REPORT ON THE XA
RUSSIANS /XS^ \
vv.l y
White A
INSTALLMENT SEVENTEEN
When the opera closes we are
weary beyond words and long tor
bed. We are to leave early in the
morning. But the handsome vice
premier is Arm. After we have fin
ished the banquet here at the opera,
we must see the opera theater
where a special program has been
prepared for us.
This open air theater is packed
to the balcony with a crowd about
nine-tenths Russian and one-tenth
Uzbek. They are singing an aria
from "Maritza," immensely popular
in the Soviet Union. A juggler fol
lows, and then the grand finale: cho
rus girls prance out in costumes
made in our honor?red and white
striped trunks, and blue, star-span
gled brassieres. Hopefully they sing
a Russian translation of "There'll
Be a Hot Time in the Old Town To
night."
I talk for a while with the little
Uzbek mayor, next to me at the
table. But the vice-premier is talk
ing. It is his broad-shouldered driv
ing energy which has caught the
factories hurled from European
Russia and planted them in the des
ert, which has put millions to work
damming rivers, building industries
and carving out the new Russia.
He is sure of himself, of the driv
ing power of this Bolshevik system
and of the new world it is opening
up among ancient Oriental tribes.
He is telling us that he is glad
he had this chance to show the new
Russia to Mr. Johnston and to the
American press. I liked him and
his province.
Then the fat little Tass corre
spondent came up. He was pretty
tight, and his German was sketchier
than usual. "Wir wissen das Sle
waren in Finland,' he said, "aber
das 1st ein kletne Sache nur" (here
he snaps his fingers)?a little, little
thing is now forgiven of me. Be
cause it was long ago that I was in
Finland, and now they will trust
me to be objective.
I thank him for this compliment
and their trust, assuring him that
my passion for Finns is now buried
under rivers of Soviet champagne,
so at last I can be objective.
For here we leave them. Kirilov
announced they may go by train to
Bokhara and Samarkand tomorrow,
while we fly on this morning to Ash
kabad, the last Russian town on the
Persian border.
The reporters and all the Tash
kent Russians'come down to the air
port to see us off. In the car I ride
with Nona. As we drive down a
boulevard (Tashkent is very well
paved) she tells us that near by
is the cottage of her mother and fa
ther, a retired engineer. They live
on his pension of 1,000 roubles a
month, which in peacetime is de
cent but now is too little. But for
tunately they own their house. Yes,
you can now own a house in Russia
and, if you like, either rent or sell
it at a profit. Of course, its land
belongs to the state. If they ever
need it for a government store or
apartment, they pay you only the
cost of the house. But now you can
borrow from the government with
out interest as much as 10,000 rou
bles, which will build a fair house,
Nona says, and you have ten years
to pay.
A doctor or dentist, who, of
course, works in a state hospital,
may have a private practice after
hours, and charge what he likes?
just as the peasants may sell their
share of the collective's vegetables
for any price, after the government
has bought what it needs at the fixed
low price. However, the doctor must
conduct his private practice not at
the hospital but in his own home,
and must provide his own instru
ments.
Ashkhabad has, like the others,
an old Oriental section, but the new
Russian town is beautifully laid out
and well paved. In the center is an
irrigated park, an oasis of green in
the yellow desert dust which blows
everywhere. And in the park, un
der this broiling sun, is a veritable
forest of Bolshevik statues, mostly
Stalin. He is always striding along
in his long overcoat with his ear
flaps down, heavily gloved, just as
he is under the Arctic Circle. It
seems cruel. We want to get a
can-opener and rescue him.
Since we left Moscow, we have
noticed that, when his name is men
tioned, less and less do the Russians
leap feverishly to their feet over
turning furniture, although his popu
larity is as great.
The rug factory Is most interest
ing. I have watched Navajo women
weave, but these Turkomen girls
have greater skill and a more deli
cate craftsmanship. They are
decked out in beautiful native cos
tumes, wearing lovely hand-ham
mered gold and silver jewelry.
In weaving they squat beside the
looms, using both their fingers and
toes to hold the thread and tie knots.
As we pass through they work fe
verishly but I happen to return to
one room and find them relaxed,
gossiping and cackling.
The sad thing is that the Commu
nist NOUVEAU RICHE who, to
demonstrate their loyalty, pay stag
gering prices tor this beautifully
woven junk, may convince the
Turkoman craftsmen that Marx's
bushy beard or Stalin's shaggy eye
brows are things of more breath
taking beauty than their ancient na
tive patterns.
