutionary
building reforms in order to com
plete 3,000.000 homes in two years.
As Wyatt arose, the atmosphere
was charged with hostility. How
ever, he told stories, explained his
program, made no antagonistic
statements.
"If you gentlemen are against this
program, then you don't understand
it," Wyatt said. "It's my fault for
not making it clear."
After 49 minutes, having won over
a considerable part of the audience,
he stopped. Then for 49 minutes
more he answered questions. Every
inch of the way he fought for his
program of low-cost housing for vet
erans.
Finally, when he latvhsd. ev
ery bailder la the hage diaing
ream reaa to his feet and
cheered.
NOW WHITE SPAGHETTI
Some at the strangest opposition
to the President's "dark bread" or
der is coming from an unexpected
quarter ? spaghetti manufacturers.
Spaghetti, macaroni and noodles
are made from semolina, a gritty
Sour made, in turn, from durum
wheat.
Semolina millers, as well as
spaghetti makers, are up in arms
about the "dark bread" order, de
claring it will drive them out of
business. A number of semolina
mills have Sled an axception.
Making Over Old or
Sewing New Curtains
, /
ARE your curtains shrunken?
Take heart . . . here's not one
but six ways of making them orer
or of sewing new ones with little
fabric.
? ? ?
The budsetn baleen W rum ran eM
curiam. Tan be .lilirne at _SW
uoca tor f aetata
Dn Id ae ineeaiH^ tarn Sam lap end
.-i^.-..-ed^a? JElar erderi far a tea e< Ike
Send ran order la:
Ke
Youth Found Cats to Be
Similar to Human Beings
The following essay on "Cats'"
was turned in by a 10-year-old pu
pil:
"Cats and people are fancy ani
mals. Cats haTe four pews bat
only one ma. People hare fare
fathers and only one mother.
"When a cat smells a rat he
gets excited; so de people.
"Cats carry tails and a lot of
people carry tales, also.
"All cats bare fur coats. Some
people hare fur coats and the ones
who don't hare fur coats say
catty things about the ones who
haTe them.
I TOO L
TOO
nahavta
(asviaiBiiaM
I sssishrs
SISSSS
IFtllT*AtBSI IKIB C?L
M> SI IMi fMMOKO pk
Next time in Baltimobe
HOTEL inr? HOTEL
PERFECT HOTEL SERVICE
? Homalika Atmosphar*
Bates btfte at $2.00 par i?Y
Tm **? Itei
music ?dancing
fu mhiicm cism
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