Omaha daily bee., 1916-11-12
RAILWAY SCHOOL
RUSSIA'S STATUS
NOT AT ALL BAD
Demand for Luxuries in Musco-
vite Kingdom Can Hardly
Be Satisfied.
woRKMEN ARE PAID WELL

| ANVtFtspOuuenCt VI lne AssOclhteu GreSb.D
Stockholm, Oct. l0.-Therc is much
inevitable hardship in Russia. a pres
ent or threatening scarcity of many
essential things and a very general
and unpleasant lack OF organization,
but there Is also another side to the
picture. Everybody who wants work
can get it, and wages are so high that
the tremendous increase in the cost
of living has been nearly offset by
them. Mushroom fortunes are grow
ing up over night, and the demand for
Injuries is so great that it can with
difficulty be met.
This Is the report made to CORE
spondent of The Associated Press 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
in touch with most parts of the great
empire, and he declared that condi-
tions in Moscow are typical OF what
is to be found elsewhere, so far as
prosperity is concerned, but rather
worse in matters Of housing and trans<
portation.
Homes at Premium.
Moscow had roundly 100000 in
habitants before the war. This num-
Der, he be. eyed, had been increased
about 50 per cent, making the popula-
tion 100000. One OF the immediate
results has been such scarcity OF
rcntable houses that it is not at all
unusual to find advertisers offering
bonuses up to 500 rublcs for anyone
finding them suitable dwelling place.
There are certain restrictions against
increasing rents to tenants already in
occupancy, but these restrictions do
not apply to new renters, and natur-
ally such persons have to pay high
prices when they do succeed in find
ing house.
The number OF cabs has been re-
duced to fraction of the ante-bellum
number, and considerable number OF
street cars has also been withdrawn
from service. Cab prices have in
creased to point where many per-
sons formerly addicted to the cab
habit have given it up, but without
finding an adequate substitute, the
street cars being continually jammed
to suffocation. So there is nothing to
do but walk, and Moscow is a city of
imposing distances.
The one really serious problem
which the city faces this winter, ac-
cording to the informant, is the ques-
ton Of fuel and light-wood, coal and
petroleum Wood which cost from 8
to 10 roubles before the war now costs
as much as so, and the supply is most
inadequate. To be sure, there is wood
enough in the empire, but transporta-
ton facilities are lacking. Indeed, one
of the fost unfavorable things in Rus
STA today is, declared the American,
the extreme disorganization, or per-
haps better, woeful lack of organiza-
ton of transportation Of all kinds.
Coal and petroleum are both dear and
scarce, and the outlook is not for any
immediate betterment.
Nobody Hungry.
There is 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
persisted last winter, either from cold
or hunger, due to insufficient care. OF
foodstufts Of other sorts, however,
there is no lack, and there can be
no question of anybody going hungry
except the unfortunate Germans and
Austrians yet in the empire, who find
great difficulty in getting work, and
whose numbers are so great and their
colonies scattered over such vast ex-
panses of territory that it has been
impossible to prevent all distress,
even with the best efforts OF the Am
erican diplomats and consular Offices,
who have undertaken the distribution
Of the German and Austrian relief
funds.
| He declared that talk OF possible
revolution in Russia was preposter-
Gus.
| The Russian people," he said,
never were so prosperous as they
now are, all the way from the laborer
up TO the highest classes The great
lest furrier in the city told me that