The day closes with a 12-mile trip
through the blistering desert to the
"horse factory." These desert nom
ads, like the Arabs and the men of
our own Southwest, have always
been proud of their mounts. They
are shrewd traders and breeders of
horseflesh.
In the stifling heat of my hotel
room, the good-natured chamber
maid suggests by gestures that I
would sleep better if we pulled my
cot onto the balcony. The sun rises
early. I look down on a courtyard
of squalid tenements, windows open
and Russians sleeping everywhere,
sometimes under shelter but often
stretched out on the ground. The
yard itself is filled with blonde, blue
eyed, flatnosed Slav babies?two,
three, four and five-year-olds tod
dling around, some wearing shirts
and some not, beginning their early
morning play before the sun is too
hot.
And I marvel at this teeming, fer
tile, hard-working, long-suffering,
indestructible race, which now
spawns down here in-this irrigated
valley as it does under the Arctic
Circle. Properly we think of Rus
sia's empire as a relatively empty
place. There is still elbow room
for this generation?but what of the
next? When the collective farms
are so full of people that they can
no longer feed themselves or the
factories?what then? The problem
is not one for our times, since to
day Russia, like England and Amer
ica, is one of the "have" nations,
with a comfortable share of the
world's earth and raw materials.
Today these well-fed, blonde Slav
babies play in .the desert sun,
reveling like all babies, in the dust
of the courtyard, Just under the
mountains which divide the Soviet
Union from Persia.
At the airport we say good-by to
our good friends Nesterov and Klri
lov, and to Nick, who has so faith
fully watched over us and our con
tacts.
But we were not quite through
with the Soviets. At the Teheran
airport they told us that the Russian
Ambassador was tendering us a
final dinner.
Our final Soviet dinner was in the
Soviet Embassy dacha a few kil
ometers out of Teheran. The boiled
Sears, Roebuck suits had not al
tered but our viewpoint had; after
Moscow they now seemed smartly
dressed.
The dinner was European?soup
to fish to entree to salad to dessert
to coffee, with brandy at the end
for toasts.
The Russian Ambassador got up
and said there were good reasons
why Russia in the past had been
suspicious of foreigners. Even to
day, he said, there were reasons.
There was, for instance, in Switzer
land, the Bank of International Set
tlements. An American was a mem
ber of its board, and also a German.
All during the war this bank had
continued to do business. There
fore, he said, the Soviet Union had
good reason to be careful of for
eigners.
When the Soviet Ambassador sat
xr v
SELECTED ^
FICTION BY I8 ^
GIFTED AUTHORS**"
down, Joyce was on his feet. For
weeks we had been smothered both
by hospitality and the ever-present
attentions of the NKVD; now was
his golden moment.
Fixing our host with a glittering
eye, he said: "Mr. Ambassador,
sometimes we have our suspicions,
too. When Mr. White, here, was
in Moscow, he stayed at the Hotel
Metropole. His room was on the
second floor. On the third floor,"
here Joyce paused, smiled, then
continued gently, "were the Japa
nese." Presently it was time to go
home. We said good-by and went.
This ends my report on the Rus
sians and here are my conclusions.
I should add that these, as well as
the general viewpoint of this book,
are entirely my own, and not to be
charged against my good friend
Eric Johnston.
Any close relations with the Soviet
Union are fraught with considerable
danger to us until American report
ers get the same freedom to travel
about Russia, talk to the people un
molested by spies, and report to
their homeland with that same free
dom from nolitical eensorshln that
Soviet representatives enjoy here,
and that American reporters en
joy in England and other free coun
tries. This must also apply to Euro- '
pean or Asiatic territory occupied
by or affiliated with the Soviet Un
ion. Correspondents abroad are the
ears and eyes of our Democracy.
If we are to help build up Russia,
our people are entitled to complete
reports from press representatives
of their own choosing on what
we art helping to build.
We should remember that Russia
is entitled to a Europe which is not
hostile to her. We should also re
member that while American aid in
building back her destroyed indus
tries is highly desirable to Russia,
It is not indispensable. She will not
swap it for what she considers her
security in the new world.
She is, however, in a mood to ac
cept decent compromises. But if,
as our armies are in Europe while
this settlement is being worked out,
we find we can't get everything we
want, we would be childishly stupid
to get mad, pick up our toys and go
home.
If we decide it is wise to do busi
ness with the Russians, we can trust
them to keep their end of any finan
cial bargain. They are a proud
people, and can be counted on to
pay on the nose before the tenth of
the month.
