The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1916-11-10
RUSS LA3ORER
IS WAXING FAT
WAGES JUMP To ABNORMAL
FIGURES AND SERVANTS
GROW 'UPPISH."
INCONVENIENCE CAUSED
Mesgre Transportation Facilities In
Moscow Source of Vexation tO
Americans.

Stockholm, Nov. 4.-There 1,
muck inevitable hardship in Russia
a present or threatening scarcity OF
many essential things and a gener.
al and unpleasant lack of organiza.
ton. but there is also another side
to the picture Everybody who wants
work can get il. and wages are Sc
high that the tremendous increase in
the cost of living has been nearly
offset by them. Mushroom fortunes
are growing up over night, and the
demand for luxuries is so great that
it can with difficulty be met.
This is the report made by one OF
the best known members of the
American colony in Moscow, who
now, after seven years residence
there. is returning to America. His
activities during that period kept
! him i'm touch with most parts of the
! great empire, and he declared that
conditions in Moscow are typical of
what is to be found elsewhere. so far
as prosperity is concerned, but rather
worse in the matters of housing and
transportation.
Houses Are Scarce.
Moscow had roundly 2,00O,0 900 in
habitants before the war. This num-
Der. he believed. had been increased
about fifty per cent making the popu-
lation 100000. One of the imme-
diate results has been such a search
ty of rentable houses that il is not
at all unusual to find advertisers Of
fering bonus up to 500 rubles for
anyone finding them a suitable dwell
ing place. There are certain restric-
lions against increasing rents to ten
ants already in occupancy, but these
restrictions do not apply to new rent
ers. and naturally such persons have
to pay high prices when they sue
coed in finding a house.
The number of cabs has been re-
duced to fraction of the ante-bell-
um number, and a considerable num-
Der of street cars also has been with
drawn from service. Cab prices
have increased to a point where many
persons formerly addicted to the cab
habit have given it up, but without
| finding an adequate substitute, the
street cars being continually jam
med to suffocation. So there is moth
ing to do but walk. and Moscow is
city of imposing distances.
The one really serious problem
which the city faces this winter, ac-
cording to the informant, is the ques-
tion of fuel and light-wood, coal
and petroleum. Wood, which cost
from eight to ten roubles before the
was now costs as much as fifty, and
the supply is inadequate. To be
sure. there is wood enough in the
empire. but transportation facilities
are lacking. Indeed. one of the
most unfayorable things in Russia
to-day is. declared the American, the
extreme Reorganization, or perhaps
better, woeful lack of organization
of transportation of all kinds. Coal
and petroleum are both dear and
scarce. and the outlook is not for
any immediate betterment.
Meat Supply Diminishing.
There is a great scarcity of lard
and other fats, and the meat supply
is plainly becoming rapidly less. The
informant declared that not only
have the herds of cattle and swine
been unduly reduced by excessive
slaughter. but that great numbers
also perisaed last winter. either from
cold or hunger. due to insufficient
caro-. OF foodstuYs of other sorts.
however. there Is no lack. and there
can DO ne question of anybody going
hungry. except the unfortunate
Germans and Austrians yet In the
empire. who end great difficulty In
getting work. and whose numbers
are so great and their colonies scat
tered over such vast expanses OF ter
ritory that it has been impossible 70
prevent all distress. even with the
best efforts OF the American diplomat
ic and consular Offices, who have un-
dertaken the distribution of the Ger
man and Austrian relief funds.
He declared that talk of posi-
BILE revolution in Russia is prenoS-
ferrous. ...
The RUSSIAN people" he said,
"neyer were so prosperous as, they
now are, all the way from the labor
err up 10 the highest classes. The
greatest furrier in the city told me
that he had never done such a bust