But any business deals should de
pend on their aims in Europe and
Asia. We should extend no credit
to Russia until it becomes much
clearer than it now is that her ulti
mate intentions are peaceable.
I think these intentions will turn
out to be friendly. However, if wa
move our armies out of Europe be
fore the continent is stabilized, and
if disorder, bloodshed and riots then
ensue, the Russians will move into
any such political vacuum. After
all, they are not stupid. Russia for
the present needs no more territory,
but badly needs several decades of
peace. She is, however, still
plagued with suspicions of the capi
talist world, and needs to be dealt
with on a basis of delicately bal
anced firmness and friendliness. To
date, the Roosevelt Administration
has done an excellent job of this,
in an unbelievably difficult situa
tion.
(THE END)
IMPROVED"""""^
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
Sunday i
chool Lesson
By HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST, D. D.
Of The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for July 7
Lesson subjects and Scripture texts se
lected and copyrighted by International
Council^ of Religious Education; used by
THE LAW IN JESUS' DAT
LESSON TEXT?Deutorooomy lUt
th?w A: 17-19; Mark 10:17-0
MEMORY SELECTION?Think not that
I am coma to destroy tha law, or tha
prophcta: 1 coma not to destroy, but to
tulflll.?Matthaw 1:17.
Jesus Christ is the believer's final
authority. He is both our Saviour
and our Lord. He is our teacher,
our guide, our pattern in all things.
It is therefore of the highest im
portance that we know his attitude
toward the Old Testament laws,
and that ia just what we are to
consider in the lessons of the next
three months under the general
title, "Jesua Interprets Old Testa
ment Laws."
Our introductory lesson tells us
of the origin. Interpretation and ap
plication of the law, then we go In
later lessons to consider the Ten
Commandments in the light of the
teachings of Jesus.
It is appropriate, to point out that,
far from being outmoded, the Ten
Commandments are really the
basis of all moral law. They need
a diligent restudy and re-emphasis
in our day of disregard of moral
standards.
I. Ike Law?Given by God (Deut.
6:4-6).
Our God la the one true God who
is to have the complete and con
stant devotion of all. The fact that
so many men have Ignored him ex
plains the awful depth to which the
world hat fallen.
This one and only true God has
given through his servant, Moses,
the fundamental moral law for the
government of man. and he la to
give diligent attention to it at all
times.
Religion in the household (v 7)
should include the teaching of the
Word, and the easy natural discus
sion of spiritual things in all the
varying circumstances of home life.
Blessed are the parents who make
it easy for children to talk about
the things of God as naturally and
unaffectedly as they discuss the oth
er phases of life which interest
them.
The law of God should go with
his people into their daily occupa
<v* ?)> not in any formal or
suited way but as the normal ex
pression of their love for him. it
should be evident to all who enter
the home that the Lord is loved and
honored (v. S).
II. The Law Fulfilled bv Jem
(Matt. 5:17-19). 7
The law-of God is eternal, never
to b* abrogated, never set aside.
Christ himself, although we might
properly say that he was in reality
the lawgiver and thus had power
and authority over the law. indicat
ed his purpose in coming to be that
of giving the law its full meaning
not of destroying it.
Of could wish that those who
profess to be his servants might
have the same measure of regard
'orGod's law. If they did. they
obviously would not be so ready to
ignore it, so quick to change it or
ready to accept with their Master
every "jot and tittle"; that is, even
the minutest detail of his Word.
It is a mark of greatness "to do
and teach" the law of God (v. 19).
and of pathetic smallness to break
his commandments and to teach
others to disobey God. Some of the
supposed great men of this world
are mighty small when they are
measured by God's yardstick.
..""I8,wh? recognizes Christ as
the fulfillment of the law will go on
In consistent living. In his strength
and by his grace we are to obey
every moral precept.
HI. The Law?Applied to Man
(Mark 10:17-22).
The moral law, which is God's
law, is good and in its keeping man
finds guidance for his life. Apart
from Christ, however, he finds him
self unable to keep the law.
The gospel of the grace of God
in Christ Jesus takes us a step be
yond the law, and it is a great step
for here we meet and follow the
one who is greater than the law
the giver of eternal life.
Obedience to the commandments
brings a man up to the very en
trance upon that life, but to enter
in he must have more than the
"things" of the law; he must have
the person who U "the door" to
eternal life.
The young man who came to
Christ was rich. His mind was ob
sessed with things. He had made
it his business to observe the law
and had done well (v. ?), but his
soul was not satisfied. He thought
one more "thing" that he could do
would accomplish his purpose.
The general attitude of the man
was commendable. He sensed his
lack of the vital something which
would remake his life. He came to
the right one-the Lord Jesus?with
his question.
His failure to go beyond the things
of the law to a faith in Christ,
however, showed that he loved his
possessions more than he desired
to follow the Lord.
?
CO CRT FEUDS OLD STORY
WASHINGTON. ? Some people
seem to be laboring under the im
pression that wrangles are new in
the Supreme court. Actually, wrar
gling began soon after the court
was formed, with the attempted im
peachment of Justice Samuel
Chase, continued vigorously under
John Marshall and has flared-up in
termittently ever since.
Latest wrangle, prior to the
Jackson blow-up, was between ami
able Chief Justice Harlan Fiske
Stone and austere Justice Owen J.
Roberts. Although Republicans and
Hoover appointees, they did not get
along well in recent years, and
there was one hot, though private
argument between them over the
question of sitting on a case involv
ing Stone's former law firm.
Before that, however, the
most virulent feud on the Su
preme court revolved around
cranky, crusty Justice James C.
McReynolds, the only Justice
credited with driving an associ
ate off the court. For six years
Justice John H. Clarke sat be
side him, and for six years Mc
Reynolds never spoke. Finally
Clarke resigned.
McReynolds also tried to drive
the late Justice Louis D. Brandeis
off the bench. He would rattle his
papers or even leave the bench
when Brandeis rendered an opin
ion. And, when the jurists ad
journed for their customary sand
wich or soup and crackers at the
noon recess, McReynolds turned up
his nose at lunching at a table with
Brandeis. Intead, he duffed his robe,
drove downtown and lunched by
himself.
? ? ?
BOW DURING GRANT'S REGIME
Another bitter battle inside the
Supreme court took place during the
Grant administration over the legal
tender act. Justice Robert C. Grier,
then senile, was induced by Chief
Justice Salmon P. Chase to change
his vote, thereby helping to make
the legal tender act unconstitution-*
al. This was a great embarrassment
to the Republicans, who needed the
legal tender act to support their fis
cal policies during and after the
civil war.
"xne ewer justice," enargen
Justice Samuel F. Miller, "re
sorted to all sorts of stratefems
of the lowest trickery."
? ? ?
LINCOLN SPANKED JUSTICE
Another period of near-civil war
took place in the court after the
last war, when the nine justices
were called upon to pass on the
espionage cases. The court was so
split, that a committee, including
Justices Willis Van Devanter and
William R. Day called on Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes to ask that
he not write one of his usual
vigorous dissenting opinions.
"Ton know what my Ideas of
the law are, and I will not
change them," he replied. And
for some months following this,
the justices stopped speaking to
each other.
Probably the most vitriolic criti
cism ever leveled against the court
by anyone in high places came from
Abraham Lincoln, when Chief Jus
tice Roger B. Taney called upon the
commanding officer at Fort Mc
Henry in Baltimore to relinquish a
prisoner during the Civil war. This
the commanding general refused to
do.
"The judicial machinery," re
marked Lincoln at the time,
"seems as if it had been de
signed not to sustain the govern
ment but to embarrass and be
tray It."
? ? ?
FEUD OVER JUSTICE FIELD
There was also the court feud
over Justice Stephen J. Field at
the time the Supreme court de
clared the income tax law unconsti
tutional in 1899. Field, then nearly
80 years old, led the attack against
the income tax. Senile, and fre
quently asleep in court, a commit
tee of his colleagues suggested his
retirement but he only flew into a
tantrum. His vote against the in
come tax made it necessary to pass
a constitutional amendment to
make the income tax legal.
? ? ?
EVERYBODY GETS BIS
Sen. Elmer Thomas of Oklahoma
introduced an amendment to the
OPA bill removing price ceilings on
timber, petroleum, cotton, milk,
livestock, tobacco, poultry, flsh,
grain, fruits and vegetables.
This caused Connecticut's Sen.
Brien McMahon to remark:
"You can't beat that one.
Elmer's got something in there for
every member of the senate."
In this case, though, the amend
ment was beaten.
? ? ?
HELL-BENT FOB INFLATION
Despite all the confusing furore
of the senate OPA debate, two
i things definitely stand out: (1) when
price controls 9re removed, prices
rise; (3) most senators are far more
susceptible to the pressure of busi
ness lobbies than to the unorgan
ized but overwhelming demand of
the American public In favor of
price control.
Florida oranges were selling for
33.89 when price controls were re
moved. Immediately they jumped to
34.47, then to $9.49.
IJfJfome
*Jo4AMt
fepsvUefi
in WASHINGTON
By Walter Shead
WW Cwreywderf
WNU Washington Bureau
Hit Era St.. M. W.
Commerce Commission Fails
To Protect Public Interest
Government agencies which
have been in business over a
long period of years, particularly
those agencies which deal directly
with the affairs of Big Business,
often lose their perspective . . .
they seem to forget that their ob
jective or reason for being is the
protection of the general public.
A case in point is the Interstate
Commerce commission. A long
time member of the commission,
Clyde B. Aitchison, in a recent
senate committee hearing let slip
a remark which indicates the line
of thinking of this guardian of
the public's interests with reference
particularly to railroads. The com
mittee was considering the so-called
Bulwinkle bill, which had already
passed the house.
This measure would permit rail
roads to make their own rates and
other agreements among them
selves, subject to ICC approval, and
would immunize the railroads from
prosecution under the anti-trust laws
as a result of these agreements.
Daring the questioning. Com
missioner Aitchison referred to
the railroads as "our clients and
easterners." Of coarse, the rail
roads are not their clients or
customers and Senator Wheeler
of Montana was qniek to call Mr.
Aitchison on his statement.
"Why do yon refer to them as
your clients? I thought the pub
lic were your clients, or sup
posed to be?" was Senator
Wheeler's observation. And Mr.
Aitchison rather lamely and
naively answered that ha was
merely being facetious.
Transportation Department
Facetious or not, the attitude of
Mr. Aitchlson is too often the atti
tude of other agency members who
are supposed to represent the pub
lic interest as against the encroach
ments of business and industry or
any other factor. It is such an atti
tude which is causing some talk here
proposing another cabinet post to be
known as the secretary of transpor
tatlon and bringing all forms of
transportation under one head in
cluding air, shipping, railroads, bus
and trucks and communications.
Another plan would be merely the
setting up of a new commission to
regulate all transportation facilities.
The attitude of President Truman,
at least his attitude while in the sen
ate of the United States toward the
transportation question, is well
known. He is on record as favoring
the setting up of a transportation
commission, for in a debate in the
senate, he declared, "I believe that
every kind of transportation should
be treated alike by government,
equally regulated, equally taxed.
I think a transportation commission
to control all transportation is com
ing. ... all methods of transporta
tion must be co-ordinated. If the
government must finance them, let
us face the situation and do it. Let
us retire a lot of old fellows and
give the boys a chance and a career
to look forward to. ... "
President Truman went so far as
to co-author a bill introduced by
himself and Senator Wheeler of
Montana, which would, in his own
words: "We are rewriting the en
tire Interstate Commerce act and
are fubjecting all forms of com
peting transportation to the regula
tion of a single independent regula
tory agency."
The railroads has* enjoyed
nnpreeedented prosperity
throughout the war years and
government has been their big
gest customer, and yet today,
with reconversion only well
started, the railroads are Join
ing the procession in demand
ing Increased rates amounting
to 25 per cent.
During the past months, reams of
propaganda has come from the
railroad publicity offices to prepare
the public for the recent demand of
the railroads for the rate increase.
The Civil Aeronautics administra
tion has done and is doing a credit
able Job in the regulation of air
transportation, but they are now un
der fire from the shipping industry
which is seeking trans-ocean routes
in conjunction with their stesmship
lanes although the CAA has con
fined its franchises to a select few
air lines for these routes to foreign
countries. Whether this is in the
interest of the public or the inter
est of these few airlines is a mat
ter for conjecture.
At any rate, such statements as
come from the lips of Commission
er Altchison, which he explained as
facetious, raises the question as
to whether or not the interest of
the public or those of the railroads
are paramount with the ICC.
The ICC has a tremendous Job to
do In this postwar era, so has the
CAA and so has the Federal Com
munications commission, and unless
the public interest is the primary
Interest, these agencies are merely
paving the way for their own ex
tinction and the setting up of a cen
tral regulatory agency. t
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? ? ?
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Took Over 11 Honrs to
Run This Motion Picture
The longest motion picture ever
released in this country was Gone
with the Wind, which ran three
hours and 90 minutes, or over
twice as long as the average fea
ture, says Collier's. The longest
American picture ever produced
was Greed, made in 1924.
While its running time was cut
down to two hours and 50 minutes
for theaters in the United States,
this film was shown in Latin Amer
ica in its original length, running
11 hours and 40 minutes over two
consecutive nights.
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many well-groomed, well
informed Hollywood stars
/ who use Caloz Tooth Powder.
I ? McKessoo A Robbias, lac,
Bridgeport, Conn.
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